With Exceptions Of Jabal Nur And Jabal Saur,[FN#1] All The Places Of Pious Visitation Lie Inside Or Close Outside The City.

It is well worth the while to ascend Abu Kubays; not so much to inspect the Makan al-Hajar and the Shakk al-Kamar,[FN#2] as to obtain an excellent bird’s-eye view of the Harim and the parts adjacent.[FN#3]

The boy Mohammed had applied himself sedulously to commerce after his return home; and had actually been seen by Shaykh Nur sitting in a shop and selling small curiosities. With my plenary consent I was made [p.248] over to Abdullah, his brother. On the morning of the 15th Zu’l Hijjah (19th Sept.) he hired two asses, and accompanied me as guide to the holy places.

Mounting our animals, we followed the road before described to the Jannat al-Ma’ala, the sacred cemetery of Meccah. A rough wall, with a poor gateway, encloses a patch of barren and grim-looking ground, at the foot of the chain which bounds the city’s western suburb, and below Al-Akabah, the gap through which Khalid bin Walid entered Meccah with the triumphant Prophet.[FN#4] Inside are a few ignoble, whitewashed domes: all are of modern construction, for here, as at Al-Bakia, further north, the Wahhabis indulged their levelling propensities.[FN#5] The rest of the ground shows some small enclosures belonging to particular houses,—equivalent to our family vaults,—and the ruins of humble tombs, lying in confusion, whilst a few parched aloes spring from between the bricks and stones.[FN#6]

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