42 EGYPT. 
CHAP, to Mecca. The Wahcihee Jrcihs have destroyed 
« — v*— ^ all the wells which formerly supplied the cara- 
Co".se- ^ vans with water ; and nothing less than an 
Iho'in^r- army is necessary for their restoration'. Qua- 
ruption of Yesm'ms, in mentioninjr the estimation in which 
Mecca I'll ' ^ 
giiniage. Hosetla, as the birth-place of Mohammed, is held 
by the Moslems, long ago predicted, that when- 
ever the journeys to Mecca were interrupted, it 
would become the resort o^ Moslem pilgrims". 
For the reception of such a multitude, Rosetta is 
much better provided than Mecca ; for it is 
attested by all travellers % and among these 
by our countryman Sandys*, that " no place 
(1) " It is now five years since the Tfahahees Iiavc prevented the 
pilgrims from performing tlieir journej' t) Mecca. They have de- 
stroyed the cisterns in the Desert ; and it is impossihle to have these 
repaired, without sending an army to protect the workmen. This 
condition will hardly ever be fulfilled, as there are not more than 
10,000 soldiers in all Syria; and the fVahabee Ch\e{ has, at any time, 
more than 100,000 men, mounted on camels, at his disposal. The 
interruption of this pilgrimage is considered by the Turlis as a sign 
of the approaching desolation of the TurJdsh Empire." 3TS. Letter 
from Rurcklmrdt, the African Traveller, dated Aleppo, May 3, 1811. 
(2) " Fertur in partibus illis, ex ea civitate originem traxissc Maho- 
raetem, p=cudo-prophetam Turcarum et aliorum Infidelium caput; ac 
ideo illani inagni trstimant. Quare, si Mecha, ubi sepulchrum dicitur 
esse Mahometis, h. Christianis caperetur, et ad illud interdicta essst 
ipsorum peregrinatio, Rosetum peregrinarentur." (^uaream. Eluc. 
T. S. torn. H. p. 1008. Anlv. 163;). 
(3) " In optima uberiqne rcgione sita, onini honorum genere ad 
opulente vivendum affluente, carnibus, piscibus, fructibus, &c."" Jlitt. 
(4) 5a«^y.v' Travels, p. 166. Land. 1637. 
