purplish black in hue, made a horizon on which the ceiling appeared set,
like the crystal in the upper valve of a watch. Thus shut in, but still
fair to view east and south of the position the spectator occupied, lay
El Zaribah, whither, as the appointed meeting place, so many pilgrims
had for days and weeks ever wearier growing been "walking with their
eyes." In their thought the Valley was not so much a garden or landscape
of beauty as an ante-chamber of the House of Allah. As they neared it
now, journeying since the break of day, impatience seized them; so when
the cry sped down the irregular column--"It is here! It is here!" they
answered with a universal _labbayaki_, signifying, "Thou hast called us--
here we are, here we are!" Then breaking into a rabble, they rushed
multitudinously forward. To give the reader an idea of the pageant
advancing to possess itself of the Valley, it will be well to refresh his
memory with a few details. He should remember, in the first place, that
it was not merely the caravan which left El Katif over on the western
shore of the Green Sea, but two great caravans merged into one--_El
Shemi_, from Damascus, and _Misri_, from Cairo. To comprehend these, the
region they drained of pilgrims should be next considered. For example,
at Cairo there was a concentration from the two Egypts, Upper and Lower,
from the mysterious deserts of Africa, and from the cities and countries
along the southern shore of the Mediterranean far as Gibraltar; while the
whole East, using the term in its most comprehensive sense, emptied
contingents of the devout into Damascus. In forwarding the myriads thus
poured down upon them the Arabs were common carriers, like the Venetians
to the hordes of western Europe in some of the later crusades; so to
their thousands of votaries proper, the other thousands of them engaged
in the business are also to be computed. El Medina was the great
secondary rendezvous. Hardly could he be accounted of the Faithful who in
making the pilgrimage would turn his back upon the bones of the Prophet;
of such merit was the saying, "One prayer in this thy mosque is of more