With what emotion have the deluded victims of superstition and remorse prostrated themselves upon the hallowed ground, and with what ecstatic faith in the rewards of their holy pilgrimage, have the only true believers kissed the dust of the consecrated earth. Within this beautiful portico, there is a vast space, in the middle of which stands the Caaba itself. After Adam was driven from Paradise, he begged the Almighty to allow him to erect a Beit-el-maamur, or house of God, similar to the one he had seen there. Therefore the Caaba was let down to Mecca, directly under the Heavenly Temple. This was rebuilt after the deluge by Abram, or as some say, again descended from the celestial realms, where it had been preserved, and has been in the possession of the Ishmaelites, or Arabs, ever since. The Caaba, or house of God, is a square building of stone, 24 cubits long, 23 broad and 27 high. It is nearly surrounded by a semicircular colonnade, at the base of which is a low balustrade. Bars of silver, from which lamps are suspended, connect the pillars at the top. How mystic and beautiful are the glimmerings of these lights, as they glisten on the dark night, in their silver lamps, casting uncertain shadows around the marble columns--their dubious shining conjuring up the shades of the Prophet and his honored descendants, all arrayed in jealous and sacred green to watch the devotions of the multitude, as they surround the shrine. The outside of the Caaba is covered with rich black damask, which is renewed every year. The holy imams, pitying the true and faithful, and wishing to ward off from them the dangers of sudden death, and the thousand other casualties of life, bestow a small portion of the covering of this house of God, which has imbibed the sanctity of three hundred and sixty-five days' duration, and, therewith, the power to avert all such evils. A small amount of worldly wealth is sufficient to touch the heart of the holy Emir, who grants this precious charm, which, resting in the bosom of its happy possessor, yields to him a sweet repose from the anticipation of sudden trials which befall the less fortunate inheritors of human life. Outside of this black damask is a band of gold which surrounds the Caaba, and whose lustre is undimmed by time, for it is renewed every year by the sultan of Turkey. The very rain which flows from the roof of this edifice, partakes of its sanctity, and is conducted therefrom by a spout of solid gold, whence it trickles down on the tomb of Ishmael, the head and founder of the Arab race. Near the Caaba is the stone on which the patriarch Abraham stood, when he was rebuilding the holy temple; and even his very foot-prints are to be seen on the solid piece of rock, leaving no shadow of doubt as to its identity.