the pilgrimage, which has begun to decline, (this happened before the
Wahaby conquest,) many of the Mekkawys, no longer deriving profit from
the letting of their lodgings, found themselves unable to afford the
expense of repairs; and thus numerous buildings in the out-skirts have
fallen completely into ruin, and the town itself exhibits in every street
houses rapidly decaying. I saw only one of recent construction; it was in
the quarter of El Shebeyka, belonged to a Sherif, and cost, as report
said, one hundred and fifty purses; such a house might have been built at
Cairo for sixty purses.

The streets are all unpaved; and in summer time the sand and dust in them
are as great a nuisance as the mud is in the rainy season, during which
they are scarcely passable after a shower; for in the interior of the
town the water does not run off, but remains till it is dried up. It may
be ascribed to the destructive rains, which, though of shorter duration
than in other tropical countries, fall with considerable violence, that
no ancient buildings are found in Mekka. The mosque itself has undergone
so many repairs under different sultans, that it may be called a modern
structure; and of the houses, I do not think there exists one older than
four centuries; it is not, therefore, in this place, that the traveller
must look for interesting specimens of architecture or such beautiful
remains of Saracenic structures as are still admired in Syria, Egypt,
Barbary, and Spain. In this respect the ancient and far-famed Mekka is
surpassed by the smallest provincial towns of Syria or Egypt. The same
may be said with respect to Medina, and I suspect that the towns of Yemen
are generally poor in architectural remains.

Mekka is deficient in those regulations of police which are customary in
Eastern cities. The streets are totally dark at night, no lamps of any
kind being lighted; its different quarters are without gates, differing