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which are to be seen in the houses, as the remains of 
the ancient opulence of Mecca. These objects, being 
the most common presents of the pilgrims, they have 
so accumulated in the city, that very rich though old 
carpets may be seen in the poorest houses. 
The Wehhabites having prohibited the use of chap- 
lets, deeming them superstitious, have deprived the 
inhabitants of a very lucrative branch of commerce. 
They, however, continue to manufacture them in pri- 
vate, for the pilgrims. They are made of the different 
woods of India and Yemen, but most generally of very 
odoriferous sandal wood. 
The mountains of Mecca are composed of quartz, 
with a small portion of hornblende. The whole surface 
of the ground consists almost of it. The sand is quartz 
pulverized; and although there are some portions or 
veins of horn rock, feldspar, mica, and schorl, to be 
found accidentally among the mountains, yet quartz 
forms in general the principal mass. Their beds are 
oblique, and in different angles of declination; but they 
ascend in general from thirty to forty. five degrees to- 
wards the east. 
The centre of the city, or the temple, may be said to 
be circumscribed or surrounded by four principal 
mountains, which are, 
Djebel Kubis to the east, 
Djebel Djiad to the south, 
Djebel Omar to the west, 
Djebel Hindi to the north. 
These mountains are not very high. I have speci- 
mens of the rocks that compose them. I think it very 
possible that this country possesses an abundance of 
