MEKKA, or Mecca, a large city of Arabia, and capital of the province of the Hcdjaz, one of the holy cities of the Mahommedans, and the annual retreat of innumerable pilgrims, celebrated all over the east as the birth place of Mahommed, and the first seat of his power. It is situated in a narrow and sandy valley, the main direction of which is from north to south; the valley is from one to seven hundred paces in breadth, and the chief part of the city is situated where the valley is broadest. The town itself covers a space of about 1500 paces in length, from the quarter called El Shebeyka, to the extremity of the Mala. But the whole extent of ground comprehended under the denomination of Mekka, from the suburb called Djeronel, where is the entrance from Djidda to the suburb called Moabede on the Tayf road, is 3500 paces. The valley in which the city is built is enclosed by mountains from 200 to 500 feet in height, and entirely barren and destitute of trees. The town is partly built on the sides of the mountains, principally of the eastern chain, where the primitive habitations of the Koreysh and the ancient town appear to have been placed. The city was formerly protected by three walls at its extremities, but they are now decayed and it is open on every side; though the neighbouring mountains form a barrier of considerable strength against an enemy. Mekka may be styled a handsome town; its streets are in general broader than those of eastern cities, which seldom allow a greater space than is required for two camels to pass. But the numerous visitors who are crowded together in this holy city during the pilgrimage render it necessary to leave afn-ple space in the streets. The houses are lofty, many of them being three stories in height, and they are built of stone; and the numerous windows that command a view of the streets give them a more lively and European aspect than the houses in most of the eastern towns, which present but few windows towards the exterior. Few of the houses are whitewashed as at Djidda, being of a dark-coloured stone which [7:14:535]is much preferable to a glaring white. Every house has its terrace, the floor of which, composed of a preparation of lime-stone, is built so as to allow the rain-water to run off through gutters into the street. These terraces are concealed from the view by slight parapet walls, as it js reckoned discreditable in the east that a man should appear upon the terrace, whence he might be accused of looking at women on the terraces of neighbouring houses, where they pass much of their time in various domestic duties, such as drying corn, hanging up linen, &c. Almost all the houses, except those belonging to the principal and richest inhabitants, are constructed for the accommodation of lodgers, being divided into many apartments, separated from each other, and each consisting of a sitting room and a small kitchen. The only public place in the body of the town is the ample square of the great mosque. No trees or gardens are interspersed amongst the houses to cheer the eye; but the scene is enlivened during the pilgrimage by the great number of well-stored shops which are found in every quarter. Mekka is more deficient in public buildings than any other eastern city of the same size; having nothing of this description excepting four or five large houses belonging to the scherif or governor, two colleges, now converted into corn magazines, and the mosque with some buildings and schools attached to it. Neither khans for the accommodation of travellers or for the deposit of merchandise, nor palaces of grandees, nor mosques, which adorn every quarter of other towns in the east, are here to be seen. This want of public edifices Burckhardt the enterprising traveller, to whose work we are indebted for this account of the holy city, ascribes to the veneration which the inhabitants entertain for their temple, to which they are averse to construct any rival edifice. The streets are all nnpaved, in consequence of which the sand and dust are blown about in summer to the great inconvenience of the passengers; and so deep is the mud during the rainy season that they are scarcely passable after a shower, as the water stagnates in the interior of the town until it is dried up. It may also be ascribed to the destructive rains, which, though of shorter duration than in tropical countries, fall with violence, that no ancient buildings are found in Mekka. Burckhardt is of opinion that there are not any houses more than four centuries old; and hence there are here no interesting specimens of architecture or any such beautiful remains of Saracenic structures as are still admired in Syria, Egypt, Barbary, and Spain. No regulations of police are enforced in Mekka as in other eastern cities. The streets are totally dark at night, no lamps of any kind being lighted; and its different quarters are without gates, differing in thisre-spect also from most eastern towns, where each quarter is regularly shut up after evening prayers. The dirt and sweepings of the houses are cast into the streets, where they add to the accumulated mass of dust or mud according to the season. Another great inconvenience, and one great cause of dirtiness and also of disease, is the scarcity of water, which is here fully as much felt as at Djidda. There are but few cisterns for collecting rain, and the well water is so brackish that it is used only for culinary purposes, except during the time of the pilgrimage, when the lowest class of the pilgrims drink it. The famous well of Zemzem in the great mosque is indeed sufficiently copious to supply the whole town, but its water is heavy to the taste and impedes digestion. The best water in Mekka is brought from a conduit in the vicinity of Arafat, about thirty miles distant. This conduit is wholly built of stone, but it is greatly neglected and has fallen into decay, so that most of the water is lost in its passage to the city through apertures, or slowly forces its way through the obstructing sediment; and hence the supply is barely sufficient in ordinary times for the use of the inhabitants, and during the pilgrimage sweet water is so scarce that a small skin pf it is often sold for thç value of a shilling, a very high price amongst the Arabs. At two places the aqueduct runs above ground, and there the water is let off into small channels and fountains, at which a toll is exacted by the slaves of the scherif for liberty to fill the water-skins; and here during the pilgrimage crowds are to be seen day and night quarelling and fighting for access to the water. When the Wahabees besieged the place they cut off this supply of water, and it was not till some time afterwards that the injury was partially repaired. There is a small spring which oozes from under the rocks behind the great palace of the scherif which affords excellent water, but it is wholly appropriated to the use of the scherif’s family. It has been already mentioned that there are few public buildings of any consequence in Mekka. The castle stands nearly on the summit of the range of mountains which enclose the town; it commands the greatest part of the city, but is itself commanded by several higher summits. The building was considerably strengthened and repaired by Ghaleb, a scherif of Mekka, who mounted it with heavy guns. It contains a large cistern and a small mosque, and might accommodate a garrison of 1000 men. It is an impregnable fortress against the attacks of Arabs, and might even offer some resistance to Europeans. The approach is by a steep and narrow path. Below the castle hill upon a small plain stands the great palace of the reigning scherif; it has high and solid walls and seems to have been intended for an out-work to the castle above it, with which, according to the reports of the Mekkawy, there is a subterranean communication. It is an irregular pile of building and comprises many spacious courts and gloomy chambers; it is now converted into a magazine of corn. The most remarkable building in Mekka is the mosque, called the Beitullah, which, however, is only remarkable on account of the Kaaba which it encloses; there being several mosques in other places of the East nearly equal to it in size, and much superior in beauty. The Kaaba is contained in an oblong square 250 paces in length, and 200 in breadth; this open square is enclosed by a quadruple row of pillars, some of white marble, granite, or porphery, but the greater part of the common stone of the Mekka mountains; these pillars are united by pointed arches, every four of which support a small dome; from the arches lamps are suspended, some of which burn every night, and the whole are regularly lighted up during the nights of Ramadan. The Kaaba is an oblong massive structure of the grey Mekka stone, eighteen paces in length, fourteen in breadth, and from thirty-five to forty feet in height; seven paved colonnades, of sufficient breadth to admit four or five persons to walk abreast, lead towards the Kaaba in the centre. At the south-east corner of the Kaaba, near the door, is the famous “black stone,” said to have been brought by the angel Gabriel to form the foundation of the edifice. It forms a sharp angle of the building, at four or five feet from the ground. It is an irregular oval, about seven inches in diameter, consisting of a dozen smaller stones cemented, and perfectly smoothed by the millions of touches and kisses which it has received. The grand ceremony through which the pilgrims pass, is to go seven times round the Kaaba, reciting certain appointed verses and prayers, and kissing the sacred stone. In the south-east corner of the Kaaba is another stone which the people, walking round the Kaaba, touch only with the right hand. On the north side there is a hollow in the ground lined with marble; and here it is thought meritorious to pray. The four sides of the Kaaba are covered with a black silk stuff', hanging down and leaving the roof bare. Round the Kaaba there is a good pavement of marble, and opposite the four sides stand four other buildings, where the Imaums of the orthodox Mahommedan sects take their station and guide the congregation in their prayers. The building which encloses the Zemzem, or well of holy water, of which the pilgrims take large draughts, and which [7:14:536]is supposed to cure all diseases, (besides a thorough ablution in its waters, which, they imagine, purifies from sin), is of a square form with an entrance into the room which contains the well, and which is ornamented with marbles of various colours. Adjoining there is a small stone reservoir which is always full of Zemzem water. This room is constantly filled with visitors from dawn till near midnight. The outside walls of the mosque are those of the houses which surround it on all sides. These houses belonged originally to the mosque, and they are let out as lodgings to the richest hadjis at high prices. The mosque has nineteen gates, and its interior is adorned with seven minarets irregularly distributed. It will be seen that the general plan of the mosque, from the above account, differs but little in its construction from the mosque of Zakania at Aleppo, the large mosque called El Amvay at Damascus, and the greater number of the mosques at Cairo, which are constructed exactly upon the same plan, with an arched colonnade round an open square. For further particulars respecting the ancient and celebrated structure, the reader is referred to Burckhardt’s work on Arabia, which contains ample and interesting details on this subject.

The population of Mekka may all be styled foreigners, or the offspring of foreigners, except a few Hedjaz Bedouins, or their descendants who have settled here. The most numerous are those whose fathers came from Y emen and Hadramaut; and next to them in numbers are the descendants of Indians, Egyptians, Syrians, Mogrebyns and Turks. There are also Me'kkawys of Persian origin, Tartars, Bokhars, Kurds, Afghans; and, in short, inhabitants from every Mahommedan country in the world. They have but two kinds of employment; trade and the service of the Beitullah or Temple. They are extremely commercial in their habits, and almost all the ole-mas, or persons engaged in the service of the temple, are secretly engaged in trade. With the exception of a few poteries and dyeing houses, Mekka has not a single manufactory, but during the time of the pilgrimage it is the seat of a very extensive trade; the wealthy pilgrims bringing from every Mussulman country its native productions to Djidda, either by sea or across the desert from Damascus, and exchanging them amongst each other, or receiving from the merchants of Mekka the goods of India and Arabia which the latter have accumulated the whole year in their warehouses. Mekka at this time becomes one of the largest fairs in the East, and is interesting from the variety of natives who frequent it. Whilst there is peace with the interior a considerable trade is carried on with the Bedouins, and especially with the inhabitants of the towns of Nedjed, who are in want of India goods, rings, and articles of dress, which they procure either from Medina or at a cheaper rate from Mekka. The rise of the Wahabee power in Arabia was rather unfavourable to Mekka. The pilgrims who visited the holy city were afraid to send their goods lest they should be seized by the Wahabces, and the imports were reduced to what were necessary for the inhabitants. Burckhardt, from all the inquiries he could make, estimated the stationary inhabitants at between 25,000 and 30,000, besides from 3000 to 4000 Abyssinian and black slaves. The climate is sultry and unwholesome; the heat is reflected from the rocks which enclose the narrow valley, and suffocating hot winds occasionally prevail. Inflammatory fevers and dysentery are common and often fatal. Mekka surrendered to the Wahabees in 1803, but was retaken by Ali Pasha’s troop under his son Toussoun Bey in 1813. Long. 40. 15. E.; Lat. 21. 18. 9∙ N.