With carved and ornamented aloes wood.[FN#15] At the Iraki corner there
is a dwarf door, called Bab al-Taubah (of Repentance).[FN#16] It leads
into a narrow passage and to the staircase by which the servants ascend
to the roof: it is never opened except for working purposes. The “Aswad” or
[p.209] “As’ad[FN#17]” corner is occupied by a flat-topped and
quadrant-shaped press or safe,[FN#18] in which at times is placed the
key of the Ka’abah.[FN#19] Both door and safe are of aloes wood. Between
the columns, and about nine feet from the ground, ran bars of a metal
which I could not distinguish, and hanging to them were many lamps,
said to be of gold.
Although there were in the Ka’abah but a few attendants engaged in
preparing it for the entrance of pilgrims,[FN#20] the windowless stone
walls and the choked-up door made it worse than the Piombi of Venice;
perspiration trickled in large drops, and I thought with horror what it
must be when filled with a mass of furiously jostling and crushing
fanatics. Our devotions consisted of a two-bow prayer,[FN#21] followed
by long supplications at the Shami (West) corner, the Iraki (north)
angle, the Yamani (south), and, lastly, opposite the southern third of
the back wall.[FN#22] These concluded, I returned to the door, where
payment is made.
