THE MOHAMMEDAN PILGRIMAGE. 225 



agreeable coolness of the place induces them to 

 walk about or sit conversing till after midnight. As 

 the legal period of abstinence now terminates, every 

 one brings in his handkerchief a few dates or grapes, 

 with bread and cheese, waiting in suspense until the 

 imam from the top of the Zemzen proclaims, " Al- 

 lah Akbar," when they hasten to break their fast 

 (the lesser heiram) and drink a jar of the holy 

 water. The whole scene presents a curious mix- 

 ture of the gay and the grave. The mind is struck 

 with some degree of awe to witness so many thou- 

 sands performing the towaf, or prostrating them- 

 selves on their carpets ; while the mingled voices 

 of the metowafs, intent on making themselves heard 

 by those to whom they recite their prayers, — the 

 loud conversation of idle spectators, — and the run- 

 ning and laughing of boys, some of whom are divert- 

 ing themselves with swinging machines, or the feats 

 of jugglers in the streets, make the Temple more 

 like a place of public amusement than a sanctuary 

 of religion. 



Before the caravans take their final departure, the 

 pilgrims, from the highest to the lowest, are occu- 

 pied with commercial transactions, either buying 

 provisions for their journey or engrossed in the pur- 

 suits of gain. The termination of the haj changes 

 the entire aspect both of the town and the Temple. 

 Of the brilliant shops lately filled with the produc- 

 tions and manufactures of every climate in the world, 

 Burckhardt remarks, that not more than a fourth 

 part remained. The streets were deserted, covered 

 with rubbish and filth, which nobody seemed dis- 

 posed to remove, and swarming with beggars, who 

 raised their plaintive voices towards the windows 

 of the houses they supposed to be still inhabited.* 



* The streets and mosques of Mecca resound with the cries 

 of beggars :—"0 Brethren! O Faithful ! hear me! I ask twenty 

 dollars from God to pay for my passage home; twenty dollars only ! 

 God is all boimtiful, and may send me a hundred dollars : but 



