18 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



low and square, in each side of which is a large window. To the 

 iron bars of these windows were tied hundreds, perhaps even thou- 

 sands, of small strips of cotton cloth, one upon another, so that not 

 an atom of iron was visible in either of the three vidndows. 



Each of those httle ragged strips, — none of them large enough 

 to tie up a cut finger, — had been tied there by some barren Mo- 

 hammedan woman who had made a pilgrimage to the shrine, and 

 performed this act of faith, praying and believing that the great 

 first Mother would have pity for her distress, and render her fruit- 

 ful. Think of the years of wretched longing for maternity that 

 were represented by those fluttering bits of cloth. 



Jeddah has only three gates, except those facing the sea, and 

 having gone out at the northern gate to reach the cemetery, we 

 concluded to keep on around the wall, and so make a complete 

 circuit of the city. 



At the eastern side of the town we came to the famous Mecca 

 gate, through which one hundred and twenty thousand pilgrims 

 pass every year on their way to Mecca, the Mohammedan Jerusa- 

 lem, sixty-two miles inland. It used to be death for a Christian 

 to pass through this gate, just as it would even now be death 

 for a Christian to attempt to enter Mecca. Only two English- 

 men have ever been inside the walls of that city. Captain Burton 

 was the first, and he went with a large party of pilgrims, so thor- 

 oughly disguised in feature, speech and habit, that his true char- 

 acter was not suspected. The other was Hadji Brown, of Bom- 

 bay, who professed fuU conversion to the Mohammedan faith, 

 and made the pilgrimage in 1876. In my opinion, getting into 

 Mecca and safely out again is a mere question of backsheesh. The 

 man who bids high enough will be granted the freedom of the city, 

 and it is a wonder that Cook is not even now paying an annual 

 subsidy to the Pasha, and takiag his tourists there. The Mecca gate 

 (at Jeddah), is open to aU comers now, and we passed inside just 

 for the sake of enjojdng what used to be a forbidden privilege. 



Professor Ward had arranged to stop at Jeddah, and did so, 

 having in early life formed the habit of doing what he sets out to 

 do. He spent a few days there, then took the Egyptian steamer to 

 Suakin and Massowah, busily collecting at every opportunity, and 

 shortly returned to Europe and home to America with a goodly 

 lot of Red Sea invertebrates and fishes. And so I was left to go 

 on alone to the East Indies, and work out my own salvation with 

 fear and trembling. The Memfi took aboard one hundred and 



