SM indicates the Salám Gate, through which the pilgrim must enter and where the course begins; AM, the Tomb of Abraham; BK, the Black Stone; K, the Ka’bah, or House of God; Z, the Fountain of Zem-Zem; SA, the Safá Gate, through which the pilgrim passes out on his course; S, Safá, the platform on which one must walk and pray; BH, the Baghleh Gate, the starting-point for hopping; AI, the Ali Gate, the finishing place for hopping, but on the return journey the starting-point, with BH as its ending. M indicates Marveh, the platform on which the pilgrim must walk and pray. The distance for hopping--marked by two pointers at BH and AI--is some seventy-five yards, the dotted lines showing the Course of Perseverance, and the arrow-heads indicating its direction. CHAPTER VI SCENE IN AN EATING-HOUSE--VISIT TO THE KA’BAH It was two o’clock by the time we had completed the Course of Perseverance, and, since we had broken our fast at an early hour in the morning, we betook ourselves in a mighty hurry to the eating-house of Stád Mukhtar, the Effendi pastrycook of Mecca. The caravan we had left behind us at Heddah, swollen beyond recognition on the journey up, had just arrived, and Mussah-street was in a veritable delirium of excitement. It was dry and blazing weather, with a glow as of a furnace in the air, and the passing of the caravan, with its streaming banners, its jaded camels, and its betousled pilgrims, added to the poignance of our hunger by delaying the hour that should see it satisfied. Only one glimpse we took of the medley of men and beasts. As we raised our eyes we saw, securely strapped on an ambling mule, a man of lofty mien, albeit distressingly wasted, with streaming white beard and hair, and the face of a corpse for tense impassivity. His eyes, deep sunk and expressionless, met mine. He at once raised his voice--and never shall I forget the eerie exaltation ringing in its tones--and cried aloud: “Praise be to God on high, who hath brought me alive into His house. Blessed is he who dieth in the house of the Lord. May He be praised and glorified!” And from the crowd there arose a shout, that passed from lip to lip in a fervour of congratulation: “May it be auspicious.... May your eyes be lightened.... May your years be increased.... May your shadow never grow less.... Yá--Allah!... Yá--Muhammad!” The grim fortitude of that towering wraith of a man on the nimble-footed mule stirred in his co-religionists I know not what feelings of awe and gratification. For pity there was no room in their breasts; envy there might have been, but of a sort whereof heroism is engendered; not one among them but had wished to be in the place of him who, supported by faith and guided by death, had won the crown of self-martyrdom. In a moment the man was gone past.