mother, so that by it might be seen the far-off towers of the castles in
Syrian Bostra. A tenderness hangs over the story of Mahomet's birth,
akin to that immortal beauty surrounding the coming of Christ. We have
faint glimpses of Amina, in the dignity of her sorrow, waiting for the
birth of her son, and in the house of Mecca's leading citizen, hearing
around her not alone the celestial voices of her spirit-comforters, but
also rumours of earthly strife and the threatenings of strange armies
from the south.

At Sana, capital of Yemen, ruled Abraha, king of the southern province.
He built a vast temple within its walls, and purposed to make Sana the
pilgrim-city for all Arabia. But the old custom still clove to Mecca,
and finding he could in nowise coerce the people into forsaking the
Kaaba, he determined to invade Mecca itself and to destroy the rival
place of worship. So he gathered together a great army, which numbered
amongst it an elephant, a fearful sight to the Meccans, who had never
seen so great an animal. With this force he marched upon Mecca, and was
about to enter the city after fruitless attempts by Abd al Muttalib to
obtain quarter, when God sent down a scourge of sickness upon his army
and he was forced to retreat, returning miserably to Sana with a remnant
of his men. But so much had the presence of the elephant alarmed the
Meccans that the year (A.D. 570) was called ever after "The Year of the
Elephant," and in August thereof Mahomet was born.

Then Amina sent for Abd al Muttalib and told him the marvels she had
seen and heard, and his grandfather took the child and presented him in
the Kaaba, after the manner of the Jews, and gave him the name Mahomet
(the Praised One), according as the angel had commanded Amina.

The countless legends surrounding Mahomet's birth, even to the physical