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All the night of the 27th there is in every mosque a 
priest, who withouttheuseof any book recites the Koran 
with a loud voice, the people standing to listen to him. 
This recital is intermixed with prayers, and the rea- 
der is from time to time relieved by another, so that by 
the morning the whole Koran may be recited. During 
that night the streets and terraces are illuminated, the 
crowd is immense, and the women go in bands from 
all quarters, to visit the mosques, where innumerable 
multitudes of children of all ages, women, and sainted 
ideots, some good-tempered and some malicious, make 
a frightful confusion. It is in the midst of all this that 
the Koran and prayers are recited. 
Every night during the Ramadan, before dawn, some 
men belonging to the mosques run through the streets, 
with heavy clubs, with which they strike with fury at 
the doors of the houses, that the inhabitants may be 
roused to take some refreshment before the morning 
pirayer begins. 
The pilgrimage to Mecca is the fifth divine precept. 
Every Mussulman must make this journey at least once 
in his life, or delegate the performance of it to a pilgrim 
who will fulfil this sacred duty for him and in bis name, 
in case he is lawfully unable to do it himself. 
The object of this journey is to visit the Kaaba, or 
the house of God, at Mecca; the hills of Saffa and Mir- 
oua, which are in the same city; and mount Aarafat, 
which is at a little distance from the holy city. The 
period of these ceremonies at Mecca is in the month 
Dalhaja, every year. Many pilgrims take the opportu- 
nity to go to Medina, in order to visit the tomb of the 
prophet, but this act of devotion is not ordered, nor even 
recommended by the law. 
