 CHAPTER 32 OF PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF PILGAMERGE FROM ELMEDINA TO MECCA CHAPTER 32 OF PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF PILGAMERGE FROM ELMEDINA TO MECCA BY RICHARD FRANCIS BIRTON LIFE AT MECCA AND AUMRA OR THE LITTLE PILGAMERGE My few remaining days at MECCA sped pleasantly enough, her mother Fendi visited me regularly and arranged to accompany me furtively to Cairo. I had already consulted Mohammad Shukliba, who suddenly appeared at Mina having dropped down from Suez to Jeddah and having reached MECCA in time for pilgrimage, about the possibility of proceeding eastward. The honest fellow's eyebrows rose till they almost touched his turban, and exclaimed in a roaring voice, Allah, Fendi, that art surely mad. Every day he brought me news of the different caravans. The Bedouin of Al-Hijaz were, he said, inaffirmant caused by the reports of the Holy War, want of money and rumours of quarrels between the Sharif and the Pasha. Already they spoke of an attack upon Jeddah, Sheikh Masrood the Camelman, for whom I parted on the best of terms, and seriously advised my remaining at MECCA for some months even before proceeding to Sana'a. Others gave the same counsel. Briefly I saw that Masar was not indescending and resolved to reserve myself for more propitious conjecture by returning to Egypt. The Turkish Colonel and I had become as friendly as two men ignoring each other's speech could be. He had derived benefit from prescription, but like all his countrymen he was pining to leave MECCA. Fitnut, no more than one quarter of the pilgrims who appear at Arafat go on to Medina. They expense the hardships and the dangers of the journey account for the smallness of the number. In theology it is jahiz or admissible to begin with the Prophet's place of burial, but those performing the Hajjat of Islam are enjoying to commence at MECCA. End of Fitnut. Whilst the pilgrimage lasted, no melody came to trouble them, but with its excitement over they could think of nothing but their wives and children, long-run faces and continual sighs evidenced nostalgia. At last the house became a scene of preparation. Blue China-ware basketed bottles of Zamzam water appeared standing in solid columns and pilgrims occupied themselves in hunting for mementos of MECCA. Ground-plans, coams, bomb, henna, tooth-sticks, aloe-woods, turquoise, coral, and mother-of-pearl rosaries, shreds of kissua cloth and fine abas or cloaks of camel's wool. It was not safe to mount the stairs without shouting, Tariq, out of the way, at every step, on peril of meeting face-to-face some excited fare. Fitnut, where respectable married men live together in the same house, a rare occurrence except on journeys this most ungallant practice of clearing the way is and must be kept up in the east. End of Fitnut. The lower floor was crowded with provisioned vendors, and the staple article of conversation seemed to be the chance of a steamer from Jidda to Suez. Wary of the wrangling and shaffering of the hall below, I had persuaded my kind hostess, in spite of the surly skeleton that her brother was, partially to clear out a small storeroom in the first floor and to abandon it to me between the hours of ten and four. During the heat of the day, clothing is unendurable at Mecca. The city is so compacted together by hills that even the Samoom can scarcely sweep it. The heat reverberated by the bare rocks is intense, and the normal atmosphere of an eastern town communicates a faint lassitude to the body and irritability to the mind. The houses, being unusually strong and well-built, might by some art of their mantidote be rendered cool enough in the hottest weather, but they are now ovens. Fitnut. I offer no length at description of the town of Mecca. Eili Bay and Burkhard have already said all that requires saying. Although the origin of the Bethel law be lost in the glooms of past time, the city is comparatively modern place. Built at about A.D. 450 by Qusay and Quraish, it contains about 30,000 to 45,000 inhabitants, with lodging rooms for at least treble that number, and the material of the houses is brick, granite, and sandstone for the neighboring hills. The site is a winding valley on a small plateau half way below the galt. Its utmost length is two miles and a half from Medeba, at the north, to the southern mount Jihad. And three quarters of a mile would be the extreme breath between Abu Qubais eastward upon whose western slope the most solid mass of the town clusters and Jabal-Hindi westward of the city. In the center of this land stands the Kaaba, a regret being unable to offer the reader a sketch of Mecca or of the great temple. The stranger who would do this should visit the city out of the pilgrimage season and hire a room looking into the quadrangle of the harem. This addition to our knowledge is more required, as our popular sketches, generally taken from Dusson, are utterly incorrect. The Kaaba is always a recognizable building, but the view of Mecca, known to Europe, is not more like Mecca than like Cairo or Bombay, end of footnote. It was my habit to retire immediately after the late breakfast to the little room upstairs to sprinkle it with water and to lie down on a mat. In the few precious moments of privacy, notes were committed to paper, but one eye was ever fixed on the door. Sometimes a patient would interrupt me, but a doctor is far less popular in al-Hijjahs than Egypt. The people, being more healthy, have less faith in physics. Sheikh Masoud and his son had never tasted in their lives ought more medicinal than green dates and camel's milk. Occasionally the black slave girls came into the room, asking if the pilgrim wanted a pipe or a cup of coffee. They generally retired in a state of delight, attempting vainly to conceal the corner of a tattered veil, a grand display of ivory consequent, upon some small and innocent facetiousness. The most frequent of my visitors was Abdullah the Kibira's eldest son. This melancholy jock had joined our caravan at Al-Himra road, accompanied as to Al-Medina, lived there and journeyed to Mecca with the Syrian pilgrimage, yet he had not once come to visit me or his brother the boy Muhammad. When gently reproached for this omission, he declared it to be his way, that he never called upon strangers until sent for. He was the perfect Saudawi, or melancholist, in mind, manners, and personal appearance, and this class of humanity in the East is almost as uncomfortable to the household as the idiot of Europe. I was frequently obliged to share my meals with him, as his mother, though most filially and reverentially entreated, would not supply him with breakfast two hours after the proper time, or with a dinner served up forty minutes before the rest of the household. Often too I had to curb by polite deprecation the impetuosity of the fiery old Kibira's tongue. Thus Abdullah and I became friends after our fashion. He purchased several little articles required and never failed to pass hours in my closet, giving me much information about the country, deploring the laxity of Macan morals, and lamenting that in these evil days his countrymen had forfeited their name at Cairo and Constantinople. His curiosity about the English in India was great, and I satisfied it by praising as a Muslim would, their politic, their even-handed justice and their good star. Then he would inquire into the truth of a fable extensively known on the shores of the Mediterranean and of the Red Sea. The English, it is said, sent a mission to Muhammad inquiring into his doctrines and begging that the heroic Khalid bin El-Walid might be sent to proselytize them. Footnote. It is curious that the Afghans should claim this Quraysh noble as their compatriot. On one occasion when Khalid bin El-Walid was saying something in his native tongue, the Pushtu or Afgani, Muhammad remarked that, assuredly, that language was the peculiar dialect of the damned. As Khalid appeared to suffer from the observation and to betray certain symptoms of insubordination, the Prophet condescended to comfort him by graciously pronouncing the words Rache linda ra'ura, i.e., bring me my bow and arrows. Remarks on Dr. Dorn's testimony of the Pushtu or Afgan language translated Bombay Asiatic Society, 1848. End of footnote. Unfortunately the envoys arrived too late. The Prophet's soul had winged its way to paradise. An abstract of the Muslim scheme was, however, sent to the Ingris, who declined as the founder of the new faith was no more to abandon their own religion. But the refusal was accompanied with expressions of regard. For this reason many Muslims in Barbary and other countries hold the English to be people of the books and the best inclined towards them. As regards the Prophet's traditions concerning the fall of his birthplace and the thin calf from the Habish, Abyssinian shall destroy the Kaaba, I was informed that towards the end of time a host will pass from Africa in such multitudes that a stone shall be conveyed from hand to hand between Jeddah and Mecca. This latter condition might easily be accomplished by 60,000 men, the distance being only 44 miles, but the citizens consider it to express a countless horde. Some pious Muslims have hoped that in Abdullah ibn Zubayr's re-election of the Kaaba the prophecy was fulfilled. Footnote. See the ninth building of the Kaaba described in Chapter 4. And a footnote. The popular belief, however, remains that the fatal event is still in the womb of time. In a previous part of this volume I have alluded to similar evil presentiments which haunt the mind of al-Islam and the Christians, zealous for the propagation of his faith may see in them an earnest of its still wider diffusion in future ages. Footnote. It requires not the can of a prophet to foresee the day when political necessity will compel us to occupy in force the fountain head of al-Islam. End of footnote. Late in the afternoon I used to rise, perform ablution and repair to the head-on or wonder about the bazaar still sunset. After this it was necessary to return home and prepare for supper or dinner you would be called in the west. With the meal concluded I used to sit for a time outside the street door in great dignity upon a broken-backed black wood chair traditionally said to have been left in the house by one of the princes of Delhi smoking shisha and drinking sundry cups of strong green tea with a slice of lime a fair substitute for milk. At this hour the seat was as in a theater but the words of the actor were of nature somewhat too fascinant for a respectable public. After nightfall we either returned to the head-on or retired to rest. Our common dormitory was the flat roof of the house under each cot stood a water-guglet and all slept as must be done in the torrid lands on and not in bed. I sojourned at Mecca but a short time and as usual with travelers did not see the best specimens of the population. The citizens appeared to me more civilized and more vicious than those of Al Medina. They often leave home where small experience grows and quimultum pregrinatur raro sanctificatur or become a worldly wise god-forgetting and a manmonish sort of folk. Tuf wa sa wa amilas sabaa circumambulate and run between Safa and Marwa and commit the seven deadly sins. Is a satire popularly leveled against them hence to the proverb al haram fil haraman evil dwelleth in the two holy cities and no wonder since plenary indulgence is so easily secured. Good acts done at Mecca are rewarded a hundred thousand fold in heaven yet it is not auspicious to dwell there. A modern forms us that an evil deed receives the punishment of seventy. End of footnote. The pilgrim is forbidden or rather dissuaded from abiding at Mecca after the rites and wisely too. Great emotions must be followed by a reaction and he who stands struck by the first aspect of Wallah's house after a few months the marvel waxing stale sweeps past with indifference or something worse. There is however little at Mecca to offend the eye. As among certain nations further west a layer of ashes overspreads the fire the mine is concealed by a green turf fair to look upon. It is only when wandering by starlight through the northern outskirts of the town that citizens may be seen with light complexions and delicate limbs coarse turbans and Egyptian woolen robes speaking disguise and the purpose of disguise. No one within the memory of man has suffered the penalty of immorality. Spiritual slickers are no longer sold in shops as in Burkhart's day. Footnote. It must be remembered that my predecessor visited Mecca when the Egyptian army commanded by Muhammad Ali held the town. End of footnote. And some are not officers assured me that they found considerable difficulty in smuggling flasks of Araqi from Jeddah. The Mecca is darker, a man than the Medinet. The people explain this by the heat of the climate. I rather believe it to be caused by the number of female slaves that find their way into the market. Galas, Swahilis, Afusomalis, and Abyssinians are embarked at Suwakin, Zayla, Tajurrah, and Berbera carried in thousands to Jeddah and the holy city has the pick of every batch. Then the stream sets northwards, a small current towards El Medina and the main line to Egypt and Turkey. Footnote. In another place I have ventured a few observations concerning the easy suppression of this traffic. End of footnote. Most Meccans have black concubines and, as has been said, the appearance of the Sharif is almost that of a Negro. I did not see one handsome man in the holy city although some of the women appeared to me beautiful. The male profile is high and bony, the forehead recedes and the head rises and pleasantly towards the region of firmness. In most families, male children, when forty days old, are taken to the cab, prayed over and carried home where the barber draws at the razor three parallel gashes down the fleshy portion of each cheek from the exterior angle of the eyes almost to the corners of the mouths. These mashali, as they are called, may be of modern date. Footnote. The art is called the shril or gashing. The body is also marked but with smaller cuts so that the child is covered with blood. Ali Bey was told by some Meccans that the face gashes serve the purpose of phlebotomy by others that they were signs that the scarred was the servant of Allah's house. He attributes this male gashing like female tattooing to cockatry. The citizens told me that the custom arose from the necessity of preserving children from the kidnapping Persians and that it preserved as mark of the Holy City. But it's why diffusion denotes an earlier origin. Muhammad expressly forbade his followers to mark the skin with scars. These beauty marks are common to the nations in the regions to the west of the Red Sea. The Barabara of Upper Egypt adorn their faces with scars exactly like the Meccans. The Abyssinians moxa themselves in hit of combs for fashion's sake. I have seen cheeks gashed as in the Holy City among the galas. Certain races of the Swahili trace around the head a corona of little cuts like those of a cupping instrument. And to quote no other instances, some Somalis raise ghastly seams upon their chocolate colored skins. End of note. The citizens declare that the custom was unknown to their ancestors. I am tempted to assign to it a high antiquity and cannot but attribute a pagan origin to a custom still prevailing despite all the interdictions of the Alama. In point of figure the Meccan is somewhat coarse and lymphatic. The ludicrous leanness of the outward man as described by Ali Bey survives only in the remnants of themselves belonging to a bygone century. The young men are rather stout and athletic but in middle age when man's wills and swells they are apt to degenerate into corpulence. The Meccan is a covetous spendert. His wealth lightly won, is lightly prized. Pay, pensions, typants, presents and a crime here as at El Medina supply the citizen with a means of idleness. With him everything is on the most expensive scale. His marriage, his religious ceremonies and his household expenses. His houses look zealously furnished, entertainments are frequent and the junketings of his women make up a heavy bill at the end of the year. It is common practice for the citizen to anticipate the pilgrimage season by falling into the hands of the usura. If he be in luck, he catches in skin one or more of the richest hedges. On the other hand, should fortune fail him he will feel for life the effect of interest running on at the rate of at least 50%. The simple and compound forms of which are equally familiar to the wild is Sarraf. Footnote. Sairafi, a money-changer. Sarraf is banker. The Indian Shroff is banker, money-changer and usura. And a footnote. The most unpleasant peculiarities of the McCons are their pride and coarseness of language. Footnote. When speaking of the McCons I allude only to the section of society which fell under my observation and that more extensive division concerning which I obtained notices that could be depended upon. And a footnote. Looking upon themselves as the cream of earth's sun they resent with extreme asperity the least-lighting word concerning the holy city and its denizens. They plume themselves upon their holy descent their exclusion of infidels. Footnote. The editor of Burkhard's travel in Arabia supposes that his author's act of light extinguishers were probably Parsees from Surat or Bombay. The mistake is truly ludicrous. For no pious Parsee will extinguish a light. Moreover, infidels are not allowed by law to pass the frontiers of the sanctuary. The sect alluded to is an obscure heresy in Central Asia and concerning it the most improbable scandals have been propagated by the orthodox. And a footnote. Their strict fastings, their learned men and the purity of their language. Footnote. It is strange how travelers and linguists differ upon the subject of Arabic and its dialects. Nibhor compares their relation to that of Provencal, Spanish, and Italian whereas Lane declares the dialects to resemble each other more than those of some different countries in England. Herbine or grammar draws a broad line between ancient and modern Arabic but Hawks or Nachrichten von Marokos und Fez asserts that the difference is not so great as is imagined. Perhaps the soundest opinion is that proposed by Claudius in his Arabic grammar dialecticus arabum vulgaris tantum differed ab erudita quantum isocratis dictio ab hodierna lingua grecia but it must be remembered that the Arabs divide their spoken and even written language into two orders. The kalam waati or vulgar tongue sometimes employed in epistolary correspondence and the nahwi or grammatical and classical tongue. Every man of education uses the former and can use the latter and the Quran is no more a model of Arabic as it is often assumed to be than Paradise Lost is of English inimitable but no man imitates them. End of footnote. In fact their pride shows itself at every moment but it is not their pride which makes a man too proud to do dirty work. Marpe de Cessar did not remark their scurrility he seems on the contrary rather to commend them for respectability in this point. If he be correct the present generation has degenerated. The Matkans appear to me distinguished even in this foul mouth at east by the superior licentiousness of their language. Abuse was bad enough in the streets but in the house it became intolerable. The Turkish pilgrims remarked but they were too proud to notice it. The boy Muhammed and one of his tall cousins at last regressed the limits of my endurance. They had been reviling each other wildly one day at the house door about dawn when I administered the most open reprimand. In my country Afghanistan we hold this to be the hour of prayer. The season of good thoughts when men remember Allah even the kafir does not begin the day with curses and abuse. The people around approved and the offenders could not refrain from saying thou hast spoken truth of Hindi. Then the bystanders began as usual to improve the occasion. See! they exclaimed this Suleymani gentleman is not the son of a holy city and yet he teaches you yeah the children of the prophet repent and fear Allah. To which they replied verily we do repent and Allah is a pardoner and a merciful. We're silent for an hour and then abused each other more foully than before. Yet it is a good point in the Meccan character that it is open to reason it can confess itself in error and it deploys none of that talkiness of vice which distinguishes the sinner of a more stolid race. Like the people of southern Europe the Samite is easily managed by jest. Though grave and thoughtful he is by no means deficient in the sly wit and the solemn gravity of his words contrast amusingly with his ideas. He particularly excels in the servantic art the spirit of which says turn is to clothe low subjects in sublime language. In Muhammad's life we find that he by no means disdain the joke sometimes a little hazard as in the case of the paradox of etting old women the redeeming qualities of the Meccan are his courage his bonomi his manly suavity of manners his fiery sense of honor his strong family of actions his near approach to what we call patriotism and his general knowledge that approach of extreme ignorance which Burkhard directs against the holy city has long ago sped to the limbo of things that were. The dark half of the picture is formed by pride, bigotry, irreligion, greed of gain, immorality and prodigal ostentation of the pilgrimage ceremonies I cannot speak harshly. It may be true that the rites of the Kaaba emasculated of every adulterous tendency still hang a strange and meaning shroud around the living phasem over Islam. But what nation, either in the west or in the east has been able to cast out from its ceremonies every suspicion of its old adultery? What are the English mistletoe the Irish rake the pardon of Brittany the carnival and the worship at Iserna? Better far to consider the Meccan pilgrimage rites in the light of evil worship turned into lessons of good than to philosophize about their strangers and to blunder in asserting them to be insignificant. Even the Bedouin circumambulating the Kaaba fortifies his wild belief by the fawn thought that he dreds the path of Allah's friend. At Arafat the good Muslim worships in imitation of the pure Allah. Futna Safiyullah or Adam. End of Futna. And when hurling stones and curses at three senseless little buttresses which commemorate the appearance of a fiend the materialism of the action gives to its sentiment all the strength and endurance of reality the supernatural agencies of pilgrimage are carefully and sparingly distributed the angels who restore the stones from Monatham's Delifa the heavenly host whose opinions cause the Kaaba's veil to rise and wave and the mysterious compliment of the pilgrims total at the Arafat sermon all belong to the category of spiritual creatures walking earth unseen a poetical tenant not condemned by Christianity the Meccans are it is true to be reproached with their open memons worship at times and at places the most sacred and venerable but this has no other effect upon the pilgrims and to excite this custom open reprehension here however we see no such silly frauds as heavenly fire drawn from a phosphorus match nor the two rival churches fight in the flesh with teeth and nails requiring the contemptuous interference of an infidel power to keep around order here we see no fair dame staring with their glasses rocks at the head of the church or supporting exhausted nature with the furtive sandwich or carrying pampered curves who too often will not be silent or scrambling and squeezing to hear a theatrical music reckless of the fate of the old lady who on such occasion there is always one has been thrown down and cruelly trampled upon by the crowd if the Meccan citizens are disposed to scoff at the wild taqruri they do it not so publicly or shamelessly as the Roman jeering with a revolt just at the fanaticism of strangers from the bogs of Ireland finally at Mecca there is nothing theatrical nothing that suggests the opera but all is simple and impressive filling the mind with a weight of not easy to be born and tending I believe after its own fashion to good as regards to the Meccan and muslim belief that Abraham and his son built the carba it may be observed the genetic account of the great patria has suggested to learn and mend the idea of two abrahams one the son of tera and one the son of azir the fire a prometheus who imported civilization and knowledge into arabia from haram the sacred center of sabbayan learning fitnub the legend that abraham was the son of fire might have arisen from his birthplace ur of the chaldees this ur when the latin uro becomes in persian here or in arabic it explains the origin of orotalt better than by means of allah this word variously spelt orotalt orotalt and urotal the latter would be the masculine form in arabic is arrat ilat or the goddess of fire most probably the son a shuns which the samites make a feminine for begin translated sonnengot an error of gender as the final consonant proves the other diety of pagan arabia alilat is clearly alilat may not definitions have supplied the word er which still survives in erin and in iran even so they gave to the world the name of britain britainke barrat tanuqi the land of tin and i should more readily believe that iran is the land of fire and accept his derivation from er man and the footnote muslim historians all agree in representing abraham as the star worshiper in youth and usibius calls the patryakh a son of avar his father's name therefore is no arab invention whether ishmael or his sire ever visited mecca to build kaba is in my humble opinion an open question the jewish scripture informs us only that the patryakh dwelt at bir sheba in jerar in the southwest of palestine without any allusion to the annual visit which muslims declare he paid to their holy city at the same time arab tradition speaks clearly and consistently on the subject and generally omits those miraculous and superstitious adjuncts which cast shadows of sore doubt upon the philosophic mind the amount of risk which a stranger must write is still considerable a learned orientalist and divine intimated his intention in a work published a few years ago of visiting mecca without disguise he was assured that the turkish governor would now offer no obstacle to a european traveler i was strongly dissuade a friend for making the attempt it is true that the frank is no longer as in captain heads day insulted when he ventures out of jidda and gate of jidda footnote captain cf head, author of eastern and egyptian scenery was pelted by the bedouin as late as 1829 because he passed the eastern gate of jidda in frankish dress and a footnote and that our wise consuls and travelers are allowed on condition that their glance do not pollute the shrine to visit taif and the regions lying eastward of the holy city at the charif would in these days dare to enforce in the case of an englishman the old law a choice thrice offered between circumcision and death but the first bedouin he caught sight of the frank's head would not deem himself a man if he did not drive a bullet through the wearer's head at the pilgrimage season disguise is easy on the account of the vast and varied multitudes which visit mecca exposing the traveler only to stand the buffet with naifs who smell of sweat but woe to the unfortunate who happens to be recognized in public as an infidel unless he could throw himself at once upon the protection of the government footnote the best way would be to rush if possible into a house and the owner would then for his own interest as well as honor defend a stranger till assistance could be procured and a footnote amidst however a crowd of pilgrims fanaticism is worked up to the highest pitch detection would probably ensure his dismissal at once al-miro dpu those who find danger the salt of pleasure may visit mecca but if asked whether the result justifies the risk a should reply in negative and the vice consul at jeda would only do his duty in preemptorily forbidding european travelers to attempt mecca without disguise until the day comes when such steps can be taken in the certainty of not causing a mishap an accident would not redound to our reputation as we could not injustice revenge it footnote future pilgrims must also remember that the season is gradually receding towards the heart of the hot weather for the next 15 years therefore an additional risk will attend the traveler and a footnote on the 14th of al-hijjah we started to perform the rite of umrah with a real pilgrimage after performing ablution and resuming the ahram with the usual ceremonies are set out accompanied by the boy Muhammad and his brother Abdullah mounting asses which resembled mules in size and speed footnote pliny is certainly right about this useful quadruped and its contineers the zebra and the wild ass in describing it as animal frigors, maxim impatience it degenerates in cold regions unless as in Afghanistan and Barbary there be a long hot and dry summer aden, kutch and Baghdad have pine breeds whereas those of India and southeastern Africa are poor and weak the best and highest price come from the maghrib and the second to them in ranks is the egyptian race at mecca careful feeding and kind usage transformed the del slave into an active and symmetrical friend of man he knows his owner's kind voice and if one of the two fast it is generally the biped the asses of the holy city are tall and plump with sleek coats generally ash or gray colored the eyes of deer heads gracefully carried an ambling gate an extremely sure footed they're equal to great fatigue and the stallions have been known in their ferocity to kill the groom the prices varies from $25 to $150 and a footnote we rode to the haram and prayed there again remounting we issued through the Baba Saffa towards the open country northeast of the city the way was crowded with pilgrims on foot as well as mounted and their loud loud bakes distinguish those engaged in Umrah from those whose business was with the camp of the Damascus caravan half a mile from the city we passed on the left a huge heap of stones where my companion stood and cursed this grim looking cairn is popularly believed to note the place of the well where Abu Lahab laid an ambush gate for the prophet this wicked uncle stationed their slave with orders to throw headlong into the pit the first person who approached him and prevailed persuaded his nephew to visit the spot at night after a time anxiously hoping to hear that the deed had been done Abu Lahab unconsciously drew nigh and was precipitated by his own rival into the place of destruction footnote such is the popular version of the tale which differs in some points from that recorded in books others declare that here in days gone by stood the house of another notorious malignant Abu Jahl some again suppose that in this place the governor of Makkah was summarily lynched by the indignant populace the first two traditions however are favorites the vulgar citizens as well as pilgrims loving to connect such places with the events of their early sacred history even in the 12th century we read that pilgrims used to cast stones at two cairns covering the remains of Abu Lahab and the beautiful termigant his wife and a footnote hence the well-known saying in al-Islam whoso digeth a well for his brother shall fall into it himself we added our quota of stones footnote certain credulous authors have contrasted these heaps to the clear ground at Mina for the purpose of a minor miracle according to them this cairn steadily grows as may believe it would and that were it not for the guardian angels the millions of little stones annually thrown at the devils would soon form a mass of equal magnitude this custom of lapidation in token of hate is an ancient practice still common in the east yet in some parts of Arabia stones are thrown at tombs as a compliment to the tenant and in the Somali country the places where it is said holy men sat received the same doubt for homage and a footnote and proceeding we saw the jada road spanning the plain of the white ribbon in front of us the highway was now lined with coffee tents before which effeminate dancing boys performed to admiring serians a small whitewashed bungalow the place of the emiral hedge lay on the left and all around it clustered the motley encampment of his pilgrims after cantering about three miles from the city we reached the alamein or two pillars that limit the sanctuary to a settlement popularly called al-umrah footnote it is called in books at tanim bestowing plenty a word which readers must not confound with the district of the same name in the province of kaulan made by nebher the tumna or thumna or temna capital of the catabanites other authors apply at tanim to the spot where abulah is supposed to lie there are two places called al-umrah ka the kabir or the greater is i am told in dua di fatma and the prophet ordered aisha and her sister to begin the ceremonies at that place but is now visited by picnic parties and those who would pray at the tomb of maymuna one of the prophet's wives modern pilgrims commands always i am told at al-umrah saqir or the lesser which is about half way nearer to the city after mounting here we sat down on rugs outside a coffee tent to enjoy the beauty of the moonlight and an hour of kef in the sweet air of the desert presently the coffee tent keeper after receiving payment brought us water for ablution this preamble over we enter the principal chapel an unpretending building badly lighted spread with dirty rugs full of pilgrims and offensively closed here we prayed the aisha for the night devotions and then a two-bow prayer in honor of the ahram footnote some assume the ahram garb at this place end of footnote after which we distribute gratuities to the guardians and alms to the important beggars and now i perceive the object of Abdullah's companionship the melancholy man assured me that he had written out for love of me and in order to perform as wakil or substitute various pilgrimage for my parents vainly i assured him that they had been strict in the exercise of their faith he would take no denial and i perceive that love of me meant love of my dollars with a surly assent he was at last permitted to act for the pious pilgrim yusuf or jusuf bin ahmad and fatima bin tyunus my progenitors it was impossible to prevent smiling while gravely raising his hands and indirecting his face to the Kaaba intoned i do vow the sehram of umrah in the name of yusuf son of ahmad and fatima daughter of yunus then render it attainable unto them and accept it of them bismillah allah wakbar remounting we gallop tourists mecca shouting and halting at every half mile to smoke and drink coffee in short time we entered the city and the sehram by the safah gate performed the tawa for circumambulation of umrah after this dull round and necessary repose we left the temple by the same exit and mounting once more we turned towards the safah who stands about a hundred yards southeast of the mosque and as little deserves this name of mountain as do those that undulate the face of modern room the safah end is closed by a mean looking building with three round arches with a dwarf flight of stairs leading up to them out of a narrow road without dismounting we wheeled our donkeys around footnote we had still the pretext of my injured foot when the sayi rite is performed as it should be by a pedestrian he mounts the step to about the height of a man and then turns towards the temple and a footnote left shoulders forward no easy task in the crowd stepping to sayi taqaba through the babah safah performed the niyat or vow of the rite assay or the running footnote I will not trouble the reader with the niyat which is the same as that is used in the tawaaf rite and a footnote after tahlil taqibayran talbiyat we raised our hands in the supplicatory position and twice repeated there is no god but Allah alone without partner his is the kingdom to give it life and death he is alive and precious not in his hand is good and he over all things is omnipotent footnote almost every motawaf it is must be remembered has his own set of prayers and a footnote then with the donkey boys leading our animals and a stout fellow preceding us with lantern and a quarter staff to keep off the running bedouin camelman we descended saffa and walked slowly down the street al-masa towards murwa footnote saffa means large hard rock murwa means hard white flints full of fire and a footnote during our descent we recited aloud oh Allah calls me to act according to the sunnat of thy prophet and to die in his faith and defend me from errors and disobedience by thy mercy almost merciful of the merciful arrived at what is called the batma al-wadi belly of the valley a place now denoted by the alamein al-akhdarain or the two green pillars one fixed in the eastern course of the haram footnote in former times a devastating turn used to sweep this place after the rains the fumarabed has now disappeared and the pillars are used as landmarks gallant observes that these columns are planted upon the place which supported eaves knees when after 300 years of separation she was found by Adam and a footnote the other in a house on the right side footnote this house is called robathalabbas and a footnote we began the running by urging our beasts here the prayer was oh Lord pardon and pity and pass over what thou knowest for thou art the most dear and the most gracious save us from hellfire safely and cause us safely to inter-paradise oh Lord give us happiness here and happiness hereafter and spare us the torture of the flames at the end of this application we pass the button or lowest ground whose father's limits were marked by two other pillars footnote here one stood asaf and naila the two idols some say a man and a woman metamorphosed and a footnote again we began to ascend repeating as we went verily safah and marwah are two of the monuments of Allah whoso therefore pilgrimeth to the temple of makkah or performeth umrah it shall be no crime in him to run between them both and as for him who voluntarily doeth a good deed verily Allah is graceful and omniscient footnote at length we reached marwah a little rise like safah in the lower slope of Abu Qubais the houses cluster in ampitheater shape above it and from the mas'a or the street below a short flight of steps to a platform bounded on three sides like a tennis court by three walls without arches the streets seen from above was the bowstring curve it is between eight and nine hundred feet long with high houses on both sides and small lanes branching from it footnote ibn Jubeir gives eight hundred ninety three steps other authorities make the distance seven hundred and eighty short qubits the size of an average man's forearm and a footnote at the foot of the platform we brought right shoulders forward so as to face the Kaaba and raising hands to ears thrice exclaimed Allah Akbar this concluded the first course these seven compose a ceremony as say or the running there was a startling contrast to the origin of this ceremony when the poor outcast on the cheerless wild arabia's parent clasped her fainting child as the turkish infantry marched in european dress with sloped arms down the mas'a to relieve guard by the side of the half naked running Bedouin they looked as if epochs disconnected by long centuries a laxity too there was in the frequent appearances of dogs upon this holy and most memorial ground which set little in favor of the religious strictness of the administration footnote the ceremony of running between Safa and Marwa is opposed to represent Hagar seeking water for her son usually pilgrims perform this right in the morning of visiting the Kaaba and a footnote our say ended at Mount Marwa where we dismounted and sat outside the barbershop on the right hand of the street he operated upon our heads causing us to repeat oh Allah this my forelock is in thy hand then grant me for every hair a light on the resurrection day almost merciful of the merciful this and the paying for it constituted the fourth portion of the umbra or little pilgrimage throwing the skirt of our garments for the normal state or the ahlal we countered to the haram prayed there to bow prayer and returned home not a little fatigued end of chapter 32 chapter 33 of personal narrative of pilgrimage to El Medina and Mecca by Richard Francis Burton this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org chapter 33 of personal narrative of a pilgrimage to El Medina and Mecca by Richard Francis Burton places of pious visitation at Mecca the traveler has little work at the holy city with exceptions of Jabal Nur and Jabal Thor all the places of pious visitation lie inside or close outside the city footnote Jabal Nur or Jabal Hira before Jabal Thor rises at some distance to the south of Mecca and contains the celebrated cave in which Muhammad and Abu Bakr took refuge during the flight and a footnote it is well worth the while to ascend Abu Qubais not so much to inspect the Mak'an al-Hajr and the Shaq Al Qamar footnote the tradition of these places is related by every historian the former is the repository of the black stone during the deluge the latter, splitting of the moon is the spot where the prophet stood when to convert the idolatrous Quraysh he caused half the orb of the night to rise from behind Abu Qubais and the other from Jabal Qa'an on the western horizon this silly legend appears unknown to Muhammad's day and a footnote as to obtain an excellent bird's eye view of the haram and the parts adjacent footnote the pilgrimage season strictly speaking concluded this year on the 17th of September or 13th of the Al-Hijjah at which time travelers began to move towards Jidda those who purposed visiting Al-Madina would start about three weeks afterwards and many who had leisure intended witnessing the Muharram ceremonies at Mecca and a footnote the boy Muhammad had applied himself sedulously to commerce after his return home and had actually been seen by Sheikh Noor sitting at a shop and selling small curiosities with my plenary consent I was made over to Abdullah his brother on the morning of the 15th of the Al-Hijjah 19th of September he hired two asses and accompanied me as guide to the holy places among our animals we followed the road before described to the Jannah Al-Ma'la the sacred cemetery of Mecca a rough wall with a poor gateway encloses a patch of barren and grim looking ground at the foot of a chain which bounds the city's western suburb and below Al-Aqaba the gap through which Khalid bin Al-Waleed entered Mecca with a triumphant prophet footnote a romantic history Mu'ir in life of Muhammad volume 4 page 126 reminds me that Khalid and his Bedouin attacked the citizens of Mecca without the prophet's leave but after the attack he may have followed in his leader's train and a footnote inside are a few ignoble whitewashed domes all are of modern construction for here as at Al-Baqar further north the Jannah Al-Aqaba is indulged their leveling propensities footnote the reason of their vandalism has been noticed in a previous volume and a footnote the rest of the crown shows some small enclosures belonging to particular houses equivalent to our family vault and the ruins of humble tombs lying in confusion whilst a few part alloys spring from between the bricks and stones aloy here as in Egypt is hung like the dried crocodile over houses as talisman against evil spirits Burqart assigns as a motive for it being planted in graveyards that its name Sabir denotes the patients with which the believer awaits the last day and Lane remarks the aloy thus hung over the door without earth and water will live several years and even blossom hence it is called Sabir which signifies in India it is hung up to prevent mosquitoes entering a room I believe this superstition to be fragment of African fetishism the galas to the present day plant always on graves and supposes that when the plant sprouts the deceased has been admitted into the gardens of walk the creator ideas breed vocables but seldom except among rhyme-esters does the vocable give birth to a popular idea and in Arabic Sabir as well as Sabir is the name for aloy and if it knew the cemetery is celebrated in local history here the body of Abdullah bin Izzubayr was exposed by the order of Hajjaj bin Yusuf and the number of saints buried in it has been so numerous that even the 12th century may have fallen into oblivion it is visited by the citizens on Fridays and by women on Thursdays to prevent the meeting of sexes which in the east are so detrimental to public decorum I shall be sparing in my description of the Mala ceremonies as the prayers, prostrations and supplications are almost identical with those performed at al-Baqar after a long supplication pronounced standing at the doorway we entered and sauntered about the burial ground on the left of the road stood an enclosure which according to Abdullah belonged to his family the door which had been valuable to the poor had been removed and the graves of his forefathers appeared to have been invaded by the jackal he sighed, recited a fatah with tears in his eyes and hurried me away from the spot the first dome which we visited covered the remains of Abd al-Rahman the son of Abu Bakr one of the worthy is of al-Islam equally respected by Sunni and by Shia the tomb was a simple cut of folk spread with a usual cloth and our devotions at this grave and distributing a few piasters to the guardians and beggars we crossed the main path and found ourselves at the door of the kaphullah beneath which sleeps the venerable Khadija, Muhammad's first wife the tomb was covered with a green cloth and the walls of the little building were decorated with written specimens of religious poetry a little beyond it we were shown into another dome Burkhard mentions the tomb of Umna the mother of Amna in the Ma'ila at Mecca and all the Cessarone agree about the locality yet historians place it at Abwah where she gave up the ghost after visiting al-Medina to introduce her son to his relations and the learned believe that the prophet refused to pray over or to intercede for his mother she having died before al-Islam was revealed and a fitna Burkhard chronicles ill-usage by the fanatic Wahhabis it has now been rebuilt in that frugal style that characterizes the architecture of al-Hujaz an exceedingly garrulous old woman came to the door, invited us in and superintended our devotions at the end of which she sprinkled rose water upon my face when asked for a cool draw she handed me a metal saucer whose contents melt strongly of plastic earnestly directing me to drink it in a sitting posture this tomb she informed us is the property of a single woman who visits in every evening receive the contributions of the fateful praise, sweeps the pavement and dust the furniture we left five piasters for this respectable maiden and gratified the officious crone with another shilling she repaid us by signalling al-Maila and their importunities fairly drove me out of the hallowed walls leaving the jannah al-Maila we returned towards the town and halted on the left side of the road at a mean building called the Masjid al-Jin mosque of the Jinni here was revealed the 72nd chapter of the al-Quran called after the name of the mysterious fire-drakes who paid filty to the prophet descending a flight of steps for this mosque like all ancient localities at Mecca is as much below as as above ground we entered a small apartment containing water pots for drinking and all the opportunities of ablution in it is shown the Mauda al-Khat place of the writing where Muhammad wrote a letter to Abu Mas'ud after the image of the Jinnis a second and interior flight of steps led to another diminutive oratory where the prophet used to pray and receive the archangel Gabriel having performed a pair of bows which caused the perspiration to burst forth as if in a Russian bath a paid a few piasters and issued from the building with much satisfaction we had some difficulty in urging our donkeys through the crowded street called Saqqaq al-Hajr presently we arrived at the Baiten Nabi the prophet's old house in which he lived with Siddh Khadija here says Burkhard Lady Fatima first saw a light and here according to Ibn Jubeir al-Hasan and al-Hussein were born footnote Burkhard calls it Maulid Sittin of Fatima but the name Qubba al-Wahi applied by my predecessor to this locality is generally made synonymous with al-Mukhtaba the hiding place where the prophet and his followers used to pray in dangerous times and a footnote dismounting at the entrance we descended a deep flight of steps and found ourselves in a spacious hall vaulted and for better appearance than most of the sacred edifices at Mecca in the center a well-railed round stood the closet of rich green and gold stuffs in shape not unlikely an umbrella tent a surly porter guarded a closed door which some respectable people vainly attempted to open by honeyed words I whisper from Abdullah so of the difficulty expected to lie at full length upon my stomach and to kiss a black-looking stone said to be the lower half of the lady Fatima's quern fixed at the bottom of a basin of some material footnote so loose is the local tradition that some have confounded this quern with an Atakan Nabi the stone which God gave speed to the prophet and a footnote thence we repaired to a corner and recited a Tubao at the place where the prophet used to pray and the Nafila or supererogatory devotions footnote he would of course pray the fathered or obligatory devotions at the shrine end of footnote again remounting we proceeded at a leisurely pace homewards and on the way passed through the principal slave market it is a large street roofed with matting and full of coffee houses the merchandise sat in rows parallel with the walls the girls occupied the highest benches below were the plain or sort and the lowest of all the boys they were all gaily dressed in pink and other light-colored muslims with transparent bales over their heads and whether from the effect of such unusual splendor or from their reactions succeeding their terrible land journey and sea voyage they appeared to be perfectly happy laughing loudly talking unknown tongues and quizzing purchasers even during the delicate operation of purchasing there were some pretty glass dowse-looking Abyssinians and Africans of various degrees of hideousness from the half Arab Somal to the baboon like Swahili the highest price of which I could hear was 60 pounds and here I matured a resolve to strike a favorite by fortune a death blow at the trade which is eating into the vitals of industry in eastern Africa the reflection was pleasant the idea that the humble hedgy contemplating the scene from his donkey might become the instrument of the total abolition of this pernicious traffic footnote about a year since the writing above a firman was issued by the porté suppressing the traffic from central Africa hitherto we have respected slavery in the Red Sea because the Turk fans drew his supplies we are now destitute an excuse a single steamer would destroy the trade and if we delay to take active measures the people of England who have spent millions in keeping up a West African squadron will not hold us guiltless of negligence note to the second edition the slave trade has since these remarks were penned being suppressed with a high hand the Arabs of Al-Hijaz resented the measure by disowning but they were soon reduced to submission and a footnote what would have become of that pilgrim had the crowd in the slave market guessed his intentions passing through the large bazaar called Sugallel I saw the palace of Mohammed bin Aoun quantum prince of Mecca it has a certain look of rude magnificence the effect of huge hanging balconies scattered in profusion over lofty walls of brickwork and of course various color stones the owner is highly popular among the Bedouin and feared by the citizens on account of his fierce looks, courage, and treachery they describe him to me as Virbonus, Bene Strangulando Perutus but Mr. Cole who knew him personally gave him a high character for generosity and freedom from fanaticism he seems to have some idea of the state which should hedge in a ruler his palace is at Mecca and that now turned into a Cala Jiddah are the only places in the country that can be called princely he is now state prisoner at Constantinople and the Bedouin pray in vain for his return footnote the prince was first invested to the Sharifat by Mohammed Ali of Egypt in AD 1827 when Yahya fled after stabbing his nephew in the Kaaba to the Banu Harb Bedouin he was supported by Ahmad Pasha of Mecca with a large army but after the battle of Tarabah in which Ibrahim Pasha was by the Bedouin, Muhammad bin Aoun accused of acting as Saila was sent in honorable bondage to Cairo he again returned to Mecca where the rapacity of his eldest son Abdullah who would rob pilgrims caused fresh misfortunes in AD 1856 when Abdul Muttalib was appointed Sharif Pasha was ordered to send bin Aoun to Istanbul no easy task the Turks succeeded by a maneuver Mohammed's two sons appearing to be at Jiddah were invited to inspect a man of war and were there made prisoners upon this the father yielded himself up although it is said the flashing of the Bedouin's saber during his embarkation made the Turks rejoice that they had won the day by state craft the wild men of Al-Hijjaz still sing songs in honor of this Sharif note to the second edition early in 1856 when the Sharif Abdul Muttalib was deposed Mohammed bin Aoun was sent from Constantinople to quiet the insurrection caused by the new slave laws in Al-Hijjaz in a short space of time he completely succeeded and a fit note the visitation at Mecca are briefly these one, Lataqan Nabi a small oratory in Saqqaq Al-Hijjaz it derives its name from the following circumstance as the Prophet was knocking at the door of Abu Bakr's shop the stone gave him God's speed and told him that the master was not home the wonderful mineral is of reddish black color about a foot in dimension and fixed in the wall somewhat higher than a man's head there are servants attached to it otherwise are spread as usual with adaptions of important beggars to Mollid al-Nibi or the Prophet's birthplace footnote the 12th of Rabiyel Awal or Mohammed's birthday is here celebrated with great festivities feasts, prayers and peruzals of the Quran these Mollids or ceremonies of nativity are by no means limited to a single day in a year and a footnote it is a little chapel in the Souq Al-Layl far from Mohammed bin Aoun's palace it is below the present level of the ground and the center is a kind of tent concealing it to reset a hole in the floor upon which Amina sat to be delivered three in the quarter near the Mollid al-Nibi is the birthplace of Ali another oratory below the ground here as in the former place a Mollid and a Ziyara are held on the anniversary of the lion's birth four near Khadija's house and the Nataka Nabi is a place called Al-Muttaka from a stone against which the Prophet leaned when warned out with fatigue it is much visited by devotees and some declare that on one occasion the father of lies appeared to the Prophet in the form of an elderly man and tempted him to sin by asserting that the mosque prayers were over this stone disclosing the fraud caused the fiend to flee five Mollid Hamza a little building at the old Bab Imra near the Shabaiki cemetery here was the Bazaan or the channel down which the Ain Hanayn ran into the Birkat Majid and many authorities doubt that Hamza was born at this place footnote the reader is warned that I did not see the five places above enumerated the Cisronian books mention 12 other visitations several which are known only by name one Al-Muqtaba or the hiding place alluded to in the preceding pages its locality is the subject of debate two Dar al-Khaisaran where the Prophet prayed secretly till the conversion of Umar enabled him to dispense with concealment three Mollid Umar or Umar's birthplace mentioned in books as being visited by devotees in the 14th of Rabia al-Awwal of every year for Abu Bakr's house near Nataqan Nabi it is supposed to have been destroyed in the 12th century five Mollid Ja'fir al-Tayyar near the Shabaiki cemetery six Al-Mad'a an oratory also called Nafas al-Ard because here creation began seven Dar al-Hijra where Muhammad and Abu Bakr mounted for the flight eight Masjid Al-Raya the flag when Mecca surrendered nine Masjid Al-Shajira the spot at which Muhammad calls the tree to advance and to retire ten Masjid Jarana where Muhammad clad himself in the pilgrim garb it is still visited by some Persians eleven Masjid Ibrahim or Abu Qubais twelve Masjid Dhutawa the reader must now be as tired of pious visitations as I was before leaving Mecca was urgently invited to dine by old Ali bin Yasin the Zamsami a proof that he entertained inordinate expectations excited it appeared by the boy Muhammad for the simple purpose of exalting his own dignity one day we were hurriedly summoned about three p.m. to the senior's house a large building at Zookaq al-Hajr we found it full of pilgrims amongst whom we had no trouble to recognize our fellow travelers the quarrelsome old or not and his impudent slave boy Ali met us upon the staircase and conducted us into an upper room where we sat upon divans and with pipes and coffee prepared for dinner presently the semi-circle arose to receive a eunuch who lodged somewhere in the house he was a person of importance being the guardian of some dames of high degree at Cairo and Constantinople the highest place and the best pipe were unhesitatingly offered to and accepted by him he sat down with dignity answered diplomatically certain mysterious questions about the dames and applied his blubber lips to a handsome mouthpiece of lemon-colored amber it was a fair lesson of humility for a man to find himself ranked beneath this high-shouldered spindle-shanked, beardless bit of neutrality as such I took it duly to heart the dinner was served up in a scenia a plated copper tray about six feet in circumference and handsomely ornamented with arabesque and inscriptions under this was the usual cursi or stool composed of mother-of-pearls facettes set in sandalwood and appointed a well-tinned and clean-looking service of the same material as the scenia we began with a variety of stews stews with spinach stews with bamiya or hibiscus and rich vegetables stews these being removed we dipped hands in biryani and meat pilaf abounding in clarified butter quima finally chopped meat warakmahshi vine leaves filled with chopped and spiced mutton and folded into small triangles kabab or bits of roti spitted in mouthfuls upon a splinter of wood together with a salata of the crispest cucumber and various kinds of watermelon cut into squares bread was represented by the eastern scone but it was of superior flavor and far better than the ill-famed chapatti of India our drink was water perfumed with mastic after the meat came a conafa fine vermicelli sweetened with honey and sprinkled with powdered white sugar several stews of apple and quinces mohalibiyo a thin jelly made of rice flour milk starch and a little perfume together with squares of raha a confiture highly prized in these regions because it comes from Constantinople footnote familiar to rahat al-hilqum the pleasure of the throat a name which has sorely puzzled our tourists this sweet meat would be pleasant had it not smell so strongly of the paraquia's shop rosewater temps to many culinary sins in the regions and Europeans cannot dissociate it from the idea of a lotion however if a guest is to be honored rosewater must often take the place of the pure element even in tea and a footnote the dinner concluded with a pillow of rice and butter for the easier discussion of which we were provided with carpet wooden spoons Arabs ignore the delightful French art of prolonging you sit down throw an embroidered napkin over your knees and with a bismillah by the way of grace plunge your hand into the attractive dish changing ad-libitum occasionally sucking your fingertips as boys do lollipops and varying that diversion by cramming a chosen morsel into a friend's mouth when your hunger is satisfied you do not sit for your companions you exclaim wash your hands and mouth play signs of repression otherwise you will be pressed to eat more seize your pipe sip your coffee and take your calf nor is it customary in these lands to sit together after dinner the evening prayer cuts short the sands before we rose to take leave of alibi niassin a boy ran into the room and displayed those infantine civilities which in the east are equivalent to begging a present I slipped out of which he the veritable little meccan would not contain his joy a real he exclaimed a real look grandpa the good Effendi has given me a real the old gentleman's eyes twinkled with emotion he saw how easily the coin had slipped from my fingers and he fondly hoped that he had not seen the last piece fairly though art a good young man he ejaculated adding fervently as prayers cost nothing may Allah further all thy desires a gentle patting of the back evidenced his high approval I never saw old Ali after that evening but interested to the boy Muhammad what was considered a just equivalent for his services End of chapter 33 A general plunge into worldly pursuits and pleasures announced the end of the pilgrimage ceremonies all the devotees were now whitewashed the book of their sins was a tabula rasa too many of them lost no time in making a new departure to the world and the world and the world and the world lost no time in making a new departure down south and in opening a fresh account the faith must not bear the blame of the irregularities they may be equally observed in the Calvinist after a Sunday of prayer sinning through Monday with a zest and the Romanist falling back with new fervour upon the causes of his confession and penance as in the Muslim who washes his soul clean by running and circumambulation and in fairness it must be observed that as amongst Christians so in the Muslim persuasion there are many notable exceptions to this rule of extremes several of my friends and acquaintances date their reformation from their first sight of the Kaaba the Muslims holy week over nothing detained me at Mecca for reasons before stated I resolved upon returning to Cairo resting there for a while and starting a second time for the interior via Muala footnote this second plan was defeated by bad health which detained me in Egypt till returned to India became imperative and footnote the Meccans are as fond of little presence as are nuns the Kabira took an affectionate leave of me begged me to be careful of her boy who was still accompanying me to Jeddah and laid friendly but firm hands upon a brass pestle and mortar upon which she had long cast the eye of concupiscence having hired two camels for 35 piasters and paid half the sum in advance I sent on my heavy boxes which shake now Hajji Nua to Jeddah footnote the usual hire is 30 piasters but in the pilgrimage season a dollar is often paid the hire of an ass varies from 1 to 3 riyals and footnote Omar Effendi was to wait at Mecca till his father had started in command of the dromedary caravan when he would privately take ass join me at the port and return to his beloved Cairo I bade a long farewell to all my friends embrace the Turkish pilgrims and mounting our donkeys the boy Mohammed and I left the house Abdullah the melancholy followed us on foot through the city and took leave of me though without embracing at the Shabaiki quarter issuing into the open plain I felt a thrill of pleasure such joy as only the captive delivered from his dungeon can experience the sunbeams warned me into renewed life and vigor the air of the desert was a perfume and the homely face of nature was as the smile of a dear old friend I contemplated the Syrian caravan lying on the right of our road without any of the sadness usually suggested by a parting look it is not my intention minutely to describe the line down which we travelled that night the pages of Burkhat give full information about the country leaving Mecca we fell into the direct road running south of Vadifatima and traversed for about an hour a flat surrounded by hills then we entered a valley by a flight of rough stone steps dangerously slippery and zigzag intended to facilitate the descent for camels and for laden beasts about midnight we passed into a hill-gird wadi here covered with deep sands their heart would gravelly clay and finally about dawn we sighted the maritime plain of Jeddah shortly after leaving the city our party was joined by other travellers and towards evening we found ourselves in force the effect of an order that pilgrims would proceed singly upon this road coffee houses and places of refreshment abounding we hold it every five miles to refresh ourselves and the donkeys footnote besides the remains of those in ruins there are on this road eight coffee houses and stations for travellers, private buildings belonging to men who supply water and other necessaries and footnote at sunset we prayed near the Turkish guardhouse where one of the soldiers kindly supplied me with water for ablution before nightfall I was accosted in Turkish by a one-eyed old fellow who, quote, with faded brow and trenched with many a frown and conic beard end quote and habited in unclean garments was bestriding a donkey as faded as himself when I shook my head he addressed me in Persian the same manoeuvre made him triorabic still he obtained no answer then he grumbled out good Hindustani that also failing he tried successively push to Armenian English, French and Italian at last I could keep a stiff lip no longer at every change of dialect his emphasis beginning with then who the are you became more emphatic I turned upon him in Persian and found that he had been a pilot a courier and a servant to eastern tourists and that he had visited England, France and Italy the Cape, India, Central Asia and China we then chatted in English which Haji Akif spoke well but with all manner of courier's phrases Haji Abdullah so badly that he was cancelled the course of study it was not a little strange to hear such phrases as come Nadi and almost with an earshot of the tomb of Ishmael the birthplace of Muhammad and the sanctuary of al-Islam about 8pm we passed Al-Aman which defined the sanctuary in this direction they stand about 9 miles from Mecca and near them are a coffee house and a little oratory popularly known as the Sabil Aga Almas on the road as night advanced we met long strings of camels some carrying litters others huge beams and others bales of coffee grain and merchandise sleep began to weigh heavily upon my companion's eyelids and the boy Muhammad hung over the flank of his donkey in a most ludicrous position about midnight we reached a mass of huts called Al-Hada Ali Bay places it 8 leagues from Jeddah at the boundary which is considered to be the halfway halting place pilgrims must assume which is garb footnote in Ibn Jibir's time the Iran was assumed at Il Fahrain now a decayed station about 2 hours journey from Al-Hada towards Jeddah and footnote and infidels travelling to Daif are taken off the Meccan road into one leading northward to Arafat the settlement is a collection of huts and hovels built with sticks and reeds and burnt and blackened palm leaves it is maintained for supplying pilgrims with coffee and water travellers speak with horror of its heat during the day Ali Bay who visited it twice compares it to a furnace here the country slopes gradually towards the sea the hills draw off and every object denotes departure from the Meccan plateau at Al-Hada we dismounted for an hour's hold a coffee house supplied us with mats water pipes and other necessaries we then produced a basket of provisions the parting gift of the kind Kabirah and this late supper concluded we lay down to doze after half an hour's hold had expired and the donkeys were settled I shook up with difficulty the boy Muhammad and induced him to mount he was, to use his own expression dead from sleep and with scarcely advance an hour when arriving at another little coffee house he threw himself upon the ground and declared it impossible to proceed this act caused some confusion the donkey boy was a pert little badavi offensively republican in menna he had several times addressed me impudently ordering me not to flog his animal or to hammer its sides with my heels on these occasions he received a contemptuous snub which had the effect of silencing him but now, thinking we were in his power, he swore that he would lead away the beasts and leave us behind to be robbed and murdered a pinch of the windpipe and a spin over the ground altered his plans at the outside of execution he gnawed his hand with impotent rage and went away, threatening us with the governor of Jeddah next morning then an egyptian of the party took up the threat of her monstrance and aided by the old linguist who said in English by God you must budge you'll catch it here you'll risk an energetic style exclaiming yalla, rise and mount thou art only losing our time thou dost not intend to sleep in the desert I replied oh my uncle, do not exceed in talk fuzul, excess in arabic is equivalent to telling a man in English not to be impotent rolled over on the other side heavily as doth ensaladas and pretended to snore whilst the cowed egyptian urged the others the question was thus settled by the boy muhammad who had been aroused by the dispute do you know he whispered in awful accents what that person is and he pointed to me why no, replied the others well, said the youth the other day the uterba showed his death in the sariba pass and what do you think he did voila, what do we know exclaimed the egyptian what did he do he called for his dinner, replied the youth with a slow and sarcastic emphasis that trait was enough the others mounted and left us quietly to sleep I have been diffused in relating this little adventure which is characteristic showing what bravado can do in arabia it also suggests a lesson which every traveller in these regions should take well to heart the people are always ready to terrify him with frightful stories the merest phantoms of caradis the reason why the egyptian displayed so much philanthropy was that, had one of the party been lost the survivors might have fallen into trouble but in this place we were, I believe despite the declarations of our companions that it was infested with terpents and fradiavolos as safe as a mecca every night during the pilgrimage season a troop of about 50 horsemen patrolled the roads we were all armed to the teeth we looked too formidable to be cruelly beaten by a single foot-bed our nap concluded we remounted and resumed the wary way down a sandy valley in which the poor donkeys sank fat locked deep at dawn we found our companions halted and praying at the kahvat-turkey another little coffee-house here in exchange of what is popularly called chaf took place well, cried the egyptian what have you gained by halting quiet here, praying and smoking for the last hour go, eat, thy buried beans footnote the favourite egyptian kitchen held to be contemptible food by the Arabs and footnote we replied what does an egyptian poor know of manliness this surly donkey boy was worked up into paroxysm of passion by such small jokes as telling him to convey our salams to the governor of Jeddah he asks us after the name of his tribe he replied by foul and menace scurled taunts which only drew forth fresh derision and the coffee-housekeeper laughed consumedly having probably seldom entertained such funny gentlemen shortly after leaving the kahvat-turkey we found the last spur of the highlands that sink into the Jeddah plain this view would for some time be my last of quote infamous hills and sandy perilous wilds end quote and I contemplated it with the pleasure of one escaping from it before us lay the usual iron flat of these regions whitish with salt and tawny with stones and gravel but relieved and beautified by the distant white walls whose canopy was the lovely blue sea not a tree, not a patch of verger was in sight nothing distracted our attention from the sheet of turquoise as in the distance merrily the little donkeys hobbled on in spite of their fatigue soon we distinguished the features of the town, the minarets the fortifications so celebrated since their honey-combed guns beat off in 1817 the thousands of Abdullah bin Saud the vahabi and a small dome outside the walls footnote in 1817 Abdullah bin Saud attacked Jeddah with 50,000 men determining to overthrow its upper works namely its walls and towers the assault is described as ludicrous all the inhabitants ate it to garrison they waited till the wild men flocked about the place crying come and let us look at the labours of the infidel they then let fly and rake them with matchlock balls and old nails acting grape the wahabi host at last departed unable to take a place which a single battery of our smallest siege guns would breach in an hour and since that day the meccans have never seized the boast of that Gibraltar and had taunt the madonites with their wall-less port Yambu and footnote the sun began to glow fiercely and we were not sorry when at about 8am after passing through the mass of hovels and coffee-houses cemeteries and sand-hills which forms the eastern approach to Jeddah we entered the fortified Bab Maka allowing 11 hours for our actual march he halted about 3 those wonderful donkeys had accomplished between 44 and 46 miles generally in deep sand in one night footnote Al Idrissi places Maka 40 Arab miles from Jeddah Burkhardt goes 55 miles and Alibey has not computed the total distance and footnote and they passed the archway of Jeddah cantering almost as nimbly as when they left Maka Sheikh Nur had been ordered to take rooms for me in a vast pile of mud-re-poor unphosalized coral a recent formation once the palace of Muhammad bin An and now converted into a vakala instead of so doing Indian-like he had made a gypsy encampment in the square opening upon the harbour after administering the requisite correction I found a room that would suit me in less than an hour it was swept, sprinkled with water spread with mats and made as comfortable as its capability admitted at Jeddah I felt once more at home the side of the sea acted as a tonic the Marathas were not far wrong when they kept their English captives out of reach of the ocean declaring that we were an amphibious race to whom the wave is a home after a day's repose at the caravanserai the camel-man and donkey-boy clamouring for money and I not having more than tenpans of borrowed coin it was necessary to cash at the British Vice Consulate a draught given to me by the Royal Geographical Society with some trouble I saw Mr. Coal who, suffering from fever was declared to be not at home his dragamon did by no means admire my looks in fact the general voice of the household was against me after some fruitless messages I sent up a scroll to Mr. Coal upon admitting the important afghan an exclamation of astonishment and a hospitable welcome followed my self-introduction as an officer of the Indian Army amongst other things the Vice Consulate informed me that in diverse discussions with the Turks about the possibility of an Englishman finding his way to Mecca he had asserted that his compatriots could do everything even pilgrim to the holy city the Muslims politely ascended to the first part of the proposition Mr. Coal promised himself a laugh at the Turks beards but since my departure he wrote to me that the subject made the owners look so serious that he did not like recurring to it truly gratifying to the pride of an Englishman was our high official position assumed and maintained at Jeddah Mr. Coal had never, like his colleague at Cairo, lowered himself in the estimation of the proud race with which he has to deal with the mercantile transactions with the authorities he has steadily withstood the wrath of the Meccan Sharif and taught him to respect the British name the Abbey Hamilton ascribed the attentions of the Prince to the infinite respect which the Arabs entertained for Mr. Coal's straightforward way of doing business it was a delicate flattery addressed to him and the writer is right honesty of purpose is never thrown away amongst these people the general contrast between our consular proceedings at Cairo and Jeddah is another proof of the advisability of selecting Indian officials to fill offices of trust at Oriental courts they have lived amongst Estons and they know one Asiatic language with many Asiatic customs and chief merit of all they have learned to assume a tone of command without which whatever may be thought of it in England it is impossible to take the lead in the East the homebred diplomat is not only unconscious of the thousand traps everywhere laid for him he even plays into the hands of his crafty antagonists by a ceremonious politeness which they interpret taking ample care that the interpretation should spread to be the effect of fear or a fraud Jeddah has been often described by modern pens footnote Abul Feder writes the word Jeddah and Mr. Lane as well as Mr. Marie and Sharifu adopt this form which signifies a plain wanting water the water of Jeddah is still very scarce and bad all who can afford it drink the produce of hillsprings brought in skins by the buttermen Ibn Jibir mentions that outside the town were 360 old wells dug it is supposed by the Persians Jeddah or Jeddah is the vulgar pronunciation and not a few of the learner to call it the grandmother in allusion to the legend of Eve's tomb and footnote Burkhardt in Anodomini 1814 devoted a hundred pages of his two volumes to the unhappy capital of the Tiramat Al-Hijaz the lowlands of the mountain region later still Mr. Marie and Sharifu wrote upon the subject and two other French travelers Mr. Gallignier and Ferre published tables of the commerce in its present state quoting his authority the celebrated Arab assist Mr. Fressene footnote in chapters three and six of this work I have ventured some remarks upon the advisability of our being represented in Al-Hijaz by a consul and at Mecca by a native agent till the day shall come when the tide of events forces us to occupy the mother city of Al-Islam my apology for reverting to these points must be the nature of an Englishman who would everywhere see his nation second to none even at Jeddah yet when we consider that from 25 to 30 vessels here arrive annually from India and that the value of the trade is about 25 lakhs of rupees the matter may be thought worth attending to the following extracts from a letter written to me by Mr. Cole shall conclude this part of my task quote you must know that in 1838 a commercial treaty was concluded between Great Britain and the Porte specifying amongst many other clauses here omitted 1. that all merchandise imported from English ports to Al-Hijaz should pay 4% duty 2. that all merchandise imported by British subjects from countries not under the dominion of the Porte should likewise pay 5% 3. that all goods exported from countries under the dominion of the Porte should pay 12% after a deduction of 16% from the market value of the articles 4. that all monopolies be abolished now when I arrived at Jeddah the state of affairs was this a monopoly had been established upon salt and this weighed only upon our Anglo-Indian subjects they being the sole purchases 5% was levied upon full value of goods no deduction of the 20% being allowed the same was the case with exports the same was the cases of all various charges had been established by the local authorities under the names of boat hire, weighing brokerage etc etc the duties had thus been raised from 4% to at least 8% this being represented at Constantinople brought a peremptory firm ordering the governor to act up to the treaty letter by letter I've had the satisfaction to rectify the abuses of 16 years standing during my first few months of office in a manner of difficulties in claiming reimbursement for the over-exactions end quote end footnote these have been translated by the author of Life in Abyssinia Apt Al-Karim writing in 1742 informs us that the French had a factory at Jeddah and in 1760 when Bruce revisited the port he found the East India Company in possession of a post when they dispersed their merchandise but though the English were at an early epoch of their appearance in the East received here with a special favour I failed to procure a single ancient document Jeddah when I visited it was in a state of commotion owing to the perpetual passage of pilgrims and provisions were for the same reason scarce and dear the two large war-colours of which the place boasts were crowded with travellers and many were reduced to encamping upon the squares another subject of confusion was the state of the soldiery the Nizam or regular's had not been paid for seven months and the Arnaud's could scarcely sum up what was owing to them Eastern's are wonderfully amenable to discipline a European army under the circumstances would probably have helped itself but the Pasha knew that there is a limit to a man's endurance and he was anxiously casting about for some contrivance the worried dignitary must have sighed for those beaux jours when privily firing the town and allowing the soldiers to plunder was the oriental style of settling arrears of pay footnote M. Rocher M. Déricour amusingly describes this manoeuvre of the governor of Al-Hadaida and footnote Jeddah displays all the licence of a seaport in Garrison town fair Corinthians established themselves even within earshot of the caracun or guard post a symptom of excessive lexity in their authorities for it is a duty of the watch to visit all such irregularities with a bassinado preparatory to confinement my guardians in attendance at the Vakala used to fetch Iraqi in a clear glass bottle without even the decency of a cloth and the messenger twice returned from these errands decidedly drunk more extraordinary still seemed to take no notice of the scandal the little Dworkar had been sent by the Bombay's team navigation company to convey pilgrims from Al-Hijaz to India I was still hesitating about my next voyage not wishing to coast the Red Sea in this season without a companion when one morning Omar Effendi appeared at the door wary and dragging after him an ass more wary than himself we supplied him with a pipe and a cup of hot tea in the middle of pursuit we showed him a dark hole full of grass under which he might sleep concealed the students' fears were realized his father appeared early the next morning and having a certain from the porter that the fugitive was in the house politely called upon me whilst he plied all manner of questions his black slave furtively stared at everything in and about the room but we had found time to cover the runaway with grass and the old gentleman departed there was however a grim smile about his mouth which boated no good that evening returning home from their mom I found the house in an uproar the boy Mohammed who had been miserably emolled was furious with rage and Sheikh Noah was equally unmanageable by reason of his fear in my absence the father had returned with a posse cometatas of friends and relatives they questioned the youth who delivered himself of many circumstantial poetic misstatements then they proceeded to open the boxes upon which the boy Mohammed cast himself sprawling with a vow to die rather than to endure such a disgrace this procured for him some scattered slaps which presently became a storm of blows when a prying little boy discovered Omar Effendi's leg in the hiding place the student was led away unresisting but mildly swearing that he would allow no opportunity of escape to pass I examined the boy Mohammed and was pleased to find that he was not seriously hurt to pacify his mind I offered to sally out with him and to rescue Omar Effendi by main force this which would only have brought us all into a brunt with quarter-staves and similar servile weapons was declined as had been foreseen but the youth recovered complacency and a few well-merited encomiums upon his pluck restored him to high spirits the reader must not fancy such escapade to be a serious thing in Arabia the father did not punish his son he merely bargained with him to return home for a few days before starting to Egypt this the young man did and shortly afterwards I met him unexpectedly in the streets of Cairo deprived of my companion I resolved to waste no time in the Red Sea but to return to Egypt with the utmost expedition the boy Mohammed having laid in a large store of grain perched with my money having secured all my disposable articles and having hinted that after my return to India a present of twenty dollars would find him at Mecca asked leave and departed with a coolness for which I could not account some day afterwards Shaykh Noah explained the cause I had taken the youth with me on board the steamer where a bad suspicion crossed his mind now I understand said the boy Mohammed to his fellow servant your master is a sahib from India he had laughed at our beards he parted us coolly from Shaykh Noah these were the youths have been drinking together when Mohammed having learned at Stamble the fashionable practice of Batmasti or liquor vise dug his fives into Noah's eye Noah erroneously considering such exercise likely to induce blindness complained to me but my sympathy was all with the other side I asked the Hindi why he had not returned the compliment and the Meccan once more overwhelmed in Mayan with taunt and jive it is not easy to pass the time at Jeddah in the square opposite to us was an unhappy idiot who afforded us a melancholy spectacle he delighted to wonder about in a primitive state of toilette as all such wretches do but the people of Jeddah far too civilized to retain Muslim respect for madness forced him despite tricks and struggles into a shard and when he tore it off they beat him at other times the open space before us was diversified by the arrival and the departure of pilgrims but it was a mere reshove of the feast and had lost all power to please whilst the boy Mohammed remained he used to pass the time in wrangling with some Indians who were living next door to us men women and children in a promiscuous way after his departure I used to spend my days at the vise consulate the proceeding was not perhaps the safest but the temptation of meeting a fellow countryman and of chatting shop about the service was too great to be resisted I met there the principal merchants of Jeddah Kraya, Soa, a Greek Boucher, Anton, a Christian from Baghdad and others footnote many of them were afterwards victims to the Jeddah massacre on June 30, 1858 I must refer the reader to my lake regions of Central Africa Appendix, Volume 2 for an account of this event for the proposals which I made to wooded off and for the miserable folly of the Bombay government who were brought at me by an official reprimand and footnote and I was introduced to Khalid Bey brother of Abdullah bin Saud the Wahabi this noble Arab once held the official position of Mkhid al-Jawabad or secretary at Cairo where was brought up by Mohammed Ali he's brave, frank and unprejudiced fond of Europeans and a lover of pleasure should it be his fate to become chief of the tribe a journey to Rijaz and a visit to Central Arabia will offer no difficulties to our travellers I now proceed to the last of my visitations outside the town of Jeddah lies no less a personage than Siddharah, the mother of mankind the boy Mohammed and I mounting asses one evening issued through the Meccan gate and turned towards the northeast over a sandy plain after half an hour's ride amongst dirty huts and tattered coffee hovels we reached the incense and found the door closed presently a man came running with might from the town he was followed by two others and it struck me at the time they applied the key with peculiar impressment and made inaudibly low conges as we entered the enclosure of whitewashed walls the mother is supposed to lie like a muslima fronting the Kaaba northwards her head southwards and her right cheek propped by her right hand whitewashed and conspicuous to the voyager and traveller from afar is a diminutive dome with an opening to the west it is furnished as such places usually are in Alhija under it and in the centre is a square stone planted upright and fancifully carved to represent the umphalic region of the human frame this as well as the dome al sura or the navel the seacharone directed me to kiss this manner of hieroglyph which I did thinking the while that under the circumstances the salutation was quite uncourteful having prayed here and at the head where a few young trees grow we walked along the side of the two parallel dwarf walls which define the outlines of the body there are about six paces apart and between them upon Eve's neck are two tombs occupied I was told by Osman Pasha and his son who repaired the mother's sepulchre I could not help remarking to the boy Mohammed that if our first parent measured a hundred and twenty paces from head to waist and eighty from waist to heel she must have presented much the appearance of a duck to this the youth replied flippantly that he thanked his stars the mother was on the ground otherwise that man would lose their senses with fright Ibarra 12th century mentions only an old dome build upon the place where Eve stopped on the way to Mecca yet Al Idrissi AD 1154 declares Eve's grave to be at Jeddah Abda Karim 1742 compares it to a parterre with a little dome in the centre and extremities ending in barriers of palisades the circumference was a hundred and ninety of his steps in Rukh's travels we are told that the tomb is twenty feet long Ali Bey, who twice visited Jeddah makes no illusion to it we may therefore conclude that it had been destroyed by the Wahhabis Burqat, who I need scarcely say has been carefully copied by our popular authors, was informed that it was a rude structure of stone about four feet in length two or three feet in height and as many in breadth thus resembling the tomb of Noah Ka in Syria Bruce writes two days journey from this place either Mecca or Jeddah Eve's grave of green salt about fifty yards in length is shown to this day but the great traveller probably never issued from the town gates and Sir W. Harris who could not have visited the holy place repeats in 1840 that Eve's grave of green salt is still shown on the barren shore of the Red Sea the present structure is clearly modern anciently I was told at Jeddah the sepulchre consisted of a stone at the head, a second at the feet and a navel dome the idol of Jeddah in the days of Arab litholetry was called Saha Tavila the long stone may not this stone of Eve be the muslimized revival of the old idolatry it is to be observed that the Arabs if the tombs be admitted as evidence are inconsistent in their dimensions of the patriarchal stature the sepulchre of Adam at the Masjidah Kaivis like that of Eve, gigantic that of Noah at Albuqa is a bit of an aqueduct thirty-eight paces long by one and a half wide Job's tomb near Hula seven parasongs from Carabella is small I have not seen the grave of Moses south-east of the Red Sea which human cups there sold to pilgrims but Aaron's sepulchre in the Sinaitic peninsular is of moderate dimensions on leaving the graveyard I offered the guardian a dollar which he received with a remonstrance that a man of my dignity should give so paltry of fee nor was he at all contented with the assurance that nothing more could be expected from an Afghan Darveish however pious next day the boy Mohammed explained I had been mistaken for the Pasha of Almadina for a time my peregrinations ended worn out with fatigue and the fatal fiery heat I embarked September 26 on board the Dwarka experienced the greatest kindness from the commander and chief officer and wondering the while how the Turkish pilgrims who crowded the vessel did not take the trouble to throw me overboard at the time I arrived at Suez and here reader we part bear with me while I conclude in the words of a brother-traveller long gone but not forgotten Fayyan this personal narrative of my journey to Arijaaz quote I've been exposed to perils and I've escaped from them I've traversed the sea and have not succumbed under the severest fatigues and my heart has moved that I've been permitted to affect the objects I had in view end quote footnote the curious reader will find details concerning patriarchal and prophetical tombs in unexplored Syria end footnote end of chapter 34