that were
as beautiful as those I had already seen. In short, the wonders that
everywhere appeared so wholly engrossed my attention that I forgot my
ship and my sisters, and thought of nothing but gratifying my
curiosity. In the meantime night came on, and I tried to return by the
way I had entered, but I could not find it; I lost myself among the
apartments; and perceiving I was come back again to the large room,
where the throne, the couch, the large diamond, and the torches stood,
I resolved to take my night's lodging there, and to depart the next
morning early, to get aboard my ship. I laid myself down upon a
costly couch, not without some dread to be alone in a desolate place;
and this fear hindered my sleep.

About midnight I heard a man reading the Koran,[31] in the same tone
as it is read in our mosques. I immediately arose, and taking a torch
in my hand passed from one chamber to another, on that side from
whence the voice proceeded, until looking through a window I found it
to be an oratory. It had, as we have in our mosques, a niche,[32] to
direct us whither we are to turn to say our prayers; there were also
lamps hung up, and two candlesticks with large tapers of white wax
burning.

[Footnote 31: Koran (derived from the word Karaa, to read) signifies
"the Reading--that which ought to be read." It is the collection of
revelations supposed to be given from heaven to Mohammed during a
period of twenty-three years. Some were given at Mecca, and some at
Medina. Each was regarded by some as a mystery full of divine meaning.
It is divided into thirty parts; and as each mosque has thirty
readers, it is read through once a day. These readers chant it in long
lines with rhythmical ending, and in the absence of definite vowels
they alone know the right pronunciation of the Koran.--Sale's
_Preliminary Dissertation_, p. 56.]

[Footnote 32: This is the _kaaba_ or _kebla_, a sacred stone in the
center of the temple at Mecca, over which is a lofty building, from
which the name is by some said to be derived--Caaba, high. Mr.
Ferguson, in his account of "The Holy Sepulcher," thus describes it:
"The precept of the Koran is, that all men, when they pray, shall turn
toward the _kaaba_, or holy house, at Mecca; and consequently
throughout the Moslem world, indicators have been put up to enable the
Faithful to fulfill this condition. In India they face west, in
Barbary east, in Syria south. It is true that when rich men, or k