I observed about half a
dozen marble bases of good Grecian workmanship. A few of the marble
columns bear Arabic or Cufic inscriptions, in which I read the dates
863 and 762 (A.H.).[FN#6] A column on the east side exhibits a very
ancient Cufic inscription, somewhat defaced, which I could neither read
nor copy. Some of the columns are strengthened with broad iron rings or
bands,[FN#7] as in many other Saracen buildings of the East. They were
first employed by Ibn Dhaher Berkouk, king of Egypt, in rebuilding the
Mosque, which had been destroyed by fire in A.H. 802.[FN#8]”
“Some parts of the walls and arches are gaudily painted in stripes of
yellow, red, and blue, as are also the minarets. Paintings of flowers,
in the usual Muselman
[p.297] style, are nowhere seen; the floors of the colonnades are paved
with large stones badly cemented together.”
“Some paved causeways lead from the colonnades towards the Kaabah, or
Holy House, in the centre.[FN#9] They are of sufficient breadth to
admit four or five persons to walk abreast, and they are elevated about
nine inches above the ground. Between these causeways, which are
covered with fine gravel or sand, grass appears growing in several
places, produced by the Zem Zem water oozing out of the jars which are
placed in the ground in long rows during the day.[FN#10] There is a
descent of eight or ten steps from the gates on the north side into the
platform of the colonnade, and of three or four steps from the gates on
the south side.”
“Towards the middle of this area stands the Kaabah; it is 115 paces from
the north colonnade, and 88 from the south. For this want of symmetry
we may readily account, the Kaabah having existed prior to the Mosque,
which was built around it, and enlarged at different periods. The
Kaabah is an oblong massive structure, 18 paces in length, 14 in
breadth, and from 35 to 40 feet in height.[FN#11] It is constructed of
the grey Mekka stone, in large blocks of different sizes joined
together, in a very
[p.298] rough manner, with bad cement.[FN#12] It was entirely rebuilt,
as it now stands, in A.D. 1627. The torrent in the preceding year had
thrown down three of its sides, and, preparatory to its re-erection,
the fourth side was, according to Asamy, pulled down, after the Olemas,
or learned divines, had been consulted on the question whether mortals
might be permitted to destroy any part of the holy edifice without
incurring the charge of sacrilege and infidelity.”
“The Kaabah stands upon a base two feet in height, which presents a sharp
inclined plane.[FN#13] Its roof being flat, it has at a distance the
appearance of a perfect cube.[FN#14] The only door which affords
entrance, and which is opened but two or three times in the
year,[FN#15] is on the
[p.299] north side and about seven feet above the ground.[FN#16] In the
first periods of Islam, however, when it was rebuilt in A.H. 64 by Ibn
Zebeyr (Zubayr), chief of Mecca, it had two doors even with the ground
floor of the Mosque.[FN#17]
