The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-11-15
THE MECCA PILGRIMAGE.
Cerils of a Journey Undertaken by Tens of
Thousands Every Year.

/ V.eElIS OF a Journey Cnueft0ken Dy lenS OF
! Thousands Every Year.
Fanaticism leads the millions of the
Orient through feats of pilgrimage and
penance that we of the western world
shudder even to hear about. One of
the perilous demonstrations of Islam
ism is the great pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Inhabitants of Mecca live crowd
ed together. and surround their homes
with refuse and filth and foul the water
supply. Among the religious ordinan-
ces which to the Mohammedans are
commands is that of pilgrimage to
Mecca. From Turkey from a belt of
country extending eastward across
Asia to the farthest confines OF Malay,
and from the whole of Africa, pilgrims
set out every year, turning their steps
toward Mecca, in obedience to this
command. Some fall sick by the way.
many die; from about $4,000 to over
10000 each year attain their end;
months and sometimes years have been
devoted to the task, and sufferings and
hardships undergone which it would be
difficult to describe.
While Mecca may be we'll enough
suited to the inhabitants IN ordinary
times, it is not in any way prepared for
the strain which comes npon it during
such as cholera be introduced it
straightway spreads like wildfire The
constant cause is the drinking of chol-
era polluted water
Not long ago a cable dispatch told of
pilgrimage of 10, 600 persons, of whom
more than onehalf never returned, hav-
ing died by the way of cholera The
proceedings of the pilgrims and the
way they live also tend to the spread
of the disease. The march to
Arafat, the night spent there in de-
votion or in the crowded coffee
booths, the stand by the Hill of
Mercy, the rush to Nina, the sacrifices,
the fearful stencil from the thousands
of slaughtered animals, the tawaf or
seven-fold circuit of the sanctuary,
each of the many thousand pilgrims
kissing the black stone as he passes
the blazing heat, the intolera BILE thirst,
the religious fervor wnich leads them
to accept everything as holy which be-
longs to Mecca. all drive the unfortu
nate pilgrims to the consumption of
the vilest fluids under the name of
water.
One incident of the pilgrimage is the
washing of the pilgrims at the reputed
''Hagar's WELL of Mecca, where it is
supposed she drew water for her SON
Ishmael. At the best of times there is
but little water in the well, and the
pilgrims swarm around it. Every one
wishes to drink of and to battle in
these reputed miraculous waters. Each
pilgrim in turn. stripped to the waist.
of water is poured over him: of this he
eagerly drinks as it flows from the
bucket, the rest flowing over his naked
body. soaking through his loin cloth
and streaming back into the well to be
used again. His place is Immediately
taken by another and another. and so
on. each drinking the washings OF the
rest.
One day this year there were 900
deaths in Mecca. and from June to
June - there were ,a0l deaths. that is
in seventeen days. When we consider
what is done at this well alone these
figures are not to be wondered at.
When the pilgrimage is over the road
side for dozen miles is strewn with
the dead bodies of the faithful. killed
by draught OF dirty water after all
the difficulties and dangers the unfor-
tunate people had overcome--Chicago
Herald