This magnificent temple, to which pilgrims resort from every quarter of the globe where the religion of Islamism is practiced, is known by the Mussulmans under the name of El Haram, or the temple of excellence. It is situated nearly in the middle of the city, which is built in a valley, having a considerable slope from the north to the south. It is composed of the house of God, Beit Allah, or as it is called also, La Kaaba; of the well of Zemzem, Bir Zemzem; of the Cobba, or place of Abraham, Makham Ibrahim; of the places of the four orthodox rites, Makam Hhaneffi, Makam Shaffi, Makam Maleki, and Makam Hhanbeli; of two Cobbas, or chapels, El-Cobbatain; of an arch, called Babes-selem, (in the same style as a triumphal arch,) near the place of Abraham; of El-Monbar or the tribune for the priest; of the wooden staircase, Daureh, which leads to the saloon of the house of God; of an immense court, surrounded by a triple row of arches; of two smaller courts, surrounded with elegant piazzas; of nineteen doors; and of seven towers, or minarets, five of which adhere to the edifice, and the other two are placed between the neighboring houses out of the inclosure.
La Kaaba, Beit Allah, or the house of God, is a quadrilateral tower, the sides and angles of which are unequal, so that its plan forms a true trapezium. The size of the edifice, and the black cloth which covers it, make this irregularity disappear, and give to it the figure of a perfect square. The black stone, Hhajera el Assouad, or heavenly stone, which all true Mussulmans believe to have been brought thither by the angel Gabriel, is raised forty-two inches above the surface, and is bordered all round with a large plate of silver, about a foot broad. The part of the stone that is not covered by the silver at the angle is almost a semicircle, six inches in hight, by about eight inches diameter at its base. El Bir Zemzem, or the well of Zemzem, is situated fifty-one feet distant to the north-east of the black stone. It is about seven feet and eight inches in diameter, and fifty-six feet deep to the surface of the water. The brim is of fine white marble, five feet high. Tradition says that this well was miraculously opened by the angel of the Lord for Hagar, when she was nearly perishing from thirst in the desert with her son Ishmael, after having been sent from Abraham’s house. The Kaaba, and the stones of Ishmael, are situated nearly in the center of the temple, and occupy the middle of an oval or irregular elliptical surface, which forms a zone of thirty-nine feet wide round the edifice, upon which the pilgrims make their tours round the Kaaba. It is paved with fine marble, and is situated upon the lowest plane of the temple.
THE HOLY LAND.
The entire country known as Palestine, or Judea, or the Holy Land, is full of interest, and associated to our minds with the wonders and miracles connected with the advent of Christ to our world. Time would fail to notice all the localities of this country, on which the mind loves to linger; but a few of them will be alluded to. One of these, a view of which is given in the cut below, is
JACOB’S WELL.
JACOB’S WELL.
This was near to Shechem, one of the most ancient cities of Canaan, which was the capital of the kingdom of Israel in the time of Jeroboam, and was associated with some of the most interesting events of patriarchal times, as well as with the discourse of Christ to the woman of Samaria, which resulted in the conversion of several of the Samaritans to the true faith. “I found this well,” says a late traveler, “in the midst of the ruins of a magnificent building that once covered and adorned it. Hewn stones, blocks of marble, and fragments of granite columns, were to be seen amid the general wreck. The narrow mouth of the well was stopped up with large loose stones, at which we all tugged until I nearly broke my back; but one of them defied our utmost endeavors. I kneeled down and peeped into the arched chamber, from the floor of which the well proper is sunk into the living rock some hundred feet or more. A little, gray-headed old Arab held my horse; the younger men stood around and looked on, while I sat down at the indubitable well of the patriarch, and read: ‘Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples had gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a woman of Samaria? (for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; from whence, then, hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.’ Here I closed the book, and with a gush of unutterable joy, exclaimed,