from heaven, similar to that in which they had worshipped, according to the story, in the garden of Eden. In proof of their wandering and meeting, Adam's footprint, of gigantic size, is still shown on Adam's Peak in Ceylon, while Eve's tomb is to be seen in Arabia, ninety feet long and eighteen feet wide. With the death of Adam the temple of clouds passed away, but in its place Seth, his son, built one of wood and stone, which the flood destroyed; but on its site Hagar's well bubbled forth, and near it Ishmael took up his abode. Here Abraham visited him, according to the Mahometans, who assert, by a curious doubling of the tale of Isaac, that he was ordered to offer up Ishmael, but released from the command in the same way; and Abraham and Ishmael together rebuilt the temple, in which they were helped by the angel Gabriel, who brought them one of the stones of Paradise to assist them, which rose and fell as they progressed with their work, and was finally placed in an outer corner of the wall. It is still kissed by the pilgrims to Mecca, and it is supposed once to have been white, but to have turned black in reflection of the sins of the human race. Few Europeans have seen it, as Mecca is all but inaccessible to them, but it is described as reddish-black, with coloured crystals sprinkled on it, about six inches by eight in size, and raised four feet from the ground. Round it is a border of silver. The Kaaba was the centre of pilgrimages and of the strange mixture of ceremonies based partly on idolatry and partly on the biblical story of Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael. For more than two thousand years this simple religion sufficed the people of Arabia: all through the period of the Jewish kingdoms and capti-
