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At Sercaze, a sacred place, five miles from Ahmedabad, is a 

 very grand musjed, which is said to be an exact imitation of the 

 temple at Mecca, so highly revered by every pious mussulman. It 

 also contains a complete model of the kaaba, a square building 

 at Mecca, which the ancient Arabians used to adorn with the best 

 compositions of their poets, written in golden characters on silk 

 hangings. This building was highly venerated by the Arabians, 

 who supposed it to have been the first place consecrated to the 

 worship of the True God. Mahomed availed himself of this tra- 

 dition cherished by his countrymen, to establish the hodge, or an- 

 nual pilgrimage to the holy spot; thither all his devout followers 

 were enjoined, at one period of their lives, to perform the most 

 solemn acts of religion. The artful prophet had also political and 

 commercial designs to accomplish, which, until the late revolutions 

 and new sectaries in Arabia, were very successful : thither resorted 

 large caravans of camels, laden with valuable productions from 

 every part of the east ; and the annual fair at Mecca was perhaps 

 the Greatest mart in the world. The woollens, cloths, and useful 

 metals of Europe; spices, gems, silks, muslins, and all the coarser 

 cottons of India; ivory, slaves, and gold-dust from Africa; together 

 with all the luxuries and comforts from other places, were sold or 

 bartered at Mecca, and returned by the caravans to every part of 

 Asia. The number of hodgees, or pilgrims, who annually assem- 

 bled there, frequently exceeded two hundred thousand. During 

 my residence in India, the nabob of Arcot and other mahomedan 

 princes, sent ships annually to the Red Sea, to accommodate the 

 pilgrims of both sexes proceeding to the sacred shrines at Mecca 



