Meer Hassan Ali, B.: Observations on the Mussulmauns of India: descriptive of their manners, customs, habits, and religious opinions ; made during a twelve years residence in their immediate Society (Band 1) (London, 1832)

THE PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA. 207

have the means at command, whatever may be
their distance from the place, are expected to
perform the Hadje themselves if possible ; or,
if prevented by any circumstances they cannot
control, they are required to pay the expenses
of other persons willing to be their proxies.

Whatever information I have acquired on the
subject of this pilgrimage has been gleaned
from frequent conversations with Meer Hadjee
Shaah, who as I have before remarked, perform-
ed the Hadje from Hindoostaun to Mecca, at
three different periods of his eventful life.

If the fatigues, privations, and difficulties of
the pilgrimage to Mecca be considered, the
distance from Hindoostaun must indeed render
the Hadj*e a formidable undertaking; yet, the
piously disposed of both sexes yearn for the
opportunity of fulfilling the injunctions of their
Lawgiver, and at the same time, gratifying
their laudable feelings of sympathy and cu-
riosity—their sympathy, as regards the religious
veneration for the place and its purposes ; their
curiosity, to witness with their own eyes, those
places rendered sacred by the words of the