118 
once or twice by the songs of some women, which I 
set to music* Plunged in a continual melancholy, the 
least contradiction irritates them; and the few slaves 
they have are the most unhappy and wretched of all 
the Mussulman slaves, in consequence of the bad 
treatment they experience. I heard, in the house I 
lived in, a master beat his slave with a bastinado, 
during a quarter of an hour. He stopped every three 
or four minutes to allow his arm to rest, arid then re- 
commenced with new force. 
It may be deduced, from these observations, that 
the population of Mecca diminishes sensibly. This 
city, which is known to have contained more than 
100,000 souls, does not at present shelter more than 
from 16 to 18,000. There are some quarters of the 
suburbs entirely abandoned, and in ruins; nearly two 
thirds of the houses that remain are empty; and the 
greatest part of those that are inhabited are decaying 
within, notwithstanding the solidity of their construc- 
tion; the fronts alone being kept in good order, to 
attract the pilgrims. In consequence of the inattention 
that is paid to repairs, the houses are falling down; 
and if there are no new ones erected (and I only saw 
one that was advancing slowly in the whole town) it 
will be reduced in the course of a century to the tenth 
part of the size it now is. 
* See Plate. 
