Part I. Travels into the h ev ant. 157 
renewed every feven Years by the Ottoman Empereurs, unlefs when a new Em- 
perour fucceeds, before the feven Years be accomplifhed ; for in that cafe the 
Emperoiir renews them fo foon as he comes to the Throne. 
The Door by which they enter into the Gallery is of Silver5and fo is the other 
that goes out of the Gallery into the Turbe. 
When the Pilgrims (to the number of Two hundred thoufand Souls) are 
come to ^ecfc;^ at the ufual time, which is a fhort while before the little ^^f- 
ram-, and that it is the day before the Vigil of thQ Çaid^Bairam ; they go and 
lie at a place called Myne, half a League from Mecha^ and next day being the A^pe. 
Vigil of Bairam^ they go half a League farther off, to another place called 
Arafa^ which is a great Plain, in the middle whereof there is a Rock, or 
rifing Hillock, and on the top of it a Member, or place for Preaching in, into Memkf. 
which fteps a Scheikhj who preaches to all the People about in the Plain. 
The Mahometans believe, that after Âdam and Eve had finnedj God as a 
punifliment feparated them, making them wander over the World like Vaga- 
bonds, and that after many Years, they met on the top of this Hillock, the ' 
one coming from the Eall, and the other from the Weft ; there they ftopr, 
and after they had continued in fonie fufpence, before they knew one another, 
calling to mind what had formerly paft betwixt them, they came to know one The return 
another. Saying /^rof, Arof, which in the Arabick Tongue, fignifies I know,<>f Ahrmnà 
I know ; and from thence that place hath had the name of Arafa. In memory 
whereof the Turks believe, that God made the two Fountains gufh out of the 
two fides of that Hillock, which are to be fecn at prefent, the ftreams of the 
one running Eaftward, and of the other Weftward. 
The Pilgrims then being all- affembled in this Plain, about half an Hour, or 
a quarter of an Hour before Sun-felting, they make a long Prayer, lifting up 
their hands to Heaven, and imploring the Mercy of God, for the Remiflion of 
their fins ( which they hope to obtain ) as they believe God pardoned our firft 
Parents, in the fame place, and at the fame hour. The Prayer being ended, 
the Pilgrims make hafte to be gone, and without looking behind them by the 
way, return and lie at the aforefaid Myne, which is a Village in the middle of ^j^^ P'^5^of 
another Plain, where there is a Rock, in which they holà that Abrdbam made ^^^[^^^'''^'^ 
his Sacrifice. There is a Cave in that Rock, where the Mahometans fay their 
Prophet often prayed, nay, and fhew in the upper part of the Cave a dent, 
that reprefents the Crown of a Man's Head, which they affirm was made there, 
when Mahomet rifing up after he had been proftrate in that place, llruck his 
head againfrthe Roof of the Cave which was a little low, and that the Stone 
became fôft like Wax -, the figure of the head having remained there ever fince. 
They have built a Mofque in that place, part of which Hands upon that Rock, 
and enclofes the faid Cave, which makes this place to be held in goeat Venera- 
tion, befides the Devotion they pay to it becaufe of Abraham''^, Sacrifice ; in 
commemoration whereof on the day of the little Bairam, the Pilgrims facrifice Tlie Sacrifice 
in the Plain, above Four hundred thoufand Sheep, and ftay there till about ''^^ ^^ho- 
Noon the third day of the faid Bairam-, when all begin to diflodge and return 
to Mecha. 
Next night after the Pilgrims are gone, fo much Rain falls, that one would ^ Miracle af- 
think it were a Deluge, which makes a Torrent that wades away 'the blood ^lay'^of 
of the Sacrifices, and carries along with it all the Bones that remained in thejictie Biirm, 
Plain ; whether that happens naturally, or by the craft of the Enemy of Man- 
kind, whocaufes that Rain to confirm the Infidels in their Errours, perfwading 
them, that God fends the Rain as a fign that their Sacrifice is acceptable unto 
him ; the Divine Majefty permitting it Ihould be fo by the fecret Council of 
his Eternal Providence, which we ought rather humbly to adore, than curi- 
oufly pry into. However it be, the thing is the more remarkable, that the 
Sacrifice being offered the firfl day of the Bairam in the Morning, this Rain 
falls noc till the night after the third day : Befides that, the faid Bairam falls 
every Year fooner by ten days, making the whole period of our Solar Year 
in the fpace of five and thirty Years, or there-abouts : Neverthelefs the 
Rain falls conftantly the night after the third day ^ as hath been faid be- 
fore. 
The 
