which supports the roof of each range into twelve massy columns of eight feet square, so that the whole building contained seventy-two of these columns, eight feet both in length and breadth, of which the six outer ones on the two sides north and south adhering to the outside wall, left sixty within to support the roof. These rows of columns closed over each aisle, and thus formed six semicircular roofs, covering and extending the whole length of each aisle. It was, however, only that part furnished by each column which formed the arches of these six semi circular roofs; the eleven spaces which intersect each range, were formed above into domes about eleven feet in diameter within, and terminating in a point without. Of these six ranges or aisles, only one, that on the east side, is now entire, although traces of the other five are still visible. Of the domes in this range, the roofs of five are entire; those of two more are merely open at the top; in three more the roof has entirely fallen in; and the roofs on the rest having half fallen, seem to threaten the spectator with instant destruction, should any part of the mouldering ruin fall whilst he is walking underneath.
"The outward walls are nine feet in thickness. They are built of small bricks, extremely hard, and with excellent cement. The whole building seems to have suffered far less from depredation than from the numerous shrubs and trees which grow upon it, and which, insinuating their roots into the breaches of the walls, threaten the whole with unavoidable and speedy dissolution.
"Proceeding about a mile distant from the above-mentioned mosque, there is a large
"OBELISK,
"which stands alone, completely separate from any other building. It is supposed to have been erected for an observatory, or for the sake of calling the inhabitants to the regular performance of their daily devotions. It contains four stories, with a staircase within. The first story, about twelve feet from the ground, must be entered by a ladder. The wall is marked by many small windows placed over each other in a perpendicular
