Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/49

43 substitute, the virtue being the same. The day when the sacred caravans start towards the holy city of Mecca is regarded as a great occasion, both for those who will make the pilgrimage and those who are sending them. Almost all the Moslem population of the town or city are gathered in one place, dervishes with their drums and holy banners, large turbaned and wide-robed mollahs, with their yellow slippers, followed by a great multitude of men, women and children, some howling and singing, others talking and crying, some swearing, others trading, all on foot, forming a scene of Babylonian confusion and Sodomite rage. The chief motive of this tumult is two-fold: one is to make a great religious demonstration against the Christians, and the other for their belief that every Moslem who accompanies the sacred caravan even seven steps in its journey will be regarded in the sight of Allah as acceptable as those who perform the whole pilgrimage.

Many of the pilgrims die during this journey, partly from the effect of unfavorable climate of Arabia and partly from Asiatic cholera, the germs of which are proved to be always found in the water of Zemzem, the sacred well of Ishmael, which is asserted to have the supernatural power of cleansing all diseases and sins of the believers. Those who die during this journey are sure to be enrolled among the blessed martyrs and to enjoy the immediate reward of the heavenly presence.

It is believed that every year 80,000 pilgrims visit the Holy Temple; if the number be less than that