Our notions of Mecca must be drawn from the
Arabians, (D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 368 - 371.
Pocock, Specimen, p. 125 - 128. Abulfeda, p. 11 - 40.) As
no unbeliever is permitted to enter the city, our travellers
are silent; and the short hints of Thevenot (Voyages du
Levant, part i. p. 490) are taken from the suspicious mouth
of an African renegado. Some Persians counted 6000 houses
(Chardin. tom. iv. p. 167.).