east could be seen the gem of El Medinah, the four tall towers,
and the flashing green dome under which rest the Prophet's remains.

We proceeded towards the gate, from which an eager multitude poured
forth to greet friends in the caravan. I took my abode with Shaykh
Hamid, who abandoned his former dirt and shabbiness and appeared clean,
well-dressed, and with neatly trimmed moustache and beard. He was to
pilot me through the intricate ceremonies of the visits to the
Prophet's tomb and the other holy places, and in the evening I set out
with him for the Haram, or sanctuary of the Prophet.

The Prophet's mosque at El Medinah is the second of the three most
venerable places in the world, according to Islamic belief; it is
peculiarly connected with Mohammed, as Meccah is with Abraham, and
Jerusalem with Solomon. On entering it, I was astonished at the mean and
tawdry appearance of a place so venerated in the Moslem world. There is
no simple grandeur about it, as there is about the Kaabah at Meccah;
rather does it suggest a museum of second-rate art, decorated with but
pauper splendour. The mosque is a parallelogram about 420 feet in length
by 340 broad, and the main colonnade in the south of the building,
called El Rawzah (the garden), contains all that is venerable. Shaykh
Hamid and I fought our way in through a crowd of beggars with our hands
behind us, and beginning with the right feet, we advanced towards the
holy places. After preliminary prayers at the Prophet's pulpit, we
reached the mausoleum, an irregular square in the south-east corner,
surrounded by walls and a fence. Three small windows enable one to peer
at the three tombs within--Mohammed's, Abubekr's, and Omar's. After long
praying I was permitted to look through the window opposite the
Prophet's tomb. I could see nothing but a curtain with inscriptions, and
a large pearl rosary denoting the exact position of the tomb. Many other
sacred spots had to be visited, and many other prayers uttered, ere we
left the building.

The principal places of pious visitation in the vicinity of El Medinah
are the mosques of Kuba, the cemetery El Bakia, and the martyr Hamzah's
tomb at the foot of Mount Ohod, the scene of one of Mohammed's most
famous battles. The mosques of Kuba are the pleasantest to visit, lying
as they do among the date-palm plantations, amid surroundings most
grateful to the eye weary with hot red glare. There were green, waving
crops and cool shade; a