slave Narcissus, for the sum of £40.” “And I,” replied the pilgrim, “agree to pay you £40 for your property, Narcissus.” Thus the bargain was clinched. This time the mother’s despair was voiceless; for it meant to stay with her always. Most of the slaves, male and female, came from Nubia and from Abyssinia, and these are said to be the most faithful. “Hájí Ráz” tried his best to determine the extent of the traffic at Mecca, but in a country where the census is unknown, where every nobleman is an independent ruler, and where the revenue cannot be calculated with any degree of accuracy, he found it impossible to form even a working hypothesis as to the number of human beings that are sold yearly in the city of God. That the trade by sea is on the decrease is certain; but many a slaver escapes from the clutch of the British cruisers owing to the shallow waters of the Red Sea and to the fact that the pursuer cannot go ashore. Moreover, the overland route is always open. Thus he was told that the generality of the richer pilgrims commemorated the sacramental journey by buying at least one slave, and often two. The price varied. A woman-slave, if she were good to behold, fetched by far the higher price--from £20 to £80. Men slaves could be bought for sums varying from £15 to £40. The children-in-arms were sold with their mothers, an act of mercy; but those that could feed themselves had to take their chance. More often than not they were separated from their mothers, which gave rise to scenes which many a sympathetic pilgrim would willingly forget if he could. It is the custom among the Muhammadans to change the names of their newly-acquired property. Thus the slaves that go to Persia and to Central Asia are called by the names of the flowers if they are women, and by those of the precious stones if they are men. Of the precious stones Turquoise and Cornelian are the most common. Flowers and precious stones! Are they not men and women, O children of Islám, and if they are, why do you not restore to them, in accordance with the express commands of Muhammad, the Prophet, the breath that would reanimate and the light that would redeem them?... “But zeal outruns discretion. Here I end.” INDEX Aal, 276 Aaron, 61 Abbas, 274 Abdallah Ebn Omm Mactúm, 23 Abdullah Ansari, 303 Abdur Rahman Khan, 160 Abraham, 55, 115, 140, 166, 247 ’Abd Allah Ibu Mas’ud, 261 Abú Amid, 166 Abú Bekr, 69, 113 Abú Ghobais, Mount, 257 Abú Hanifa, 115 Abú-Hurairah, 261 Abú Sa’íd al-Khadrí, 261 Abú Sophian, 70 Abú Yúsúf, 115 Abyssinia, 307 Adam, 131, 166 Afghan pilgrim, 259 Aghigheh sacrifice, 47, 272, 273 Ahia, 53 Ahmad Ebn Hanbal, 117 Ahmad Ebn Yúsúf, 93 Ahmad Muizz-u’d-Dawlat, 69 Ainé-Zobeideh, 224, 237 Albanians, 234, 235 Al Beyyid, 93 Alemeyn, 196, 203, 204, 252 Al-Farra of Bagh, 261 Algeria, 178 Al Hadi, 115 ’Alí, Imám, his knighthood, 24, 25