Note Note XIX — NOTES TO CHAPTER III.

Khondemir, a celebrated Persian historian, who wrote in the fifteenth century, attributes the enlargement of the building to Valid. He is an author worthy of credit. He drew the materials of his history from the famous library of the Emir Aly-Schyr, a virtuoso, and a great protector of letters. The latter, in the year 904 (1498 A.D.), conferred upon him the post of librarian. He it is who tells the story of the cupola at Baalbec.