The Holy Carpet Parade with the Mahmal Cairo Egypt Every year at the expense of the Sultan a fine carpet or huge fabric for festooning the Kaaba at Mecca is made in this city and we are now viewing the procession which is bearing it from the citadel to the mosque of the Hasanen where the pieces will be sewed together and lined in readiness for the departure of the pilgrims We cannot here see the carpet itself but the mahmal which accompanies it is even more sacred We refer to the curious object which you see at the head of the long procession It is a pyramid of woven fabric richly embroidered surmounting a roughly cubical base of the same material The whole is stretched on a wooden frame and contains nothing Brazen ornaments at each corner and a similar adornment crowning a cylinder at the top complete the strange object