Smyrna times., 1899-05-24
A PRICELESS RELIC.
THE FAMOUS BLACK STONE OF THE
TEMPLE OF MECCA

i"iS treasure of Islam Appears
at the Present Day and the Vorious
Theories of Its Origin-Guaraed Inv
MOhammedans
So carefully is the black stone of tba
temple OF Mecca guarded. even to this
uay' that the accounts given by different
writers as to the nature and appearance
OF the black stone exhibit some consid.
cradle variations, for orthodox Mussul-
mans cannot be prevailed upon to give
straightforward description of if and
mere adventures, like the several En-
ropean hadjis (Burckhardt, Burton and
the others) could only crafty their in
'elllSent curiosity by stealthy investi
! 9auons. Detection in the act of pursu
ing Such investigation would have cost
the travellers their lives, in pursuance
vas 1ohammedans suppOsc) of the law
OF the prophet. Your faithful Mussul-
man cannot understand that auv other
motive than worship should lead anv
one to visit Mecca.
Inc MOhammedans believe that This
FAMOUS stone was brought down from
heaven by angels. 1t is set in the wall
OF the Caaba, which stands within the
great colonnade. The stone is four foet
nine inches from the ground and il
kissed and touched with great vener-
alton by every pilgrim to Mecca.
Mr.. Bate mentions what intellioent
travellers have recorded concerning the
nature of the black stone. One of them
tells MS that it is undoubtedly a LARGE
aerollte-an opinion which scarcely
harmonlzes with its reputed quality Of
hoatlng III water, since aerolites usua1Iv
contain a large percentage of heavy
metallic matter, such as iron pvrites.
Another traveller reports that if looks
like piece Of lava, containing small
eXtraneous particles of some white and
yellowish substance
Still another of these authorities
attirms that it is fragment of volcanic /
oasalt, srrlnkled throughout its surface |
with small, pointed, colored crystals and |
varied with felspar upon dark ground |
IKE coal, excepting one of its protuher.
ances. which happens to be little red.
dish
Others. again, claiming an equal title
to exact knowledge, give it as their
opinion that it is nothing else than an
ordinary piece of stone from quarries in
Whlch the Meccan territory abounds
These last mentioned travellers. how.
ever appear to overlook the circum.
stance that this opinion of theirs does
not take due cOgnizance of that proper-
W OF the stone to which we have lust
alluded and also the circumstance that
The only kind of stone yielded bv the
quarries is sort of gray gran.
te.
Not SO difficult is it to form an idea
IS 10 It's size and present appearance
N form 1t Is an irregular oval, the in
equality of its two longer sides impart
hS 10 1t a somewhat semicircular ap-
1t measures about inches
n height and in breadth, the Diane.
er on Its lower and wider side being
'12 inches. The surface is protuberant
md somewhat knobby or unduIating
md has the appearance of being COM
losed of number Of smaller stones of
-lflerent sizes and shapes. securely fit
ed together with cement and perfectly
mOOth
Its appearance is as though the orig
nal piece Of stone had been broken to
leces by violent blow and then re- ,
aired And. as a matter of fact this !
ppears to be the true explanation of :
his lrregularlty of the surface for il is
ecorded by the Arabian historians of :
ne Caaba that in the year Alb OF the !;
IaJlra an emissary of certain Egvp- :,
an khallfa, known as "the Mad Khali-
Hakim. shattered it to pieces by a
roke of club, and they relate that
tier TINS event the pieces and even the T.
ast also were carefully restored and 4
le fragments cemented together. -
Inc protuberances mentioned are 9 .
10 IN number and are such as to i'm h
lrt to the surface of the stone mus- :,
liar or pebbly appearance. Near the q
lddle there is hollow which reaches 6,
about as much as two inches below -
e outer edge of the stone and is of a :.
nj to suggest to the visitor the sur NJ
lse that one of the protuberances NAV u
i've been removed -
The color of the surface of the relic is 6,
the present time a deep reddish h,
Cwn. or, as some have described il. a -,
etallic black, and. notwithstanding h.
g polished appearance impaired to it p
the constant touching of unnumber- n
myriads of devotees, it yet bears on II
undulatlng surface what appear to ~
evident marks of volcanic origin.
These muscular protuberances, how
er, are attributed by the Moslem au- NJ
critics to the incessant oscillations m
d rubbings of the faithful The OK
may perhaps be attributable an
this cause, but the obviously frac- er
red and pebbly appearance is not ac- as
lnted for in this way.-Asiatic Quar- nj
ly 70,