verdure; where the mimosa and acacia give place to the glossy-leaved
fig-tree, to stately palms, and pomegranates of the scarlet fruit; where
rippling streams are heard, and the songs of birds fill the air. There
is a tradition that Adam, when driven out of the Garden of Eden, settled
at Mecca; and there, on the site of the temple yonder, and immediately
beneath a glittering temple of pearly cloud, shimmering dews, and
rainbow lights said to be in Paradise above,--the Baît-el Maamur of
Heaven,--was built, by the help of angels, the first Caaba, a
resplendent temple with pillars of jasper and roof of ruby. Adam then
compassed the temple seven times, as the angels did the Baît above in
perpetual Tawaf. He then prayed for a bit of fertile land, and
immediately a mountain from Syria appeared, performed Tawaf round the
Caaba, and then settled down yonder at Tayf. Hence, Tayf is even yet
called 'Kita min el Sham'--a piece of Syria, the father-land."

"So then, this Caaba, according to tradition, is of early origin?"

"The Arabs believe that when the earthly Baît-el Maamur was taken to
heaven at Adam's death, a third one was built of stone and mud by Seth.
This was swept away by the Deluge, but the Black Stone was kept safe in
Abu Kubays, which is, therefore, called 'El Amin'--the Honest. After the
flood, a fourth House was built by our father Abraham, to whom the angel
Gabriel restored the stone. Abraham's building was repaired and in part
restored by the Amalikah tribe. A sixth Caaba was built by the children
of Kahtan, into whose tribe, say the Arabs, Ismail was married. The
seventh house was built by Kusay bin Kilab, a forefather of Mohammed,
and I have reason to believe that he was the first who filled it with
the idols which now disgrace its walls. Kusay's house was burnt, its
cloth covering (or kiswah) catching fire from a torch. It was rebuilt by
the Koreish (Qurâis) a few years ago. It was then that the door was