The actual mosque, or "praying-hall," is said to be formed of a
rectangle or double cube of 90 metres by 45, and this vast space is
equally divided by rows of horseshoe arches resting on whitewashed piers
on which the lower part is swathed in finely patterned matting from
Salé. Fifteen monumental doorways lead into the mosque. Their doors are
of cedar, heavily barred and ornamented with wrought iron, and one of
them bears the name of the artisan, and the date 531 of the Hegira (the
first half of the twelfth century). The mosque also contains the two
halls of audience of the Cadi, of which one has a graceful exterior
façade with coupled lights under horseshoe arches; the library, whose
20,000 volumes are reported to have dwindled to about a thousand, the
chapel where the Masters of the Koran recite the sacred text in
fulfilment of pious bequests; the "museum" in the upper part of the
minaret, wherein a remarkable collection of ancient astronomical
instruments is said to be preserved; and the _mestonda_, or raised hall
above the court, where women come to pray.

But the crown of El Kairouiyin is the Merinid court of ablutions. This
inaccessible wonder lies close under the Medersa Attarine, one of the
oldest and most beautiful collegiate buildings of Fez, and through the
kindness of the Director of Fine Arts, who was with us, we were taken up
to the roof of the Medersa and allowed to look down into the enclosure.

It is so closely guarded from below that from our secret coign of
vantage we seemed to be looking down into the heart of forbidden things.
Spacious and serene the great tiled cloister lay beneath us, water
spilling over from a central basin of marble with a cool sound to which
lesser fountains made answer from under the pyramidal green roofs of the
twin pavilions. It was near the prayer-hour, and worshippers were