ings,
built mosques, they frequently covered the face of this wall with
arcades, to shelter the worshiper from the sun or rain. They inclosed
it in a court that his meditations might not be disturbed by the
noises of the outside world. They provided it with fountains, that he
might perform the required ablutions before prayer. But still the
essential part of the mosques is the _mihrab_ or niche, which points
toward Mecca, and toward which, when he bows, the worshiper knows that
the _kaaba_ also is before him." The holy house erected over the
_kaaba_ was decorated annually with rich tapestries and a deep golden
band, at the cost of the caliphs.]

I saw a little carpet laid down like those we have to kneel upon when
we say our prayers, and a comely young man sat on this carpet, with
great devotion reading the Koran, which lay before him on a desk. At
this sight I was transported with admiration. I wondered how it came
to pass that he should be the only living creature in a town where
all the people were turned into stone, and I do not doubt but there
was something in the circumstance very extraordinary.

The door being only half shut I opened it, went in, and standing
upright before the niche, I exclaimed, "Bismillah![33] Praise be to
God." The young man turned toward me, and, having saluted me, inquired
what had brought me to this desolate city. I told him in a few words
my history, and I prayed him to tell me why he alone was left alive in
the midst of such terrible desolation. At these words he shut the
Koran, put it into a rich case, and laid it in the niche. Then he thus
addressed me:

[Footnote 33: Bismillah. All the chapters of the Koran, except nine,
begin with this word. Its meaning is, "In the name of the merciful
God." It is said to be frequently used in conversation by the
Arabs.--Sale's _Preliminary Dissertation_, p. 153.]

"Know that this city was the metropolis of a mighty kingdom, over
which the sultan, who was my father, reigned. That prince, his whole
court, the inhabitants of the city, and all his other subjects, were
magi, worshipers of fire instead of God.

"But though I was born of an idolatrous father and mother I had the
good fortune in my youth to have a nurse who was a good Mussulman,
believing in God and in His prophet. 'Dear Prince,' would she
oftentimes say, 'there is but one true God; take heed that you do not
acknowledge and adore any other.' She taught me to read Arabic, and
the book