The Country Before Us Had A Dreary Aspect, Not A Single
Green Spot Being Visible:
Barren black and grey hills, and white sandy
valleys, were the only objects in sight.
On the declivity of the
mountain, a little way from the top, is a small stone reservoir, built
to supply the visitors with water. It was dry when I saw it, and in bad
repair.
Djebel Thor. About an hour and a half south of Mekka, to the left of the
road to the village of Hosseynye, is a lofty mountain of this name,
higher, it is said, than Djebel Nour. On the summit of it is a cavern in
which Mohammed and his friend Abou Beker took refuge from the Mekkawys
before he fled to Medina. A spider had spun its web before the entrance,
and his pursuers seeing this, supposed, of course, that the fugitives
could not be within. To this circumstance an allusion is made in the
Koran (chap. ix.) I did not visit the spot.
El Omra. Of this building I have already spoken: it is a small chapel
with a single row of columns, on the road to Wady Fatme. Every pilgrim
is required to visit it; but he is left to his own discretion respecting
the places before mentioned. The Omra is surrounded by ruins of several
habitations: there is a copious well near it, and traces of cultivation
are seen in the valley. I believe the well to be that called by the
historians of Mekka "Bir Tenaym." According to Fasy, a mosque, called
Mesdjed Ahlyledje, stood here in the earliest times of Islam.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 245 of 669
Words from 66766 to 67036
of 182297
