Transport: Hegira on High

What the Vatican is to Catholics, the Ganges to Hindus and Fujiyama to Japanese, a small black meteor head-high in the southeast corner of a rough stone building called the Kaaba in Mecca is to Mohammedans. Every Moslem plans someday to make the hajj, or pilgrimage, to kiss this most sacred of all objects, the Black Stone. On camel, burro, foot and occasionally hands & knees, some 70,000 devotees annually make the hajj over the desert sands to Mecca. Last week, fat, wealthy Mussulmen loath to subject themselves to such a hot, dusty, brigand-infested journey had for the first time a better means of travel. From Cairo, Misr Airwork of Egypt inaugurated a special service for pilgrims, flying up the Nile to Aswan, thence across the Red Sea to Jidda and on into the interior to isolated Mecca. Fare: £25.