Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/424



Mecca is situated in a barren, rocky region. The sacred building, called the Kaaba, lies in a vast court surrounded by a colonnade with minarets. Into the court the pilgrims are making their way to walk around the Kaaba seven times and kiss the black stone, embedded in the corner of the building, to the left, as we see it. The Kaaba is covered with a great cloth sent each year by the Egyptian government. The old weather-beaten cover is torn up and sold to the pilgrims for relics. The only entrance to the Kaaba is a little door seven feet from the ground, just under the edge of the cloth 362