The provisions brought by them were distributed also twice a year, viz., in the month of Rajeb, and at the arrival of the pilgrims. They are supplied with dates in great plenty from the adjacent country, and with grapes from Tayef, about sixty miles distant, very few growing at Mecca. The inhabitants of this city are generally very rich, being considerable gainers by the prodigious concourse of people of almost all nations at the yearly pilgrimage, at which time there is a great fair or mart for all kinds of merchandise. They have also great numbers of cattle, and particularly of camels: however, the poorer sort cannot but live very indifferently in a place where almost every necessary of life must be purchased with money. Notwithstanding this great sterility 3 R. Saadias in version. Arab. Pentat. Sefer Juchasin. 135. b. 4 Gen. x. 30. 5 Gol. ad Alfrag. 82 See Gen. xxv. 15. 6 Gol. ib. 98. See Pitts' Account of the religion and manners of the Mohammedans, p. 96. 7 Sharif al Edrisi apud Poc. Specim. 122. 8 Ibid. 9 Gol. ad Alfragan. 99. 10 Sharif al Edrisi ubi supra, 124. 11 Ibid. and Pitts ubi supra, p. 107. 1 Gol. ad Alfrag. 99. 2 Ibid. 3 Sharif al Edrisi ubi supra. 4 Idem ib. 5 Poc. Spec. 51 near Mecca, yet you are no sooner out of its territory than you meet on all sides with plenty of good springs and streams of running water, with a great many gardens and cultivated lands.6 The temple of Mecca, and the reputed holiness of this territory, will be treated of in a more proper place. Medina, which till Mohammed's retreat thither was called Yathreb, is a walled city about half as big as Mecca,7 built in a plain, salt in many places, yet tolerably fruitful, particularly in dates, but more especially near the mountains, two of which, Ohod on the north, and Air on the south, are about two leagues distant. Here lies Mohammed interred1 in a magnificent building, covered with a cupola, and adjoining to the east side of the great temple, which is built in the midst of the city.2 The province of Tehâma was so named from the vehement heat of its sandy soil, and is also called Gaur from its low situation; it is bounded on the west by the Red Sea, and on the other sides by Hejâz and Yaman, extending almost from Mecca to Aden.3 The province of Najd, which word signifies a rising country, lies between those of Yamâma, Yaman, and Hejâz, and is bounded on the east by Irak.4 The province of Yamâma, also called Arûd from its oblique situation, in respect of Yaman, is surrounded by the provinces of Najd, Tehâma, Bahrein, Omân, Shihr, Hadramaut, and Saba. The chief city is Yamâma, which gives name to the province: it was anciently called Jaw, and is particularly famous for being the residence of Mohammed's competitor, the false prophet Moseilama.5 The Arabians, the inhabitants of this spacious country, which they have possessed from the most remote antiquity, are distinguished by their own