Besides the journeys into Syria already mentioned, Omar only quitted his residence at Medîna for the purpose of performing the annual pilgrimage.[395] The governors of the various provinces were wont to repair to Mecca to discharge at that season the same religious obligation; and the Caliph used to improve the opportunity for conferring with them, as they returned by way of Medîna, on such provincial business as needed his attention. The occasion, in fact, served the purposes of an annual report delivered orally of local government. Several years before his death, Omar spent three weeks within the sacred precincts of Mecca, and enlarged the space around the Kâaba. The dwellings approaching too closely the Holy House were pulled down, and the first step taken towards the formation of a grand square and piazza fitting the place of worship for all nations. Some of the owners refused to sell their patrimony; but the houses were demolished nevertheless, and the price in compensation left at their disposal in the treasury. The boundary pillars of the _Haram_, or Sacred Territory, were renewed. And convenient halting places were constructed at the pilgrim stations on the road to Medîna, for the custody of which, and the care of the adjoining springs of water, the local tribes were held responsible. [Sidenote: Volcano near Medîna. A.H. XIX.] The seventh year of Omar’s Caliphate was distinguished by the bursting forth of volcanic fires from a hill called Leila in the neighbourhood of Medîna. The Caliph gave command for a general distribution of alms amongst the poor. The people joined in the pious work, and the volcano stopped.[396] [Sidenote: Disaster in Red Sea.] In the same year a naval expedition was sent to Abyssinia, across the Red Sea, to check attacks upon the Moslems on the coast, or on the borders of Nubia. [Sidenote: A.H. XIX. A.D. 640.] The vessels were wrecked, and the expedition suffered great privations. [Sidenote: Omar dreads the sea.]The disaster led Omar to vow that he would never again permit his troops to embark on an element fraught with such danger. It was not till some years after his death that the Mussulmans gathered courage to brave the risks of naval encounter in the Mediterranean Sea.[397] [Sidenote: Moghîra, Governor of Bussorah, arraigned on charge of adultery, A.H. XVII. A.D. 638,]