What tales could these marble columns whisper of human hopes, and even holier aspirations; of the wicked schemes of intriguing imams, as with sacerdotal robes and turbans of emerald hue, they traced their cautious way from pillar to pillar, and received and blessed the vast concourse of souls, borne down with the ills and sins of humanity. How honeyed their benedictions as they lay their gilded palms on the humble suppliant, who would gladly bestow all his earthly treasures for a sure hope of heaven where his joys would be enduring.
Poor weak mortals! tools of each other, and victims of the calculating; the deceiver and deceived, on the same journey, on the same race course, where the goal is Eternity!
Beneath these domes, and overshadowed by these tall minarés, the poet and the scholar have met to repeat the traditions and romances so peculiar to the glowing imaginations of the Oriental world, and to vie with each other for literary fame; the astrologer and diviner, no doubt the very genii and fairies of Arabian myth, have mingled in the throng.
With what emotion have the deluded victims of superstition and remorse prostrated themselves upon the hallowed ground, and with what ecstatic faith in the rewards of their holy pilgrimage, have the only true believers kissed the dust of the consecrated earth.
Within this beautiful portico, there is a vast space, in the middle of which stands the Caaba itself.
After Adam was driven from Paradise, he begged the Almighty to allow him to erect a Beit-el-maamur, or house of God, similar to the one he had seen there. Therefore the Caaba was let down to Mecca, directly under the Heavenly Temple. This was rebuilt after the deluge by Abram, or as some say, again descended from the celestial realms, where it had been preserved, and has been in the possession of the Ishmaelites, or Arabs, ever since.
The Caaba, or house of God, is a square building of stone, 24 cubits long, 23 broad and 27 high. It is nearly surrounded by a semicircular colonnade, at the base of which is a low balustrade.
Bars of silver, from which lamps are suspended, connect the pillars at the top.
How mystic and beautiful are the glimmerings of these lights, as they glisten on the dark night, in their silver lamps, casting uncertain shadows around the marble columns—their dubious shining conjuring up the shades of the Prophet and his honored descendants, all arrayed in jealous and sacred green to watch the devotions of the multitude, as they surround the shrine.
The outside of the Caaba is covered with rich black damask, which is renewed every year.