of the Prophet than the turbulent life of Meccah; or that a reduced allowance of £500 per annum would place him in a higher spiritual, though in a lower temporal position. Since the above was written the Sharif Abd al-Muttalib has been deposed. The Arabs of Al-Hijaz united in revolt against the Sultan, but after a few skirmishes they were reduced to subjection by their old ruler the Sharif bin Aun. [FN#31] Saniyat means a “winding path,” and Kuda’a, “the cut.” Formerly Meccah had three gates: 1. Bab al-Ma’ala, North-East; 2. Bab al-Umrah, or Bab al-Zahir, on the Jeddah road, West; and 3[.] Bab al-Masfal on the Yaman road. These were still standing in the twelfth century, but the walls were destroyed. It is better to enter Meccah by day and on foot; but this is not a matter of vital consequence in pilgrimage. [FN#32] It is a large whitewashed building, with extensive wooden balconied windows, but no pretensions to architectural splendour. Around it trees grow, and amongst them I remarked a young cocoa. Al-Idrisi (A.D. 1154) calls the palace Al-Marba’ah. This may be a clerical error, for to the present day all know it as Al-Ma’abidah (pronounced Al-Mab’da). The Nubian describes it as a “stone castle, three miles from the town, in a palm garden.” The word “Ma’abidah,” says Kutb al-Din, means a “body of servants,” and is applied generally to this suburb because here was a body of Badawin in charge of the Masjid al-Ijabah, a Mosque not now existing. [FN#33] I cannot conceive what made the accurate Niebuhr fall into the strange error that “apparitions are unknown in Arabia.” Arabs fear to sleep alone, to enter the bath at night, to pass by cemeteries during dark, and to sit amongst ruins, simply for fear of apparitions. And Arabia, together with Persia, has supplied half the Western world with its ghost stories and tales of angels, demons, and fairies. To quote Milton, the land is struck “with superstition as with a planet.” [FN#34] This is a synopsis of our marches, which, protracted on Burckhardt’s map, gives an error of ten miles. 1. From Al-Madinah to Ja al-Sharifah, S.E. 50° - 22 Miles 2. From Ja al-Sharifah to Ghurab, S.W. 10° - 24 Miles 3. From Ghurab to Al-Hijriyah, S.E. 22° - 25 Miles 4. From Al-Hijriyah to Al-Suwayrkiyah, S.W. 11° - 28 Miles 5. From Al-Suwayrkiyah to Al-Sufayna, S.E. 5° - 17 Miles 6. From Al-Sufayna to the “Benu Mutayr,” S.W. 20° - 18 Miles 7. From the “Benu Mutayr” to Al-Ghadir, S.W. 21° - 20 Miles 8. From Al-Ghadir to Al-Birkat, S.E. 10° - 24 Miles 9. From Al-Birkat to Al-Zaribah, S.E. 56° - 23 Miles 10.From Al-Zaribah to Wady Laymun, S.W. 50° - 24 Miles 11.From Wady Laymun to Meccah, S.E. 45° - 23 Miles Total English miles 248 [p.157]PART III. MECCAH. [p.159]CHAPTER XXVII. THE FIRST VISIT TO THE HOUSE OF ALLAH.