ABSTRACT
It is profound astonishment that has guided this work. Accustomed to over ten years of reading and analysing inventories after death, translating the words describing the belongings of more than 600 deceased inhabitants of Damascus, J.P. Pascual and I had repeatedly stumbled upon the mysterious effects transported by 135 pilgrims whom death had, by the hazards of fate, seized in this city upon their return from pilgrimage.
