Page 288 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

XIII.] COAST OF ARAI5IA. 2G9

collected on one spot in any other portion of
the globe.
The unsettled state of Hejaz when Burck-
hardt visited it, in 1816, induced him to pre­
dict that the time had passed away when

pilgrims, urged by feelings of devotion, would
continue to flock annually to Mecca to visit
the shrine of Mohammed. A doubtful war,
in which the Pasha was at that time engaged
with the Wahhabis, could scarcely allow him,
in a country like Arabia, to anticipate the long
and uninterrupted peace which has followed its
successful termination ; yet from this cause,
the absence of all imposts on the pilgrims, and

probably an increasing spirit of commerce, so
many facilities and inducements are held out
to visit the holy cities, that in 1831 there were
more pilgrims assembled there than had been
known within the last half century. In 1816,
but two of the five or six regular caravans
were present; but in 1831, the other three
enumerated by Burckhardt, viz., the Mogre-
bin, the I'rani or Persian, and the Sherki or
Yemen caravans arrived at Mecca, and it was
computed that the whole multitude exceeded
one hundred and twenty thousand souls.