Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/248

232 gloomy appearance of dead walls. All the buildings, both public and private, are constructed of furnace-burnt bricks, of a yellowish-red colour, taken chiefly from the ruins of other edifices, as their rounded angles evidently show. A house is generally laid out in ranges of apartments opening into a square interior court, and furnished with subterranean rooms called serdaubs, into which the inhabitants retreat during the day for shelter from the intense heats of summer; and with terraced roofs, on which they take their evening meal, and sleep in the open air. Occasionally in the months of June, July, and August, when the Sherki or south wind is blowing, the thermometer at break of day is known to stand at 112º Fahr.; while at noon it rises to 119º, and a little before two o clock to 122º, standing at sunset at 117º, and at midnight at 114º. But this scale of temperature is exceptional. During the summer months the wind is usually in the north-west, and the air, though hot, is fresh and exhilarating, the thermometer ranging from about 75º at sunrise to 107º at the hottest time of the day. The interiors of the houses of the rich are splendidly furnished, and ornamented in the ceilings with a sort of chequered work, which has a handsome appearance. A great portion of the ground within the walls of the town is unoccupied by buildings, especially in the north-eastern quarter; and even in the more populous parts of the city near the river, a considerable space between the houses is occupied by gardens, where pomegranates, grapes, figs, olives, and dates grow in great abundance, so that the city when seen from a distance has the appearance of rising out of the midst of trees. EB9 Ground-Plan of the Enceinte of Baghdad.png Ground-Plan of the Enceinte of Baghdad. Reduced from Survey made by Commander F. Jones and Mr W. Collingwood of the Indian Navy, 1853-54. The principal public buildings in Baghdad are the mosques, the khans or caravanserais, and the serai or palace of the pasha. The palace, which is situated in the north-western quarter of the town, not far from the Tigris, is distinguished rather for extent than grandeur. It is a comparatively modern structure, built at different periods, and forming a large and confused pile, without proportion, beauty, or strength. There are no remains of the ancient palace of the caliphs. In all Mahometan cities the mosques are conspicuous objects. The number in Baghdad is above 100; but of these not more than thirty are distinguished by the characteristic minarets or steeples, the rest being merely chapels and venerated places of prayer. The most ancient of these mosques was erected in the 633, or  of the, by the Caliph Mustansir. All that remains of the original building is the minaret, and a small portion of the outer walls; the former a short heavy erection, of the most ungraceful proportions, built of bricks of various colours, diagonally crossed. The jamah or mosque of Merjaneeah, not far distant from the former, though the body of it is modern, has some remains of old and very rich arabesque work on its surface, dating from the 14th century. The door is formed by a lofty arch of the Pointed form, bordered on both sides by rich bands exquisitely sculptured, and having numerous inscriptions. The mosque of Khaseki, supposed to have been an old Christian church, is chiefly distinguished by the niche for prayer, which, instead of a simple and unadorned recess, is crowned by a Roman arch, with square pedestals, spirally fluted shafts, a rich capital of flowers, and a fine fan or shell-top in the Roman style. Around the arch is a sculptured frieze; and down the centre, at the back of the niche, is a broad band, richly sculptured with vases, flowers, &c., in the very best style of workmanship,—the whole executed on a white marble ground. The building in its present state bears the date of 1682, but the sculptures which it contains belong probably to the time of the early