There is no public library attached to the mosque; the ancient libraries, of which I have already spoken, have all disappeared. The Nayb el Haram has a small collection of books which belonged originally to the mosque; but it is now considered as his private property, and the books cannot be hired without difficulty. The Azhar at Cairo is on a very different footing. To each of the Rowak, or private establishments for the different Mohammedan nations, which it contains, (and which are now twenty-six in number,) a large library is annexed, and all the members of the Rowak are at liberty to take books from it to assist them in their studies. Mekka is equally destitute of private libraries, with the exception of those of the rich merchants, who exhibit a few books to distinguish them from the vulgar; or of the olemas, of whom some possess such as are necessary for their daily reference in matters of law. The Wahabys, according to report, carried off many loads of books; but they were also said to have paid for every thing they took: it is not likely that they carried away all the libraries of Mekka, and I endeavoured in vain to discover even a single collection of books. Not a book-shop or a book-binder is found in Mekka. After the return of the Hadj from Arafat, a few of the poorer olemas expose some books for sale in the mosque, near Bab-es’-Salam: all those which I saw were on the law, korans with commentaries, and similar works, together with a few on grammar. No work on history, or on any other branch [p.213] of knowledge, could be found; and, notwithstanding all my pains, I could never obtain a sight of any history of Mekka, although the names of the authors were not unknown to the Mekkawys. They told me that book- dealers used formerly to come here with the Hadj from Yemen, and sell valuable books, brought principally from Szanaa and Loheya. The only good work I saw at Mekka was a fine copy of the Arabic Dictionary called Kamous; it was purchased by a Malay for six hundred and twenty piastres; at Cairo it might be worth half that sum. Many pilgrims inquired for books, and were inclined to pay good prices for them; and it was matter of surprise to me that the speculating Mekkawys did not avail themselves of this branch of trade, not so lucrative certainly as that of coffee and India goods. I much regretted my total want of books, and especially the copies of the historians of Mekka, which I had left at Cairo; they would have led me to many inquiries on topography, which by Azraky in particular is treated with great industry.