[p.322] three inscriptions in long gold letters, informing readers that behind them lie Allah’s Apostle and the first two Caliphs.

The exact place of Mohammed’s tomb is moreover distinguished by a large pearl rosary, and a peculiar ornament, the celebrated Kaukab-al-Durri, or constellation of pearls, suspended to the curtain breast-high.[FN#46] This is described to be a “brilliant star set in diamonds and pearls,” placed in the dark that man’s eye may be able to bear its splendours:  the vulgar believe it to be a “jewel of the jewels of Paradise.”  To me it greatly resembled the round glass stoppers used for the humbler sort of decanters; but I thought the same of the Koh-i-Nur.  Moreover I never saw it quite near enough to judge fairly, and I did not think fit to pay an exorbitant sum for the privilege of entering the inner passage of the baldaquin.[FN#47]

[p.323] Altogether the coup-d’oeil had nothing to recommend it by day.  At night, when the lamps, hung in this passage, shed a dim light upon the mosaic-work of the marble floors, upon the glittering inscriptions, and the massive hangings, the scene is more impressive.

Never having seen the Tomb,[FN#48] I must depict it from books,-by no means an easy task.  Most of the historians are silent after describing the inner walls of the Hujrah.  Al-Kalkashandi declares in eo lapidem nobilem continere sepulchra Apostoli, Abubecr et Omar, circumcinctum peribole in modum conclavis fere usque ad tectum assurgente, quae velo serico nigro obligatur.  This author, then, agrees with my Persian friends, who declare the sepulchre to be a marble slab.  Ibn Jubayr, who travelled in A.H. 580, relates that the Apostle’s coffin is a box of ebony (abnus) covered with sandal-wood, and plated with silver; it is placed, he says, behind a curtain, and surrounded by an iron grating.  Al-Samanhudi,[FN#49] quoted by Burckhardt, declares that the curtain covers a square building of black stones, in the interior of which are the tombs of Mohammed and of his two immediate successors.  He adds that the tombs are

[p.324] deep holes; and that the coffin which contains the Apostle is cased with silver, and has on the top a marble slab inscribed “Bismillah!  Allahumma salli alayh!” ("In the name of Allah!  Allah have Mercy upon Him[FN#50]!”)

The Apostle’s body, it should be remembered, lies, or is supposed to lie, stretched at full length on the right side, with the right palm supporting the right cheek, the face fronting Meccah, as Moslems are always buried, and consequently the body lies with the head almost due West and the feet due East.  Close behind him is placed Abu Bakr, whose face fronts the Apostle’s shoulder[FN#51]; and, lastly, Omar holds the same position with respect to his predecessor.

The places they are usually supposed to occupy, then, would be thus disposed.  But Moslem historians are not agreed even upon so simple a point as this. [p.325] Many prefer this position, in line [figure] -some thus, in unicorn [figure] -and others the right angle.[FN#52] [figure]