175 



c. 





. Sec ALPHA BIT and CilARACTcn. 



C, in music, has bivn applied, since the time of 

 Guido, to mark different notes in the scale, at the 

 distance of an octave from each other, vi/. C : fa-uf, 

 on the second space of the bass stave ; C-sol-J'a-nt, 

 on the ledger line above the bass stave, or the same 

 below the treble stave or the tenor ; or C, cliff-line 

 \vhercver placed, the third space in the treble, &c. 

 This note is the nominal, or key of one of the na- 

 tural modes, bearing a sharp or major third, and, in 

 that capacity, was denominated nt by Guido, and 

 has since been called do by the Italians. In modern 

 times, since the temperament of the musical scale has 

 been attended to, it has been usual to consider C as 

 the key note ; and usually, the octave above the te- 

 nor ciiff C, mentioned above, has been used as the 

 bass or fundamental note, and its pitch, or degree 

 of acuteness, has been regulated and preserved by 

 steel instruments, called tuning-forks, or C-Jorks, 

 used by the timers of finger-keyed instruments ; but 

 violin performers use an A -fork for tuning their in- 

 struments, because they have no string to the note 

 C ; and some few persons, as Mr Broad wood, use 

 the A fork for piano-fortes. The pitch, or degree 

 -of tone, of the tenor cliff C, in our best concerts, is 

 now such, as to make, or excite in the air, 240 com- 

 plete vibrations in one second of time, (see CONCERT 

 Pitch,) and the C below this, half as many, or 120 ; 

 the C above it, 480 ; and that next higher still, 960 

 vibrations, &c. 



CAABA, a stone edifice in the temple of Mecca, 

 which has ! - en revered with superior sanctity by the 

 Arabians, from the remotest antiquity ; and to which 

 every Mahometan is required by the Koran to direct 

 himself in prayer. 



Among the variety of fabulous traditions which 

 have been propagated by the followers of Mahomet, 

 concerning the origin of this building, we find it as- 

 serted, that its existence is coeval with our first pa- 

 rents, and that it was built by Adam, after his ex- 

 pulsion from Paradise, from a representation of the 

 celestial temple, which the Almighty let down from 

 heaven in curtains of light, and placed in Mecca, per- 

 pendicular under the original. To this the patriarch 

 was commanded to turn nis face when he prayed, and 

 to compass it by way of devotiop, as the angels did 

 the heavenly one. After the destruction of this 

 temple by the deluge, it was rebuilt by Abraham and 

 his son Ishmael on the same spot, and after the same 

 model, according to directions which they received 

 by revelation ; and since that time, it has continued 

 to be the object of veneration to Ishmael's descend- 

 ants. Whatever discredit we may give to these, and 



other ravings of the Moslem impostor concerning the 

 Caaba, its high antiquity cannot be disputed ; and 

 the most probable account is, that it was built and 

 used for religious purposes, by some of the early pa- 

 triarchs ; and after the introduction of idols, it came 

 to be appropriated to the reception of the Pagan di- 

 vinities. Diodorus Siculus,* in his description of the 

 coast of the Red Sea, mentions thio temple ?.s being, 

 in his time, held in great veneration by all the Ara- 

 bians ; and Pococke f informs us, that the linen or 

 silken veil, with which it is covered, was first offered 

 by a pious king of the Hamyaritcs, seven hundred 

 years before the time of Mahomet. It had been fre- 

 quently repaired, and was rebuilt a few years after 

 the birth of this prophet, by the tribe of Koreish, 

 who had acquired the possession of it either by fraud 

 or violence from the Khozaitcs. The Caaba then 

 contained three hundred and sixty images of men, 

 lions, eagles, &c. the objects of idolatrous worship, 

 which were all destroyed by Mahomet, after the talc- 

 ing of Mecca, when it was purified and adorned, and 

 consecrated to the service of Islam. It received se- 

 veral reparations after his death, and was rebuilt by- 

 one of his successors, with some alterations, in the 

 form in which it now stands. 



As no European is permitted to visit Mecca, the 

 only knowledge we have of the present appearance of 

 the Caaba, is derived from the descriptions and 

 draughts of the Mahometans, who indeed speak of it 

 in terms of high admiration. It would appear, how- 

 ever, even from their designs, that it is an aukward 

 and shapeless building. It consists of a sort of square 

 tower, 24 cubits by 23, and 27 high, covered on the 

 top with rich black damask, bordered with an em 

 broidery of gold, which was formerly renewed every 

 year by the Mahometan Caliphs, afterwards by the 

 sultans of Egypt, and which is now annually provid- 

 ed by the Ottoman Porte. The floor is raised six 

 feet from the ground ; and a door and window admit 

 the light. Its double roof is supported by three oc- 

 tagonal pillars of aloes wood, between which are sus- 

 pended several silver lamps ; and the guttars on the 

 top are made of pure gold. At a small distance from 

 this tower, on the east side, is the station of Abraham, 

 where is a stone upon which the patriarch is suppo- 

 sed to have stood when he built the Caaba, and which, 

 they pretend, still bears the traces of his footsteps. 

 It is inclosed in an iron chest ; and here the sect of Al 

 Shafei meet for religious purposes. On the north of 

 the Caaba is the white stone within a semicircular en- 

 closure, 50 cubits long, which is said to be the se- 

 pulchre of Ishmael, and which receives the rain-water 

 that falls from the Caaba by a golden spout. This 



y;*rr*Tev 



nuvuiw VT T*rrw A/0r 



'. torn. i. p. 211. 



-f- Specimen, p. 60, Si, 



