This Was A Piece Of Mahomet's Garment, But
What Portion He Could Not Say.
The pilgrim had paid largely for
this blessed relic, and it was passed round our circle from hand
to hand, after having first been kissed by the proprietor, who
raised it to the crown of his head, which he touched with the
cloth, and then wiped both his eyes.
Each person who received it
went through a similar performance, and as ophthalmia and other
diseases of the eyes were extremely prevalent, several of the
party had eyes that had not the brightness of the gazelle's;
nevertheless, these were supposed to become brighter after having
been wiped by the holy cloth. How many eyes this same piece of
cloth had wiped it would be impossible to say, but such facts are
sufficient to prove the danger of holy relics, that are
inoculators of all manner of contagious diseases.
I believe in holy shrines as the pest spots of the world. We
generally have experienced in Western Europe that all violent
epidemics arrive from the East. The great breadth of the Atlantic
boundary would naturally protect us from the West, but infectious
disorders, such as plague, cholera, small-pox, &c. may be
generally tracked throughout their gradations from their original
nests; those nests are in the East, where the heat of the climate
acting upon the filth of semi-savage communities engenders
pestilence.
The holy places of both Christians and Mahometans are the
receptacles for the masses of people of all nations and classes
who have arrived from all points of the compass; the greater
number of such people are of poor estate; many, who have toiled
on foot from immense distances, suffering from hunger and
fatigue, and bringing with them not only the diseases of their
own remote countries, but arriving in that weak state that courts
the attack of any epidemic.
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