and Mina, and there spend the night in prayer and reading the Korân. The next morning, by daybreak, they visit al Mashér al harâm, or the sacred monument,6 and departing thence before sunrise, haste by Batn Mohasser to the valley of Mina, where they throw seven stones7 at three marks, or pillars, in imitation of Abraham, who, meeting the devil in that place, and being by him disturbed in his devotions, or tempted to disobedience, when he was going to sacrifice his son, was commanded by GOD to drive him away by throwing stones at him;8 though others pretend this rite to be as old as Adam, who also put the devil to flight in the same place and by the same means.9 3 Al Beid. 4 Bobov. de Peregr. Mecc. p. II, &c. Chardin, Voy. de Perse, t. 2, p. 440, &c. See also Pitts' Account of the Rel. &c. of the Mohammedans, p. 92, &c.; Gagnier, Vie de Moh. t. 2, p. 258, &c.; Abulfed. Vit. Moh. p. 130, &c.; and Reland. de Rel. Moh. p. 113, &c. 5 Ebn al Athîr. 6 Vide Poc. Spec. p. 314. 1 See before, p. 16. 2 Al Ghazâli. 3 Reland. de Rel. Moh. p. 121. 4 Ebn al Athîr. 5 See Kor. c. 2, p. 21. 6 See Ibid. M. Gagnier has been twice guilty of a mistake in confounding this monument with the sacred enclosure of the Caaba. Vide Gagn. not. ad Abulfed. Vit. Moh. p. 131, and Vie de Moh. tom. 2, p. 262. 7 Dr. Pocock, from al Ghazâli, says seventy, at different times and places. Spec. p. 315. 8 Al Ghazâli, Ahmed Ebn Yusef. 9 Ebn al Athîr. This ceremony being over, on the same day, the tenth of Dhu'lhajja, the pilgrims slay their victims in the said valley of Mina; of which they and their friends eat part, and the rest is given to the poor. These victims must be either sheep, goats, kine, or camels; males, if of either of the two former kinds, and females if of either of the latter, and of a fit age.10 The sacrifices being over, they shave their heads and cut their nails, burying them in the same place; after which the pilgrimage is looked on as completed:11 though they again visit the Caaba, to take their leave of that sacred building. The above-mentioned ceremonies, by the confession of the Mohammedans themselves, were almost all of them observed by the pagan Arabs many ages before their prophet's appearance; and particularly the compassing of the Caaba, the running between Safâ and Merwâ, and the throwing of the stones in Mina; and were confirmed by Mohammed, with some alterations in such points as seemed most exceptionable: thus, for example, he ordered that when they compassed the Caaba they should be clothed;1 whereas, before his time, they performed that piece of devotion naked, throwing off their clothes as a mark that they had cast off their sins,2 or as signs of their disobedience towards GOD.3 It is also acknowledged that the greater part of these rites are of no intrinsic worth, neither affecting the soul, nor agreeing with natural reason, but altogether arbitrary, and commanded merely to try the obedience of