ney through the desert, reached Mecca and laid her son in the midst
of the valley to go on the hopeless quest for water. The child kicked the
ground in torment, and God was merciful, so that from his heel marks
arose a spring of clear water--the well Zemzem, hallowed ever after by
Meccans. In this desolate place part of the Amalekites and tribes from
Yemen settled; the child Ishmael grew up amongst them and founded his
race by marrying a daughter of the chief. Abraham visited him, and under
his guidance the native temple of the Kaaba was built and dedicated to
the true God, but afterwards desecrated by the worship of idols within
it.

Such are the legends surrounding the foundation of Mecca and of the
Kaaba, of which, as of the legends concerning the early days of Rome, it
may be said that they are chiefly interesting as throwing light upon the
character of the race which produced them. In the case of Mecca they were
mainly the result of an unconscious desire to associate the city as far
as possible with the most renowned heroes of old time, and also to
conciliate the Jewish element within Arabia, now firmly planted at
Medina, Kheibar, and some of the adjoining territory, by insisting on a
Jewish origin for their holy of holies, and as soon as Abraham and
Ishmael were established as fathers of the race, legends concerning them
were in perpetual creation.

The Kaaba thus reputed to be the work of Abraham bears evidence of an
antiquity so remote that its beginnings will be forever lost to us. From
very early times it was a goal of pilgrimage for all Arabia, because of
the position of Mecca upon the chief trade route, and united in its
ceremonies the native worship of the sun and stars, idols and misshapen
stones. The Black Stone, the kissing of which formed the chief
ceremonial, is a relic of the rites practised by the stone-worshippers of
old; while the seven circuits of the Kaaba, obligatory on all pilgrims,
are probably a symbol of the courses of the planets. Arab divinities,
such as Alilat and Uzza, were associated with the Kaaba before any
records are available, and at the time of Mahomet, idolatry mingled with
various rites still held sway among the Meccans, though the leaven of
Jewish tradition was of great help to him in the establishment of the
monotheistic idea. At Mahomet's birth the Kaaba consisted of a small
roofless house, with the Black Stone imbedded in its wall. Near it lay
the well Zemzem, and the reput