The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1892-12-22
THE HOLY CITY,"
A Description of Mecca, Its
Streets and Buildings.
Vast Numbers of Pilgrims
Visit 1t Annually.

Mecca, the city to which Moham-
medan worshipers make annual pill
grimage in vast numbers, is described
by Charles Dudley Warner in Har-
pers Magazine. We quote from the
article as follows.
Mecca, sometimes called Om-el Ko-
IA CHE mother of towns), lies i'll
narrow sandy valley running north
and south, among barren hills from
two hundred to live hundred feet in
height, about folty-siX miles from the
Red Sea port Of Jcdda. In Burck-
hardt's time the town, including the
suburbs, occupied the broader part of
the little valley, extended up the
slopes, was not more than three thou
sand five hundred PAGES in length, and
had an estimated stationary popula-
| ton of thirty three thousand; the per-
manent residents are probably now
about forty-live thousand.
1t is described by Burckhardt as a
| handsome town, the streets broader
than usual iu Orientalaeitcs. The
| houses are built of gray stone, many
of them three stories high, with VIM
dows opening on the street; many
windows project from the wall and
have elaborately carved and gaudily
painted frame work. The houses are
built, as usual in the East, about
courts, with terraces protected by
parapets, and most of them are con-
strncted for the accommodation Of
dodgers, so that the pilgrims can have
convenient access to their separate
I apartments. The town, in fact, is
greatly modified to minister to the
great influx of strangers in the annual
Hadji. Ordinary houses have apart
ments for them, the streets are broad
| to give room for the crowd of pill
grims, and the innovation of outer
windows is to give the visitors a
chance to see the procession.
The city lies open on all sides; it
has few trees, and no fine buildings
except the great mosque. 1t is not
we'll supplied with water, and in the
height of the pilgrimage this fluid be-
comes scarce and dear. The wells are
brackish, and there are few cisterns
for collecting rainy water. 1t is true
that the flow of tho holy we'll Zem-
zem in the mosque is copious enough
to supply the town, but there is
prejudice against using the water for
common purposes, and besides, it is
heavy and bad for digestion. The
best water is brought III an aqueduct
from the vicinity of Arafat, six or
seven hours distant, but the conduit is
in bad repair and uncleaned, and this
supply often gets low. The streets
are unpaved, and rs the country is
subject to heavy rains, alternating
with scorching heat, they are always
either excessively muddy or intolera-
bly, dusty.
The fervent heat of the town is al
ways contrasted with the GOODNESS of
the elevated city of Medina. Moham-
med said that he who had endured the
cold of Medina and the heat of Mecca
merited the reward of paradise. Sud-
den and copious storms of rain fire.
quently deluge Mecca; sometimes the
whole town is submerged, houses are
swept away and lives lost, and water
has stood in the mosque enclosure as
high as the black stone in the kaaba.
Although Burckhardt says he enjoyed
his stay there and was very comforta-
Bile (the lladj that year was in No
vcmber), his experience is not that of
most pilgrims. = -[Iiarper's Magazine.