this purpose, beg their way, and live upon the charity of those who are blessed with means and a benevolent heart to help their more necessitous brethren. Even women are not excused from the performance of the pilgrimage, and one portion of the temple is called "the women's sanded place," because it is appropriated to female devotees. To avoid the dangers and discomforts of the journey by land, women generally travel by sea as far as Jeddah. Perhaps they are in some cases persuaded to take this safer route, since, so says Doughty, "a man is mocked in the raw Hajj proverbs that will lead his querulous harem on pilgrimage." It may be explained that the weaker sex are forbidden to go alone; if, therefore, a fair lady have no husband or near relation to protect her, she must select some virtuous person worthy of confidence to accompany her, his expenses being charged to her account. This circumstance gives rise to a curious illustration of supply and demand. There are a class of idle and impudent scoundrels known as "guides," who besiege the pilgrim from morn till eve, obtruding advice whether it be sought or not, and sharing the votary's meals, but not his expenses, of which indeed they pocket a portion. These worthless vagabonds are wont, when the occasion presents itself, to let themselves out as husbands for rich old widows who repair to Mecca, or perchance now and again lend their services to some younger matrons who may have happened to lose their spouses on the road, it being meritorious and profitable to facilitate the progress of desolate ladies through the sacred territory of Arabia. The marriage under these circumstances, though formally arranged in the presence of a magistrate, is merely nominal, and a divorce is given on the return of the parties to Jeddah, or elsewhere beyond the limits of Mecca. Pilgrimage is not obligatory upon slaves, who, should they accompany their master to Mecca, must on being released from bondage again repair to the Holy City as "free men."

It need scarcely be said that Muhammad, ready as he was to impose the pilgrimage as a duty upon others, was no less willing to accept the obligation himself; while after his death the Khalifs who succeeded him gloried in following his example; though it is but fair to add that they journeyed in many cases with great pomp and luxury, at the head of a magnificent retinue. This devout practice continued certainly as late as the time of Khalif Harun ar Rashid, who early in the ninth century visited Mecca no less than nine times; on one occasion expending, it is said, a sum of upwards of £700,000 sterling! If, however, his own confession is to be accepted, the result of his piety was satisfactory, inasmuch as he gained thereby numerous victories over his enemies -a circumstance which led him to inscribe on his helmet an Arabic passage to the effect that "he who makes the pilgrimage to Mecca becomes strong and valiant."

So firmly impressed, indeed, are the Muhammadans with the impiety of neglecting the decree of their Prophet with regard to the pilgrimage, that in A.D. 931-2, when, in consequence of the proceedings of the Karmathians, who, on one occasion (A.D. 929) at that period, had slain 20,000 pilgrims, and plundered the temple of Mecca, the journey to the Holy Cities was too dangerous to be hazarded, devout Muslims, rather than omit the duty altogether, betook themselves to Jerusalem. It is also recorded that a famous doctor, by name Hullage, was put to death for having taught certain ceremonies and prayers to supply the neglect of performing the "Hajj." Great indeed must be the merit of bowing in adoration before the mosque of the Arabian holy city, since it is taught that every step taken in the direction of the sacred precincts blots out a sin, while he who dies on his way is enrolled in the list of martyrs. In spite of all this (such is the weakness of human nature), in Burckhardt's time (about 1815), he found that Muhammadans were getting more and more lax in complying with the injunction of the Quran relative to pilgrimage, pleading the increased expense attendant on this duty, which in many cases they evade by giving a few dollars to some pious votaries to add to their own prayers some words on behalf of their errant and absent brethren.

It must not, however, be supposed that Muhammad introduced this rite amongst the Arabs; far otherwise, for he merely lent to an institution which he found in existence the all-potent weight of his sanction and approval. Omitting reference to primeval times, it will suffice to draw attention to the fact that, so far back as the middle of the fifth century, or upwards of 200 years before the era of the Prophet, the command of Mecca having passed into the hand of Qussai, "he maintained the Arabs," thus writes Tabari, one of the most trustworthy of native historians, "in the performance of all the prescriptive rites of pilgrimage, because he believed them in his heart to be a religion which it behoved him not to alter." Indeed, according to Sir W. Muir, who has carefully investigated the subject, "the religious observances thus perpetuated by Qussai were in substance the same as in the time of Muhammad, and with some modification the same as we still find practised at the present day." It is not improbable that the Arabs in turn borrowed the notion of pilgrimage from the Jews. According to Muslim divines man being but a "wayfarer, winding his steps towards another world, the "Hajj " is emblematical of his transient condition here below. The idea, though admittedly poetical, is so far borne out in practice that pilgrimage is common to all faiths of olden times. In the words of a modern writer, "the Hindus wander to Egypt, to Thibet, and to the inhospitable Caucasus; the classic philosophers visited Egypt, the Jews annually flocked to Jerusalem, and the Tartars and Mongols (Buddhists) journey to distant Lama serais. The spirit of pilgrimage was predominant in mediæval Europe, and the processions of the Roman Catholic Church are, according to her votaries, modern memorials of the effete rite."

Before entering upon any description of the mode in which the pilgrimage is carried out, it may be well to notice some incidental matters, not only in themselves worthy of attention, but in regard to which a clear understanding is necessary to make intelligible the account of the "Hajj" which will follow :

The temple of Mecca, is an oblong square enclosed in a great wall, the measurement of which is variously estimated. Burckhardt reckons it at 440 yards long, by 352 broad, while Burton gives the dimensions as 452 yards by 370. None of the sides are quite in a straight line, though a casual observer