MECCA. 217 



P 



The clothing of the Kaaba was a practice of the 

 Pagan Arabs, who used two coverings, one for win- 

 ter and the other for summer. It appears to have al- 

 ways been considered as an emblem of sovereignty 

 over the Hejaz ; and has in consequence been furnish- 

 ed by the princes of Bagdad, Egypt, or Yemen, accord- 

 i ing as their influence prevailed at Mecca. It is now 

 supplied at the expense of the grand seignior ; and 

 such a sacredness attaches to it, that the camel which 

 transports it to Mecca is ever after exempted from 

 labour. The black colour of the vestment, and the 

 size of the building, give it at first sight a very sin- 

 gular and imposing appearance. Seventy thousand 

 angels have this edifice in their holy care, and are 

 ordered to transport it to paradise when the trum- 

 pet of the last judgment shall be sounded. The 

 colour of the tob was not always black : in ancient 

 times it was white, and sometimes red, consisting of 

 the richest brocade. The Wahabees covered it with 

 a red camlet stuff, of which the fine Arabian abbas 

 are made. The new kesoua is put up fifteen days 

 after the old one has been removed, during which 

 interval the Kaaba continues without a cover. At 

 the moment when the building is clothed, crowds of 

 women surround it, rejoicing with shouts or cries, 

 called walwalou. 



The ground for about forty feet round the Kaaba 

 is paved with fine marble, variously coloured, and 

 forming a very handsome specimen of mosaic. This 

 space, on which the pilgrims perform the torvaf or 

 circuit, is of an elliptical figure, and surrounded with 

 a sort of railing or enclosure of thirty-two slender 

 gilt pillars, about seven feet and a half in height ; 

 between every two of which are suspended seven 



