In the north-west corner of the Plan[438] is the mosque of Ibrahim, situated in the interior of the _Kanki_, called the Hospice of Saladin; because he richly endowed it to enable it to entertain the Mohammedan pilgrims to the Holy City; and at the same time erected the minaret, which is still standing, and restored the entrance-gate. During the time of the Crusaders it was the palace of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, whence the adjoining street is called Patriarch's Street. The lower parts of its walls on the north and west are ancient and strongly built; but the upper as well as the interior of the building, have greatly suffered from wretched Arab alterations, so that it is difficult to form any idea of its former internal plan. In the Christian bazaar on the west the wall throughout its whole height and the pilasters are unquestionably of the date of the Crusades, together with the chambers within on the ground-floor and story above; as is proved by their pointed arches, with the columns and capitals supporting them. They are now used as storehouses for the grain received by the governor: and as the Hospice has no longer any revenues, it will before long become the property of one of the Christian communities. The staircase inside at the north entrance is the only part of the building that retains its former grandeur uninjured. Let us now turn our attention to the Hospital. The visitor, on quitting the court in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by the door at the south-east corner, enters a small street[439], and passing along this to the east, comes, after a few yards, to a great doorway with a semicircular arch, standing on the south side of the way, and adorned with figures representing the twelve months of the year; above the arch some traces of a lamb, the emblem of the Hospitalers of Jerusalem, can still be distinguished[440]. This gateway is now walled up, and very much hidden by the accumulated earth; and before the year 1858 it was impossible for any one to go along that way without suffering from nausea, besides wetting his feet with the foul mire, and encountering a pack of savage hungry dogs that haunted the place--nuisances caused by a tannery. The court within and the buildings round it were as bad as the street; so that the place was hardly fit to be visited, being covered with carcases of animals and the most abominable filth. The inhabitants of Jerusalem are indebted to Surraya Pasha for the removal of this pestiferous evil; and the Christians above all, who have thus obtained a decent approach to their principal Sanctuary; and can visit, not the prison of S. Peter, as the ignorant guides call it, but the remains of the time of the Amalfi merchants and the Knights Hospitaler of S. John; of which I will now give a brief account.