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catches what he can in public or in private, except the 
black eunuchs and the attendants at the Zemzem, who 
form two corporations. However, notwithstanding this 
species of organization, their registers, and their chests 
of receipts in common, each individual of both bodies 
tries to conceal and keep as much as he can in private. 
The caravans also brought formerly large gifts from 
their respective countries, on the part of their coun- 
trymen; but there comes hardly any thing now. 
The chief of the country, too, used to contribute a 
part of their subsistence; but being now impoverished 
by the revolution of the Wehhabites, far from giving, 
he takes all that he can get. 
The Sultan of Constantinople furnishes the negro 
eunuchs for guards to the Kaaba, for the choir, and 
for mueddens. 
The pilgrims once had several stoppages to make, 
which produced many benefits to those employed; but 
the Wehhabites have abolished all. The mosque and 
the chapel where the Prophet was born; El Djebel 
Nor, where he received the first revelation from 
heaven; the house of Aboutaleb, where he passed a 
part of his life; several places where he used to pray; 
the mountain Djebel Koubis, where the miraculous 
black stone descended; the chapels of Setna Fathma, 
daughter of the Prophet; of Sidi Mahmud, and other 
saints; no longer exist. The pilgrims are consequently 
deprived of the spiritual merit which they would have 
acquired, by making their pious visits to these holy 
places; and the good inhabitants of the holy city have 
lost the temporal wealth which resulted from these acts 
of devotion. 
The Nekib el Ascharal, or the chief of the actual 
