228 THE MOHAMMEDAN PIL6RIMAGE. 



made for the accommodation of travellers, except 

 the watering-places, which are kept in tolerable 

 repair. Although reckoned sufficiently safe for 

 large bodies, yet daring robberies are occasionally 

 committed by the Arabs. 



The sacred city of Medina lies on the edge of the 

 Great Arabian Desert. According to the strict pre- 

 cept of Mohammed, a circle of twelve miles round 

 the place should be considered as holy territory ;• 

 but this injunction is completely set aside. The 

 town itself is well built : the houses are generally 

 two stories high, entirely of stone ; and not being 

 whitewashed, they have for the most part a gloomy 

 aspect. The main streets are paved ; the rest are 

 narrow, often only two or three paces across. The 

 wall, which completely surrounds the city, forms a 

 kind of oval of about 2S00 paces in circumference^ 

 ending in a point or small rocky elevation, on which 

 stands the castle. This latter is enclos#id by a thick 

 stone rampart, between thirty-five and forty feet^ 

 high, flanked l3y about thirty towers, and defended' 

 by a ditch. It contains sufficient space for 600 of 

 800 men, has many arched rooms bomb proof, and 

 is supplied with excellent water. 



The suburbs extend on the west and south, and 

 cover more ground than the town itself, from which 

 they are separated by an open space occupied with 

 huts, coffee-shops, markets, and gardens. There are 

 very few fine edifices or public buildings, and those 

 here, as well as at Mecca, are the works of the sul- 

 tans of Egypt and Constantinople. There is ari 

 abundant supply of water by means of subterra- 

 neous canals and wells, which are scattered over the 

 town. The number of inhabitants Burckhardt sup- 

 posed might be between 16,000 and 20,000 ; the 

 greater part of whom are of foreign origin, and pre- 

 sent as motley a race as those of Mecca. No year 

 E asses without an influx of new settlers, attracted 

 y the hope of making gain in their religious traffic 



