Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-11-15
MECCA AND MEDINA.
THE CITY OF THE KAABA AND THE SITE
OF M0HAMMED's TOMB.
Disguised Infidels'-Miseries of a
Pilgrims Life.
From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

From the St. Louis Globe Democrat.
All true believers are required, once il
lifetime at least, to make the pilgrimage
to Mecca and Medina To Mohammed
ans three cities are sacred-Mecca, the
Prophets birthplace; Medina, the place
of his tomb, and Jerusalem, the scene o
Christ's labors and suferings; for, to the
Mohammedaus, Christ is prophet only
less esteemed than Mohammed himself
Pilgrimages to Jerusalem are not incul
Gated by the law of Mohammedanism, but
pilgrimages to the other two holy cities
are indispensable to Moslem salvation
They are made as often as possible, but
must be made at least once, although, to
be sure, it is asserted by some Moham-
medan doctrinaires that one may be saved
without having made the pilgrimage; but
the risk is too great, so every one of the
faithful makes special point as early as
possible in his career of "doing" the holy
cities.
Mecca was holy for ages before the time
of Mohammed, and even before the Chris
tan era. Arabs from all parts of the
peninsula made pilgrimages thither, to
the great temple which stood on the site
of the famous Mohammedan Mosque. The
temple was filled with idols, there being,
it is said by some writers, not less than 700
images in the temple, which, however,
were all destroyed by order of the Prophet,
who continued the pilgrimages and allowed
| the Moslems still to reverence the Kaaba,
which is therefore the only relic of pagan
ism to be seen In Mecca. He thus made it
an exclusively Mohammedan city; SO ex-
elusive, in fact, that it would be polluted
even by the presence of an infidel.
| Three notable in6dels have, however, at
different times visited the Holy City
Burckhardt in 1918, Burton in 1852, and
Nathan in 1662-all of whom, disguised
as Mohammedans, made the pilgrimage,
and each wrote out his experience for the
| ten years ago the Khedive of Egypt made
the tour of the holy cities, and the French
papers secured correspondents among the
| Egyptian Mohammedans who accompanied
this prince, and thus for the first time OBJ
tanned reliable material for illustrating
! these notable and hitherto unknown spots.
Numbers of photographs were brought
back by an amateur Mohammedan pho
tographer, and thus the pictorial informa
ton we have concerning Mecca and Me
dina is as reliable as photography can
make it. OF course, neither of the three
travellers mentioned could bring back with
| him sketches Of the localities he visited,
since it was as much as a mans life was
worth in those places to be seen doing any
thing so civilized as sketching; so the
information gained by means of the pho
tographs is at once unique and inter-
esting.
Mecca is situated in the heart of Arabia,
about sixty-fve miles from Jeddah, its port
on the Red Sea. The city is located in
valley, and from gate to gate is about two
and one-half miles long by over half
mile wide to the foothills on either side.
| The houses are described as superior to
most of those in other parts of Arabia;
| three, and even four stories are common,
and, what is remarkable in an Oriental
town, the windows open on the streets.
The furniture is also much better than is
common in the East, but both windows
ers, for Mecca is as much a city of board
ng-houses as Washington. The streets
are broad, but unpaved; in summer are
dusty, in winter muddy, and the only pub
lie building Of any consequence in Mecca
is the great Mosque. The Mosque is COM
posed of mass of buildings surrounding
! an extensive court. The buildings COM
| prise apartments for the Governor and
other officials of the Mosque, and for the
swarm of minor servants, eunuchs and
| slaves who care for the buildings and
grounds, and barracks for the guards
Within the buildings is a colonnade run
ming entirely round the interior court. 1t
is said that upwards Of 800 columns, from
Is to 20 feet high, are comprised within
this structure. Every four columns sup
port an arch surmounted by a dome. and
| the columns themselves are of all sorts of
stone, being the gift of princes and the
plumber of temples, ancient and modern.
Side by side may be seen column of
porphyry or malachite from Byzantine
| church, sent as present by the Sultan to
the great Mosque, and columns of marble
stolen from the Greek temples on the
Acropolis.
Here are columns brought from Jeru-
salem, from Palmyra, from Babylon, from
| Egypt, even some of Spanish architecture,
and owing to the ignorance Of the builders,
placed upside down. from Spanish churches
| in Cordova Walls and arches are painted
in gaudy stripes of yellow, white and blue,
| so that the interior presents a singularly
brilliant appearance. In the center Of the
court is the Kaaba, cubical structure Sc
feet long, IS feet wide, and 40 feet high
1t is of gray granite, and the present edi-
fee was built in the seventeenth century
on the site, and of the materials, of one
which was destroyed by flood shortly be-
fore. 1t is said that the building has been
often renewed, but no matter how fire.
quently rebuilt, one portion is always, and
has always been, the same-the black stone
in one angle which gives its name to the
structure. This Kaaba-for the stone is
known by the same name as the building
is believed to have fallen from heaven.
Burckhardt says it looked like piece of
lava; Burton declared it to be an aerolite;
but whichever it is, it is worn smooth by
the lips and hands of Innumerable wor-
shippers. The building itself is covered
with pail of black silk embroidered with
texts from the Koran. This cover is re-
! neWed once every year, or upon the acces-
sion of new Sultan, and very important
articles of export from Mecca are the bits
Of the old covers, which, cut into pieces
about six inches square, are each sold for
about 81 of our money, an enormous price
in Arabia, where everything is cheap. A
Sultan, on his accession to the throne,
makes a present OF new cover to the
Kaaba, and as the receipts from selling the
old covers are the perquisites of the Off
Gals of the Mosque, they are rarely slow
to remind the Prince Of his duty in this
regard.
As soon as the pilgrim arrives in Mecca,
and even before he secures lodgings or at
tends to any secular duties whatever, he
visits the mosque and there recites certain