nights and had not met with a single animal or bird. The next day we resumed our journey, and in two days time arrived at a city which is called Medinathalnabi.1 Near that city, at a distance of four miles, we found a well, by which the caravan halted for a day, and at this well each person washed himself, and put on clean linen to go into the said city, which contains about three hundred hearths, and is surrounded by walls made of earth. The houses within are constructed with stone walls. The country around the said city lies under the curse of God, for the land is barren, with the exception that about two stones' cast, outside the city, there are about fifty or sixty feet of palmtrees in a garden,3 at the end of which there is a certain conduit of water, which descends at least twenty-four steps, of which water the caravan takes possession when it arrives there. Now, some who say that the body of Mahomet is suspended in the air at Mecca must be reproved; I say that it is not true. I have seen his sepulchre in this city, Medinathalnabi, in which we remained three days, and wished to see everything." The first day we went into the city, at the entrance by the door of their mosque, and each of us, small or great, was obliged to be accompanied by some per

1 Medînat en-Nabi, the City of the Prophet.

2 These earthen fortifications, according to Burton, were built by order of Kasim el Daulat el Ghori. The wall is now of stone, "wellbuilt of granite and lava blocks, in regular layers, cemented with lime." 3 "This alludes to the gardens of Kuba. The number of date-trees is now greatly increased." BURTON, ut supra.

• Burckhardt, in his plan of El-Medînah, marks these "steps leading down to the canal in different parts of the town." Burton supposes the water to come from a spring in the date-groves of Kuba. "It flows down a subterranean canal, about thirty feet below the surface. some places the water is exposed to the air, and steps lead to it for the convenience of the inhabitants."

In

5 This absurd story, so long current in Christendom, but utterly unknown to Mussulmans, is supposed by Niebuhr to have originated from the position, one above the other, which the three enshrined tombs are represented as occupying in the rude drawings of the mosque made by native artists.

son,1 who took us by the hand, and led us where Mahomet was buried.

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING WHERE MAHOMET AND HIS COMPANIONS WERE BURIED.

The mosque is made square in this manner: being about one hundred paces long, and eighty wide, and it has around it two doors on three sides, and the roof made arched, and there are more than 400 columns made of burnt stone, all whitened, and there are about 3,000 lighted lamps burning on one side of the arches. On the right hand, at the head of the mosque, there is a square tower, about five paces on every side, which tower has a cloth of silk around it. At the distance of two paces from the said tower there is a very beautiful grating of metal, where persons stand to see the said tower; and at one side, on the left, there is a little door which leads you to the said tower, and in the said tower there is another little door, and by one of the doors there are about twenty books, and on the other side there are twenty-five books, which are those of Mahomet and of his Companions, which books declare his life and the commandments of his sect.3 Within the said door

1 A guide, called Dalil or Muzawwir.

2 Burckhardt makes the dimensions 165 paces in length by 130 in breadth. Burton calls it "a parallelogram about 420 feet in length by 340 broad." The former says: "It forms an open square, surrounded on all sides by covered colonnades, with a small building in the centre of the square......The columns are of stone; but being plastered white it is difficult to decide what species......The roof of the colonnade consists of a number of small domes." The latter styles it "a hypæethral building with a spacious central area, called El Sahn, El Hosh, El Haswah, or El Ramlah, surrounded by a peristyle with numerous rows of pillars, like the colonnades of an Italian monastery. Their arcades, or porticoes, are flat-ceilinged, domed above with the small 'Media Naranja,' or halforange cupola of Spain."

3 "Near the south-east corner stands the famous tomb, so detached

there is a sepulchre, that is, a pit under ground, wherein was placed Mahomet, also Haly, and Babacher, and Othman, and Aumar, and Fatoma. Mahomet was captain, and he was an Arab. Haly was son-in-law of Mahomet, that is, he was the husband of Fatoma, who was the daughter of Mahomet.1 Babacher was he of whom we should say that

from the walls of the mosque as to leave between it and the south wall a space of about twenty-five feet, and fifteen feet between it and the east wall. The enclosure [Varthema's 'tower'] forms an irregular square of about twenty paces, in the midst of the colonnade, several of its pillars being included within it. It is an iron railing painted green ...the railing is of good workmanship, in imitation of filagree, and is interwoven with open-work inscriptions of yellow bronze... What appears of the interior is merely a curtain carried round on all sides, resembling a bed, which is of the same height as the railing, and fills nearly the whole space...This veil is a rich silk brocade of various colours, interwoven with silver flowers and arabesques. A band of inscriptions in gold characters runs across the middle."-Burckhardt.

"The Hujrah, or Chamber, as it is called, from the circumstance of its having been Ayisha's room, is an irregular square of from fifty to fiftyfive feet in the south-east corner of the building, and separated on all sides from the walls of the mosque by a passage about twenty-six feet broad on the south side, and twenty on the eastern... Inside there are, or are supposed to be, three tombs facing the south, surrounded by stone walls, or, as others say, by strong planking. Whatever this material may be, it is hung outside with a curtain, somewhat like a large four-post bed. The outer railing is separated by a dark narrow passage from the inner one, which it surrounds, and is of iron filagree, painted of a vivid grass green, whilst carefully inserted in the verdure, and doubly bright by contrast, is the gilt or burnished brass work forming the long and graceful letters of the Suls character, and disposed into the Moslem creed, the profession of unity, and similar religious sentences. This fence has four gates...they are constantly kept closed, except the fourth."BURTON.

The foregoing extracts prove the remarkable correctness of Varthema's brief description of this mosque. Neither of the two enterprising travellers, however, throws any light on the books mentioned by him as existing in the vicinity of the Hujrah. The mosque library, according to Burton, is now kept in large chests near the Bab el Salam.

1 Muhammed, 'Ali, Abubekr, 'Othmân, 'Omar, and Fatimah. Here Varthema is in error, for it has never been believed by Mussulmans that either 'Ali or 'Othman was buried in the Prophet's mosque. Burton says: "The sepulchre or cenotaph of Fatimah is outside the

he was cardinal, and wanted to be pope.1 Othman was one of his captains. Aumar was another of his captains. And these said books treat about each of his people, that is, of the said captains; and on this account it is that this canaille cut each other to pieces, for some wish to act according to the commandments of one, and some of another, and thus they do not know how to make up their minds; and they kill each other like beasts about these, heresies, for they are all false.

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE TEMPLE AND SEPULCHRE OF MAHOMET AND HIS COMPANIONS.

In order to explain the sect of Mahomet, you must know that over the said tower there is a cupola, in which you can walk round the top, that is, outside. You must understand enceinte and the curtain which surrounds her father's remains." Burckhardt describes it thus: "Near the curtain of the Hejrah [Hujrah], but separated from it, though within the precincts of the railing, which here, to admit it, deviates a little from its square shape, is the tomb of Sitna Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed and wife of Ali. But some difference of opinion exists whether her remains actually rest here, or in the burial-ground called Bakya, beyond the town."

I know of no passage in Abubekr's life which merits this remark. He was throughout the firm ally of Muhammed, and on the death of the latter proposed two candidates, 'Omar and Abu-'Obeidah, as most worthy to succeed him. It was mainly through the intervention of 'Omar, who recognized his superior claims as the special favourite of the Prophet, as his sole companion in the cave at Thor, and as having been designated by Muhammed to preside at the public prayers when he saw his end approaching, that the dignity of being his first successor was accorded to the aged Abubekr.

* The dome over the Hujrah, or Chamber, containing Muhammed's tomb. "Above the hujrah is the green dome, surmounted outside by a large gilt crescent springing from a series of globes. The glowing imaginations of the Moslems crown this gem of the building with a pillar of heavenly light, which directs from three days' distance the pilgrims' steps towards El-Medinah."-BURTON, Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah, vol. ii. pp. 73, 74.

the trick they played off upon the whole caravan the first evening we arrived at the tomb of Mahomet. Our captain sent for the superior of the said mosque, to whom he said: that he should show him the body of Nabi-this Nabi means the Prophet Mahomet-that he would give him three thousand seraphim of gold; and that he had neither father nor mother, nor brothers nor sisters, nor wife nor children, neither had he come to purchase spices or jewels, but that he had come to save his soul, and to see the body of the Prophet. Then the superior answered him with great viclence, and rage, and pride, saying: "How do those eyes of yours, which have done so much evil in the world, desire to see him for whom God has created the heavens and the earth!" Then answered our captain: "Sidi intecate el melie;" that is to say, Sir, you say true;1 but do me a favour, let me see the body of the Prophet, and immediately that I have seen it, I will pull out my eyes for the love of him. And Sidi3 answered: "O Sir, I will tell you the truth. It is true that our Prophet wished to die here, in order to set us a good example; for he could well have died at Mecca had he so willed, but he desired to exercise poverty for our instruction; and as soon as he was dead, he was carried at once into heaven by the angels, and he says that he is equal with God." Our captain said to him: “ Eise Hebene Marian phion?" that is, Jesus Christ the son of Mary, where is he? The Sidi answered: "Azafel al Nabi,” that is, at the feet of Mahomet. Our captain answered:

3

1 Sidi, anta tahki el-melieh. Sir, you say well. I shall correct the orthography and mistranslations of Varthema's romanized Arabic, preserving the barbarisms of the original. The orthography varies in different editions, but in all it is execrably bad. 2 Meaning the Sherif belonging to the mosque. 3 Isa ibn Mariam fain hu? Jesus, the Son of Mary, where is He? Asfel en-Nabi. Below (or under) the Prophet. Burton, having before him only the translation of these words, as he found it, unaccompanied by the Arabic, in Eden's History of Travels, supposes the reply