Note Note VI — NOTES ON CHAPTER II.

At the first entry of Omar into the city he was conducted by the Patriarch Sophronius to visit the Holy Sepulchre. Whilst he was lingering there, mid-day struck, whereupon the Khalif went out to perform his devotions, and retired to the place where afterwards the little mosque was built;—a remarkable instance of moderation on the part of the Khalif, seeing that, if he had prayed in the Christian church, it would by Mohammedan law have been converted into a mosque. It is owing to this that the sons of Islam have left it to the Christian worship. The adjoining minaret was built by the Mohammedans at the expense of the Christians in the 13th century.