DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10357#0441
404
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
principal court of the house, which varies in size from fifty to even a hundred and fifty feet
square. They are sometimes oblong, and an ordinary-sized court measures eighty feet by fifty.
In Muslim establishments the principal court and its surrounding apartments are reserved
exclusively for the use of the harem, a smaller court nearer the entrance being used by the
master of the house for the reception of his guests. These courts are almost always paved
with marble more or less elaborately laid down. Orange, lemon, citron trees, and sometimes
2- ^y<£:> '.v
MAKBARET BAB ES SAGHIR (BURIAL-GROUND OF THE LITTLE GATE).
Tradition says that two of the wives of Mohammed were interred here. A modern domed structure marks the spot.
myrtles and oleanders, are planted here singly within raised marble borders, and a vine is
sometimes trained over trellis-work. A fountain springing from a raised marble tank always
stands in the centre of the court, and there are two or four additional fountains if the court be
a very large one. All the rooms round the court open into it, and the windows have no
other outlook. A beautiful house near to the castle, which my brother occupied when I first
arrived at Damascus in 1865, had no windows looking into the street, but this was compensated
for by the magnificent view from the terraced housetop.
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
principal court of the house, which varies in size from fifty to even a hundred and fifty feet
square. They are sometimes oblong, and an ordinary-sized court measures eighty feet by fifty.
In Muslim establishments the principal court and its surrounding apartments are reserved
exclusively for the use of the harem, a smaller court nearer the entrance being used by the
master of the house for the reception of his guests. These courts are almost always paved
with marble more or less elaborately laid down. Orange, lemon, citron trees, and sometimes
2- ^y<£:> '.v
MAKBARET BAB ES SAGHIR (BURIAL-GROUND OF THE LITTLE GATE).
Tradition says that two of the wives of Mohammed were interred here. A modern domed structure marks the spot.
myrtles and oleanders, are planted here singly within raised marble borders, and a vine is
sometimes trained over trellis-work. A fountain springing from a raised marble tank always
stands in the centre of the court, and there are two or four additional fountains if the court be
a very large one. All the rooms round the court open into it, and the windows have no
other outlook. A beautiful house near to the castle, which my brother occupied when I first
arrived at Damascus in 1865, had no windows looking into the street, but this was compensated
for by the magnificent view from the terraced housetop.