LONDON VS. MECCA, 9

Persian Gulf ; and as it had not reached the Arabian ports, they

were not permitted to land. They consequently had to go on

in the steamer ; but were not allowed to disembark either at

Suez, Algiers, or Lisbon, at all of which ports they touched, and

so were carried on to London.

There they had spent three or four weeks ; and the British

India Company had sent them to the Aquarium, Crystal Palace,

and other sights, keeping them at the expense of the company.

I should say they had a far more agreeable time of it in Lon-

don than they would have had at Mecca ; and surely, under the

circumstances, it would help them as well on their road to para-

dise as though they had in reality been enabled to say their

prayers at the sacred shrine, and to have drunk, at their source,

the sacred waters of Zem-Zem.

As the pilgrimage season was over, it was of no use for them

to land at Jeddah when the Agra " called there after leaving

Souakim ; and consequently they were on their way back to

Bushire. Two or three of the original band, better off than the

rest, had, we were told, left London for Paris, intending to

travel overland ; and one had discovered a Jioiiri in London,

with whom he was living in Bayswater.