38

RELIGIOUS COMPASSES AMD RINGS. [cHAP.

of Abraham, for he was no idolater. Verily the first
house appointed unto men to worship in, was that which
is at Mecca, a direction to all creatures." Again, " We
have seen thee turn about thy face towards heaven with
uncertainty, but we will cause thee to turn thyself to-
wards a Keblah that will please thee. Turn there-
fore thy face towards the holy temple of Mecca; and
wherever ye be", turn your faces towards that place."
Mosques are not built so as to point out the direction
to Mecca, as a church ordinarily points out the east,
but it is determined within the mosque by a niche
which they call Al Mehrab; and without, by the
situation of doors opening into the galleries of the
steeples27.

The Mahoinmedans also use, especially in India,
small compasses in which the magnetic needle is con-
cealed under the wings of a bird, so placed, that the
bird's flight may always appear to be towards Mecca.
One of these compasses has been shewn to me by the
Master of Pembroke College, whose brother, Mr Ainslie,
brought it from Benares. On it the bird's flight is to
the west-south-west, a direction which is sufficiently
explained by the fact that the instrument was meant
for India. Mr Ainslie tells me that, in India, magnetic
needles, serving in a similar way to point to the Holy
City, and set in rings, are very common among the
Mohammedans. Thus, even where he has no mosque
in sight, the devout Musulman is enabled to turn to-
ward Mecca, in those daily performances of his religious
exercises, the punctual observance of which, at all times
and under all circumstances, no traveller in the east
can fail to notice.

I may add, that at the south-east corner of the
chapel of Haghios Ghedrghios is a fragment of circular
walling. I learn from Antdnios that the Greeks dug
here, during the revolution, " and found a woman and

37 See Sale.