an ancient and very famous town of Asia, in Arabia the Happy; seated on a barren spot, in a valley surrounded with little hills, about a day's journey from the Red-Sea. It is a place of no strength, having neither walls nor gates, and the buildings are very mean. That which supports it is the resort of a great many thousand pilgrims annually, for the shops are scarcely open all the year besides. The inhabitants are poor, very thin, lean, and warty. The hills about the town are very numerous, and all consist of a blackish rock, and some of them are half a mile in circumference. On the top of one of them is a cave, where they pretend Mahomet usually retired to perform his devotions, and hither they affirm the greatest part of the Alcoran was brought him by the angel Gabriel. The town has plenty of water, and yet little garden-stuff; but there are several sorts of good fruits to be had, such as grapes, melons, water-melons, and cucumbers. There are also plenty of sheep brought thither to be sold to the pilgrims. It stands in a very hot climate; and the inhabitants usually sleep on the tops of their houses, for the sake of coolness. The temple of Mecca has 42 doors, and its form resembles the royal