And When The Three Days Of Byram Are
Expired, They All, With Their Tents, &C., Come Back Again To Mecca.
“They say, that after the Hagges are gone from Mina to Mecca, God doth
usually send a good shower
Of rain to wash away the filth and dung of
the sacrifices there slain; and also that those vast numbers of little
stones, which I told you the Hagges throw in defiance of the devil, are
all carried away by the angels before the year comes about again. But I
am sure I saw vast numbers of them that were thrown the year before,
lie upon the ground. After they are returned to Mecca, they can tarry
there no longer than the stated time, which is about ten or twelve
days; during which time there is a great fair held, where are sold all
manner of East India goods, and abundance of fine stones for rings and
bracelets, &c., brought from Yeamane[FN#40]; also of China-ware and
musk, and variety of other curiosities. Now is the time in which the
Hagges are busily employed in buying, for they do not think it lawful
to buy any thing till they have received the title of Hagge. Every one
almost now buys a caffin, or shroud of fine linen, to be buried in (for
they never use coffins for that purpose), which might have been
procured at Algier, or their other respective homes, at a much cheaper
rate; but they choose to buy it here, because they have the advantage
of dipping it in the holy water, Zem Zem.
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