Ali Bey Numbers Them Roughly At “Plus De 500 Colonnes Et Pilastres.” [FN#6] The Author Afterwards Informs Us, That

“The temple has been so often ruined and repaired, that no traces of remote antiquity are to be found about

It.” He mentions some modern and unimportant inscriptions upon the walls and over the gates. Knowing that many of the pillars were sent in ships from Syria and Egypt by the Caliph Al-Mahdi, a traveller would have expected better things. [FN#7] The reason being, that “those shafts formed of the Meccan stone are mostly in three pieces; but the marble shafts are in one piece.” [FN#8] To this may be added, that the façades of the cloisters are twenty-four along the short walls, and thirty-six along the others; they have stone ornaments, not inaptly compared to the French “fleur de lis.” The capital and bases of the outer pillars are grander and more regular than the inner; they support pointed arches, and the Arab secures his beloved variety by placing at every fourth arch a square pilaster. Of these there are on the long sides ten, on the short seven. [FN#9] I counted eight, not including the broad pavement which leads from the Bab al-Ziyadah to the Ka’abah, or the four cross branches which connect the main lines. These “Firash al-Hajar,” as they are called, also serve to partition off the area. One space for instance is called “Haswat al-Harim,” or the “Women’s sanded place,” because appropriated to female devotees. [FN#10] The jars are little amphoræ, each inscribed with the name of the donor and a peculiar cypher. [FN#11] My measurements give 22 paces or 55 feet in length by 18 (45) of breadth, and the height appeared greater than the length.

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