one is now allowed to see it, though the box in which it lies can be seen or touched through a grating in the little chapel that surrounds it. In the middle ages it was sometimes shown, and Ibn Jubair describes the pious enthusiasm with which he drank Zamzam water poured on the footprints. It was covered with inscriptions in an unknown character, one of which was copied by Fakihi in his history of Mecca. To judge by the facsimile in Dozy's _Israeliten te Mekka_, the character is probably essentially one with that of the Syrian Safa inscriptions, which extended through the Nejd and into the Hejaz.[20] _Safa and Merwa._--In religious importance these two points or "hills," connected by the Mas'a, stand second only to the Ka'ba. Safa is an elevated platform surmounted by a triple arch, and approached by a flight of steps.[21] It lies south-east of the Ka'ba, facing the black corner, and 76 paces from the "Gate of Safa," which is architecturally the chief gate of the mosque. Merwa is a similar platform, formerly covered with a single arch, on the opposite side of the valley. It stands on a spur of the Red Mountain called Jebel Kuaykian. The course between these two sacred points is 493 paces long, and the religious ceremony called the "sa'y" consists in traversing it seven times, beginning and ending at Safa. The lowest part of the course, between the so-called green milestones, is done at a run. This ceremony, which, as we shall presently see, is part of the omra, is generally said to be performed in memory of Hagar, who ran to and fro between the two eminences vainly seeking water for her son. The observance, however, is certainly of pagan origin; and at one time there were idols on both the so-called hills (see especially Azraqi, pp. 74, 78).