222 THE MOHAMMEDAN PILGRIMAGE. 



proper times and places, seven at each pillar, ex- 

 claiming, " Bismillah ! God is great ! this Ave do to 

 secure ourselves from the devil and his troops!" 

 This ceremony, as may easily be imagined, is at- 

 tended occasionally by accidents. Ali Bey tells us, 

 he came off with two wounds in his left leg. It 

 appears also to be the subject of jocularity ; for a 

 facetious hajji observed to Pitts, "You may save your 

 labour at present, if you please, for I have hit out the 

 devil's eyes already." 



After the " stoning," which is repeated three days, 

 and without which the pilgrimage is imperfect, comes 

 the grand sacrifice of animals, — a rite that all Mus- 

 sulmans are bound at this time (the 10th day of the 

 month) to perform. In the space of a quarter of an 

 hour, thousands of sheep and goats are slaughtered 

 in the valley: some of which are brought by the 

 hajjis, others purchased from the Bedouins, who 

 demand high prices for them. The law requires 

 that the throats of the animals be cut in the name 

 of the most merciful God, with their faces towards 

 the Kaaba. The number of victims has sometimes 

 been very great. The Caliph Moktader sacrificed 

 50,000 sheep, besides 40,000 camels and cows. Bar- 

 thema speaks of 30,000 oxen being slain, and their 

 carcasses given to the poor, who seemed " more 

 anxious to have their bellies filled than their sins 

 remitted." We are apt to wonder how so many 

 myriads of animals can subsist in so desolate a re- 

 gion, or how they can be contained in so contracted 

 a space as Wady Muna ; but the Moslems explain 

 it, by pretending that the valley can expand its 

 dimensions ; and that on the Day of Sacrifice, neither 

 vultures nor flies molest the votaries by carrying 

 off the lambs or tainting the raw flesh, vast quantities 

 of which remain unconsumed. 



On the completion of the sacrifice, the pilgrims 

 throw off the ihram, and resume their ordinary at- 

 tire ; many of them putting on their best dresses to 



