They are upon Mount Moriah, where King Solomon's Temple stood.

This Mosque is the holiest place the Mohammedan knows, outside of Mecca.

Up to within a year or two past, no Christian could gain admission to it or its court for love or money.

But the prohibition has been removed, and we entered freely for bucksheesh.
I need not speak of the wonderful beauty and the exquisite grace and symmetry that have made this Mosque so celebrated--because I did not see them.

One can not see such things at an instant glance--one frequently only finds out how really beautiful a really beautiful woman is after considerable acquaintance with her; and the rule applies to Niagara Falls, to majestic mountains and to mosques--especially to mosques.
The great feature of the Mosque of Omar is the prodigious rock in the centre of its rotunda.