MECCA, melc'a, or MAKKA, Arabia, the holiest city of Islam, the capital of the province of Hedjaz, about 49 miles due east of Jiddah, its port on the Red Sea, with which it has tele graphic communication. The Mohammedans call it Umm-al-Kora, "Mother of Cities," and it derives its sanctity from having been the birthplace of Mohammed. The city stands in a narrow, sandy valley, enclosed by barren hills from 200 to 500 feet high, and is supplied with water from the mountains to the east by an aqueduct built in the 9th century, by Zu baidah, wife of Haroun-al-Raschid. The great mosque Beitu 'llah (House of God) or El Haram (The Inviolable), enclosing the Kaaba (q.v.), the Moslem "holy of holies,* occupies a central square which divides the city into the northern upper and the southern lower towns. The unpaved streets are wider than is usual in Oriental towns, and the houses of stone, often three stories high, are lighted with win dows looking on the street, giving them an Oc cidental appearance. The stationary population is about 60,000, but the city is large enough more than three times that number, and is an nually filled at the time of the Hadj or pil grimage to the Kaaba, when apartments in al most every house are rented to strangers. This pilgrimage customary among the Arabs in early and idolatrous ages, and subsequently enjoined by Mohammed on all his followers, is the foundation of Mecca's fame, and the only source of the inhabitants' wealth and occupa tion.
The Mecciwi, or inhabitants of Mecca, are, with the exception of a few Hedjizi Bedouins, all strangers by birth or parentage. They are, in fact, settlers or children of settlers, attracted hither by the love of gain, and as they care nothing for learning, the colleges of Mecca have fallen to decay, and the libraries, once rich, have disappeared. Mecca (hiring the pil grimage becomes for three or four months in the year the greatest market in the East.
The pilgrims converge upon the holy city from three directions; those coming from the south are Mohammedans from Oceanica, Java, Sumatra, Indo-China, India, Turkestan and southern Persia, who pass into the Red Sea through the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb and on to Jiddah, the port of Mecca; the northern branch of the pilgrims, north Persians, Turcomans and people from Asia Minor and European Turkey, go southward to the holy city both by the land and sea routes; the third stream is from the west, Egyptians, Moroccans, Algerians, Tunis ians and Turks, who reach Jiddah through the Suez Canal. For years past the average num ber of pilgrims passing through the Suez Canal to Jiddah has been 16,000, but this number is sometimes greatly exceeded; the number in 1901 was 26,000, and in 1902 was over 40,000. The
northern pilgrims, however, are only a small part of those who annually convene at Mecca. The total number every year exceeds 100,000, practically all of whom are present at the fete of Bairam. The Sherifs of Mecca, direct de scendants of Mohammed, are now a numerous and widely spread body. They all wear the same costume, priding themselves on the green robe which marks their descent. These nobles, as they may be called, elect the Sherif of Mecca, and their choice is formally confirmed by the Ottoman sultan. Ptolemy mentions Mecca un der the designation of Macoraba. Mecca has had a chequered history. According to Arao legend Ishmael dwelt there, and his descend ants were driven out by the Banu Jurhum, who were themselves ousted in turn by the Khuza'a about 210 A.D. Mohammed was born here, but for eight years was opposed by the city's nobles. In 692 Al Hajjaj laid siege to the city and on taking it slew the pretender Abdullah Ben Zobeir. From 1517 to 1916 the Sherlfs of Mecca derived their authority from the Sultan of Turkey. The Wahabees took it in 1803; but in 1833 it was given up to Mehemet Ali, whose son Ibrahim was made Sheik el Harem. Upon the establishment of the kingdom of Hedjaz in 1916 Mecca came under the new regime. Con sult Kahn and Sparroy, 'With the Pilgrims to Mecca' (New York 1905) and Wavell, A. J. B., 'Modern Pilgrim in Mecca) (1912).
MiCHAIN, Pierre Francois Andre., pear frail swi, mi-shifi, French astronomer: b. Laon, France, 16 Aug. 1744; d. Castellon, Spain, 20 Sept. 1805. He became a mathematical tutor and devoted himself to the study of astronomy in his spare moments. In Paris he gained the interest of the astronomer Lalande who as sisted him to a governmental position, in which he was engaged in the survey of the French coast and in astronomical observations. The Academy of Sciences elected him a member in 1782, and in 1785 he was editor of Connais sances des Temps, in which appear some of his most valuable scientific papers. He was com missioned by the National Convention in 1791, in company with Delambre, to measure the arc of the meridian between Dunkirk and Barce lona. The results of the calculations made failed to satisfy him because of a slight crepancy and though now appointed a director of the conservatory at Paris he persuaded the board of longitude to commission him to ure the arc between Dunkirk and the Balearic Isles, but died of fever in Spain while on his, mission. Consult Delambre, 'Histoire de l'As tronomie au dix-huitieme