Constantinople, its sultan, its treasury, its inhabitants high and low, its ladies, its saints and beggars--even the lisping children are whispering, God is great, Mohammed is his Apostle, and the Caaba is the house of God. The Egyptian viceroy is assembling his horseman and his camels at Berket el Hadge; the Maghrubees, or Barbaresques, are sharpening their scimitars, and preparing as if for war. India's wealth, her pearls, shawls, and rubies, and stately elephants, are slowly wending their way to the shores of the Persian Gulf, where at al Katif, on the Arabian side, the old sheikh is tarrying with his herds of camels, to sell or hire them for the passage of the desert. The holy Mecca is thus, for several months at least, the theme of all classes of Mohammedans. At length the day arrives to begin the journey so fraught with blessings temporal and spiritual. The conductor of the Constantinople caravan, called the Surré Emminee, or the trustee of the pilgrimage, proceeds to the palace, to receive his commission from the sultan; and to him are consigned all the treasures destined for Mecca. All hopes of worldly aggrandizement are henceforth renounced by this dignitary; for having once imbibed the holy atmosphere of Mecca, his future aspirations are supposed to be only heavenward. He therefore, upon his return, generally retires to Damascus, where, nearer to the shrine, and in a clime more genial for holiness, he awaits his translation into that Paradise, of which his earthly honors are the type and foretaste. Quitting the august presence of the "Thrice happy lord of the refulgent Mecca," the Surré Emminee goes to the Porte, where he takes leave of his former colleagues in temporal greatness, and thence to the gate of the Sheikh-ul-Islam, who grants his blessing on the enterprise. The pilgrims and others collect about him, and they proceed to Bahchai Capusoo, where a steamer is waiting to transport them over to Scutari, in Asia. There, all along the route, are multitudes of people waiting to see the procession. The insignia of the Surré Emminee are borne before him; two long poles, to which the expressive horse-tails are attached, and the Pasha of two tails follows on a beautiful Arabian charger. The treasures destined for Mecca succeed on a train of camels, all bedecked with ribbons and spangles. But this world's grandeurs are bestowed unequally even to these patient animals; for there is one of their number who outshines all his fellows. A venerable camel is covered with trappings enriched with precious stones of rare and sparkling lustre, for on his back he carries the sacred Koran extravagantly bound, and enclosed in a golden box set in brilliants; the gift of the sultan to the temple.