53 
wind changes to the south, every thing is in an oppo- 
site extreme: the air is damp; and every thing that they 
handle feels of a clammy wet. This moisture relaxes 
the animal fibres, and is very disagreeable. Notwith- 
standing, the inhabitants assert that it is more salubri- 
ous than the aridity of the north wind. 
The greatest heat I observed during my stay was 
23° of Reaumur. When the south wind blew, I per- 
ceived the atmosphere to be loaded with a sort of fog. 
I observed the moon one night in the zenith, and 
another towards the north. This was the effect of the 
latitude; for I was nearly two degrees to the south of 
the tropic, or in the torrid zone. 
From the first moment of my arrival they presented 
me every day some little pitchers of the water of the 
miraculous well called Zemzem, at Mecca, which I 
drank and paid for. 
The evening before my departure for Mecca, the 
captain of the ship, who came to see me, broke my 
hygrometer. 
CHAPTER IV. 
Pilgrimage to Mecca. — El Hadda. — Arrival at Mecca. — Ceremonies of the Pil- 
grimage to the House of God, to Safla, and to Merna. — Visit to the interior of 
El Kaaba, or House of God. — Presentation to the Sultan Scherif. — Visit to 
the Chief of the Scherifs. — Purification or washing of El Kaaba. — Honourable 
Title acquired by Ali Bey. — Arrival of the Wehhabis. 
Being a little recovered, though very weak, I set 
out for Mecca on Wednesday the 21st of January, at 
three o'clock in the afternoon. 
I travelled in a machine made of sticks, and covered 
with cushions, of the form of a sopha or cabriolet, 
