The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1892-08-19
THE MECCA PILGRIM
IMPOSING ANNUAL CERE
OF THE MoHAMME wO
Hordes of Pilgrims on Their v
the "Holy City"-Scenes of
tuition and Death.

THE pilgrimage to Mecca
occurs every year in &
month which the \
medans call Ramadam is,
religious as we'll as a sanitary
view, one Of the problems with VIII
civilized world will eventually b
deal. Every year it adds new fuel
,fanaticism that seeks by the conq,
the interior Of the African contin
maintain the slave trade, and
means of infection by which is di
mated that most deadly of cpl
scourges, the cholera. The faitt
all parts Of the Mohappedap wor
tain t,and the two pf1ncipaLA
rulers-the Khedive Of Egypt "a,
Sultan Of Turkey-lend it count
in order to maintain their authorit
their subjects and their moral SUPP
among the followers of the prop
general. The Khedive sends AM
with imposing ceremony, conse
carpet, and the Sultan quan
valuable presents, accompanied
magnificent cortege.
Access to the holy city is easier
in former times. Mecca is six
miles from Jeddah on the Red Sc
Is most easily approached by this
The Mohammedans of Morocco, AL
Tunisia, Tripoli aud the north Of
go to Jeddah by steamer when til,
afford it, or find their way to tt
Sea 10y caravan. Those from the
of the Sahara, from the Soudan,
interior OF Africa follow general.
caravan routes to Suakim, Massow
other ports on the western shore
Red Sea, whence they cross to J
in dhows. The Mohammedans
India come by the French, Engl
German steamers that connect Z
with the far East, bringing the ger
the cholera in their filthy gart
There are four other principal rout,
sides that of Jeddah, which are en-
overland. These lead from YEN
Southwestern Arabia, from Neid
Persian Gulf, from Persia aud fror
north of Syria. The Persian route
to the north of Nejd. The gifts
Sultan start from Damascus and
south through Palestine into Al
where the caravan has the protecti,
several subsidized tribes. To this ca
are generally joined the Kurds, 7
Albauians and Syrians. The y
caravan sets out from the city of s
The pilgrims of meaus travel
o"'A>.a o. h"raas and GO we'll pro
for the journey, but the, are a
with the caravans great number oI
sons in such stat. OF destitution
they are obliged TO live entirely by
given by their fellow travellers with
or less willingness while their own s
last. These poor wretches are the
fanatic believers. Even under the
favorable circumstances their bones
the desert for the entire length O
route. An unbeliever who had
audacity to unite himself to a ca
would be detected and assassinated
before reaching Mecca, unless like
ton. he were thoroughly acquainted
the language of some Mohamn
country and with Mohammedau Gus
aud religious rites. When the multi
brought by all these caravans have
verged at Mecca,a "a city badly provisic
whose water, naturally bad, is pol
by the presence of such fifty hordes
jected to no sanitary regulations, '
the heat during the Ramadam MOI
always intolerable, the misery is
scribable and the mortality exec
.evsn in seasons considered hea
When the cholera prevails Mecca is
ply II charnel-house, and what pas;
only known to the Christian worl
the chance reports Of more intell
pilgrims which find their way int
European papers.
When all the rites and ceremonies
acted of every faithful pilgrim
been conscientiously performed at
holy city those who have not
cumbed to heat, fatigue or disease
their faces homeward, carrying
them usually tie germs Of some disa
able or dangerous disorder, au,
variably in their hearts a more fero
hatred of the iuhdel. la Persia
fanaticism finds vent in revolts dir
against the Shah, who Is accuse
being too favorable to the Christian
Turkey in a general opposition to TO
Influence, in Algeria in threatened
surrection against the authority of
French, in the Soudan in the !
tenlnce Of the slave trade. IL is OF
traffic that Christianity and Mo
mechanism will finally have to join i
1t is only Mohammedanism that
tains slavery. Its strongbolds al
Morocco and Arabic, to supply v
harems Tippu TIb and other trade
Arab descent, or natives converte'
the Mohammedan invasion, make
razzias and decimate the African tt
This question of interest renders
problems arising from tho relation
Christianity to the followers OF
hammel much more difficult of solu
The Mecca pilgrimage bids fair to
its part this year as usual in spre'
the cholera, which has appeared in vi
epidemic form IN several locsliti,
India snd Central Asia.-San Fran
/ OhronicIo