Arizona republican., 1917-12-20
MECCA N0 LONGER
 TIE vEILED C|TY

WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 19.-A striking picture of Mecca the Mys- tic, capital of the new kingdom with in Arabia which was established re- gently by the grand sheriff of the Moslem faith, is contained in com munication to the National Geo graphic society from pr. s. NJ. ZWe- mer A part of the communication has been issued by the society as the following war geography bulletin;
 "Of all the provinces of Arabia, Fl Hejaz, which recently revolted against Turkish rule and set up it's own Kingdom, with the grand sheriff of Mecca as sovereign, undoubtedly has most frequent contact with the outside world, yet is the least known. Parts of it have never been eX- plored.
 "El Hejaz is so named because it forms the barrier between Tehama. the coast province on the south, and Nejd in the interior. Its sole inn portance is due to the fact that 1t contains two sacred cities Mecca and Medina, which for more than thir teen centuries have been the centers of pilgrimage for the Moslem world.
 Before the railway was completed from Damascus to Medina, the port of that city, Yenbo. was as flour ishing as Jiddah is now; but at pres ent it has almost the appearance of deserted city. The whole pilgrim traffic has been diverted. and even the caravan route from the coast to Medina is at present unsafe.
 "The importance of Mecca is not 1 due to it's resident population of per haps 100000. but to the more than 1 200, 900 pilgrims who visit it each year from every nation of Islam. Statistics are hopeIessly contradic- | tory and confusing regarding the number of annual visitors. Accord i ing to Turkish official estimates in 1907, there were no less than 2S0, : 900 pilgrims. It is marvel how so many thousands can find food, shelt- er and, most of all, drink in such a i desert city
 The religious capital of Islam, and now the temporal capital of the new kingdom of Arabia, affords an index 1 to the growth and strength of Mo- hammedanism in various parts of the world, for one can rightly gauge the strength of religious fervor in this great non-Christian faith by the number of those who go on pill grimage.
 From Java, Bengal, West Africa, Cape Colony and Russia, as well as from the most inaccessible provinces of China, they come every year and return to their native land-if they escape the hardships of travel-to tell of the greatness and glory of their faith, however much they may
 have been disappointed in the actual
 condition of the city and it's sacred
 buildings.
 When we consider Mecca. Mo
 hammed's words of prophecy in the
 second chapter of his book seem tc
 have been literally fulfilled: 50 we
 have made you the center of the
 nations that you should bear wit
 ness to men The old pagan panth
 con has become the religious sanctu- ary and the goal of universal pill
 grimage for one-seventh of the hu-
 man race.
 From Sierra Leone to Canton, ana
 from Tobolsk to Cape Town, tn,
 faithful spread their prayer carpets
 build their houses Gin fulfillmenr (.
 an important tradition, even theil
 outhousesO, and bury their dead to.
 ward the meridian of Mecca If 1ht Old World could be viewed from ar aeroplane, the observer would SC. concentric circles of living worship pers covering an overwhelming area and one would also see vast areas Q Moslem cemeteries with every gravt dug toward the sacred city
 Mecca is no longer yelled city A score of intrepid travellers have un yelled it. From Bartema, Wild. an, Joseph Pitts to Burton. Burckhardt Hurgronje, and Courtellemont, the, took their lives in their hands, ilerde; with strange companions, underwear untold hardships, and by luck an, pluck came scathless out of the lion den of Islam. According to Doughty | scarcely q pilgrimage takes piac without some persons being put t death as intruding Christians. A educated and pious Moslem here i | Cairo assured me only a few month ! ago that when he went on pilgrimag : and took pictures of the city his Iii was endangered more than ence D
 the fanaticism of the inhabitanti