Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-03-25
TINE Back STONE OF ISLAM.
Us Appearances and The Various lhseriss Of III
Origin.

So carefully is the black stone of the
Temple of Mecca guarded. even to this
day. that the accounts given by differ
ent writer's as to the nature and ap-
pearance of the black stone exhibit
some considerable variations; for or
thodox Mussulmans cannot be pre-
vailed upon to give IA straightforward
description of it, and mere adventure
crs. like the several Europeans Halls
Burckhardt. Burton. and the othcrs)
| could only crafty their intelligent
curiosity by stealthy Investigations.
Detection in the act of pursuing such
investigation would have cost the
travellers their lives, in pursuance Gas
Mahometans suppose) of the law Of
the prophet. Your faithful Mussulman
cannot understand that any other mo-
| tive than worship should lead any one
to visit Mecca. 81
Mr.. Bate mentions what intelligent
| travellers have recorded concerning the
| nature of the black stone. One of
| them tells us that it is undoubtedly a
large aerOlite-an opinion which
scarcely harmonizes with it's reputed
! quality of floating in water. since
aerolites usually contain a large per-
centage of heavy metallic matter, such
as iron pyrites. Another traveller re-
ports that it looks like a piece of lava,
containing small eXtraneous particles
of some white and yellowish substance.
Still another of these authorities
affirms that 1t is a fragment of VOL
canic basalt, sprinkled throughout its
surface with small pointed colored
crystals. and varied with felspar upon
a dark ground, like coal-eXcepting one
of its protuberances. which happens 70
be little reddish. Others. again.
claiming an equal title to exact knowl-
edge. give it as their opinion that it is
nothing else than an ordinary piece Of
stone from quarries in which the Nee
can territory abounds. These last
mentioned travellers, however. appear
to overlook the circumstance that this
opinion Of theirs does not take due
cogniZance of that property of the
stone to which we have just alluded,
and also the circumstance that the
only kind of stone yielded by the Nee
can quarries is a sort of gray granite.
| Not SO difficult is it to form an idea
as to it's size and present appearance.
In form it is an irregular oval. the in
equality of its two longer sides impart-
ing to it a somewhat semicircular APP
pearance. 1t measures about six
inches in height and eight III breadth.
the diameter on its lower and wider
side being eight inches and Il half.
The surface is protubcrant and some
what knobby or undulating, and has
the appearance OF being composed of
a number of smaller stones of different
sizes and shapes. securely fitted to-
gether with cement and perfectly
smooth. It's appearance is as though
the original piece of stone had been
broken to pieces by violent blow and
then repaired. And as matter of
fact. this appears to be the true ex-
PLANTATION of this irregularty of the
surface for it is recorded by the
Arabian historians of the Ka'ba that
in the year 4l3 of the Hajira an ennis
sary of a certain Egyptian Khalifa,
known as the mad Khalifa Hakim,
shattered it to pieces by a stroke of a
club: and they relate that. after this
event. the pieces. and even the dust
Also were carefully restored, and the
fragments cemented together.
The protuberances mentioned are ].
or IL in number. and are such as to
|
muscular or pebbly appearance. Near
the middle there is a hollow which
reaches to about as much as two inches
below the outer edge of the stone. anu
is of a~kind to suggest to the visitor
the surmise that one of the protuber-
ances may nave been removed. The
color of the surface of the relic is at
the present time deep reddish brown
| or. as some have described it. a metal
lie black: and notwithstanding the
polished appearance impaired to it by
the constant touching of unnumbered
myriads of devotees. it yet bears on its
undulating surface what appears to be
evident marks of volcanic origin
These muscular protuberances, how
ever. are attributed by the MOslem
authorities to the incessant oscillations
and rubbings of the faithful The
smoothness may perhaps be atribut-
table to this cause. but the obviously
fractured and pebbly appearance is not
accounted for in this way.