plentiful in the neighbourhood, particularly grapes, great quantities of which are dried and exported.-The Jews, who reside in a quarter of the town, appropriated to them, make a little wine, and might make more if the Arabs were not such enemies to strong liquors. A Jew, convicted of conveying wine into an Arab's house, is severely punished; and even in buying and selling it among themselves, they must use great caution. In the conférence between Captain Blisset and the Iman, the fatter had expressed his strong disapprobation of the propensity which Christians had for intoxicating liquors; but when he was assured, that Christians were forbidden to indulge in drunken. ness, and that no sensible European drank more wine than was good for his health, he allowed the custom to be rational; and even acknow. Tedged, that it was unwise to abstain entirely from the use of a liquor, of which nature had given them such abundance, and which, on many occasions, might prove salutary as a remedy,

The permission which our travellers sought, of joining the caravan, that was no v assembling for the journey northwards, it may be easily supposed, was soon obtained; not only did the Iman promise to give orders, that camets should be furnished to them at his ow.i charge, but he sent each of them a complete suit of clothes; with an order opoa one of the

chief merchants of Mecca, to pay them, on their arrival, 200 crowns ;-this latter kindness Captain Blisset would have declined, but it was the customary way, by which this prince expresses his favour, and therefore, it could not be returned without offending him. The dress was exactly that worn by the Arabs of distinction through Yemen. They wear the shirt over wide drawers, of cotton cloth; the Iambia, a sort of crooked cutlass, hangs by a broad gir. die, and a vest with straight sleeves, is covered by a flowing gown. The Arabs are strangers to the use of stockings; the only thing they wear on their feet, is a sort of half boots or slippers. The head-dress which accompanied these garments, was composed of a great many caps, to be worn one over the other, some of them of linen, but the rest of thick cotton-the natives, as we have already mentioned, are often known to wear fifteen of these together, the uppermost being richly embroidered with gold. Over these caps was wrapped a large piece of muslin, ornamented at the end, which is long enough to flow loosely on the shoulders, with silk or golden fringes.

In a few days, the merchants and others tra velling with the caravan, were collected. to the number of 3000; and they set out.-We shall not particularly detail a journey, which lay through a very barren country, in which the towns were but few, and inconsiderable, and

afforded nothing to interest; it will suffice to say, that with occasional alarms from armed parties of Bedouins, who hovered near them, they reached the city of Mecca, their destina. tion, on the evening of the forty-fifth day; a long time, indeed, for a journey of only about 500 miles; but it was found impossible, from the many stoppages, which were ever occurring to delay the line, to make more than from ten to twelve miles daily.

Before we enter upon the description of Mecca, the reader should be informed that it is celebrated, as being the birth place of Maho met, who, at the beginning of the seventh cen tury, pretended that he was a prophet sent from God. It is not the design of this little book, to give the history of this daring impostor, or to account, at length, for the success which attended his designs; it will be sufficient to say, that, having gained over some of his coun trymen to his scheme, he so wrought upon the ignorance of the multitude, that they believed every thing he said. It was not by gentleness or persuasion, that he afterwards proceeded to increase the number of his followers; but by carrying war and desolation into every country which resisted his will. The object of his de sire was sovereign power, and, by the fanaticism of his troops, who thought they were securing to themselves the rewards of Paradise, whilst they were committing murder and rapine, he E

was, at length, raised to the rank he sought In a few centuries after his death, his followers had carried their conquering arms through the different countries on the south shore of the Mediterranean, and even into Spain; forthose whom they attacked, knew that they spared ,neither age nor sex wherever they were resisted, and, though at present, this false religion no longer prevails in any part of Europe, except Constantinople, the capital of the Turkish em. pire, it still extends its influence over the grea. ter part of Asia, as well as over the northern part of Africa; so closely are ignorance and false religon united together. It was the birth. place of this impostor that Captain Blisset and William were now entering, and though the prejudices of the people will not allow a Chris tian, whom they consider an Infidel, to profane the city, the Arab dresses with which the Iman of Sana had furnished them, enabled them to escape observation, and to observe, with minuteness, every thing that was remarkable about it.

The city of Mecca, is situated in a dry, bar. ren and rocky country, about a day's journey inland from the Red Sea. It is built upon the side of two hills, and on the valley between them: the streets are regular, and rather hand. some, the houses being of stone, three or four stories high, and ornamented externally with paintings. It is well known to be duly enjoin

ed

upon

all Mahometans to visit Mecca once, at least, in their lives; and though it is a very small proportion indeed who obey it, the num. ber is sufficiently great, considering that pil. grims come from the frontiers of China, on the one hand, and the remote western parts of Africa on the other, to make Mecca a place of great resort. The prosperity derived from this concourse, was at one time so great, that its population amounted to 100,000 souls; at pre sent, however, it has much declined, many of the houses being abandoned and going to decay, partly from the decline of religious zeal amongst the Mahometans, and partly from the dangers and attacks to which the caravans are exposed on their journey.

The chief ornament of Mecca is the famous temple of Mahomet; in the middle of which is the Kaba, a small square house, built with a kind of black stone, which is regarded by the natives with great veneration.-Captain Blisset and William descended by a number of steps, into the great hall, through which they entered the square or aisle, in which it is built, but that which seemed the most magnificent part of the edifice was the arcades around this square, which are illuminated by a great number of lamps and candlesticks of pure gold.

Another ornament of the Kaba is, a row of metal pillars surrounding it. These pillars are joined by chains, ou which hang a great number