Page:Surrey Archaeological Collections Volume 1.djvu/116

 mind when we gave the site of the house of the Kaaba for an abode to Abraham, saying, Do not associate anything with me, and cleanse my house from those who compass it, and who stand up and who bow down." The translator in a note seems to intimate that the future structure was shown to Abraham in a vision, though wilder legends make it a structure of Paradise taken up against the Deluge into heaven, and again let down in favour of the confiding patriarch.

Its principal sanctity would, however, be undoubtedly derived from the stone, whose blackness indicates its meteoric origin, though Moslem tradition ascribed its colour to a cause that would eminently contribute to the perverseness of the faithful, and the necessity of pilgrimage.—Ibid. p. 117.

"The celebrated black stone which is set in silver and fixed in the south-east corner of the Caaba, being that which looks towards Bafra, about 2⅓ cubits from the ground.—This stone is exceedingly respected by the Mahommedans, and is kissed by the pilgrims with great devotion. They fable that it is one of the precious stones of Paradise, and fell down to earth with Adam, and being taken up again, or otherwise preserved at the Deluge, the angel Gabriel brought it back to Abraham. It was at first whiter than milk, but grew black long since by the touches of so many wicked mortals; as the superficies only is black."

It is doubtful, however, whether this latter assertion rests upon any critical examination; and the conformity of legend betwixt the Caaba as a building, and the stone, leaves little doubt as to their identity, or an early veneration of the stone by the Sabean votaries of Arabia prior to Mahommed. This it was prudent to conceal under the authority and sanctity of Abraham; and the mighty Hobal (vide Sale's Koran, cap. 22, p. 276) was the presiding deity of the Pagan sanctuary, and the guardian of its worship.

This conjecture, that the stone, rather than the building, was the more especial object of sanctity, is proved by the testimony of Codinus (edit. Lambec, Paris, p. 29):—

"Thesaurum Deum Arabes maxime colunt cujus simulacrum est lapis quadrangulus non figuratus, quatuor pedum altitudinem, duarum latitudinem, et unum profunditatem habens. Collocatum vero est supra basim inauratam. Huic sacrificiunt, sanguinemque victimæ profundunt: hoc enim illis prolibamento est. Tota ædes ejusque parietes ex auro sunt, et plurima illic offeruntur donaria. Habet ejus simulacrum colitque Petræ Arabiæ civitas."

It is remarkable that in "Kosmos," Humboldt, whilst treating on meteoric stones, does not mention the Caaba. $3$ Heliogabalus.—See Gibbon, cap. vi.—"The Sun was worshipped at