208 HEJAZ. 



perors. In the autumn of 1816, several artists and 

 workmen sent from Constantinople were employed 

 in repairing the damage done by the Wahabees. 



The Temple stands near the middle of the city : 

 it is a quadrilateral building, much resembling in 

 form, according to Pitts,* that of the Royal Ex- 

 change in London, but nearly ten times larger. It 

 has properly no external front, the walls being con- 

 nected on the outside with the adjoining houses, 

 some of which have windows that look into the in- 

 terior. These tenements belonged originally to the 

 mosque, but the greater part of them are now the 

 property of individuals, who let out the different 

 apartments to the richer hajjis at very high prices. 



* Joseph Pitts of Exeter was the first Englishman we know 

 of that visited either of the holy cities. The ship in which he 

 sailed being captured in 167 8 by a Moorish pirate, he was car- 

 ried to Algiers, where he remained in slavery fifteen years. By 

 cruel treatment he was compelled to become a Mussulman ; in 

 that capacity he accompanied his master, an old Turkish bachelor, 

 on his pilgrimage to Mecca, who gave him his liberty on their re- 

 turn. His narrative is homely, but surprisingly accurate. It is 

 curious that Gibbon seems not to have seen or known of it. A 

 much earlier traveller, and the first Christian in modern times that 

 gave a tolerable account of Arabia, was Ludovico Barthema of 

 Bologna, who, in 1503, &c. visited Egypt, Syria, Arabia, Persia, 

 and India. At Damascus he contrived, in the guise of a Mam- 

 louk soldier, to accompany one of the pilgrim-caravans to Mecca 

 and Medina, where he paid his devoirs at the tomb of Mohammed, 

 and went through the whole ceremonies of the haj ; after which he 

 escaped to Jidda, and thence by way of Aden to Persia. The cara- 

 van he says consisted of 35,000 persons, and 40,000 camels. (See 

 his travels in Ramusio's Raccolta delle Naviyat. et Viaggi, tomei.) 

 The Sheik Ibn Batuta, whose travels have been recently translated 

 by Professor Lee of Cambridge, performed the pilgrimage in 1332; 

 but they contain few facts concerning Arabia. His whole account 

 of Mecca is " May God ennoble it !" He observes the same brevity 

 regarding Sanaa, Aden, Muscat, and other towns which he visited. 

 Seetzen was also at Mecca during the time of the pilgrimage, under 

 the protection of a Moorish merchant; but his stay was short, and his 

 description differs little from those of Ali Bey and Burckhardt. He 

 went to Sanaa, which he represents as superior to most cities that 

 he had seen in Palestine, Syria, or Arabia. 



