influential tribes throughout Arabia, claiming, as it did, to be descended from Ishmael, the son of Abraham. Arab authors, it is true, differ among themselves as to the number of generations from Ishmael to Mohammed, some counting thirty, and others sixty, but they all agree that there were twenty-one from Adnan, one of the descendants of Ishmael, to Mohammed, and they only differ as to the number of those from Adnan to Ishmael.*

It was from the tribe of Koreish that had been chosen, for a period of five generations, the magistrates of the abovenamed city, as well as the priests of the Kaaba,† or holy temple therein situated. Before Mohammed's time this temple was the place of worship and pilgrimage of the idolatrous Arabs, and contained not less than 360 idols, equalling the number of days in the Arabian year. It was especially revered on account of the tradition that it had been erected by Abraham and Ishmael, and because it was reputed to be the first structure ever raised by the hand of man to the glory of the Most High. The Kaaba, like the temple of Delphi in Greece, was regarded as the sanctuary of the entire nation; thither came all who were eminent for their skill in eloquence and poetry, the only intellectual qualifications valued by the Arabians, and within its precincts were suspended the compositions deemed worthy of being had in remembrance. Its vast antiquity also, for history placed its foundation 993 years before that of the

* See 'Mohammedanism Unveiled,' by the Rev. Charles Foster, vol. i. p. 139; and the Genealogical Tables in Sale's 'Koran.'

This building, considered the holiest earthly object of Mohammedan regard, is supported by pillars of aloe-wood, between which hang silver lamps, while a golden spout carries off the rain water from the roof. The walls are hung on the outside with black damask, ornamented with a gold band, which is changed every year at the expense of the Grand Seignior. Burckhardt, describing the Kaaba at the present day, says-" The effect of the whole scene, the mysterious drapery, the profusion of gold and silver, the blaze of lamps, and the kneeling multitude, surpasses anything the imagination could have pictured."

temple of Solomon, or 2,000 years before the Christian era, insured it additional respect. In the south-east corner of this temple is a small stone, set in silver, and fixed about four feet from the ground. It is an object of great reverence with Mohammedans, who believe it to have been one of the stones of Paradise, which, having fallen down with Adam from heaven, served afterwards as a pillow for that patriarch. It is said to be white within, but to have been turned black on the outside either by the touch of an impure woman or by the sins of the people, or more probably, by the kisses of the numerous pilgrims visiting Mecca.*

Arabian writers vie with one another in recording in glowing language the prodigies they believed to have signalized the natal hour of their future prophet; thus they affirm that, among other numerous and amazing marvels, the heavens were at his birth illuminated by a preternatural light, that the lake of Sama dried up instantaneously, and that the sacred fire of the Persians, which had burned unremittingly for 1,000 years, suddenly and without any assignable cause, became extinguished.

The name of Mohammed's father was Abdallah, that of his mother Amina; and on the birth of this their son, the brother of the latter, being an astrologer, cast the child's nativity, and thence predicted that he would rise to vast power and found a mighty empire. On the seventh day after the child's birth, his grandfather Abd-el-Mutallab gave a grand feast to the heads of his tribe, and presenting the child to them on the occasion, as the dawning glory of their

"The idolatrous worship of such shapeless or conical blocks of stone, was by no means unknown to the wayward genius of ancient Polytheism. We meet with a similar form of idolatry in the mythology of the Greeks, though set off and embellished by the peculiar fancy of that people; and instances of a like kind were to be found in the worship which the neighbouring people of Syria paid to Belu, or Baal." (Schlegel, Philosophy of History'). It is also known to the Hindoos under the name of "Lingham."

race, gave him on that account the name of Mohammed (praised or most glorious).*

The child was scarcely two years old when his father died, leaving him no other inheritance than two camels, a few sheep, and a female black slave named Barukut. His mother had hitherto suckled him, but cares and sorrows had dried up the fountains of her breast, and she therefore sought a nurse for him from among the Badwuna tribe. To succeed in this was, however, very difficult, for as these women always set a high price upon their services, they turned with contempt from this heir of poverty. At length, the wife of a Saadite shepherd, moved by compassion, took the helpless infant to her home in one of the villages near Mount-Tayif, situated to the east of Mecca. He had not been long with these his foster-parents when their superstitious fears having been awakened by finding a mole between his shoulders, and which they attributed to the agency of the Djins or demons, they carried him back to his mother at Mecca.t

* Some Mohammedan writers assert that the performance of the rite of circumcision upon this infant was unnecessary, from his having been miraculously born without a foreskin. Goropius Becanus, in his 'Origines Antverpianæ,' relates the following curious circumstance respecting the foreskin of the Saviour. During the first crusade, Godefroi de Bouillon having heard that the women of Antwerp worshipped Priapus under the name of Ters, sent them the foreskin of Jesus Christ in the hope of its weaning them from so gross a superstition, but unfortunately without success.-The foreskins still extant of the Saviour are reckoned to be twelve in number: one was in the possession of the monks of Coulombs; another at the Abbey of Charroux; a third at Hildesheim, in Germany; a fourth at Rome in the Church of St. Jean-de-Latran; a fifth at Antwerp; a sixth at Puyen Velay, in the church of Notre Dame, &c.

† Short as was the time he was with his foster-mother, Mohammed ever retained a grateful recollection of the kindness he had received from her. Halimà (that was the woman's name) visited him at Mecca, after his marriage with Khadijah. "It was," says tradition, a year of drought, in which many cattle perished, and Mohammed spake unto Khadijah, and she gave to Halima a camel trained to carry a litter, and two score sheep, and she departed for her home with joyful heart." Upon another occasion, Mohammed spread his mantle for her to sit upon, in token of great regard, placing his hand upon her in a familiar and affectionate manner.

When Mohammed was six years old his mother died, on her return from a visit she and her son had paid to so relatives at Yathreb, and was buried at Abwa, a village between Medina and Mecca. Nothing can give a better idea of the prophet's sensibility than the fact that her grave was a place of pious resort and tender recollections to her son to the latest hour of his existence. There is no doubt but that this early loss imparted to the youthful Mohammed somewhat of that pensive and meditative character which afterwards so distinguished him. In his seventh year he could appreciate the severity of his loss and feel the desolation of his orphan state, a subject to which he afterwards touchingly alludes in the Koran, when, reassuring his soul of the Divine favour and protection and recounting the mercies of the Almighty, he exclaims, "Did he not find thee an orphan and furnish thee with a refuge? "+

At a subsequent period of his life, when on a pilgrimage from Medina to Hodaiba, he visited his mother's tomb, and some of his followers, who knew not that Amina lay buried there, seeing him weep sorely, inquired the cause: "This," replied he, "is my dear mother's grave; the Lord hath permitted me to visit it; I have sought permission to pray for her, but it has not been granted; so, calling her to my remembrance, the tender recollection of her overcame me, and I wept."‡

After his mother's death, the care of the orphan devolved upon his paternal grandfather, Abd-el-Mutalleb, at that time high priest, and he also dying two years after, his son and

* This was the ancic name of Medina, which was chiefly inhabited by the tribes of the Charegites and the Awsites, and by two colonies of Jews of a sacerdotal race, and who by introducing among their Arab fellow citizens a taste for science and religion, had gained for that city the name of the City of the Book-that is, of the Prophet.

↑ Chapter xciii.

This prohibition against praying for his mother's salvation forms a singular instance of the sternness and severity of the dogmas of Islam in respect of those who die in ignorance of the faith.

successor Abu Thaleb took the charge of the boy upon himself, treating him in every respect as one of his own children. It was now that Mohammed began to exhibit indications of an intelligent and inquiring mind. He loved to indulge in solitary meditation, so much so that when his playmates wished him to join in their amusements he replied, "Man is created for a nobler purpose than indulgence in frivolous pursuits." On Mohammed's attaining his thirteenth year, his uncle, who was a wealthy merchant, being on the eve of departing with the caravan for Syria, complied with his nephew's request to be allowed to accompany him, and the youth acquitted himself so well in this his first journey as to obtain no little credit. The next year he served in a military capacity, a circumstance which establishes the curious fact that the professions of the soldier and the trader, far from being considered by the Arabs as incompatible with each other, were frequently, among their most distinguished tribes, if not actually united, at least practised in rapid alternation. The active share taken by the youthful Mohammed in these expeditions developed in him both superior address and military talent, and the esteem and confidence procured him by these qualities were still more heightened by the sincerity of his words and actions, the regularity of his life, and the accuracy of his judgment. As he advanced in years, other merchants, gladly availing themselves of his great tact and ability, employed him as agent in their commercial transactions.

In one of the expeditions he made with his uncle, having arrived at a monastery in the Syrian desert, the superior of the establishment, fixing his scrutinizing gaze upon the face of the young traveller, took Abu Thaleb aside, saying, “Be very careful of thy nephew, and protect him from Jewish treachery, for truly he is born unto great things"-a prophetic warning, according to some writers, of the troubles and opposition which it was ordained the future