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Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17263, 2 September 1916, Page 12

Mecca, where Arabian independence lias been proclaimed, was a famous and prosperous city many centuries before it became the metropolis of Islam. The Makoraba. of Ptolemy and the capital of the Hedjaz, it has been -a nb tabic trading centre since very early times, and the famous Kaaba, originally a heathen shrino containing a miraculous fetish, attracted pagan pilgrims long before Mahomet made it- the holiest shine of the Moslem world. Except for the Great Mosque and a few minor buildings, most of Mecca has been rebuilt in modern times,