190 HEJAZ. 



during the plunder of Mecca. Hakem, a macj sultan 

 of Eg}-pt, in the eleventh century, endeavoured, 

 wliile on the pilgrimage, to destroy it vvith an iron 

 club which he had concealed under his clothes : but 

 was prevented and slain by the populace. Since 

 that accident it remained unmolested until 1674, 

 when it was found one morning besmeared with 

 dirt, so that every one who kissed it returned with 

 a sullied face. Though suspicion fell on certain 

 Persians, the authors of this sacrilegious joke were 

 never discovered. As for the quality of the stone, 

 it does not seem to be accurately determined. 

 Burckhardt says it appeared to him like a lava, con- 

 taining several small extraneous particles of a 

 whitish and a yellovdsh substance. Ali Be}' calls 

 it a fragment of volcanic basalt, sprinkled with small- 

 pointed coloured crystals, and varied with red feld- 

 spar upon a dark black ground like coal, except one 

 of its protuberances, Avhich is a little reddish. The 

 millions of kisses and touches impressed by the 

 faithful have worn the surface uneven, and to a con- 

 siderable depth. This miraculous block all orthodox 

 Mussulmans believe to have been originally a trans- 

 parent hyacinth, brought from heaven to Abraham 

 by the aiigel Gabriel ; but its substance, as well as 

 its colour, have long been changed by coming in 

 contact with the impurities of the human race. 



The four sides of the Kaaba are covered with a 

 black silk stuff called the lesoua, and the tob or shirt, 

 which is brousfht from Cairo, and put on every year 

 at the time of the pilgrimage. The roof is left bare, 

 and during the first days the new kesoua is tucked 

 up by means of cords, so as to leave the lower part 

 of the building exposed ; but in course of a short 

 time it is let down so as to cover the whole struc- 

 ture, and is then fastened to strong brass rings 

 below. On tliis curtain various prayers and passages 

 of the Koran are interwoven ; and a little above the 

 middle is a line or band of similar inscriptions (called 



