All of these roads are comparatively new, and some are still building. The Mecca line now runs as far south as Medina, where Mohammed came after his flight from Mecca, and where his tomb is. That city has something like forty thousand people and is one of the most fanatical of the Moslem centres. It will be the chief stopping place on the way to Mecca. Mecca lies about two hundred and fifty miles still farther south and the track is being laid toward that point. When the first surveys were made there were two Christian civil engineers in the surveying party, but the people were so intolerant that these men were kept hidden the greater part of the time and did their work inside the tents. They were not allowed to spy out the land, to see, or be seen. The Bedouins are now causing the contractors considerable trouble. The road will take a large part of the pilgrimage traffic, which, it has been estimated, is worth to Arabia some ten million dollars a year. Much of the money goes to the owners of the camels and the leaders of the caravans, who are Bedouins. During the building of the road many of these have been employed in the construction and in supplying the other labourers with food. As the present work has neared its completion, many of the Bedouins have lost their jobs. They are objecting to the railway and have torn up the tracks in many places. The result is a great unrest which threatens to cause serious disturbance. The traffic on the Constantinople-Damascus and Mecca railways will be made up largely of men on their way to worship at Mecca and Medina. Now, with nothing but camels to carry them, it is estimated that about four hundred thousand go there every year, and it is believed that the railway will increase the traffic from fifty to one hundred per cent. Christians and other unbelievers will not be carried to the holy cities, although they may make tours to Petra and other parts of Arabia. This Mecca railway will have special accommodations for Mohammedans. Certain of the carriages will be fitted up as mosques, so that the travellers can perform their devotions during the journey. The praying carriages will be luxuriously furnished. The floors will be covered with Persian carpets, and around the sides will be painted verses from the Koran in letters of gold. A chart will indicate the direction of Mecca, so that the Faithful can always face the right way when praying, and there will also be a minaret on the top of the car six and a half feet high. The Mecca road is a narrow-gauge with French rolling stock. The material has been imported from Europe, the ties being of iron to withstand the white ants, which eat anything wooden. One of the great difficulties of construction has been the lack of water. The road goes for long stretches through the desert, and many of the trains carry large tanks to keep the boilers full.