The Hadje (Pilgrimage to Mecca).--Commanded to be performed by Mahumud.--Eagerness of both sexes to visit the Prophet's tomb.--Qualifications requisite for the undertaking.--Different routes from India to Mecca.--Duties of the pilgrims at the Holy House.--Mecca and its environs.--Place of Abraham.--The Bedouins.--Anecdote of a devotee and two pilgrims.--A Bedouin Arab, and the travellers to Mecca.--The Kaabah (Holy House).--Superstitious regard to a chain suspended there.--Account of the gold water-spout.--Tax levied on pilgrims visiting the tomb of Mahumud by the Sheruff of Mecca.--Sacred visit to the tombs of Ali, Hasan, and Hosein.--The importance attached to this duty.--Travellers annoyed by the Arabs.--An instance recorded.--The Nudghiff Usheruff.--Anecdotes of Syaad Harshim. 'The Pilgrimage to Mecca' is commanded by Mahumud to his followers at least once during their lifetime, provided the obstacles are not insurmountable. Indulgences are made for the sick, or individual poverty. All who have the means at command, whatever may be their distance from the place, are expected to perform the Hadje themselves if possible; or, if prevented by any circumstances they cannot control, they are required to pay the expenses of other persons willing to be their proxies. Whatever information I have acquired on the subject of this pilgrimage has been gleaned from frequent conversations with Meer Hadjee Shaah, who, as I have before remarked, performed the Hadje from Hindoostaun to Mecca, at three different periods of his eventful life. If the fatigues, privations, and difficulties of the pilgrimage to Mecca be considered, the distance from Hindoostaun must indeed render the Hadje a formidable undertaking; yet, the piously disposed of both sexes yearn for the opportunity of fulfilling the injunctions of their Lawgiver, and at the same time, gratifying their laudable feelings of sympathy and curiosity--their sympathy, as regards the religious veneration for the place and its purposes; their curiosity, to witness with their own eyes those places rendered sacred by the words of the Khoraun in one instance, and also for the deposits contained in the several tombs of prophets, whom they have been taught to reverence and respect as the servants of God.