258 THE MOHAMMEDAN PILGRIMAGE. 



entirely of stone ; and not being white- washed 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 com- 

 pletely surrounds the city, forms a kind of oval 

 of about 2800 paces in circumference, ending in a 

 point or small rocky elevation, on which stands the 

 castle. This latter is enclosed by a thick stone ram- 

 part, between thirty-five and forty feet high, flank- 

 ed by about thirty towers, and defended by a ditch. 

 It contains sufficient space for 600 or 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 

 sultans of Egypt and Constantinople. There is an 

 abundant supply of water by means of subterrane- 

 ous 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 

 passes without an influx of new settlers, attracted 

 by the hope of making gain in their religious traffic 

 with the pilgrims. Few descendants of the origi- 

 nal Arabs who lived here in the time of Moham- 

 med now remain. Of the Ansars riot more than 

 ten families can establish their pedigree ; and these 

 are of the humbler class, living as peasants in the 

 suburbs and gardens. The number of sheriffs de- 

 scended from Hussein and Hossein was formerly 



