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In the year of the Hedjra 17, having purchased from the Koreysh the small houses which enclosed it, and carried a wall round the area, Othman Ibn Affan, in A.H. 27, enlarged the square; and in A.H. 63, when the heretic and rebel Yezyd was besieged at Mekka by Abdallah Ibn Zebeyr, the nephew of Aysha, the Kaaba was destroyed by fire, some say accidentally, while others affirm it to have been done by the slinging machines directed against it by Yezyd from the top of Djebel Kobeys, where he had taken post.
The Moamele lies on the side of Djebel Kobeys, and comprises about a dozen furnaces, of which the chief productions are jars, especially These Moamele jars, although prettily wrought, are too heavy, dif-fering in this respect from the beautiful pottery of Upper Egypt and Baghdad, which are so slight that an empty jar may be thrown down by a mere puff of wind.
Below the castle-hill, upon a small plain between the mountain and the Djebel Kobeys, stands the great palace of the reigning This, too, is said to have been built by Serour; but I find it mentioned by Asamy in the account of trans-actions that occurred two hundred years ago.
Part of the street is built on the lower declivity of the eastern mountain, called Djebel Kobeys, to which narrow, dirty, and steep lanes lead up on that side. The Geshashye is a favourite quarter of the pilgrims, being broad, airy, and open to the northerly winds. I lived here during the last days of Ramadhan, in September, 1814, when I first arrived at Mekka from Tayf.
THE different mountains forming the southern chain of the valley of Mekka are: Djebel Fadeh, on the lower part of Djebel Kobeys, nearest to the town El Khandame, likewise part of Djebel Kobeys Djebel el Abyadh, called among the Pagan Arabs Mestebzera, belonging also to Djebel Kobeys Mozazem Korn Meskale, lower ridge of Shab Aamer Djebel Benhan, ibid.
It is vulgarly believed at Mekka that whoever eats a roasted sheep's head upon Djebel Kobeys, will be for ever cured of all head-aches. Djebel Nour, the mountain of light. This lies to the north of the town.
In it are several dungeon-like towers, and it was probably a castle built upon Djebel Kobeys by Mekether el Hashemy, a chief of Mekka, about the year 530 or 540 of the Hedjra; or it may have been a mosque called Mesdjid Ibrahim, which, according to Azraky, stood here in the seventh century of our era.
On the whole, this burial-ground is in a state of ruin, caused, it is said, by the devastations The places visited out of the town are: Djebel Abou Kobeys. This mountain is one of the highest in the immediate neighbourhood of the town, and commands it from the east.
On his way towards Djebel Kobeys, he met the angel Gabriel, holding in his hand the famous black stone. It was then of a refulgent bright colour, but became black, says El Azraky, in consequence of its having suffered repeatedly by fire, before and after the introduction of Islam. Others say its colour was changed by the sins of those who touched it.
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