Wherever the Cresent glitters on the dome, or the muezzin proclaims the ezan from the pointed minaré; wherever throughout the vast dominions of the Mussulmans, resounds the cry Allah Ikber! Allah Ikber! are the countless votaries of the religion of Mohammed, ready to arise from their peaceful homes, and perform the sacred journey to the shrine of their faith, the holy temple at Mecca. And year after year, do the pilgrims trace a wearisome way through desert plains and scorching heats, to the spot where they may roll off the burden of self-condemnation, and kiss the all-atoning stone, which has been the heirloom to mortality, since the foundation of the world. Although throngs of Mussulman pilgrims yearly visit the holy city of Mecca, but few Europeans have left the impress of their footsteps upon its soil. What millions of human beings, nothing intimidated by deserts, mountains, and all sorts of hardships, have paid their devotions to this shrine! The great have visited it with pomp, and all its train of luxury and display; the grasping spirit of trade, has summoned merchants from all parts of the East. The learned and wise, of times that were, and times that are, have on the same occasion, collecting the productions of genius, sought a mart for literature and renown. Sultanas, and ladies of high and noble rank, have changed their silken couches for wandering homes through the desert. Old age has tottered thither staff in hand, and poverty has never failed to swell the concourse with its numberless train. The vast multitude, hundreds of thousands of every rank and profession, crying "La Illah! Il-Allah! Mohammed Ressoul Ullah!" every year people the silent wastes of sand with the buzz of human voices, as they toil along their weary way to the holy city of Mecca. Every Mohammedan is enjoined to perform this pilgrimage, or if unable to go, to send a proxy, or an offering. "Verily, the first house appointed unto men to worship in, was that which is in Mecca, blessed, and a direction to all creatures." For there was the Kubla, or point to which they were to turn their faces in prayer. "And proclaim unto the people a solemn pilgrimage; let them come unto thee on foot, and on every lean camel, arriving from every distant road; that they may be witnesses of the advantages which accrue to them from the visiting this holy place, and may commemorate the name of God, on the appointed days, in gratitude for the brute cattle which he hath bestowed on them." According to the traditions of the Arabs, the city of Mecca has been the place of religious veneration, from the earliest times. Near this city, on a mountain, Adam is said to have met his wife Eve, two hundred years after the expulsion from Paradise. Here when Abraham was ready to sacrifice his son Ishmael (not Isaac), the identical ram, which had been offered by Abel many years before, was substituted in his place, sent expressly from Paradise.