Page:The Six Voyages of John Baptista Tavernier.djvu/59
get in to this Court, especially such whose Habits and Aspect they do not like: But as I cloth'd and carry'd my self, I never was deny'd entrance into any place either in Persia or India.
In this first Court, on the left hand as you enter, are little Chambers, where they that receive the Alms which by the Foundation of the Mosquee are to be distributed every day, come and eat their proportion, and then go their ways. Those Chambers serve as an Asylum to those that cannot pay their Debts, as at the Mosquee of Ardeüil. Neither are these Priviledg'd places like ours, where they that retire must live at their own Charge: For in Persia they are fed at the Expence of the Mosquee; and being in that manner freed from Care, their Friends more easily bring their Creditors to Composition.
Out of the first Court you pass into a second, which is larger, and all pav'd; and from that into a third, which is square, and rais'd like a Terrass. You enter into it through a large Gate, at the end of an open Passage, where stand the Lodgings of the Moullah's.
Out of that Court by an ascent of Brickwork of ten or twelve Steps, you enter into a fair Court, which is also rais'd like a Terras; in the midst whereof is a fair Fountain. It is continually fill'd by little Pipes of Water which run into it, and is empty'd by others that carry the Water into several parts of the whole Enclosure. There are some Buildings in this Court, but one of the sides of it is taken up with the Front of the Mosquee, which is no displeasing Structure. There are three large Gates belong to it, very well expanded, according to the mode of the Country; with a Brick-wall before, about the height of a Man, with Holes in it for Light, made like a Lozange. The Threshold of the middle Gate is cover'd with a plate of Silver; and between these three Gates and that of the Duomo, are several Doctors, that hold Books in their hands, and read perpetually.
This Mosquee is Octagonal, and at every angle is a small wooden Door of Walnut-tree, varnish'd with grey and yellow. The Tomb of Sidi-Fatima is at the farther part of the Mosquee, there being only room for one Man to pass between the Wall and the Tomb. It is encompass'd with a large Silver Grate, sixteen Foot square; the Bars whereof are round, and knob'd in those places where they cross each other; it is lighted by several Lamps of Gold and Silver: which altogether is very pleasing to the Eye. The inside of the Mosquee, to the elevation of the Angles that support the Duomo, is compos'd of square Tiles varnish'd over with divers Colours; and the Cupola of the Duomo, as also the Vault of the Portico of the Mosquee, is a Moresco piece of Painting in Or and Azure. Upon each side of the Mosquee, and near the side where the Tomb of Sidi-Fatima stands, appears a great Hall, where the Royal Alms are distributed to the Poor, which consist of Pilaw and other diet, very well drest. From this Tomb you turn to the left hand toward an Ascent, distant five and twenty or thirty Paces; and at the top of this Ascent is a Door, over which there an is Inscription in Honour of Sha-Abas the Second. The Door being open'd, shews you the place where the Body of that King reposes: and through another Door with a Grate in it, you may discover, under a small Duomo, the Tomb of Sha-Sefi his Father; which is cover'd with a Carpet of Cloth of Gold. They were continually at work upon the Tomb of Sha-Abas, which they said, they would make very famous.
I had not been two hours in Kom, but a multitude of People ran by the Inn Gate, all in extraordinary hast. Asking what the matter was, they answer'd me, that it had been a day long design'd for the two Prophets to fight. Thereupon I went to the Piazza, which was so crowded, that I had much ado to get to see. In the first place a sufficient number of Tumblers and Puppet-players, divided into two Bands, kept the middle of the Piazza, and made a sufficient Ring for the Combat. Each Band held a Bull by the Horns, one of which they call'd Mahomet, and the other Haly: and whether it were by accident, or by the cunning of the Bull-Masters, after an obstinate Combat, wherein the Beasts foam'd again with heat and rage; Mahomet at length quit the Field, and yielded Haly the Victory. Then all the People shouted for joy, and all the Piazza was fill'd with the noise of Flutes and Hautboys; and every one coming as if it were to adore Haly, cry'd out, Behold the Works of God, that Haly has made! At length they bring the Bull Haly under a Gate, with his Head turn'd toward the People; where after theyhave