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Title: Travels In Arabia
       An Account Of Those Territories In Hedjaz Which The Mohammedans Regard As Sacred

Author: John Lewis Burckhardt

Release Date: December, 2005 [EBook #9457]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on October 2, 2003]

Edition: 10

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRAVELS IN ARABIA ***




Produced by William Thierens




[p.iii] TRAVELS IN ARABIA

COMPREHENDING

AN ACCOUNT OF THOSE TERRITORIES IN HEDJAZ WHICH THE MOHAMMEDANS
REGARD
AS SACRED.

BY THE LATE

JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT

PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTING
THE DISCOVERY OF THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA


LONDON : HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, 1829.



[p.v] PREFACE OF THE EDITOR.

SOME years have now elapsed since two distinct portions of Burckhardt's
works (his Travels in Nubia and Syria) were offered to the public, and
most favourably received; their success being insured not only by
instrinsic merit, but by the celebrity of their editor as a scholar and
antiquary, a traveller and a geographer. It must not however be
inferred, from any delay in publishing the present volume, that its
contents are less worthy of notice than those parts which have already
proved so interesting and instructive to a multitude of readers. It was
always intended that this Journal, and other writings of the same
lamented author, should issue successively from the press: "There still
remain," says Colonel Leake, in his Preface to the Syrian Journal (p.
ii.) "manuscripts sufficient to fill two volumes: one of these will
consist of his Travels in Arabia, which were confined to the Hedjaz or
Holy Land of the Muselmans, the part least accessible to Christians; the
fourth volume will contain very copious remarks on the Arabs of the
Desert, and particularly the Wahabys."

[p.vi] Respecting the portion now before the reader, Colonel Leake, in
another place, expresses a highly flattering opinion. "Burckhardt," says
he, "transmitted to the Association the most accurate and complete
account of the Hedjaz, including the cities of Mekka and Medina, which
has ever been received in Europe. His knowledge of the Arabic language,
and of Mohammedan manners, had enabled him to assume the Muselman
character with such success, that he resided at Mekka during the whole
time of the pilgrimage, and passed through the various ceremonies of the
occasion, without the smallest suspicion having arisen as to his real
character." (See the Life of Burckhardt prefixed to his Travels in
Nubia, p. lvii. 4to. edition, 1819).

Recommended so strongly, the work of a less eminent traveller would be
entitled to our notice: this presents itself with another claim; for the
manuscript Journal was partly corrected and prepared for publication by
the learned editor of Burckhardt's former writings. But some important
literary occupations prevented Colonel Leake from superintending the
progress of this volume through the press. His plan, however, has been
almost invariably adopted by the actual editor; particularly in
expressing with scrupulous fidelity the author's sentiments on all
occasions, and in retaining, without any regard to mere elegance of
style or selection of terms, his original language, wherever an
alteration was not absolutely necessary to reconcile with our system of
phraseology and grammatical construction certain foreign idioms which
had crept into his English writings. [It was thought expedient, from
circumstances of typographical convenience tending to facilitate and
expedite the publication of this volume, that the Arabic characters
which in the original manuscript follow immediately certain words, or
appear between the lines or in the margin, should here be placed
together at the end, as an Index, with references to the pages wherein
they occur.]

[p.vii] The map prefixed to this volume might almost appear superfluous,
since the positions of Djidda, Mekka, Medina, Tayf, and Yembo, the chief
places of Hedjaz visited by Burckhardt, are indicated with accuracy in
the excellent maps that illustrate his Nubian and Syrian Travels. But as
the reader of this volume cannot reasonably be supposed to have
constantly at hand, for immediate reference, the two former portions of
our author's works, a map is here given, in the construction and
delineation of which Mr. Sydney Hall has attended to every suggestion
offered by the editor: at whose recommendation the names of places are
spelt after Burckhardt's manner, however different from that more usual
among us. [Thus in the map as in the letter-press of this volume, Mekka
might have been spelt Mecca; and Hejaz, Jidda, Nejed, would as well
express the proper sounds of those words as Hedjaz, Djidda, Nedjed; and
at the same time approximate more closely to the original Arabic
orthography, by which our English j (as in Jar, James, &c.) is
represented without the assistance of a d; although the prefixing of
this letter to the j might prevent a Frenchman from pronouncing it as in
jour, jamais, &c.]

By the editor's advice, also, several places situate beyond the Eastern
limits of Hedjaz are included in this map; since Burckhardt, although he
did not visit them himself, has given some original itineraries, in
which they are mentioned.

That those places do not belong to the region properly denominated
Hedjaz, is evident; but how far this region extends eastward cannot
easily be determined; and the same difficulty respecting it occurs in
various directions. The editor, that he might ascertain by what
boundaries we are justified in supposing Hedjaz to be separated from
other provinces of Arabia, consulted a multiplicity of authors, both
European and Oriental. The result, however, of his inquiry has not
proved satisfactory; for to each of the neighbouring countries.

[p.viii] certain writers have assigned towns, stations, and districts,
which by others of equal authority are placed in Hedjaz.

Such confusion may partly have arisen from the different statements of
the number, extent, and names of divisions comprised within the same
space; this being occupied, according to European writers, by three
great regions, the Stony, the Desert, and the Happy Arabia; while
Oriental geographers partition it into two, five, six, seven, or more
provinces, under denominations by no means corresponding in
signification to the epithets above mentioned, which we have borrowed
from the Greeks and Romans.

That it would be a most difficult, or scarcely possible task, to fix
precisely the limits of each Arabian province, is acknowledged by that
excellent geographer, D'Anville; but he seems disposed to confound the
region comprising Mekka, Djidda, and Yembo, (places which, as we know,
are unequivocally in Hedjaz,) with Arabia Felix. [D'Anville, Geographie
Ancienne.] D'Herbelot, in one place, declares Hedjaz to be Arabia
Petraea, [See the Bibliotheque Orientale in "Hegiaz ou Higiaz"--"Nom
d'une province de l'Arabie, que nous appelons Pierreuse," &c.--
Richardson also, in his Arabic and Persian Dictionary, explains Hijaz by
"Mecca and the adjacent country, Arabia Petraea;" and Demetrias
Alexandrides, who translated some portions of Abulfeda's Geography into
Greek, (printed at Vienna, 1807, 8vo.) always renders Hedjaz by [Greek
text] and in another he identifies it with Arabia Deserta. ["Les
Provinces de Tahama et d'Iemamah sont comme au coeur du pays; celle de
Hegiaz est devenue la plus celebre a cause des villes de la Mecque et de
Medine, et fait avec les deux dernieres que nous avons nommees ce que
nous appelons l'Arabie Deserte."--Biblioth. Orient. in "Arab."]]

Among the Eastern writers, some divide Arabia into two parts, Yemen and
Hedjaz; others into five great provinces, Yemen, Hedjaz, Nedjed, Tehama,
and Yemama. Bahrein has also been included;

[p.ix] and Aroudh is named as an Arabian province, but appears to be the
same as Yemama. Hadramaut, Mahrah, Shejr, Oman, and other subdivisions
have likewise been reckoned independent provinces by some, while many
confound them with the greater regions, Yemen and Hedjaz. To the latter,
indeed, are often assigned even the extensive countries of Nedjed,
Tehama, and Yemama.

Respecting the boundaries of all these provinces, much embarrassment has
arisen from contradictory statements made by several of the most eminent
Oriental geographers; Edrisi, Abulfeda, Al Madaieni, Ibn Haukal, Ibn el
Vardi, Bakoui, and others. Mr. Rommel, a very ingenious commentator on
Abulfeda's "Arabia," is frequently obliged to acknowledge the difficulty
of ascertaining where one division begins and another terminates. With
regard, more particularly, to the boundaries of Hedjaz, Abulfeda is
silent; but it appears that his opinion, so far as Mr. Rommel could
collect from incidental accounts of places assigned to this province and
adjoining territories, did not in all respects coincide with the
statements of other celebrated geographers. [See "Christophori Rommel
Abulfedea Arabiae Descriptio, commentario perpetuo illustrata,"
Gottingae, 1802, 4to. "Ambitum et fines hujus provinciae Abulfeda
designare supersedet.--Al Madaieni haec profert: 'Hhegiaz est provincia
complectens illum tractum montium qui inde ab Yaman expansus usque ad
Sham (Syriam) protenditur. In eo tractu sitae sunt Madinah et Amman'--
Cum hoc dissidere Abulfedam non dubium est.--Ibn al Arabi: "Quod est
inter Tehamah et Nagd illud est Hhegiaz.'--Fusius Ibn Haukal: 'Quod
protenditur a limite Serrain urbis sitae ad mare Kolzum adusque viciniam
Madian, et inde reflectendo per limitem tendentem in ortum urbis Hhegr,
ad montem Tai trunseundo juxta tergum Yamamah ad mare Persicum, hoc
totum ad Hhegiaz pertinet.' Et alio loco: 'Hhegiaz ea est provincia,
quae Maccah et Madinah et Yamamah cum earundem territoriis
comprehendit.'--Ibn al Vardi Hhegiaz appellat provinciam secus Sinum
Arabicum et a regione Habyssiniae sitam--Bakui eam inter Yaman et
Syriam posuisse satis habet, simul longitudinem ejus mensis itinere
emetiens."--(pp. 57-68.)]

[p.x] It may perhaps be asked, why our inquisitive traveller did not
learn from some intelligent native the precise extent and limits of
Hedjaz? To this question the following passage (written by Burckhardt,
near the end of his journal, and probably intended for the Appendix,)
may serve as a reply, and show that even the present inhabitants do not
agree in their application of the name Hedjaz. "This," says he, "is not
used by the Arabian Bedouins in the usual acceptation of the word. They
call Hedjaz exclusively the mountainous country, comprehending many
fertile valleys south of Tayf, and as far as the dwelling-places of the
Asyr Arabs, where the coffee-tree begins to be cultivated abundantly.
This is the general application of the term among all the Bedouins of
those countries; and the town's-people of Mekka and Djidda also use it
in that sense among themselves. But when they converse with foreigners,
whose notions they politely adopt, the name Hedjaz is bestowed on the
country between Tayf, Mekka, Medina, Yembo, and Djidda. The Bedouins
give the name of El Ghor, or the low-land, to the whole province
westward of the mountains from Mekka up to Beder and Yembo; while those
mountains themselves northward of Tayf are called by them Hedjaz-es'-
Sham, or the Northern Hedjaz." [This would confirm the derivation of
Hedjaz (mentioned by Golius) from ahhtedjezet, "quod (provincia Hhegiaz)
colligata et constricta montibus sit:" but others derive it from the
Arabic word yehedjez, because Hedjaz divides Nedjed from Tehama, or
because it connects Yemen with Syria, between which it is situate. As
even the shortest note written by Burckhardt must be considered
valuable, a few lines, that immediately follow the passage above quoted
from his Journal, are here given: "I compute the population of the
province usually called Hedjaz, comprising the whole territory of the
Sherif of Mekka, together with that of Medina and the towns situated
therein, and all the Bedouin tribes, at about two hundred and fifty
thousand souls; a number which, I am certain, is rather over than under
rated; the greater part being the Bedouin inhabitants of the mountains,
and principally the strong tribes of Beni Harb."]

[p.xi] On reference to pages 396 and 397, a remark will be found
concerning the different application of this name (Hedjaz) among those
who inhabit the sea-coast and those Bedouins who occupy the interior
country; and it will even appear that doubts have been entertained
whether the sacred city Medina does not belong rather to Nedjed than to
Hedjaz.

From statements so vague as those above quoted, an attempt to trace
exactly the limits of any country must be vain and fallacious: that
region, therefore, which borders on the Red Sea, and which the natives,
we know, entitle unequivocally Hedjaz, is marked in our map, as in
almost every other published hitherto, merely with that name, its first
letter being placed where the editor supposes Arabia Petraea to
terminate, and its last letter where he would separate Hedjaz from
Tehama. [Burckhardt (Syrian Travels p. 511.) quotes Makrizi, the Egyptian
historian, who says, in his chapter on Aila, (Akaba): "It is from hence
that the Hedjaz begins: in former times it was the frontier place of the
Greeks, &c."]

To those who seek the most accurate information respecting places but
little known, this work is sufficiently recommended by the name of its
author, and of the country which it describes. "The manners of the
Hejazi Arabs have continued," says Sir William Jones, "from the time of
Solomon to the present age." [Discourse on the Arabs, Asiat. Researches,
vol. ii.] "Our notions of Mecca must be drawn," says Gibbon, "from the
Arabians. As no unbeliever is permitted to enter the city, our
travellers are silent; and the short hints of Thevenot are taken from
the suspicious mouth of an African renegado." [Roman Empire, chap. 50.
note 18.]

But the reader of this preface must not be withholden from

[p.xii] perusing Burckhardt's authentic and interesting account of the
places which he visited, of the extraordinary ceremonies which he
witnessed, and of the people among whom he lived in the character of a
Muselman.

Some short notices, written on a detached leaf, but evidently intended
by the author as an introduction to his Journal, are given accordingly
in the next page: for, that the Arabian Travels should appear under such
a form as Burckhardt himself probably wished them to assume, has been
throughout a favourite object of the editor,

WILLIAM OUSELY.

London, January, 1829.


[p.xiii] THE AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION.

IN the pages of this Journal I have frequently quoted some Arabian
historians, whose works are in my possession. It is now to me a subject
of regret that those manuscripts were not with me in the Hedjaz. The two
first I purchased at Cairo, after my return from Arabia.

These works are--l. The History of Mekka, entitled Akhbar Mekka, a thick
quarto volume, by Aby el Wolyd el Azraky, who flourished in the year of
the Hedjra 223, and has traced the annals of his native city down to
that period. This work is particularly interesting on account of its
topographical notices, and the author's intimate acquaintance with the
state of Arabia before Islam or Mohammedanism. The manuscript appears,
from the hand-writing, to be six, or perhaps seven hundred years old.

2. The History of Mekka, entitled Akd e' themyn, in three folio volumes,
by Taky ed' dyn el Fasy, who was himself Kadhy of Mekka. This history
comes down to the year of the Hedjra 829, and is comprised [p.xiv] in
the first volume; the other two volumes containing biographical
anecdotes of distinguished natives of Mekka.

3. The History of the Mosque of Mekka, with which the history of the
town is interwoven, called El Aalam hy aalam beled Allah el haram, in
one volume quarto. The author was Kottob ed' dyn el Mekky, who held high
offices at Mekka, and brings the history down to the year 990 of the
Hedjra.

4. The History of the Hedjaz, and more particularly of Mekka, by Asamy.
Of this chronicle I possess only the second volume, a large folio
manuscript, comprising historical records from the time of the Beni
Omeya, to the year (of the Hedjra) 1097. I have not been able to
ascertain the title of this work, which abounds with curious and
valuable information. The author, Asamy, was a native of Mekka.

5. The History of the Temple and Town of Medina. This work is entitled
Khelaset el Wafa, its author was Nour ed' dyn Aly Ibn Ahmed e'
Samhoudy, [To this writer Burckhardt refers in p. 323, by the letters
(V.S.) "Vide Sumhoudy."] and it is comprised in one folio volume,
bringing the history down to the year 911 of the Hedjra.

[p.xv] CONTENTS.

Arrival at Djidda
Route from Djidda to Tayf
Residence at Tayf
Journey to Mekka
Arrival at Mekka
Description of Mekka
Quarters of Mekka
Description of the Beitullah (or "House of God"), the great Mosque at
Mekka
Some Historical Notices concerning the Kaaba and the Temple of Mekka
Description of several other holy places visited by pilgrims at Mekka
and in its neighbourhood
Remarks on the inhabitants of Mekka and Djidda
Government of Mekka
Climate and diseases of Mekka and Djidda
The Hadj or Pilgrimage
Journey from Mekka to Medina
Medina
Description of Medina
Account of some places of Zyara, or objects of pious visitation, in the
neighbourhood of Medina
On the Inhabitants of Medina
On the Government of Medina
Climate and Diseases of Medina
Journey from Medina to Yembo
Yembo
From Yembo to Cairo
Appendix, (comprising ten articles)

[p.xvi] CORRIGENDAS

Page	 12	for	Gonfady	read	Gonfade.
	 29		Badingam		Badinjan.
	 95		Metzem		Meltezem.
	109		Hareh			Haret.
	156		Achmed		Ahhmed.
	183		Moktar		Mokhtar.
	232		Yahyn			Yahya.
	446		Matsa			Matfa.
	462		Benezes		Aenezes.

The name of Kayd Beg, which frequently occurs, is sometimes spelt in the
Ms. Kait Beg, and once erroneously Kail Beg. On reference to
Burckhardt's Nubian Travels, it appears that he entered Djidda on the
18th of July, and not on the 15th, as printed in the first page of this
volume through a mistake of the figure 8 for 5; the ink with which he
wrote having in many parts of his Journal faded considerably, and become
of a pale reddish colour. As far, also, as the faded ink in some places
of the Ms. allows the editor (and others who have seen it) to judge,
Mekkawy is used to express a person of Mekka: in many pages of the Ms.
Mekkan is distinctly written, but the Arabic derivative Mekky occurs
only in the Author's Introduction (p. xiv.) Local derivatives similar to
Mekkawy occur in the various parts of Burckhardt's works: the present
volume, and his Syrian and Nubian Travels, exhibit Djiddawy, Yembawy,
Kennawy, Dongolawy, Bornawy, Bedjawy, &c. from Djidda, Yembo, Kenne,
Dongola, Bornou, Bedja. &c.

[p.1] TRAVELS

IN

THE HEDJAZ OF ARABIA

DJIDDA

MY arrival in the Hedjaz was attended with some unfavourable
circumstances. On entering the town of Djidda, in the morning of the
15th of July, 1814, I went to the house of a person on whom I had a
letter of credit, delivered to me, at my departure from Cairo, in
January, 1813, when I had not yet fully resolved to extend my travels
into Arabia. From this person I met with a very cold reception; the
letter was thought to be of too old a date to deserve notice: indeed, my
ragged appearance might have rendered any one cautious how he committed
himself with his correspondents, in paying me a large sum of money on
their account; bills and letters of credit are, besides, often trifled
with in the mutual dealings of Eastern merchants; and I thus experienced
a flat refusal, accompanied, however, with an offer of lodgings in the
man's house. This I accepted for the first two days, thinking that, by a
more intimate acquaintance I might convince him that I was neither an
adventurer nor impostor; but finding him inflexible, I removed to one of
the numerous public

[p.2] Khans in the town, my whole stock of money being two dollars and a
few sequins, sewed up in an amulet which I wore on my arm. I had little
time to make melancholy reflections upon my situation; for on the fourth
day after my arrival, I was attacked by a violent fever, occasioned,
probably, by indulging too freely in the fine fruits which were then in
the Djidda market; an imprudence, which my abstemious diet, for the last
twelve months, rendered, perhaps, less inexcusable, but certainly of
worse consequence. I was for several days delirious; and nature would
probably have been exhausted, had it not been for the aid of a Greek
captain, my fellow passenger from Souakin. He attended me in one of my
lucid intervals, and, at my request, procured a barber, or country
physician, who bled me copiously, though with much reluctance, as he
insisted that a potion, made up of ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon, was the
only remedy adapted to my case. In a fortnight after, I had sufficiently
recovered to be able to walk about; but the weakness and languor which
the fever had occasioned, would not yield to the damp heat of the
atmosphere of the town; and I owed my complete recovery to the temperate
climate of Tayf, situated in the mountains behind Mekka, where I
afterwards proceeded.

The Djidda market little resembled those Negro markets, where a single
dollar would purchase two or three weeks' provision of dhourra and
butter. The price of every thing had risen here to an unusual height,
the imports from the interior of Arabia having entirely ceased, while
the whole population of the Hedjaz, now increased by a Turkish army and
its numerous followers, and a host of pilgrims who were daily coming in,
wholly depended for its supply upon the imports from Egypt. My little
stock of money was therefore spent during my illness, and before I was
sufficiently recovered to walk out. The Greek captain, though he had
shown himself ready to afford me the common services of humanity, was
not disposed to trust to the

[p.3] honour or respectability of a man whom he knew to be entirely
destitute of money. I was in immediate want of a sum sufficient to
defray my daily expenses, and, no other means being left to procure it,
I was compelled to sell my slave: I regretted much the necessity for
parting with him, as I knew he had some affection for me, and he was
very desirous to remain with me. During my preceding journey he had
proved himself a faithful and useful companion; and although I have
since had several other slaves in my possession, I never found one equal
to him. The Greek captain sold him for me, in the slave-market of
Djidda, for forty-eight dollars. [This slave cost me sixteen dollars at
Shendy; thus, the profits of sale on one slave defrayed almost the whole
expense of the four months' journey through Nubia, which I had performed
in the spring.]

The present state of the Hedjaz rendered travelling through it, in the
disguise of a beggar, or at least for a person of my outward appearance,
impracticable; and the slow progress of my recovery made me desirous of
obtaining comforts: I therefore equipped myself anew, in the dress of a
reduced Egyptian gentleman, and immediately wrote to Cairo for a supply
of money; but this I could hardly receive in less than three or four
months. Being determined, however, to remain in the Hedjaz until the
time of the pilgrimage in the following November, it became necessary
for me to find the means of procuring subsistence until my funds should
arrive. Had I been disappointed in all my hopes, I should then have
followed the example of numbers of the poor Hadjis, even those of
respectable families, who earn a daily subsistence, during their stay in
the Hedjaz, by manual labour; but before I resorted to this last
expedient, I thought I might try another. I had indeed brought with me a
letter of introduction from Seyd Mohammed el Mahrouky, [The original
characters of these and other names, both of persons and places, are
given in the Index of Arabic words at the end of this volume.] the first
merchant

[p.4] in Cairo, to Araby Djeylany, the richest merchant of Djidda; but
this I knew could be of no use, as it was not a letter of credit; and I
did not present it. [I afterwards became acquainted with Djeylany, at
Mekka; and what I saw of him, convinced me that I was not mistaken in
the estimation I had formed of his readiness to assist a stranger.] I
determined therefore, at last, to address the Pasha, Mohammed Aly, in
person. He had arrived in the Hedjaz at the close of the spring of 1813,
and was now resident at Tayf, where he had established the head-quarters
of the army, with which he intended to attack the strongholds of the
Wahabis. I had seen the Pasha several times at Cairo, before my
departure for Upper Egypt; and had informed him in general terms of my
travelling madness (as he afterwards jocularly termed it himself at
Tayf). I should here observe that, as the merchants of Upper Egypt are
in general poor, and none of them strictly honour a bill or obligation
by immediate payment, I had found it necessary, during my stay there, in
order to obtain a supply of money, to request my correspondent at Cairo
to pay the sum which I wanted into the Pasha's treasury, and to take an
order from him upon his son, Ibrahim Pasha, then governor of Upper
Egypt, to repay me the amount. Having therefore already had some money
dealings with the Pasha, I thought that, without being guilty of too
much effrontery, I might now endeavour to renew them in the Hedjaz, and
the more so, as I knew that he had formerly expressed rather a
favourable opinion of my person and pursuits. As soon, therefore, as the
violence of my fever had subsided, I wrote to his physician, an Armenian
of the name of Bosari, whom I had also known at Cairo, where I had heard
much in his favour, and who was then with his master at Tayf. I begged
him to represent my unfortunate situation to the Pasha, to inform him
that my letter of credit upon Djidda had not been honoured, and to ask
him whether he would accept a bill upon

[p.5] my correspondent at Cairo, and order his treasurer at Djidda to
pay the amount of it.

Although Tayf is only five days distant from Djidda, yet the state of
the country was such, that private travellers seldom ventured to cross
the mountains between Mekka and Tayf; and caravans, which carried the
letters of the people of the country, departed only at intervals of from
eight to ten days; I could not, therefore, expect an answer to my letter
in less than twenty days. During this period I passed my leisure hours
at Djidda, in transcribing the journal of my travels in Nubia; but I
felt the heat at this season so oppressive, especially in my weak state,
that, except during a few hours early in the morning, I found no ease
but in the cool shade of the great gateway of the Khan in which I
lodged; where I passed the greater part of the day, stretched upon a
stone bench. Bosari's correspondent at Djidda, through whom I had sent
my letter to Tayf, had meanwhile mentioned my name to Yahya Effendi, the
physician of Tousoun Pasha, son of Mohammed Aly, now governor of Djidda,
who had been in Upper Egypt while I was there, but I had not seen him.
This physician, when at Cairo, had heard my name mentioned as that of a
traveller; and understanding now, that I came from the Black countries,
he was curious to see me, and desired Bosari's friend to introduce me to
him. He received me politely, invited me repeatedly to his house, and,
in the course of further explanation, became acquainted with my wants,
and the steps I had taken to relieve them. He happened at this time to
be preparing for a journey to Medina with Tousoun Pasha, and was sending
back all his unnecessary baggage to Cairo; with this he was also
desirous to transmit to his family his last year's savings, amounting to
three thousand piastres (about 100l.), and he was so kind as to offer me
the money for a bill upon Cairo, payable at sight; an advantage which,
he well knew, the merchants of Djidda never insure to those who take
their bills. Such an offer would not be considered as conferring

[p.6] any obligation in the commercial towns of Europe; but in the East,
and under the circumstances in which I was placed, it was extraordinary.
Yahya Effendi added, that some of his friends had given me a flattering
character while at Cairo, and that he could not, therefore, entertain
the slightest doubt of my solvency and respectability, in which opinion
he had been confirmed on reading the letter of credit I had brought with
me. As the issue of my application to the Pasha at Tayf was uncertain, I
readily and gratefully accepted Yahya's proposal; the money was
immediately paid to me, the bills drawn, and a few days after, my
obliging friend departed with Tousoun Pasha for Medina, where I had the
pleasure of seeing him again early in the following year.

I was now in possession of a sum sufficient to banish all apprehension
of suffering from poverty before the arrival of fresh supplies from
Egypt, whatever might be the consequence of my application to the Pasha;
but Yahya Effendi was no sooner gone, than I received a somewhat
favourable answer to the letter I had written to Tayf. Bosari, it
appeared, had been rather unwilling to urge my request to the Pasha,
afraid, perhaps, that he might himself become a sufferer, should I
forfeit my word. The Pasha, however, had heard of my being at Djidda,
through another person in his suite, whom I had seen there, and who had
arrived at Tayf; and hearing that I was walking about in rags, he
immediately despatched a messenger, with two dromedaries, to the
collector of customs at Djidda, Seyd Aly Odjakly, in whose hands was the
management of all the affairs of the town, with an order to furnish me a
suit of clothes, and a purse of five hundred piastres as travelling
money; accompanied with a request that I should repair immediately to
Tayf, with the same messenger who had brought the letter. In a
postscript, Seyd Aly Odjakly was enjoined to order the messenger to take
me by the upper road to Tayf, which leaves Mekka to the south, the lower
and more usual road passing through the middle of that town.

[p.7] The invitation of a Turkish Pasha is a polite command; whatever,
therefore, might be my reluctance to go at this time to Tayf, I could
not avoid, under the present circumstances, complying with the Pasha's
wishes; and, notwithstanding the secret aversion I had to receive a
present at his hands instead of a loan, I could not refuse to accept the
clothes and money, without hurting the pride and exciting the resentment
of a chief, whose good graces it was now my principal aim to
conciliate. [Some persons, perhaps, consider it an honour to receive
presents from Pashas; but I think differently. I know that the real
motive of a Turk in making presents, is either to get double the value
in return, (which could not be the case with me,) or to gratify his own
pride in showing to his courtiers that he deigns to be liberal towards a
person whom he holds infinitely below him in station or worth. I have
often witnessed the sneers of the donor and his people on making such
presents; and their sentiments are sometimes expressed by the saying,
"Look, he has thrown a morsel to this dog!" Few Europeans may, perhaps,
agree with me in this respect, but my knowledge authorises me to form
this opinion; and the only advice which I can give to travellers who
would not lower themselves in the estimation of Turkish grandees, is to
be always ready, on similar occasions, to return the supposed favour
two-fold. As for myself, I had but seldom occasion to make presents
during my travels; and this was the only one that I was ever obliged to
accept.] I likewise understood the meaning of the postscript, although
Seyd Aly was not aware of it; but, on this point, I flattered myself I
should be a match for the Pasha and his people.

As the invitation was very pressing, I left Djidda in the evening of the
same day on which the messenger arrived, after supping with Seyd Aly, in
company with a great number of Hadjis from all parts of the world; for
the fast of Ramadhan had already commenced, and during this month
everybody displays as much hospitality and splendour as he possibly can,
particularly in the supper after sun-set. Distrusting in some measure
the Pasha's intentions, I thought it necessary to carry a full purse to
Tayf; I therefore changed the whole of the three thousand piastres which
I had received from Yahya Effendi into gold, and put it in my girdle. A
person who has money has little to fear among Osmanlis,

[p.8] except the loss of it; but I thought that I might stand in need of
what I had, either as a bribe, or to facilitate my departure from Tayf.
I was, however, fortunately mistaken in both these conjectures.

I shall add here some remarks on Djidda and its inhabitants. The town is
built upon a slightly rising ground, the lowest side of which is washed
by the sea. Along the shore it extends in its greatest length for about
fifteen hundred paces, while the breadth is no where more than half that
space. It is surrounded on the land-side by a wall, in a tolerable state
of repair, but of no strength. It had been constructed only a few years
since by the joint labours of the inhabitants themselves, who were
sensible that they possessed no protection against the Wahabis in the
ancient half-ruined wall, built, A.H. 917, by Kansoue el Ghoury, Sultan
of Egypt. [See Kotobeddin, History of Mekka.] The present structure is a
sufficient barrier against Arabs, who have no artillery. At every
interval of forty or fifty paces, the wall is strengthened by watch-
towers, with a few rusty guns. A narrow ditch was also carried along its
whole extent, to increase the means of defence; and thus Djidda enjoys,
in Arabia, the reputation of being an impregnable fortress. On the sea-
shore, in front of the town, the ancient wall remains, but in a state of
decay. At the northern extremity, near the spot where the new wall is
washed by the sea, stands the Governor's residence; and at the southern
extremity is a small castle, mounting eight or ten guns. There is,
besides, a battery, to guard the entrance from the side of the sea, and
command the whole harbour. Here is mounted an immense old piece of
ordnance, which carries a ball of five hundred pounds, and is so
celebrated all over the Red Sea, that the very fame of it is a
protection to Djidda. The approach into the town from the sea is by two
quays, where small boats discharge the cargoes of the large ships, these
being obliged to

[p.9] anchor in the roadstead, about two miles from shore; none but the
vessels called say, (the smallest that navigate the Red Sea,)
approaching close to the shore. The quays are shut every evening about
sunset; thus all communication is prevented, at night, between the town
and the shipping.

On the land side Djidda has two gates; the Bab Mekka on the east side,
and Bab el Medina on the north. A small gate in the south wall has
lately been filled up. The area inclosed by the new wall (about three
thousand paces in circuit) and the sea, is not entirely covered with
buildings. A broad piece of open ground extends the whole length of the
interior of the wall; and there is, besides, a good deal of waste ground
near the Bab el Medina, and on the southern extremity. Having traversed
this open space in coming from the gate, you enter the suburbs,
comprising only huts formed of reeds, rushes, and brushwood, and
encircling the inner town, which consists of stone buildings. The huts
are chiefly inhabited by Bedouins, or poor peasants and labourers, who
live here completely after the Bedouin fashion. Similar quarters for
people of this description may be found in every town of Arabia. The
interior of Djidda is divided into different districts. The people of
Sowakin, who frequent this place, reside near the Bab el Medina; their
quarters are called Haret e Sowakiny. Here they live in a few poor
houses, but principally under huts, to which the lowest class of people
frequently resort, as many public women reside here, and those who sell
the intoxicating beverage called Boosa. The most respectable inhabitants
have their quarters near the sea, where a long street, running parallel
to the shore, appears lined with shops, and affords many khans
constantly and exclusively frequented by the merchants. Djidda is well
built; indeed, better than any Turkish town of equal size that I had
hitherto seen. The streets are unpaved, but spacious and airy; the
houses high, constructed wholly of stone, brought for the greater part
from the sea-shore, and consisting of madrepores and other marine

[p.10] fossils. Almost every house has two stories, with many small
windows and wooden shutters. Some have bow-windows, which exhibit a
great display of joiners' or carpenters' work. There is, generally, a
spacious hall at the entrance, where strangers are received, and which,
during the heat of the day, is cooler than any other part of the house,
as its floor is kept almost constantly wet. The distribution of rooms is
nearly the same as in the houses of Egypt and Syria; with this
difference, however, that in Djidda there are not so many large and
lofty apartments as in those countries, where but few houses, at least
of the natives, have two stories, whilst the rooms on the ground-floor
are sometimes of a considerable height. It thus happens that, in many
houses of the Hedjaz, the only cool spot is the entrance-hall; and here,
at noon, the master, with all his male attendants, hired servants or
slaves, may be seen enjoying, the siesta. [Although the cool breeze comes
only from the north, yet the Arabians do not seem to take so much
advantage of it in their houses as the Egyptians, whose principal rooms
are generally so contrived as to open towards the north. The large
ventilators constructed on the terraces of houses in Egypt, and which
diffuse a current of air through all the lower apartments, are unknown
in the Hedjaz.] As building is very expensive in this country, little is
adapted for outward show beyond the lattice-work of the bow-windows;
this frequently is painted with most gaudy colours, both on the outside
and inside. In many houses the lawful wife of a man occupies one part,
and his female Abyssinian slaves are lodged in their own distinct
apartments; convenience, therefore, in the building, is more studied
than size or beauty; yet, in Egypt, many ordinary houses have spacious
and handsome rooms.

Uniformity in architecture is not observed at Djidda. Some houses are
built with small, others with large square stones, the smooth side
outwards, and the interior filled up with mud. Sometimes the walls are
entirely of stone; many have, at intervals of about three feet, thin
layers of planks placed in the wall, and these, the

[p.11] Arabs imagine, tend to increase its strength. When the walls are
plastered, the wood is left of its natural colour, which gives to the
whole a gay and pleasing appearance, as if the building had been
ornamented with so many bands; but the dazzling white of the walls
during sun-shine is extremely distressing to the eyes. Most of the
gateways have pointed arches; some few round; and the latter are seen,
though less frequently, over the gates of private houses in every part
of Egypt. No buildings of ancient date are observed in Djidda, the
madrepore being of such a nature that it rapidly decays when exposed to
the rain and moist atmosphere prevalent here. [In general, it may be said
that Djidda is a modern town; for its importance as a market of Indian
goods can only be traced to the beginning of the fifteenth century,
although it had been known in the most ancient times of Arabian history
as the harbour of Mekka.] Besides many small mosques, there are two of
considerable size: one of these was built by Sherif Serour, predecessor
of the last reigning Sherif Ghaleb. The Governor's habitation, in which
the Sherif himself frequently resided, is a paltry building; such,
likewise, is that in which dwells the collector of the customs. There
are some well-built public khans in the town, with good accommodation,
where the foreign merchants reside during their short stay here. In
these khans are large open squares with arched passages, which afford a
cool shade to the merchants for the greater part of the day. Except
during the monsoon, when Djidda is extremely crowded with people,
private lodgings may easily be procured in the most distant quarters of
the town. The best private dwellings of Djidda belong to the great
mercantile establishment of Djeylani, who, with his family, occupies a
small square behind the principal street. This square is composed of
three large buildings, the most commodious and costly private houses in
all the Hedjaz. Every house of moderate size has its cistern; but as the
rains are not sufficiently regular or abundant to fill the cisterns from
the tops of the houses, (as

[p.12] throughout Syria,) they are often supplied with water from pools
formed outside of the town in rainy seasons.

Of these cisterns, the water is very inadequate to the consumption of
Djidda, and is reckoned a delicacy. Much of the drinking water is drawn
from some wells a mile and a half distant on the southern side; water,
indeed, may be found every where at a depth of fifteen feet, but it is
generally of a bad taste, and in some places scarcely drinkable. Two
only of the wells afford water that can be called sweet; but even this
is considered heavy, [Heavy and light, applied to water, are expressions
common in most languages of the East, where both natives and foreigners,
from the vast quantity which they consume, become more refined in their
taste regarding it than the people of our northern climates.] and, if
suffered to stand twenty-four hours in a vessel, it becomes full of
insects. The good water of these two wells being scarce and dear, cannot
always be procured without the assistance of powerful friends; in fact,
not more than from two to three hundred persons are ever able to obtain
it, while the rest of the inhabitants must content themselves with the
water supplied by other wells; and to this the constant ill-health of
the people may chiefly be ascribed. As Djidda has the name of a Turkish
fortress, we might suppose that the wells would have been protected by a
fort; but the Turks have neglected this precaution, and when, in
December, 1814, the people apprehended that the Wahabis were advancing
on the side of Gonfady, the Governor of Djidda, in great haste, filled
the few cisterns belonging to the government houses with water from the
wells, and for several days withheld that necessary of life from all the
inhabitants, as every water-camel was employed by him. Several of the
wells are private property, and yield to their owners a considerable
income.

The town of Djidda is without gardens, or vegetation of any kind except
a few date-trees adjoining one of the mosques; even outside the town the
whole country is a barren desert, covered

[p.13] on the sea-shore with a saline earth, and higher up with sand:
here are found some shrubs and a few low acacia trees. The number of
wells around the town might be considerably augmented, and water
obtained for the purposes of irrigation; but the inhabitants of Djidda
consider their residence as merely temporary, and, like all the other
people of the Hedjaz, devote their whole attention to commerce and the
acquisition of riches: on this account they are much less inclined to
rural enjoyments or occupations than any other race of Moslems that I
ever saw.

Beyond the Bab Mekka, and close to the town, are several huts, through
the midst of which lies the road to Mekka. These huts are inhabited by
the camel-drivers who traffic between that city and Djidda; by poor
Bedouins, who earn a livelihood by cutting wood at a considerable
distance in the mountains; and by Negro Hadjis, who adopt the same means
of supporting themselves during their stay at Djidda. Here is held the
market for live cattle, wood and charcoal, fruits and vegetables in
wholesale. Coffee also is sold in many booths in this place, frequented
for a short time, at an early hour, by the inferior class of merchants,
who resort hither to learn the news from Mekka, whence the post arrives
every morning soon after sunrise. About a mile beyond these huts,
eastward of the town, is the principal burial-ground, containing the
tombs of several sheikhs; but there are smaller cemeteries within the
walls. About two miles northward of the town, is shown the tomb of Howa
(Eve), the mother of mankind; it is, as I was informed, 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, seen in the valley of
Bekaa, in Syria.

During the predominance of the Wahabis, Djidda had been in a declining
state; many of its buildings had gone to ruin; no one constructed a new
house; trade was much depressed, in consequence of the pilgrimage from
Turkey having been discontinued, and the unwillingness of the merchants
to bring their goods hither

[p.14] for sale. Since the recovery of the holy cities, however, and the
re-establishment of the pilgrimage, together with the daily arrival of
soldiers, and a number of merchants and followers of the army, the town
has quickly recovered its former condition, and is now as flourishing as
at any former period. The number of its inhabitants may be estimated,
generally, at from twelve to fifteen thousand; but in the months
preceding the pilgrimage, and again during the summer months
corresponding with the monsoon winds, there is a great influx of
strangers, which increases the above number perhaps one-half.

The inhabitants of Djidda, like those of Mekka and Medina, are almost
exclusively foreigners. The descendants of the ancient Arabs who once
peopled the town, have perished by the hands of the governors, or have
retired to other countries. Those who can be truly called natives are
only a few families of sherifs, who are all learned men, and attached to
the mosques or the courts of justice; all the other Djiddawys (people of
Ddjidda) are foreigners or their descendants. Of the latter, those from
Hadramaut and Yemen are the most numerous: colonies from every town and
province of those countries are settled in Djidda, and keep up an active
commerce with their native places. Upwards of a hundred Indian families
(chiefly from Surat, and a few from Bombay,) have also established
themselves here; and to these may be added some Malays and people of
Maskat. The settlers from Egypt, Syria, Barbary, European Turkey, and
Anatolia, may be still recognised in the features of their descendants,
who are all mixed in one general mass, and live and dress in the same
Arab manner. The Indians alone remain a distinct race in manners, dress,
and employment. There are no Christians settled in Djidda; but a few
Greeks from the islands of the Archipelago occasionally bring
merchandize to this market from Egypt. In the time of the sherifs they
were much molested, compelled to wear a particular dress, and prohibited
from approaching the Mekka gate; but the Turks having become

[p.15] masters of the Hedjaz, abolished these restrictions, and a
Christian now enjoys complete liberty here: if he dies, he is not buried
on shore, (this being sanctified ground, belonging to the holy city,)
but upon some one of the small islands in the bay of Djidda. Jews were
formerly the brokers of this town; but they were driven out, about
thirty or forty years since, by Serour, the predecessor of Ghaleb, some
of them having offended by their misconduct. They all retired to Yemen
or to Sanaa. During the monsoons some Banians visit Djidda in the Indian
ships; but they always return with them, and none are settled here.

The mixture of races in Djidda is an effect of the pilgrimage, during
which rich merchants visit the Hedjaz with large adventures of goods:
some of these not being able immediately to settle their accounts, wait
till another year; during this period, they cohabit, according to the
custom of the country, with some Abyssinian slaves, whom they soon
marry; finding themselves at last with a family, they are induced to
settle in the country. Thus every pilgrimage adds fresh numbers to the
population not only of Djidda, but of Mekka also, which is indeed very
necessary, as in both towns the number of deaths is far greater than
that of births.

The people of Djidda are almost entirely engaged in commerce, and pursue
no manufactures or trades but those of immediate necessity. They are all
either sea-faring people, traders by sea, or engaged in the traffic with
Arabia. Djidda derives its opulence not only from being the port of
Mekka, but it may be considered as that of Egypt, of India, and of
Arabia; all the exports of those countries destined for Egypt first
passing through the hands of the Djidda merchants. Hence, it is probably
richer than any town of the same size in the Turkish dominions. Its
Arabian name, which means "rich," is therefore perfectly well bestowed.
The two greatest merchants in the place, Djeylany and Sakkat, both of
Maggrebin [Maggrebin, "inhabitants of the West," is the name given by all
the Eastern Arabs to the natives of the Barbary States.]

[p.16] origin, and whose grandfathers first settled here, are known to
possess from one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand pounds
sterling. Several Indians have acquired capitals nearly equal, and there
are upwards of a dozen houses possessing from forty to fifty thousand
pounds sterling. Wholesale trade is carried on here with greater
facility and profit, and with less intrigue and fraud, than any where I
have seen in the Levant; the principal reason of which is, that almost
all the bargains are made for ready money, very little or no credit
being given. This, however, is not to be understood as implying any
thing favourable to the character of the merchants, who are as notorious
for their bad faith as they are for their large fortunes; but the nature
of the trade, and the established usage, render it a less troublesome
and intriguing business here than in any other country of the East.

The commerce of Djidda may be divided into two principal branches--the
coffee trade, and the Indian trade; with both of which that of Egypt is
connected. Ships laden with coffee arrive from Yemen all the year round,
without being restricted to any particular season. During the voyage,
they sail constantly near the coast, and are thus enabled to take
advantage of the land breezes during the season when no[r]therly winds
prevail, and render the voyage difficult in mid-channel. They dispose of
their cargoes for dollars, which are almost the only article that the
merchants of Yemen take in return. The coffee trade is liable to great
fluctuations, and may be considered a species of lottery, in which those
only embark who have large capitals at their command, and who can bear
occasionally great losses. The price of coffee at Djidda, being
regulated by the advices from Cairo, varies almost with the arrival of
every ship from Suez. The price at the latter place depending upon the
demand for Mocha coffee in Turkey, is thus equally fluctuating. When I
arrived at Djidda, coffee-beans were at thirty-five dollars a hundred-
weight; three weeks after they fell to twenty-four dollars, in
consequence of the

[p.17] peace between England and America, and the expectation that West-
India coffee would be again imported in large quantities at Smyrna and
Constantinople. From the hazardous nature of this trade, there are many
merchants who will not engage in it, except as agents; others send the
coffee on their own account to Cairo, where the chief part of the trade
is in the hands of the Hedjaz merchants residing there. Within the last
six years, the coffee trade between Arabia and the Mediterranean has
suffered greatly by the importation of West-India coffee into the ports
of Turkey. These were formerly supplied exclusively with Mocha coffee;
the use of which has been almost entirely superseded in European Turkey,
Asia Minor, and Syria, by that of the West Indies. The Pasha of Egypt,
however, has hitherto strictly prohibited the importation of West-India
coffee into his dominions.

The trade in India goods is much safer, and equally profitable. The
fleets, principally from Calcutta, Surat, and Bombay, reach Djidda in
the beginning of May, when they find the merchants already prepared for
them, having collected as many dollars and sequins as their
circumstances admit, that they may effect bargains in wholesale at the
very first arrival of the ships. Large sums are also sent hither by the
Cairo merchants to purchase goods on their account; but the cargoes for
the greater part are bought up by the merchants of Djidda, who
afterwards send them to Cairo to be sold for their own advantage. The
India fleets return in June or July, when the prices of every article
brought by them immediately rise; [The ships from Bengal leave Djidda in
June, those from Surat and Bombay in July or the beginning of August.
The Maskat and Bassora shipping, and the slave vessels from the
Mozambique coast, arrive at the same time.] and it commonly occurs that,
on the very day when the last ships sail, ten per cent. profit may be
obtained upon the first price. The merchants, however, unless pressed
for money, do not sell at this time, but keep their goods in warehouses
for four or five

[p.18] months, during which the price continues to rise; so that if they
choose to wait till the January or February following, they may
calculate with great security upon a gain of from thirty to forty per
cent; and if they transport a part of their goods to Mekka for sale to
the Hadj, their profits are still greater. It is the nature of this
commerce that renders Djidda so crowded during the stay of the fleet.
People repair hither from every port on the Red Sea, to purchase at the
first hand; and the merchants of Mekka, Yembo, and Djidda, scrape
together every dollar they possess, to lay them out in these
purchases. [Some time after the Indian fleet had sailed from Djidda, I
was present when a merchant of great property and respectability called
upon an acquaintance of mine to borrow one hundred dollars, saying, he
had laid out every farthing of his money in India goods which he did not
wish yet to sell, and had, in the mean while, no money left for his
daily expenses. This occurs, I understood, very frequently among them.]
Another cause of the India trade with Djidda being more safe and
profitable is, the arrival of the merchant-ships but once in the year,
at a stated period, and all within a few weeks: there is, therefore,
nothing to spoil the market; the price of goods is settled according to
the known demand and quantity of imports; and it is never known to fall
till the return of the next fleet. In the coffee trade it was the
reverse.

In Syria and Egypt it is the work of several days, and the business of
three or four brokers, to conclude a bargain between two merchants to
the amount of a thousand dollars. At Djidda sales and purchases are made
of entire ships' cargoes in the course of half an hour, and the next day
the money is paid down. The greater part of the merchandize thus bought
is shipped for Suez, and sold at Cairo, whence it finds its way into the
Mediterranean. The returns are made either in goods, which are disposed
of chiefly in the Hedjaz, or in dollars and sequins, large quantities of
which are carried off annually by the Indian fleet: this principally
causes the scarcity of silver in Egypt. The coffee ships

[p.19] from Yemen take a few articles of Egyptian manufacture in return,
as Mellayes, (blue-striped cotton cloths,) linen stuff's for shirts, and
glass beads; but their chief sales are mostly for cash.

If Suez were to participate in the direct Indian trade, the present
flourishing state of Djidda would, no doubt, be greatly diminished, and
the town would become merely what its position renders it, the harbour
of the Hedjaz, instead of being, as it now is, the port of Egypt. It was
natural that the sherifs of Mekka, who had the customs in their own
hands, should endeavour, by every means in their power, to make Djidda
an emporium for the Indian trade, the custom-duties on which formed the
principle source of their income. Suez, however, is not a place where
large capitals are always found ready to make purchases; even Cairo
could not, at least immediately, engage in this trade with advantage,
were it transferred to Suez; for, according to old customs, from which
Orientals seldom like to depart, ready money is almost unknown in the
commercial transactions of that city; India goods are in consequence
never sold there except at very long credit. Undoubtedly cash might in
time have found its way to Suez, as it now does to Djidda; but the
channel of trade was such, that a fleet of ships coming direct from
India to Suez, would hardly have been able to dispose of their cargoes
either with profit or within due time. Another cause also contributed to
favour the harbour of Djidda: the India ships, although most of them
sail under the English flag, are entirely manned and commanded by the
people of the country, Arabs and Lascars; [No English captain had been at
Djidda for five years, when, in 1814, the Resoul, Captain Boag, from
Bombay, arrived laden with rice. The ships are not navigated by
Englishmen, and very few English merchants resident in India have ever
speculated in the trade of the Red Sea, which is carried on almost
exclusively with the capitals of Muselman merchants of Djidda, Maskat,
Bombay, Surat, and Calcutta. The Americans seldom visit any other
harbour in this sea than that of Mekka.] and they have adopted the same
coasting navigation that is followed in every part of the Red

[p.20] Sea. They never venture out to sea, and must, therefore,
necessarily pass Djidda and Yembo, both harbours of the Sherif, who
could easily oblige them to anchor in his ports and pay duties, as he is
known to have done with many coffee ships bound direct for Suez from
Yemen. These causes, however, no longer exist; for Mohammed Aly, Pasha
of Egypt, having possession of the harbours and custom-houses of the
Hedjaz, might transfer the customs of Djidda to Suez, and thence open a
direct communication with India. The chief obstacles to such a change
which have hitherto presented themselves, are the jealousy and false
representations of the merchants of Djidda, and the Pasha's ignorance of
his own real interests, added perhaps to the fear of displeasing his
sovereign; he has it, notwithstanding, in contemplation to change the
system, after the example of a very respectable English house at
Alexandria, which had, in concert with its correspondents at Bombay, in
1812, when the Hedjaz was not yet in the Pasha's hands, concluded a
treaty with him for allowing English ships to come direct to Suez, and
for insuring the protection of merchandize across the Desert to Cairo.
The reports of the Wahabi war, and of hostile cruisers in the Red Sea,
prevented the merchants from taking advantage of the treaty till 1815,
when a large ship was despatched from Bombay to Suez. The Pasha,
however, who was at Mekka when she touched at Djidda, in direct
violation of his engagements, stopped the ship, prohibited her
proceeding to Suez, compelled the captain to sell the cargo at a loss,
while the plague was raging in the town, and exacted the same duties as
are taken on country ships, in contravention of the stipulations
existing between Great Britain and the Porte. This affair, which created
great disgust amongst the Europeans in Egypt, might easily have been
remedied by retaliation upon the Pasha's ships trading to Malta, which
would have taught him to respect the British flag wherever he might meet
it. The British officers, however, from an erroneous conception perhaps
of his power and

[p.21] importance, and from a wish to remain upon a friendly footing
with him, instead of evincing any displeasure, preferred submitting
silently to the outrage; forgetting that the favour of a Turkish ruler
can never be bought by conciliation, but can only be obtained by an
attitude of defiance. In consequence of all this, the merchants were
obliged to make a second treaty with the Pasha, which was formally
ratified. His first demand was, that the ships should pay at Suez the
joint customs of that port and Djidda, which would have been equivalent
to about 12 per cent.; but he contented himself, at last, with a promise
of 9 per cent. upon all imports into Suez from India, which was six per
cent. more than the usual duty paid by European merchants in the ports
of the Grand Signior. This arrangement, it is supposed, will lead to the
opening of an active trade. The Pasha himself is disposed to speculate
on his own account; and the first adventure he sent to Bombay, in the
spring of 1816, was to bring him, in return, a richly caparisoned
elephant, destined as a present to his sovereign at Constantinople.
Still, however, I am afraid he will as little respect the second treaty
as he did the first; for his avarice, if not effectually checked, knows
no bounds, and he can at any time exact additional imposts, as far as
the profits of this new commercial route can bear them, by threatening
the security of the road from Suez to Cairo, the Bedouins of the
neighbouring Desert being completely at his command.

The former master of Djidda, Sherif Ghaleb, was actively engaged in the
Indian trade; he had two ships, of four hundred tons each, employed in
it, besides many smaller vessels in the coffee trade to Yemen; indeed,
he was a shrewd speculator in all branches of the Red Sea trade. He
oppressed the merchants of Djidda by heavy duties and his own powerful
competition; but he was never known to practise extortion upon them. If
he borrowed money, he repaid it at the stipulated time, and never
ventured to levy extraordinary contributions from individuals, although
he did [p.22] it from the whole community, by increasing the duties in
an arbitrary manner. It was the well-known security which property
enjoyed under his government that induced foreign merchants to visit the
port of Djidda, even when Ghaleb was reduced to great distress by the
Wahabis. His conduct, however, in this respect, was not caused by any
love of justice, for he governed most despotically; but he well knew
that, if the merchants should be frightened away, his town would sink
into insignificance. Towards the close of his government, the duty upon
coffee was increased by him from two and a half to five dollars per
quintal, or to about fifteen per cent. The duty upon India goods was
from six to ten per cent., according to their quality. If Ghaleb could
not immediately sell the coffee or India goods imported on his account,
he distributed the cargoes of his ships among the native merchants of
the place at the current market-price, in quantities proportioned to the
supposed property of each merchant, who was thus forced to become a
purchaser for ready money. In this respect Ghaleb was not singular; for
in Egypt the present Pasha frequently distributes his coffee among the
merchants; with this difference, however, from the practice of Ghaleb,
that the price which he exacts is always above the real market-price.

Business in Djidda is conducted through the intervention of brokers, who
are for the most part Indians of small property and bad reputations.

The number of ships belonging to Djidda is very great. Taking into
account all the small vessels employed in the Red Sea trade, two hundred
and fifty perhaps may be calculated as belonging either to merchants of
the town, or to owners, who navigate them, and who consider the port as
their principal home. The different names given to these ships, as Say,
Seume, Merkeb, Sambouk, Dow, denote their size; the latter only, being
the largest, perform the voyage to India. The ships are navigated
chiefly by people from Yemen, from the Somawly coast (opposite to Aden,

[p.23] between Abyssinia and Cape Guardafui,) and by slaves, of which
latter three or four are generally found in every ship. The crew receive
a certain sum for the voyage, and every sailor is, at the same time, a
petty trader on his own account; this is another cause of the resort of
foreigners to Djidda during the trade winds, for persons with the
smallest capitals can purchase goods in retail, at the first hand, from
the crews of these ships. No vessels of any kind are now constructed at
Djidda, so scarce has timber become; indeed, it is with difficulty that
means are found to repair a ship. Yembo is subject to the same
inconvenience. Suez, Hadeyda, and Mokha, are the only harbours in the
Red Sea where ships are built. The timber used at Suez is transported
thither overland from Cairo, and comes originally from the coast of Asia
Minor: The canvas used all over the Red Sea is of Egyptian manufacture.
The cordage is of the date-tree. Ships coming from the East Indies have
cordage made of the cocoa-nut tree, of which a quantity is also brought
for sale. That employed at Hadeyda and Mokha comes partly from Yemen,
and partly from the African coast. Many ships are purchased at Bombay
and Maskat; but those built at Suez are most common in the sea north of
Yemen. There has been a great want of shipping at Djidda during the last
three years, as the Pasha had seized a great number of ships, and
obliged their owners to transport provisions, ammunition, and baggage,
from Egypt to the Hedjaz, for which he pays a very low freight. During
my stay at Djidda, scarcely a day passed without some arrival by sea,
chiefly from Yembo and Cosseir; and there were constantly forty or fifty
ships in the harbour. An officer, entitled Emir al Bahhr, acts as
harbour-master, and takes from each ship a certain sum for anchorage.
This was an office of considerable dignity in the time of the sherif,
but it has now sunk into insignificance. I was somewhat surprised to
find that, in so well-frequented a port as Djidda, there were no
pleasure-boats of any kind in the harbour, nor even any regular public
boatmen; but I learned that this proceeded from the jealousy

[p.24] of the custom-house officers, who forbid all craft of this
description, and even insist that the ships' boats should return to the
ships after sunset.

Djidda carries on no trade by land, except with Medina and Mekka. A
caravan departs for Medina once in forty or fifty days, principally with
India goods and drugs, and is always augmented by a crowd of pilgrims
who wish to visit Mohammed's tomb. These caravans consist of from sixty
to one hundred camels, and are conducted by the Harb Bedouins. The
intercourse, however, between Djidda and Medina is more commonly carried
on by the intermediate route of Yembo, whither merchandize is sent by
sea. Besides the caravans above mentioned, others depart for Mekka
almost every evening, and at least twice a week, with goods and
provisions; and during the four months preceding the Hadj, when every
ship that arrives brings pilgrims to Djidda, this intercourse farther
increases, and caravans then set out regularly from the gate called Bab
Mekka every evening after sunset. The loaded camels take two nights to
perform the journey, resting midway at Hadda during the day; but, in
addition to these, a small caravan of asses, lightly laden, starts also
every evening, and performs the journey of fifteen or sixteen hours in
one night, arriving regularly at Mekka early in the morning. [When camels
abound, the hire of one from Djidda to Mekka is from twenty to twenty-
five piastres. In time of scarcity, or at the approach of the Hadj, from
sixty to seventy piastres are paid. During my stay, the hire of an ass
from Djidda to Mekka was twenty piastres. These prices would be
considered enormous in any other part of the Levant. Only fifteen
piastres are paid for a camel from Cairo to Suez, which is double the
distance between Djidda and Mekka.] It is by the ass-caravan that
letters are conveyed between the two towns. In time of peace, caravans
are occasionally met with on the sea-coast, towards Yemen, and the
interior of Tehama, to Mokhowa, whence corn is imported. (V. Appendix on
the Geography of the Hedjaz.)

The following enumeration of the different shops in the principal
commercial street of Djidda, may throw some light on the

[p.25] trade of the town, as well as on the mode of living of its
inhabitants.

The shops (as in all parts of Turkey) are raised several feet above
ground, and have before them, projecting into the street, a stone bench,
on which purchasers seat themselves; this is sheltered from the sun by
an awning usually made of mats fastened to high poles. Many of the shops
are only six or seven feet wide in front; the depth is generally from
ten to twelve feet, with a small private room or magazine behind.

There are twenty-seven coffee-shops. Coffee is drunk to excess in the
Hedjaz; it is not uncommon for persons to drink twenty or thirty cups in
one day, and the poorest labourer never takes less than three or four
cups. In a few of the shops may be had keshre, made from the skin of the
bean, which is scarcely inferior in flavour to that made from the bean
itself. One of the shops is frequented by those who smoke the hashysh,
or a preparation of hemp-flowers mixed with tobacco, which produces a
kind of intoxication. Hashysh is still more used in Egypt, especially
among the peasants. [Of the hemp-flowers, they use for this purpose the
small leaves standing round the seed, (called sheranek.) The common
people put a small quantity of them upon the top of the tobacco with
which their pipes are filled. The higher classes eat it in a jelly or
paste (maadjoun) made in the following manner:--a quantity of the
leaves is boiled with butter for several hours, and then put under a
press; the juice so expressed is mixed with honey and other sweet drugs,
and publicly sold in Egypt, where shops are kept for that purpose. The
Hashysh paste is politely termed bast, and those who sell it basty (i.e.
cheerfulness). On the occasion of a festival to celebrate the marriage
of a son of one of the principal grandees at Cairo, when all the
different crafts of the town were represented in a showy procession, the
basty, although exercising a business prohibited and condemned by the
law, was among the most gaudy. Many persons of the first rank use the
bast in some shape or other; it exhilarates the spirits, and raises the
imagination as violently as opium. Some persons also mix the paste with
seeds of the Bendj, which comes from Syria.]

In all these shops the Persian pipe is smoked, of which there

[p.26] are three different sorts. 1. The Kedra, which is the largest,
and rests upon a tripod; it is always neatly worked, and found only in
private houses. 2. The Shishe (called in Syria Argyle), of a smaller
size, but, like the former, joined to a long serpentine tube (called
lieh), through which the smoke is inhaled. 3. The Bury. This consists of
an unpolished cocoa-nut shell, which contains water; a thick reed
answers the purpose of the serpentine tube: this pipe is the constant
companion of the lower classes, and of all the sailors of the Red Sea,
who indulge most inordinately in using it. The tobacco smoked in the two
former of these pipes comes from the Persian gulf; the best is from
Shiraz. An inferior sort (called tombak) comes from Basra and Baghdad;
the leaf is of a light yellow colour, and much stronger in taste than
common tobacco; it is, therefore, previously washed to render it milder.
The tombak used in the Bury comes from Yemen, and is of the same species
as the other, but of an inferior quality. The trade in this article is
very considerable, its consumption in the Hedjaz being almost incredibly
great; large quantities are also shipped for Egypt. The common pipe is
little used in the Hedjaz, except by Turkish soldiers and Bedouins. The
tobacco is of Egyptian growth, or from Sennar, whence it is carried to
Sowakin. Very little good Syrian tobacco finds its way across the Red
Sea.

The coffee-houses are filled with people during the whole day; and in
front a shed is generally erected, under which persons also sit. The
rooms, benches, and small low chairs, are very filthy, and form a
contrast to the neatness and elegance observable in the coffee-houses of
Damascus. Respectable merchants are never seen in a coffee-house; but
those of the third class, and sea-faring people, make it their constant
resort. Every person has his particular house, where he meets those who
have business with him. An Arab, who cannot afford to ask his friend to
dine, invites him from the coffee-house, when he sees him pass, to enter
and take

[p.27] a cup, and is highly offended if the invitation be rejected. When
his friend enters, he orders the waiter to bring him a cup, and the
waiter, in presenting it, exclaims aloud, so that every one in the place
may hear him, djebba! (gratis). An Arab may cheat his creditors, or be
guilty of bad faith in his dealings, and yet escape public censure; but
he would be covered with infamy, if it were known that he had attempted
to cheat the coffee-house waiter of his due. The Turkish soldiers have
done their utmost in this respect to increase the contempt in which they
are held by the Arabs. I never saw in the coffee-houses of the Hedjaz
any of those story-tellers who are so common in Egypt, and still more in
Syria. The Mangal [See Niebuhr's Travels.] is generally played in all of
them, and the Dama, "a kind of draughts," differing somewhat from the
European game; but I never happened to see chess played in the Hedjaz,
though I heard that it is not uncommon, and that the sherifs in
particular are fond of it.

Near to almost every coffee-shop a person takes his stand, who sells
cooled water in small perfumed jars. [The Orientals often drink water
before coffee, but never immediately after. I was once recognised in
Syria as a foreigner or European, in consequence of having called for
water just after I had taken coffee. "If you were of this country ,"
said the waiter, "you would not spoil the taste of the coffee in your
mouth by washing it away with water."]

Twenty-one butter-sellers, who likewise retail honey, oil, and vinegar.
Butter forms the chief article in Arab cookery, which is more greasy
than even that of Italy. Fresh butter, called by the Arabs zebde, is
very rarely seen in the Hedjaz. It is a common practice amongst all
classes to drink every morning a coffee-cup full of melted butter or
ghee, after which coffee is taken. They regard it as a powerful tonic,
and are so much accustomed to it from their earliest youth, that they
would feel great inconvenience in discontinuing the use of it. The
higher classes content themselves

[p.28] with drinking the quantity of butter, but the lower orders add a
half-cup more, which they snuff up their nostrils, conceiving that they
prevent foul air from entering the body by that channel. The practice is
universal as well with the inhabitants of the town as with the Bedouins.
The lower classes are likewise in the habit of rubbing their breasts,
shoulders, arms, and legs, with butter, as the negroes do, to refresh
the skin. During the war, the import of this article from the interior
had almost entirely ceased; but even in time of peace, it is not
sufficient for the consumption of Djidda; some is, therefore, brought
also from Sowakin; but the best sort, and that which is in greatest
plenty, comes from Massowah, and is called here Dahlak butter: whole
ships' cargoes arrive from thence, the greater part of which is again
carried to Mekka. Butter is likewise imported from Cosseir; this comes
from Upper Egypt, and is made from buffaloes' milk; the Sowakin and
Dahlak ghee is from sheep's milk.

The Hedjaz abounds with honey in every part of the mountains. The best
comes from those which are inhabited by the Nowaszera Bedouins, to the
south of Tayf. Among the lower classes, a common breakfast is a mixture
of ghee and honey poured over crumbs of bread as they come quite hot
from the oven. The Arabs, who are very fond of paste, never eat it
without honey.

The oil used for lamps is that of Sesamum (Seeredj, brought from Egypt).
The Arabs do not use oil for culinary purposes, except in frying fish,
or with broken paste to be given to the poor. Salad, of which the
northern Turks are so fond, is never seen on an Arabian table.

Eighteen vegetable or fruit-stands. The number of these has now greatly
increased, on account of the Turkish troops, who are great devourers of
vegetables. All the fruits come from Tayf, behind Mekka, which is rich
in gardens. I found here in July grapes of the best kind, with which the
mountains behind Mekka

[p.29] abound; pomegranates of middling quality; quinces, which have not
the harsh taste of those in Europe, and may be eaten raw; peaches;
lemons of the smallest size only, like those of Cairo; bitter oranges;
bananas--these do not grow at Tayf, but are brought by the Medina road
principally from Safra, Djedeyda, and Kholeys. These fruits last till
November. In March, water melons are brought from Wady Fatme, which are
said to be small, but of a good flavour. The Arabs eat little fruit
except grapes; they say it produces bile, and occasions flatulency, in
which they are probably not mistaken. The fruit sold at Djidda is
particularly unwholesome; for having been packed up at Tayf in an unripe
state, it acquires a factitious maturity by fermentation during the
journey. The Turks quarrel and fight every morning before the shops, in
striving to get the fruits, which are in small quantities and very dear.
Vegetables are brought to Djidda from Wady Fatme, six or eight miles
distant to the north, which also supplies Mekka. The usual kinds are
Meloukhye, Bamye, Portulaca egg-plants, or Badingans, cucumbers, and
very small turnips, of which the leaves are eaten, and the root is
thrown away as useless. Radishes and leeks are the only vegetables
regularly and daily used in Arab cookery; they are very small, and the
common people eat them raw with bread. In general, the Arabs consume
very few vegetables, their dishes being made of meat, rice, flour, and
butter. In these fruit-shops, tamarind (called here Homar) is also sold;
it comes from the East Indies, not in cakes, like that from the negro
countries, but in its natural form, though much decomposed. When boiled
in water, it constitutes a refreshing beverage, and is given to sick
people boiled with meat into a stew.

Eight date-sellers. Of all eatables used by the Arabs, dates are the
most favourite; and they have many traditions from their prophet,
showing the pre-eminence of dates above all other kinds of food. The
importation of dates is uninterrupted during the whole year. At the end
of June, the new fruit (called ruteb) comes in: this lasts for two
months, after which, for the remainder of the

[p.30] year, the date-paste, called adjoue, is sold. This is formed by
pressing the dates, when fully ripe, into large baskets so forcibly as
to reduce them to a hard solid paste or cake, each basket weighing
generally about two hundred weight; in this state the Bedouins export
the adjoue; in the market it is cut out of the basket and sold by the
pound. This adjoue forms a part of the daily food among all classes of
people. In travelling, it is dissolved in water, and thus affords a
sweet and refreshing drink. There are upwards of twelve different sorts
of adjoue; the best comes from Taraba, behind Tayf (now occupied by the
Wahabis.) The most common kind at present in the market is that from
Fatme; and the better sort, that from Kheleys, and Djedeyde, on the road
to Medina. During the monsoon, the ships from the Persian gulf bring
adjoue from Basra for sale, in small baskets, weighing about ten pounds
each; this kind is preferred to every other. The East-India ships, on
their return, take off a considerable quantity of the paste, which is
sold to great profit among the muselmans of Hindostan.

Four pancake-makers, who sell, early in the morning, pancakes fried in
butter; a favourite breakfast.

Five bean-sellers. These sell for breakfast also, at an early hour,
Egyptian horse-beans boiled in water, which are eaten with ghee and
pepper. The boiled beans are called mudammes; they form a favourite dish
with the people of Egypt, from whom the Arabs have adopted it.

Five sellers of sweetmeats, sugar-plums, and different sorts of
confectionary, of which the Hedjaz people are much fonder than any
Orientals I have seen; they eat them after supper, and in the evening
the confectioners' stands are surrounded by multitudes of buyers. The
Indians are the best makers of them. I saw no articles of this kind here
that I had not already found in Egypt; the Baktawa, Gnafe, and Ghereybe,
are as common here as at Aleppo and Cairo.

Two kebab shops, where roasted meat is sold; these are kept by Turks,
the kebab not being an Arab dish.

[p.31] Two soup-sellers, who also sell boiled sheep's heads and feet,
and are much visited at mid-day.

One seller of fish fried in oil, frequented by all the Turkish and Greek
sailors.

Ten or twelve stands where bread is sold, generally by women; the bread
has an unpleasant flavour, the meal not having been properly cleansed,
and the leaven being bad. A loaf of the same size as that which at Cairo
is sold for two paras, costs here, though of a much worse quality, eight
paras.

Two sellers of leben, or sour milk, which is extremely scarce and dear
all over the Hedjaz. It may appear strange that, among the shepherds of
Arabia, there should be a scarcity of milk, yet this was the case at
Djidda and Mekka; but, in fact, the immediate vicinity of these towns is
extremely barren, little suited to the pasturage of cattle, and very few
people are at the expense of feeding them for their milk only. When I
was at Djidda, the rotolo or pound of milk (for it is sold by weight)
cost one piastre and a half, and could only be obtained by favour. What
the northern Turks called yoghort, and the Syrians and Egyptians leben-
hamed, [Very thick milk, rendered sour by boiling and the addition of a
strong acid.] does not appear to be a native Arab dish; the Bedouins of
Arabia, at least, never prepare it.

Two shops, kept by Turks, where Greek cheese, dried meat, dried apples,
figs, raisins, apricots, called kammared'din, &c. are sold at three
times the price paid in Cairo. The cheese comes from Candia, and is much
in request among all the Turkish troops. An indifferent sort of cheese
is made in the Hedjaz; it is extremely white, although salted, does not
keep long, and is not by any means very nutritive. The Bedouins
themselves care little for cheese; they either drink their milk, or make
it into butter. The dried meat sold in these shops is the salted and
smoked beef of Asia Minor, known all over Turkey by the name of
bastorma, and

[p.32] much relished by travellers. The Turkish soldiers and the Hadjis
are particularly fond of it, but the Arabs never can be induced to taste
it; many of them, observing that it differs in appearance from all other
meat with which they are acquainted, persist in regarding it as pork,
and the estimation in which they hold the Turkish soldiery and their
religious principles is not likely to remove their prejudices on this
head. All the dried fruits above mentioned, except the apricots, come
from the Archipelago; the latter are sent from Damascus all over Arabia,
where they are considered a luxury, particularly among the Bedouins. The
stone is extracted and the fruit reduced to a paste, and spread out upon
its leaves to dry in the sun. It makes a very pleasant sauce when
dissolved in water. On all their marches through the Hedjaz, the Turkish
troops live almost entirely upon biscuit and this fruit.

Eleven large shops of corn-dealers, where Egyptian wheat, barley, beans,
lentils, dhourra, [Or durra, from Sowakin, which comes from Taka, in the
interior of Nubia, and a small-grained sort from Yemen, are also sold
here.] Indian and Egyptian rice, biscuits, &c. may be purchased. The
only wheat now sold in the Hedjaz comes from Egypt. In time of peace,
there is a considerable importation from Yemen into Mekka and Djidda,
and from Nedjed to Medina; but the imports from Egypt are by far the
most considerable, and the Hedjaz may truly be said to depend upon Egypt
for corn. The corn-trade was formerly in the hands of individuals, and
the Sherif Ghaleb also speculated in it; but at the present, Mohammed
Aly Pasha has taken it entirely into his own hands, and none is sold
either at Suez or Cosseir to private persons, every grain being shipped
on account of the Pasha. This is likewise the case with all other
provisions, as rice, butter, biscuits, onions, of which latter great
quantities are imported. At the time of my residence in the Hedjaz, this
country not producing a sufficiency, the Pasha sold the grain at Djidda
for the price of

[p.33] from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and sixty piastres per
erdeb, and every other kind of provision in proportion; the corn cost
him twelve piastres by the erdeb in Upper Egypt, and including the
expense of carriage from Genne to Cosseir, and freight thence to Djidda,
twenty-five or thirty piastres. This enormous profit was alone
sufficient to defray his expenses in carrying on the Wahaby war; but it
was little calculated to conciliate the good-will of the people. His
partisans, however, excused him, by alleging that, in keeping grain at
high prices, he secured the Bedouins of the Hedjaz in his interest, as
they depend upon Mekka and Djidda for provisions, and they were thus
compelled to enter into his service, and receive his pay, to escape
starvation. The common people of the Hedjaz use very little wheat; their
bread is made either of durra or barley-flour, both of which are one-
third cheaper than wheat; or they live entirely upon rice and butter.
This is the case also with most of the Bedouins of Tehama, on the coast.
The Yemen people in Djidda eat nothing but durra. Most of the rice used
at Djidda is brought as ballast by the ships from India. The best sort
comes from Guzerat and Cutch: it forms the chief article of food among
the people of the Hedjaz, who prefer it to the rice from Egypt, because
they think it more wholesome than the former, which is used exclusively
by the Turks and other strangers from the north-ward. The grain of the
Indian rice is larger and longer than the common sort of Egypt, and is
of a yellowish colour; whereas the latter has a reddish tint; but the
best sorts of both are snow-white. The Indian rice swells more in
boiling than the Egyptian, and is for this reason preferred by the
Arabs, as a smaller quantity of it will fill a dish; but the Egyptian
rice is more nutritive. The Indian rice is rather cheaper, and is
transported from Djidda to Mekka, Tayf, Medina, and thence as far as
Nedjed. A mixture of equal portions of rice and lentils, over which
butter is poured,

[p.34] forms a favourite preparation with the middle class, and
generally their only dish at supper. [This dish is known in Syria, and
called there medjeddereh, because the lentils in the rice look like a
person's face marked with the small-pox, or djedreh.] I found, in every
part of the Hedjaz, that the Bedouins, when travelling, carried no other
provision than rice, lentils, butter, and dates. The importation of
biscuits from Egypt has of late been very considerable, for the use of
the Turkish army. The Arabians do not like and seldom eat them even on
board their ships, where they bake their unleavened cake every morning
in those small ovens which are found in all the ships of every size that
navigate the Red Sea.

Salt is sold by the corn-dealers. Sea-salt is collected near Djidda, and
is a monopoly in the hands of the sherif. The inhabitants of Mekka
prefer rock-salt, which is brought thither by the Bedouins from some
mountains in the neighbourhood of Tayf.

Thirty-one tobacco-shops, in which are sold Syrian and Egyptian tobacco,
tombac, or tobacco for the Persian pipe, pipe-heads and pipe-snakes,
cocoa-nuts, coffee-beans, keshre, soap, almonds, Hedjaz raisins, and
some other articles of grocery. The Egyptian tobacco, sometimes mixed
with that of Sennar, is the cheapest, and in great demand throughout the
Hedjaz. There are two sorts of it: the leaf of one is green, even when
dry; this is called ribbe, and comes from Upper Egypt: the other is
brown-leaved, the best sort of which grows about Tahta, to the south of
Siout. During the power of the Wahabys, tobacco could not be sold
publicly; but as all the Bedouins of the Hedjaz are passionately fond of
it, persons sold it clandestinely in their shops, not as tobacco or
dokhan, but under the name of "the wants of a man." Long snakes for the
Persian pipe, very prettily worked, are imported from Yemen. Cocoa-nuts
are brought from the East Indies, as well as from the south-eastern
coast of Africa and the Somawly country, and may

[p.35] be had quite fresh, at low prices, during the monsoon. The people
of Djidda and Mekka appear to be very fond of them. The larger nuts, as
already mentioned, are used for the boury, or common Persian pipe, and
the smallest for snuff-boxes.

Soap comes from Suez, whither it is carried from Syria, which supplies
the whole coast of the Red Sea with it. The soap-trade is considerable,
and, for the greater part, in the hands of the merchants from Hebron,
(called in Arabic el Khalyl or the Khalylis,) who bring it to Djidda,
where some of them are always to be found. The almonds and raisins come
from Tayf and the Hedjaz mountains; large quantities of both are
exported, even to the East Indies. The almonds are of most excellent
quality; the raisins are small and quite black, but very sweet. An
intoxicating liquor is prepared from them.

Eighteen druggists. These are all natives of the East Indies, and mostly
from Surat. In addition to all kinds of drugs, they sell wax candles,
paper, sugar, perfumery, and incense; the latter is much used by the
inhabitants of the towns, where all the respectable families perfume
their best rooms every morning. Mastic and sandal-wood, burnt upon
charcoal, are most commonly used for this purpose. Spices of all sorts,
and heating drugs, are universally used in the Hedjaz. Coffee is rarely
drunk in private houses without a mixture of cardamoms or cloves; and
red pepper, from India or Egypt, enters into every dish. A considerable
article of trade among the druggists of Djidda and Mekka consists in
rose-buds, brought from the gardens of Tayf. The people of the Hedjaz,
especially the ladies, steep them in water, which they afterwards use
for their ablutions; they also boil these roses with sugar, and make a
conserve of them. The sugar sold in the drug-gists' shops is brought
from India; it is of a yellowish white colour, and well refined, but in
powder. A small quantity of Egyptian sugar is imported, but the people
here do not like it; in general, they prefer every thing that comes from
India, which they conceive

[p.36] to be of a superior quality; in the same manner as English
produce and manufactures are preferred on the continent of Europe. The
Indian druggists are all men of good property; their trade is very
lucrative, and no Arabs can rival them in it. At Mekka, also, and at
Tayf, Medina, and Yembo, all the druggists are of Indian descent; and
although they have been established in the country for several
generations, and completely naturalized, yet they continue to speak the
Hindu language, and distinguish themselves in many trifling customs from
the Arabs, by whom they are in general greatly disliked, and accused of
avarice and fraud.

Eleven shops where small articles of Indian manufacture are sold, such
as china-ware, pipe-heads, wooden spoons, glass heads, knives, rosaries,
mirrors, cards, &c. These shops are kept by Indians, mostly from Bombay.
Very little European hardware finds its way hither, except needles,
scissors, thimbles, and files; almost every thing else of this kind
comes from India. The earthenware of China is greatly prized in the
Hedjaz. The rich inhabitants display very costly collections of it,
disposed upon shelves in their sitting-rooms, as may be remarked also in
Syria. I have seen, both at Mekka and Djidda, china dishes brought to
table, measuring at least two feet and a half in diameter, carried by
two persons, and containing a sheep roasted entire. The glass beads
exported from Djidda are chiefly for the Souakin and Abyssinian market;
they are partly of Venetian and partly of Hebron manufacture. The
Bedouin women of the Hedjaz likewise wear them; though bracelets, made
of black horn, and amber necklaces, seem to be more in fashion among
them. It is in these shops that the agate beads, called reysh, [See
Travels in Nubia, article Shendy.] are sold, which come from Bombay,
and are used in the very heart of Africa. A kind of red beads, made of
wax, are seen here in great quantities; they come from India, and are

[p.37] mostly destined for Abyssinia. Of rosaries, a great variety is
sold: those made of yoser [From this, the principal lane of Djidda is
called Hosh Yosser.] are the most costly; it is a species of coral which
grows in the Red Sea. The best sort is found between Djidda and Gonfode,
is of a deep black colour, and takes a fine polish. Strings of one
hundred beads each are sold at from one to four dollars, according to
their size. They are made by the turners of Djidda, and are much in
demand for the Malays. Other rosaries, (also brought from India,) made
of the odoriferous kalambac, and of the sandal-wood, are in great demand
throughout Egypt and Syria. Few pilgrims leave the Hedjaz without taking
from the holy cities same of these rosaries, as presents to their
friends at home.

Eleven clothes-shops. In these various articles of dress are sold every
morning by public auction. The greater part of those dresses are of the
Turkish fashion, adopted by merchants of the first and second classes,
with some trifling national variations in the cut of the clothes. During
the period of the Hadj, these shops are principally frequented for the
purchase of the Hiram or Ihram, that mantle in which the pilgrimage is
performed, and which consists generally of two long pieces of white
Indian cambric. Here, too, the Hedjaz Bedouins come to buy the woollen
abbas, or Bedouin cloaks, brought from Egypt, on which country they
entirely depend for this article; and thus they seem to possess the same
indolent character as most people of the Hedjaz; for it is customary
with the wives of other Bedouins to fabricate their own abbas. Here,
also, they bring Turkish carpets of an inferior quality, which form an
indispensable article of furniture for the tent of a Sheikh. In these
shops are likewise retailed all other imports from Egypt necessary for
dress, as mellayes, cotton quilts, linen for shirts, shirts dyed blue,
worn by the peasants, red and yellow slippers,

[p.38] used by the more opulent merchants, and by all the ladies, red
caps, all kinds of cloth dresses, second-hand cashmere shawls, muslin
shawls, &c. &c.

Six large shops of Indian piece-goods: French cloth, cashmere shawls,
&c. belonging to respectable merchants, whose clerks here sell by
retail. Almost all the principal merchants carry on also a retail
business in their own houses, except the great Indian merchants
established here, who deal in nothing but Indian piece-goods. The other
merchants of Djidda engage in every branch of commerce. I once saw the
brother of Djeylany quarrelling with a Yembo pedlar about the price of a
mellaye, worth about fifteen shillings; but this is the case also in
Egypt and Syria, where the most wealthy native merchants sell in retail,
and enter into all the minute details of business, and yet without
keeping any large establishment of clerks or accomptants, which their
mode of conducting business renders little necessary. A Turkish merchant
never keeps more than one accompt-book; into this he copies from a
pocket-book his weekly sales and purchases. They have not that extensive
correspondence which European merchants are obliged to keep up; and they
write much less, though perhaps more to the purpose, than the latter. In
every town with which they traffic, they have one friend, with whom they
annually balance accounts. Turkish merchants, with the exception of
those living in sea-ports, generally pursue but one branch of trade;
maintaining a correspondence with the town only from whence they obtain
their merchandize, and with that to which they transport it. Thus, for
instance, the great Baghdad merchants of Aleppo, men with from thirty to
forty thousand pounds in capital, receive goods from their friends at
Baghdad, and then send them from Aleppo to Constantinople. I have known
many of them who kept no clerk, but transacted the whole of their
business themselves. At Cairo, the Syrian merchants trade in the stuffs
of Damascus and Aleppo, and

[p.39] are altogether unconnected with the Maggrebin, Syria, and Djidda
merchants.

Mercantile transactions are farther simplified by the traders employing
chiefly their own capital, commission business being much less extensive
than it is in Europe. When a merchant consigns a considerable quantity
of goods to a place, he sends a partner with them, or perhaps a
relative, if he have no partner resident in the place. Ranking concerns
and bills of exchange are wholly unknown among the natives, which saves
them much trouble. In those towns where European factories are
established, bills may be found, but they are hardly current with the
natives, among whom assignments only are customary.

The practice followed equally by Mahomedan, Christian, and Jewish
merchants, in the East, of never drawing an exact balance of the actual
state of their capital, is another cause that renders the details of
book-keeping less necessary here than in Europe. For the same reason
that a Bedouin never counts the tents of his tribe, nor the exact number
of his sheep, nor a military chief the exact number of his men, nor a
governor the number of inhabitants of his town, a merchant never
attempts to ascertain the exact amount of his property; an approximation
only is all that be desires. This arises from a belief that counting is
an ostentatious display of wealth, which heaven will punish by a speedy
diminution.

The Eastern merchant seldom enters into hazardous speculations, but
limits his transactions to the extent of his capital. Credit to a great
amount is obtained with difficulty, as affairs of individuals are in
general much more publicly known than in Europe; failures are,
therefore, of rare occurrence; and when a man becomes embarrassed either
from an unsuccessful speculation or inevitable losses, his creditors
forbear to press their demands, and are generally paid after a few
years' patience;

[p.40] thereby saving the merchant's credit, and preventing the
consequences of bankruptcy.

On the other hand, however, the Eastern merchants are liable to the
imputation of uncertainty in their payments, which they often delay
beyond the stipulated periods. Even the most respectable among them do
not hesitate to put off the payment of a debt for months; and it may be
stated as a general rule in Egypt and Syria, that assignments are never
fully paid till after a lapse of nearly double the time named. But this,
I was often assured by the best informed people here, has only become
the practice within the last twenty or thirty years, and is a
consequence of the universal decay of commerce and diminution of capital
in the Levant. At Djidda, as I have already observed, almost all
bargains are made for ready money.

Three sellers of copper vessels. A variety of well-tinned copper vessels
may be found in every Arabian kitchen. Even the Bedouins have one
capacious boiler, at least, in every tent. The whole of these come from
Egypt. The most conspicuous article of this description is the abrik, or
water-pot, with which the Muselman performs his ablutions. No Turkish
pilgrim arrives in the Hedjaz without one of these pots, or at least he
purchases one at Djidda. There are found, also, in the market a few
copper vessels from China, brought hither by the Malays; but they are
not tinned, and though the copper seems to be of a much finer quality
than that of Anatolia, which is brought from Cairo, the Arabs dislike to
use it.

Four barbers' shops. The barbers are at once the surgeons and physicians
of this country. They know how to let blood, and to compound different
sorts of aperient medicines. The few Arabians whose beards are longer
and thicker than those of their country-men usually are, take great
pains in keeping them neatly cut, so that not a hair may project beyond
another. The mustachios are

[p.41] always cut closely, and never allowed to hang over the lips; in
this they differ from the northern Turks, who seldom touch their thick
bushy mustachios with scissors. The barbers' shops are frequented by
loungers of the lower classes, who resort thither to hear the news, and
amuse themselves with conversation. In one of these shops I found
established a seal-engraver of Persian origin; he had a good deal of
business, for a pilgrim, after he has performed his visits to the holy
places, usually adds to the name on his seal the words El Hadjy, or "The
Pilgrim."

Four tailors. Many others live in various parts of the town; they are
mostly foreigners. Tousoun Pasha's court-tailor was a Christian of
Bosnia, and exercised authority over all the other tailors in the town;
who complained bitterly of being subjected, not only to the commands and
insults, but often to the stick of this Christian.

Five makers of nal, or sandals. There is not one shoe-maker in the
Hedjaz. Those who wear shoes or slippers buy them of the merchants by
whom they are imported from Egypt.

The shape of the sandals used throughout Arabia differs in every
province; and to those delineated by Niebuhr, a dozen other forms might
be added. Some are peculiar to certain classes: a merchant, for
instance, would not wear the sandals of a mariner. This is the case in
Turkey with regard to shoes, of which each province and class has its
particular shape. Egypt and Abyssinia furnish the thick leather used in
making sandals.

Three shops where water-skins brought from Sowakin and Egypt are sold
and repaired. The greater part of the Hedjaz is furnished with water-
skins from Sowakin; they are in great request, being very light, and
sewed with much neatness. A Sowakin water-skin will last, in daily use,
about three or four months.

Two turners, who bore pipe-tubes, and make beads, &c.

Three sellers of sweet-oils or essences, civet, aloe-wood, balsam of
Mekka, and rose-water from Fayoum in Egypt. The civet

[p.42] and Mekka balsam can seldom be bought pure, except at first hand.
The Habesh or Abyssinian merchants bring the civet in large cow-horns;
they sold it at four piastres per drachm in the year 1814. Musk also is
sold in these shops, the best at two dollars per metkal. It is brought
hither by the Indian and Persian Hadjys.

One watchmaker, a Turk. All the Mekka and Djidda merchants wear watches,
many of which are of good English manufacture; they are brought either
from India, or by the Hadjys from Constantinople. As it often happens
that the Turkish pilgrims want money in the Hedjaz, they are sometimes
compelled to dispose of their most valuable articles; the watch is
always the first, then the pistols and sabre, and lastly the fine pipe,
and best copy of the Koran: all these articles are consequently very
common in the auction-markets of Djidda and Mekka.

One seller of Turkish and Persian tobacco-pipes. The latter come
principally from Baghdad. The wealthy often display in their sitting-
rooms a whole range of the finest nargils: these cost as much as one
hundred dollars a piece.

Seven money-dealers, or serafs. They sit upon benches in the open
street, with a large box before them containing the money. Formerly,
these serafs were all Jews, as is still the case, with few exceptions,
at Cairo, Damascus, and Aleppo; but since the Sherif-Serour drove the
Jews out of the Hedjaz, the Djiddawys themselves have taken up the
profession, to which their natural disposition and habits incline them.
There is usually at each stand a partnership of them, comprising half a
dozen individuals. A large amount of cash is required to carry on the
business; but it is very profitable. The value of money changes here
more rapidly than in any part of the East with which I am acquainted.
The price of dollars and sequins fluctuates almost daily, and the serafs
are always sure to be gainers. During the stay of the Indian fleet, the
value of a dollar becomes very high. While I was at Djidda, it rose

[p.43] to eleven and twelve piastres. After the departure of the fleet,
when there is no immediate demand for dollars, the price falls; in
January, 1815, it was at nine piastres. The gold coins vary in
proportion.

Formerly the old current coins of the Hedjaz were Venetian and Hungarian
sequins, Spanish dollars, and money coined at Constantinople. Egyptian
coins were wholly excluded; [According to the historians of Mekka, it
appears that the sherifs there assumed the privilege of coining their
own money, in the name of the Sultan of Constantinople, as late as the
seventeenth century; but this is now abandoned.] but since the arrival
of the troops of Mohammed Ali Pasha, all the Cairo coins have been
forcibly put into circulation, and the Cairo silver money is now next in
estimation to the Spanish dollar. The Pasha of Egypt, who enjoys the
right of coining money in the name of the Sultan, has lately much abused
this privilege. In 1815, he farmed out the mint for a yearly sum of
seven millions of piastres, which is, at the present rate of exchange,
about two hundred thousand pounds sterling, obliging the people to take
the dollar at eight of his piastres, although it is well known to be now
worth twenty-two or twenty-three. In the Hedjaz he has not the same
means of enforcing his despotic measures to their full extent; and thus
it happens that in the interior of the country, where the Turkish troops
are placed, the value of the dollar is eighteen or nineteen piastres.
The Bedouins, however, refuse to take the Egyptian piastres, even at a
depreciation, and will receive nothing but dollars; a determination to
which the Pasha himself has been frequently obliged to yield.

The para, or smallest Turkish coin, (here called diwany,) is current all
over the Hedjaz, and in great request, from its being of more intrinsic
value than the piastre, though coined like them at Cairo. Forty paras
make a piastre; but in the time of the Hadj, when small change is
necessary for the immense daily traffic of the pilgrims, the serafs gave
twenty-five paras only in

[p.44] change for the piastre. A few Indian rupees are seen in the
Djidda market, but they have no currency. I never met with any money
coined by the Imam of Yemen.

In the same great street of shops are ten large okales, always full of
strangers and goods. Most of them were formerly the property of the
sherif; they now belong to the Pasha, who levies an annual rent on the
merchants. In Syria these buildings are called khans; in the Hedjaz
hosh, which, in the dialect of Egypt, means a court-yard.

In a street adjoining the great market-place live a few artisans,
blacksmiths, silversmiths, carpenters, some butchers, &c. most of them
natives of Egypt.

The reader will perceive, by the foregoing pages, that Djidda depends
for its commodities entirely on importations either from Egypt or the
East Indies; and this is the case even to the most trifling article. The
want of hands, and the high price of manual labour, but still more the
indolence and want of industry inherent in the natives of the Hedjaz,
have hitherto prevented them from establishing any kind of manufactory,
except of the most indispensable articles. In this respect they offer a
contrast to the Syrian and Egyptian Arabs, who in general are
industrious, and who, in spite of the obstacles often thrown in their
way by the government, have nevertheless established several
manufactures, which render them, in some parts of the country, entirely
independent of foreign supplies. The inhabitants of the Hedjaz appear to
have only two occupations; commerce, and the pasture of cattle. The
first engrosses the mind of almost every town-inhabitant, not excepting
even the olemas, or learned men. Every one endeavours to employ whatever
capital he possesses in some advantageous traffic, that he may live
without much bodily exertion; for these people seem to be as averse to
the latter as they are eager to endure all the anxieties and risks
inseparable from the former. It is even difficult to find persons who
will perform the common

[p.45] labour of porters, &c.: those who follow similar occupations are
for the most part foreigners from Egypt or Syria, and negro pilgrims,
who thus earn a very comfortable livelihood, and generally make but a
temporary stay at Djidda. The only race of Arabians whom I have found
more industrious than the others, are the people of Hadramaut, or, as
they are called, El Hadareme. Many of them act as servants in the
merchants' houses, as door-keepers, messengers, and porters, in which
latter character they are preferred to all others for their honesty and
industry. Almost every considerable town in the East has its particular
race of porters: at Aleppo, the Armenians of the mountains of Asia Minor
are in request for this office; at Damascus, the people of Mount
Libanus; at Cairo, the Berabera Nubians; at Mekka and Djidda, the
Hadareme, who, like those of Syria, are mountaineers. It is well known
that similar qualifications recommend my countrymen, the Alpine
mountaineers, to the same offices at Paris. There is another striking
similarity among the natives of all these countries; they generally
return home with their gains, and pass the remainder of their days with
their families. Notwithstanding this source, there is a great and almost
absolute want of free servants in the Hedjaz. No man who has been born
in one of the holy cities, will act as a menial servant, unless he be
driven to it by the fear of dying from want of food; and no sooner is he
in good condition, than he ceases to labour, and either turns pedlar or
beggar. The number of beggars at Mekka and Djidda is very great, and it
is a common remark among the merchants of the latter place, that a
Djiddawy will never work while he can possibly maintain himself by
begging. Mendicity is much encouraged by the pilgrims, who are fond of
displaying their charity on first touching holy ground at this place.

Respecting the people of Djidda and their character, I shall have
occasion to make further observations in describing the inhabitants of
Mekka, whom generally they resemble. In fact, all the

[p.46] respectable families have houses at both places, and frequently
pass from one to the other.

Djidda is governed by a pasha of three tails, who takes precedence of
most others, from the connexion of this place with the holy cities; but
the government of it is an honour little esteemed by the Turkish
grandees, who have always regarded Djidda as a place rather of exile
than of preferment, and it has often been conferred on disgraced
statesmen. The Pasha styles himself not only Waly or governor of Djidda,
but of Sowakin and Habesh; and in support of this title, keeps custom-
house officers at Sowakin and Massoua, which, prior to the government of
Mohammed Aly, were entirely dependent on the sherif.

The pashalik of Djidda was reduced to perfect insignificance by the
power of the sherif of Mekka; and the title had become merely an
honorary distinction, enjoyed by the individual on whom it had been
bestowed, while he resided in some provincial town of Turkey or at
Constantinople, without ever attempting to take possession of his
government. There was, however, an exception in 1803, when, after the
total evacuation of Egypt by the French, Sherif Pasha went to Djidda
with a body of four or five hundred soldiers; but like all his
predecessors, he became the mere instrument of Sherif Ghaleb, and in
1804 his career was terminated by sudden death-the fate of many former
Pashas both of Djidda and of Mekka.

According to the orders of the Sultan, whose nominal supremacy over the
Hedjaz was recognised until the last Wahaby conquest, the revenue
arising from the customs collected at Djidda should have been divided
equally between the Pasha and the sherif of Mekka, while the former was
to have exclusively the command of the town. When the Turks began to
subdue Asia, the sherif received only one third of this revenue, and it
was not until the year of the Hedjira 1042 that he obtained the
half. [Vide Asami, History of the Hedjaz.] Subsequently,

[p.47] however, the sherif not only usurped the government of Djidda,
but also applied the customs wholly to his own use, the Pasha being
rendered altogether dependent upon his bounty.

Soon after the death of Sherif Pasha, the Sherif Ghaleb was obliged to
surrender Mekka to the Wahabys, having been besieged, the preceding
year, in Djidda, by Saoud. He then openly declared himself a proselyte
to the Wahaby faith, and a subject of the Wahaby chief, though he still
retained full possession of Djidda and the produce of its customs, which
formed the principal part of his income. The Wahabys did not enter the
town, which ostensibly declared in favour of their doctrines. The
Turkish soldiers were now obliged to retire towards Egypt, or elsewhere;
and from that period till 1811 all Turkish authority was entirely
excluded from the Hedjaz.

In 1811, Mohammed Aly Pasha commenced his operations against the
Wahabys, by sending a body of troops under the command of his son
Tousoun Bey, who was defeated in the passes between Yembo and Medina. A
second, in 1812, was more successful: while Tousoun, in September of
that year, took Medina, Mustafa Bey, the Pasha's brother-in-law,
proceeded directly with the cavalry under his command to Djidda, Mekka,
and Tayf; all which surrendered, almost without bloodshed. The Sherif
Ghaleb, who, from the moment he began to apprehend the probable success
of Aly's expedition, had entered into a secret correspondence with
Egypt, now openly declared himself a friend to the Turks, who entered
Djidda as friends. The title of Pasha of Djidda was soon after conferred
by the Porte upon Tousoun, as a reward for his services. The details of
this war will be given in another place; I shall, therefore, only
mention here, that after the Osmanlys, or Turks, entered Djidda, a
quarrel arose between the Pasha and the sherif respecting the customs,
which were to be divided between them, but which the Pasha, being now
superior in power, kept wholly to himself. He sent the sherif as
prisoner to Turkey, and

[p.48] since that event, the town has continued wholly at his disposal,
the new sherif, Yahya, being a servant in the pay of Tousoun.

Djidda, in the time of Sherif Ghaleb, was governed either by himself,
when he resided there, or, during his absence, by an officer called
Vizir, under whose orders the police of the town was placed; while the
collection of the customs (gumruk) was entrusted to another officer,
called the gumrukdjy; and the police of the harbour to the Emir el
Bahhr, or the "Chief of the Sea," a title equivalent to "harbour-
master." In later times the vizir was a black slave of Ghaleb, and much
detested for his pride and despotic conduct. Ghaleb seldom resided in
Djidda, his continual intrigues with the Bedouins, and his schemes
against the Wahaby tribes, requiring his presence in the more central
position of Mekka.

The form of government which existed under Ghaleb has not been changed
by the Osmanlys. It happened that Tousoun Pasha could seldom reside in
his capital, being placed under the command of his father, who received
from the Porte the entire direction of the Hedjaz war, and the disposal
of all the resources of that country. Tousoun was more usefully employed
in moving about with the troops under his command, till he returned to
Cairo in the autumn of 1815. Since the year 1812, a military commander
has always resided in the town, with a garrison of two or three hundred
men, which the Pasha takes care to change every three or four months.
The collection of the customs, the entire regulation of civil affairs,
the correspondence with Cairo and Mekka, the conveyance of troops,
stores, and government merchandize between Egypt and Djidda, and the
Pasha's treasury, are in the hands of this commander, whose name is Seyd
Ali Odjakly. His father was from Asia Minor, and belonged to the corps
of Janissaries (Odjak), whence his son takes the epithet of Odjakly. He
is disliked by the merchants of Djidda, because they remember his
selling nuts in the streets about twenty years ago. In the time of
Sherif Ghaleb,

[p.49] he was employed by him in his private commercial affairs; and as
he possesses great talents and activity, joined to a good knowledge of
the Turkish language, Mohammed Ali could with difficulty have pitched
upon a person more competent to fill the post which he now holds.

The public revenue of Djidda arises almost exclusively from the customs,
called here ashour, or tithes. This ought legally to be, as I was
informed, ten per cent. upon all imported goods; but, in consequence of
abuses which have been long practised, some articles of merchandize are
charged much higher, while others pay less. During the latter period of
the sherif's power, coffee was charged at five dollars the quintal,
which may be computed as fifteen to twenty per cent. Spices pay somewhat
less than ten per cent.; India piece-goods something more. Great
irregularity, therefore, exists in levying the customs; and it is in the
power of the officer of customs to favour his friends without incurring
any responsibility.

After the sherif had embraced the Wahabi doctrine, his income was
greatly diminished; because Saoud, the chief of the Wahabis, insisted
that the goods of all his followers should pass duty-free, and thus the
greater part of the coffee trade became exempt. I heard from a person
who had means of knowing the truth, and who had no motive for concealing
it from me, that the amount of customs collected at Djidda in 1814 was
four hundred thousand dollars, equal to eight thousand purses, or four
millions of piastres, which would give an annual importation of about
four millions of dollars, a sum certainly below rather than above the
truth. Customs are levied after the same rate at the two gates of the
town, called Bab Mekka and Bab el Medina, upon all provisions coming
from the interior of the country, principally cattle, butter, and dates,
which, in time of peace, when the communication with the interior is
uninterrupted, becomes a matter of importance. Except these, the people
of the town pay no imposts whatever.

[p.50] During my residence, the Turks had made Djidda the principal
depot for their army. A large magazine of corn belonging to the Pasha,
received almost daily supplies from Egypt, and caravans were every day
despatched to Mekka and Tayf; the commerce of the town also was much
increased by the wants of the army and its followers. The police of the
place was well regulated; and the Pasha had given the strictest
injunctions to his troops that they should not commit excesses, as he
well knew that the high-minded Arabians do not so quietly submit to ill-
treatment as the enslaved Egyptians: whenever quarrels happened between
Arabs and Turks, the former generally had the advantage. No avanies (or
wanton act of oppression and injustice) had, under any pretence, been
exercised upon individuals, except in the occupation of a few of the
best houses by the Pasha as lodgings for his wives. The merchants
suffered, however, as in the sherif's time, from the arbitrary rates of
customs, and from the necessity of frequently purchasing all kinds of
merchandize from the Pasha, who, while he was in the Hedjaz, seemed to
be as eager in his mercantile as he was in his military pursuits. But
after an impartial view of the merits and demerits of both governments,
it may be said that the people of Djidda have certainly gained by the
Osmanlys; yet, strange to mention, not an Arab could be found, whether
rich or poor, sincerely attached to his new masters; and the termination
of the sherif's government was universally regretted. This must not be
attributed wholly to the usual levity of a mob, which is found among the
subjects of the Porte, even in a greater degree than among those of any
European nation. The Ottoman governors or Pashas are continually
changing, and every new one becoming a supreme ruler, gives ample cause
for complaints and private hatred and disgust; while their rapid
succession inspires the people with the hope of being soon rid of their
present despot, an event to which they look forward with pleasure, as
the first months of a new governor are generally marked by clemency and
justice.

[p.51] The Arabians are a very proud, high-spirited nation; and this may
be said even of those who inhabit the towns, however corrupted the true
Bedouin character may be among this degenerate race. They despise every
nation that does not speak the Arabic language, or that differs in
manners; they have, besides, been accustomed, for many years, to look
upon Turks as a very inferior people, who, whenever they entered the
Hedjaz, were overawed by the power of the sherif. The rigid ceremonial
of a Turkish court was not adapted to the character and established
notions of Mohammed Aly's new subjects. The sherif, in the height of his
power, resembled a great Bedouin Sheikh, who submits to be boldly and
often harshly addressed. A Turkish Pasha is approached with the most
abject forms of servitude. "Whenever the Sherif Ghaleb wanted a loan of
money," observed one of the first merchants of the Hedjaz to me, "he
sent for three or four of us; we sat in close discourse with him for a
couple of hours, often quarrelling loudly, and we always reduced the sum
to something much less than was at first demanded. When we went to him
on ordinary business, we spoke to him as I now speak to you; but the
Pasha keeps us standing before him in an humble attitude, like so many
Habesh (Abyssinian) slaves, and looks down upon us as if we were beings
of an inferior creation. I would rather," he concluded, "pay a fine to
the sherif than receive a favour from the Pasha."

The little knowledge which the Turks possess of the Arabic language,
their bad pronunciation of it even in reciting prayers from the Koran,
the ignorance of Arabia and its peculiarities which they betray in every
act, are so many additional causes to render them hateful or despicable
in the eyes of the Arabs. The Turks return an equal share of contempt
and dislike. Whoever does not speak the language of the Turkish soldier,
or does not dress like one, is considered as a fellah, or boor, a term
which they have been in the habit of applying to the Egyptian peasants,
as beings in the lowest

[p.52] state of servitude and oppression. Their hatred of the Arabian
race is greater, because they cannot indulge their tyrannical
disposition with impunity, as they are accustomed to do in Egypt, being
convinced by experience that an Arabian, when struck, will strike again.
The Arabians particularly accuse the Turks of treachery, in seizing the
sherif and sending him to Turkey after he had declared for the Pasha,
and permitted Djidda and Mekka to be occupied by the Turkish troops,
who, they assert, would never, without the assistance of the sherif,
have been able to make any progress in Arabia, much less to acquire a
firm footing therein.

The term khayn, "treacherous," is universally applied to every Turk in
Arabia, with that proud self-confidence of superiority, in this respect,
for which the Arabs are deservedly renowned. The lower classes of the
Arabs have discovered a fanciful confirmation of their charge against
the Turks in one of the Grand Signor's titles, Khan, an ancient Tatar
word, which in Arabic signifies "he betrayed," being the preterite of
the verb ykhoun, "to betray." They pretend that an ancestor of the
Sultan having betrayed a fugitive, received the opprobrious appellation
of "el Sultan Khan," ("the Sultan has been treacherous;") and that the
title is merely retained by his successors from their ignorance of the
Arabic language.

Whenever the power of the Turks in the Hedjaz declines, which it will
when the resources of Egypt are no longer directed to that point by so
able and so undisturbed a possessor of Egypt as Mohammed Ali, the Arabs
will avenge themselves for the submission, light as it is, which they
now reluctantly yield to their conquerors; and the reign of the Osmanlis
in the Hedjaz will probably terminate in many a scene of bloodshed.

[p.53] ROUTE FROM DJIDDA TO TAYF. [I was unable to take any bearings
during this excursion, as the only compass which I possessed, and which
had served me throughout my Nubian journey, had become useless, and no
opportunity offered of replacing it till December in this year, when I
obtained one from a Bombay ship which arrived at Djidda.]

ON the 24th of August, 1814, (11th of Ramadhan, A.H. 1230.) I set out
from Djidda, late in the evening, with my guide and twenty camel-drivers
of the tribe of Harb, who were carrying money to Mekka for the Pasha's
treasury. After having left the skirts of the town, where the road
passes by mounds of sand, among which is the cemetery of the
inhabitants, we travelled across a very barren, sandy plain, ascending
slightly towards the east; there are no trees in it, and it is strongly
impregnated with salt to about two miles from the town. After three
hours' march, we entered a hilly country, where a coffee-hut stands near
a well named Raghame. We continued in a broad and winding valley amongst
these hills, some sandy and some rocky, and, at the end of five hours
and a half, stopped for a short time at the coffee-hut and well called
El Beyadhye. Of these wells the water is not good. From thence, in one
hour and a half, (seven hours in all,) we reached a similar station
called El Ferayne, where we overtook a caravan of pilgrims, who were
accompanying goods and provisions destilled for the army: they had
quitted Djidda before us in the evening. The coffee-huts are miserable
structures, with half-ruined

[p.54] walls, and coverings of brushwood; they afford nothing more than
water and coffee. Formerly, it is said, there were twelve coffee-houses
on this road, which afforded refreshments of every kind to the
passengers between Djidda and the holy city; but as the journey is now
made chiefly during the night, and as the Turkish soldiers will pay for
nothing unless by compulsion, most of these houses have been abandoned.
The few that still remain are kept by some of the Arabs of the Lahyan
tribe, (a branch of the Hodheyl Arabs,) and Metarefe, whose families are
Bedouins, and live among the hills with their flocks. From Ferayne the
valley opens, and the hills, diverging on both sides, increase
considerably in height. At the end of eight hours, about sun-rise we
reached Bahhra, a cluster of about twenty huts, situated upon a plain
nearly four hours in length and two in breadth, extending eastward. At
Bahhra there is plenty of water in wells, some sweet and some brackish.
In a row of eight or ten shops are sold rice, onions, butter, dates, and
coffee-beans, at thirty per cent. in advance of the Djidda market-price.
This is what the Arabs call a souk, or market, and similar places occur
at every station in this chain of mountains as far as Yemen. Some
Turkish cavalry was stationed at Bahhra to guard the road. After
travelling for two hours farther over the plain, we halted, at ten hours
from Djidda, at Hadda, a souk, similar to the above. Between Bahhra and
Hadda, upon an insulated hillock in the plain, are the ruins of an
ancient fortification.

August 25th.--The caravan from Djidda to Mekka rests during the day at
Bahhra or at Hadda, thus following the common practice of the Hedjaz
Arabs, who travel only by night. This is done in winter as well as in
summer, not so much for the purpose of avoiding the heat as to afford
the camels time for feeding, these animals never eating by night. Such
nocturnal marches are most unfavourable to the researches of a
traveller, who thus crosses the country at a time when no objects can be
observed;

[p.55] and during the day, fatigue and the desire of sleep render every
exertion irksome.

We alighted at Hadda, under the shed of a spacious coffee-hut, where I
found a motley crew of Turks and Arabs, in their way to or from Mekka,
each extended upon his small carpet. Some merchants from Tayf had just
brought in a load of grapes; and, although I felt myself still weak from
the fever, I could not withstand this temptation, and seized a few of
them; for the baskets were no sooner opened than the whole company fell
upon them, and soon devoured the entire load; the owner, however, was
afterwards paid. It is at Hadda that the inhabitants of Djidda, when
making a pilgrimage to Mekka, put on the ihram, or pilgrim's cloak. By
the Muselman law, every one is obliged to assume it, whatever may be his
rank, who enters the sacred territory of Mekka, whether on pilgrimage or
for other purposes; and he is enjoined not to lay it aside till after he
has visited the temple. Many persons, however, transgress this law; but
an o[r]thodox Mekkan never goes to Djidda without carrying his ihram with
him, and on his return home, he puts it on at this place. In the
afternoon some of the Turkish soldiers who were here put on this
garment, with the prescribed ceremonies, which consist in an ablution,
or, if the pilgrim choose, an entire purification, an audible avowal of
the act of investment, a prayer of two rikats, and the recital of pious
exclamations called telbye. This being a time of war, the soldiers
continued to wear their arms over the cloak.

In the afternoon, the coffee-house keeper dressed the provisions I had
brought, as well as those belonging to many others of the company. There
was great disorder in the place, and nobody could attempt to sleep. Soon
after our arrival, a troop of soldiers passed, and pitched their tents a
little farther on the plain; they then entered the coffee-huts, and took
away all the sweet water, which had been procured from a well about
half-an-hour distant, and kept at Hadda in large jars. The huts of the
few miserable

[p.56] inhabitants, thus exposed to all the casualties attending the
continual passage of troops, are formed with brushwood, in the shape of
a flattened cone, and they receive light only through the entrance; here
the whole family lives huddled together in one apartment. The numerous
coffee-huts are spacious sheds, supported by poles, with the coffee-
waiter's hearth placed in one corner. They are infested by great numbers
of rats, bolder than any I ever saw.

We left Hadda about five o'clock in the evening. The road continuing
over the plain, the soil is sandy, in some parts mixed with clay, and
might, I think, be easily cultivated by digging wells. At one hour from
Hadda, we saw on our left, in the plain, some date-trees: here, as I
understood, flows a small rivulet, which in former times irrigated some
fields. The trees are at present neglected. We now left the plain, and
diverging a little south-ward from our easterly course, again entered a
hilly country, and reached, at two hours from Hadda, another coffee-hut,
called Shemeysa. Behind it is the Djebel Shemeysa, or mountain of
Shemeysa, from which, according to the historians of Mekka, was
extracted the marble of many columns in the mosque of that holy city. In
the mountain, near the hut, is a well. From Shemeysa we rode in a broad
valley overspread with deep sands, and containing some thorny trees. At
four hours from Hadda, we passed Kahwet Salem, or Salem's coffee-shop,
and a well; there we met a caravan coming from Mekka. The mountains
nearly close at this place, leaving only a narrow straight valley,
crossed at intervals by several other valleys. We then proceeded as far
as Hadjalye, a coffee-house, seven hours distant from Hadda, with a
large well near it, which supplies the camel-drivers of the Syrian
pilgrim caravan, on the way to and from Mekka.

Not having enjoyed a moment's sleep since we quitted Djidda, I lay down
on the sands, and slept till day-break, while my companions pursued
their road to Mekka. My guide only remained with me;

[p.57] but his fears for the safety of his camels would not allow him to
close his eyes. The route from Djidda to Mekka is always frequented by
suspicious characters; and as every body travels by night, stragglers
are easily plundered. Near Hadjalye, are the ruins of an ancient
village, built with stone; and in the Wady are traces of former
cultivation.

August 26th.--At half an hour from Hadjalye, we came to a small date
plantation, surrounded by a wall. From hence the road to Mekka lies to
the right, and enters the town by the quarter called Djerouel. My guide
had orders to conduct me by a by-road to Tayf, which passes in the north
of Mekka; it branches off at Hadda, crosses the road from Mekka to Wady
Fatme, and joins the great road from Mekka to Tayf, beyond Wady Muna.
Just before we left Hadda, my guide, who knew nothing further respecting
me than that I had business with the Pasha at Tayf, that I performed all
the outward observances of a Moslem pilgrim, and that I had been liberal
to him before our departure, asked me the reason of his having been
ordered to take me by the northern road. I replied, that it was probably
thought shorter than the other. "That is a mistake," he replied; "the
Mekka road is quite as short, and much safer; and if you have no
objection, we will proceed by it." This was just what I wished, though I
had taken care not to betray any anxiety on the subject; and we
accordingly followed the great road, in company with the other
travellers. Instead, however, of taking me the usual way, which would
have carried me through the whole length of the town, he, having no
curiosity to gratify, conducted me, without my being aware of it, by a
short cut, and thus deprived me of an opportunity of seeing Mekka fully
at this time.

From the date plantation beyond Hadjalye, we reached in half an hour the
plain where the Syrian pilgrim-caravan usually encamps, and which has
taken the name of Sheikh Mahmoud, from the tomb of a saint so called,
built in the midst of it. It is encompassed

[p.58] by low mountains; is from two to three miles in length, and one
in breadth; and is separated from the valley of Mekka by a narrow chain
of hills, over which a road has been cut through the rocks, with much
labour. By this road we ascended, and on the summit of the hill passed
two watch-towers, built on each side of the road by the Sherif Ghaleb.
As we descended on the other side, where the road is paved, the view of
Mekka opened upon us; and at an hour and a half from Hadjalye, we
entered the eastern quarter of the town, near the Sherif's palace
(marked 50 in the plan). The great body of the town lay on our right,
hidden, in part, by the windings of the valley. As I knew that I should
return to Mekka, I did not press my guide to allow me a full view of the
city, since we should, for that purpose, have been obliged to ride back
about two miles in a contrary direction. I repressed my curiosity,
therefore, and followed him, reciting those ejaculations which are
customary on entering the holy city.

I travelled several times afterwards between Mekka and Djidda, in both
directions. The caravan's rate of march is here very slow, scarcely
exceeding two miles an hour. I have ridden from Mekka to Djidda upon an
ass in thirteen hours. The distance may, perhaps, be fairly estimated at
sixteen or seventeen hours' walk, or about fifty-five miles; the
direction a trifle to the northward of east.

On turning to our left, we passed, a little farther on, the great
barracks of the Sherif; and in the suburbs called El Moabede, we
alighted at the house of an Arab, with whom my guide happened to be
acquainted. It was now the fast of Ramadhan; but travellers are exempted
by law from observing it. The woman of the house, whose husband was
absent, prepared us a breakfast, for which we paid her, and remained in
the house till after mid-day; we then remounted our camels, and turning
by the Sherif's garden-house, situated at the eastern extremity of the
suburbs, we took the high road to Wady Muna. Winding valleys, of greater
or less breadth,

[p.59] covered with sands, and almost wholly destitute of vegetation,
with hills on both sides, equally barren, lead to Muna. At half an hour
from the garden-house of the Sherif, the country opens a little to the
left. There the canal passes which supplies Mekka with sweet water; and
we saw, about two miles distant, at the extremity of the opening, a
conical mountain, called Djebel el Nour, considered holy by the
pilgrims, as will be subsequently mentioned. We passed on our right, in
an hour and a half, a large tank, built of stones. This, in the time of
the Hadj, is filled with water from the canal, which passes close by it.
I believe this to be the place called Sebyl-es-Sett. One of the side-
valleys between Mekka and Muna is called Wady Mohsab. El Fasy, the
historian of Mekka, says that there were formerly sixteen wells between
that city and Muna. At the end of two hours, after having ascended a
little by a paved causeway formed across the valley, which is about
forty yards in breadth, we entered Wady Muna. Near the causeway we saw a
small field, irrigated by means of a brackish well, where a few
miserable Bedouins raised onions and leeks for the market at Mekka. I
shall give hereafter a more detailed description of Wady Muna, where the
Hadj remains three days after its return from Arafat.

We continued our route among the ruined houses of Muna, passed the short
columns, at which the pilgrims throw stones, then the Sherif's palace,
and issued into the open country, which continues thence towards
Mezdelife, distant three hours and three quarters from Mekka. This name
is given to a small mosque, now almost in ruins, close to which is a
tank or reservoir of water. Here a sermon is preached from a high
platform in front of the mosque, to the pilgrims after their return from
Arafat. El Fasy, the historian, says that this mosque was built in A.H.
759. It is often called Moshar el Haram; but, according to the same
author, this name belongs to a small hill at the

[p.60] extremity of the valley of Mezdelife, which bears also the
appellation of El Kazeh. From Mezdelife two roads lead to Arafat; the
one on the left along the plain or valley called Dhob; the other leads
straight across the mountain, and joins the former near the Aalameyn. We
proceeded along the great road in the valley. At four hours and a
quarter the mountains again close, and a narrow pass called El Mazomeyn
or El Medyk leads across them for half an hour, after which the view
opens upon the plain of Arafat. At the end of four hours and three
quarters, we passed, in this plain, a tank called Bir Basan, constructed
of stone, with a small chapel adjoining. Here the country opens widely
to the north and south. Eastward, the mountains of Tayf are seen for the
first time in their full height. [On my return from Tayf to Mekka, when I
was completely my own master, I drew up a much more detailed and
accurate description of the road than this given here; but I
accidentally lost the papers containing it; the present, therefore, is
written from memory, and the few short notes which I hastily made during
the route to Tayf.] At five hours we reached El Aalameyn, two stone
structures standing one on each side of the road, from eighty to one
hundred paces from each other, and between them the pilgrims must pass
in going, and more particularly in returning from Arafat. They are of
coarse masonry, plaistered white, and the annexed outline represents
their form.[Not included]

Fasy says that there were formerly three, that they were built in A.H.
605, and that one had fallen. Of those now remaining one is entire, the
other half ruined. At five hours and a quarter we passed to our right a
large insulated mosque in a state of decay, called Djama Nimre, or Djama
Ibrahim, built as it now stands by the Sultan Kail, Bey of Egypt. The
low mountain of

[p.61] Arafat was now to our left at the extremity of the plain, about
two miles distant. We proceeded, without stopping, over the plain, which
is covered with shrubs of considerable height, and low acacia trees:
from these it is prohibited to take even the smallest branch, this being
holy ground. On attaining the eastern limits of the plain, we reached,
at five hours and three quarters, the canal of Mekka, issuing from the
mountainous ground. Near it is a small tank, and in its vicinity a
cluster of Arab huts similar to those at Hadda, and bearing the name of
Kahwet Arafat, or the coffee-house of Arafat. They are inhabited chiefly
by Beni Koreysh, who cultivate vegetables in a valley extending from
hence towards the south. We rested here some hours; a caravan from Tayf,
composed of mules and asses, arrived at the same time.

From Kahwet Arafat, the road becomes rocky, and the mountains nearly
close, and are intersected by valleys which cross the road in every
direction. Acacia-trees grow here in great abundance. At seven hours and
a half we again entered upon sandy ground, in a valley called Wady
Noman, where, towards the south, are some wells, and a few plantations
cultivated by the Arab tribes of Kebakeb and Ryshye. At eight hours and
a half we passed an encampment of the Bedouin tribe of Hodheyl, where
dogs attacked our camels so fiercely that I had much difficulty, though
mounted, to defend myself from their teeth. At eight hours and three
quarters we passed a cluster of huts and coffee-shops, called shedad,
with wells of very good water. At nine hours and a half, it being a
cloudy and extremely dark night, we lost our way in following the
windings of a side valley, and being unable to regain the right road, we
lay down on the sand and slept till day-break.

August 27th.--We found ourselves close to the road, and proceeding, we
began to ascend, in half an hour, the great chain of mountains. From
Djjdda to this place, our route, though generally between hills and
mountains, had been constantly over flat

[p.62] ground, in valleys, with an ascent almost imperceptible to the
traveller, and the existence of which became visible only in viewing the
country from the summit of the mountains now before us. The lower hills
are seldom higher than four or five hundred feet. The lowest range above
Djidda is calcareous; but its rocks soon change into gneiss, and a
species of granite, with schorl in the place of feldspath, accompanied
by predominant masses of quartz, and some mica. This rock continues
along the road, with few variations, as far as the vicinity of Djebel
Nour, to the eastward of Mekka, where granite begins. I learned at
Mekka, that, south of Hadda, some hours distant, a mountain yields fine
marble, which served for the pavement of the great mosque. The mountains
forming the valley of Muna are composed of this red and grey granite,
and continue so from thence to this higher chain, mixed in a few places
with strata of grunstein. The lower chain of the high ridge which we
were now ascending, again, consists of grey granite; towards the middle
I found it of all colours, mixed with strata of grunstein, trappe, and
porphyry schistus, the latter much decayed: at the summit of the ridge,
red granite occurred again; its surface had been completely blackened by
the sun's rays.

We ascended by a road, still bad, although Mohammed Ali Pasha had
recently caused it to be repaired. The country around was very wild,
being covered with large blocks of loose stones, carried down by the
winter torrents, and interspersed with a few acacia and nebek trees. At
one hour we came to a building of loose stones, called Kaber Er'-rafyk,
i.e. the Companion's tomb. The following tradition concerning it was
related by my guide. In the last century, a Bedouin returning from the
Hadj was joined, beyond the gates of Mekka, by a traveller going the
same road with himself; they reached this spot in company, when one of
them felt himself so ill, that he was unable to proceed farther, and on
the following day the small-pox broke out on his body. In this situation
his companion

[p.63] would not abandon him. He built two huts with boughs of acacia-
trees, one for his friend, the other for himself; and continued to nurse
him, and solicit alms for his benefit from passing travellers, until he
recovered. But in turn, he himself became ill of the same disease, and
was nursed by his convalescent companion with equal kindness, though not
with equal success; for he died, and was interred by his friend on this
spot, where his tomb serves as a monument of Bedouin generosity, and
inculcates benevolence even towards the casual companions of the road.

At one hour and a half, still ascending, we reached some huts built
among the rocks, near a copious spring; they are named Kahwet Kora, from
the mountains which collectively bear the name of Djebel Kora. I found
here a Turkish soldier, charged with the transport of provisions for the
Pasha's army over the mountain. This being the shortest road from Mekka
to Tayf, caravans are continually passing. The camel-loads are deposited
at this place, and then forwarded to the summit of the mountain on mules
and asses, of which about two hundred are kept here. On the mountain
camels are prepared for carrying the loads to Tayf. The more northern
road to Tayf, of which I shall speak hereafter, is passable for camels
all the way; but it is by one day longer than this.

The huts of Kora are constructed between the rocks, on the slope of the
mountain, where there is scarcely any level surface. The inhabitants are
Hodheyl Bedouins. In two or three huts nothing could be procured but
coffee and water. The Turkish soldier had lately incurred the Pasha's
displeasure, having stolen and sold the camel of a Hodheyl woman, who
had gone to lay her complaint before his master, the Pasha, at Tayf. The
soldier treated me with much civility, when he learned that I was going
to visit the Pasha, and begged me to intercede in his behalf; this,
however, I declined to do, telling him that I was myself a solicitor for
my own concerns. We remained till mid-day at this

[p.64] pleasant spot, from whence there is a fine prospect over the
lower country. A large nebek-tree, near the spring which drizzles down
the rocks, afforded me shade, and a delicious cool breeze allayed the
sultry heat which we had endured ever since our departure from Djidda.
Leaving Kora, we found the road very steep, and, although it had lately
been repaired, so bad, that a mounted traveller could hardly hope to
reach the summit without alighting. Steps had been cut in several
places, and the ascent rendered less steep, by conducting it, in many
windings, to the top: half a dozen spacious resting-places had also been
formed on the side of the mountain, where the caravans take breath,
there being no where so much as eight square feet of level ground. The
same spring, which comes from near the top, is crossed several times. I
met many of the Hodheyl Bedouins, with their families and flocks of
sheep, near the road. One of them gave me some milk, but would not take
any money in return; the sale of milk being considered by these Bedouins
as a scandal, though they might derive great profits from it at Mekka,
where one pound of milk is worth two piastres. I conversed freely with
the men, and with the wife of one of them. They seemed a race of hardy
mountaineers, and, although evidently poor, have a more robust and
fleshy appearance than the northern Bedouins, which I ascribe chiefly to
the healthiness of the climate, and the excellence of the water. The
Beni Hodheyl, famous in the ancient history of Arabia, were nominally
subject to the Sherif of Mekka, in whose territory they live; but they
were in fact quite independent, and often at war with him.

We were full two hours in ascending from the coffee-huts to the summit
of the mountain, from whence we enjoyed a beautiful prospect over the
low country. We discerned Wady Muna, but not Mekka; and as far as the
eye could reach, winding chains of hills appeared upon a flat surface,
towards the north and south, with narrow stripes of white sand between
them, without the slightest verdure. Close to our right rose a peak of
the mountain

[p.65] Kora, called Nakeb el Ahmar, from four to five hundred feet
higher than the place where we stood, and appearing to overtop all the
neighbouring chain. Towards the north, the mountain, about thirty miles
distant, seemed to decrease considerably in height; but southward it
continues of the same height. After half an hour's ride from the summit,
we came to a small village called Ras el Kora. Finding myself much
fatigued, I insisted upon sleeping here, with which my guide reluctantly
complied, as he had received orders to travel expeditiously.

August 28th.--The village and neighbourhood of Ras el Kora is the most
beautiful spot in the Hedjaz, and more picturesque and delightful than
any place I had seen since my departure from Lebanon, in Syria. The top
of Djebel Kora is flat, but large masses of granite lie scattered over
it, the surface of which, like that of the granite rocks near the second
cataract of the Nile, is blackened by the sun. Several small rivulets
descend from this peak, and irrigate the plain, which is covered with
verdant fields and large shady trees on the side of the granite rocks.
To those who have only known the dreary and scorching sands of the lower
country of the Hedjaz, this scene is as surprising as the keen air which
blows here is refreshing. Many of the fruit-trees of Europe are found
here,--figs, apricots, peaches; apples, the Egyptian sycamore, almonds,
pomegranates; but particularly vines, the produce of which is of the
best quality. There are no palm-trees here, and only a few nebek-trees.
The fields produce wheat, barley, and onions; but the soil being stony,
these do not succeed so well as the fruits. Every beled, as they here
call the fields, is enclosed by a low wall, and is the property of a
Hodheyl Bedouin. When Othman el Medhayfe took Tayf from the Sherif, this
place was ruined, the fields were destroyed, and many of the walls had
not yet been rebuilt.

After having passed through this delightful district, for about half an
hour, just as the sun was rising, when every leaf and blade

[p.66] of grass was covered with a balmy dew, and every tree and shrub
diffused a fragrance as delicious to the smell as was the landscape to
the eye, I halted near the largest of the rivulets, which, although not
more than two paces across, nourishes upon its banks a green Alpine
turf, such as the mighty Nile, with all its luxuriance, can never
produce in Egypt. Some of the Arabs brought us almonds and raisins, for
which we gave them biscuits; but although the grapes were ripe, we could
not obtain any, as they are generally purchased while on the vines by
the merchants of Tayf, who export them to Mekka, and keep them closely
watched by their own people till they are gathered. Here a Turkish
soldier, complimented with the title of Aga, was stationed under a tent,
to forward the provisions coming from the lower station to Tayf. I
observed with some astonishment, that not a single pleasure-house was
built on this high platform. Formerly, the Mekka merchants had their
country-seats at Tayf, which stand in a situation as desert and
melancholy, as this is cheerful and luxuriant; but none of them ever
thought of building a cottage here; a new proof of the opinion which I
have long entertained, that orientals, especially the Arabs, are much
less sensible of the beauties of nature than Europeans. The water of Ras
el Kora is celebrated throughout the Hedjaz for its excellence. While
Mohammed Ali remained at Mekka and at Djidda, he received a regular
supply of Nile water for drinking, sent from Egypt, by every fleet, in
large tin vessels; but on passing this place, he found its water
deserving of being substituted for the other: a camel comes here daily
from Tayf for a load of it.

	The houses of the Hodheyl, to whom these plantations belong, are
scattered over the fields in clusters of four or five together. They are
small, built of stones and mud, but with more care than might be
expected from the rude hands of the occupants. Every dwelling comprises
three or four rooms, each of which being separated from the others by a
narrow open space, forms, as it were,

[p.67] a small detached cottage. These apartments receive no light but
from the entrance; they are very neat and clean, and contain Bedouin
furniture, some good carpets, woollen and leathern sacks, a few wooden
bowls, earthen coffee-pots, and a matchlock, of which great care is
taken, it being generally kept in a leathern case. At night I reposed
upon a large well-tanned cow-skin: the covering was formed of a number
of small sheep-skins neatly sewed together, similar to those used in
Nubia. The Hodheyl told me, that before the Wahabys came, and obliged
them to pay tribute for their fields, they knew no land-tax, but, on the
contrary, received yearly presents from the sherifs, and from all the
Mekkawys who passed this way to Tayf. Ras el Kora extends from east to
west about two and a half or three miles, and is about a mile in
breadth. According to the statements of the Arabs, many spots towards
the south, where Bedouin tribes, like the Hodheyl, cultivate the soil in
detached parts of the mountain, are equally fertile and beautiful as
that which we saw in the chain above mentioned.

We left the Ras, which will be remembered by me as long as I am sensible
to the charms of romantic scenery, and rode for about one hour over
uneven barren ground, with slight ascents and descents, till we came to
a steep declivity, to walk down which occupied us half an hour, and
double that time would be necessary for ascending it. The rock is
entirely composed of sand-stone. From the summit of the declivity just
mentioned, Tayf is seen in the distance. At half an hour from the foot
of the mountain, we entered a fertile valley, called Wady Mohram,
extending from N.W. to S.E. Like the upper district, it is full of
fruit-trees; but the few cultivated fields are watered from wells, and
not by running streams. A village, which the Wahabys had almost wholly
ruined, stands on the slope, with a small tower constructed by the
inhabitants to secure the produce of their fields against the invasion
of enemies.

[p.68] Here begins the territory of Tayf, and of the Arab tribe of
Thekyf, who, in former times, were often at war with their neighbours
the Hodheyl. The Wady is denominated Mohram, from the circumstance, that
here the pilgrims and visitors going from the eastward to Mekka, invest
themselves with the ihram before noticed. There is a small ruined stone
tank close by the road. The caravan of the Yemen pilgrims, called Hadj
el Kebsy, whose route lies along these mountains, used always to observe
the ceremony here, and the tank was then filled with water for ablution.
The husbandmen of Mohram draw the water from their wells in leathern
buckets suspended from one end of an iron chain, passed round a pulley,
and to the other end they yoke a cow, which, for want of a wheel, walks
to a sufficient distance from the well to draw up the bucket, when she
is led back to resume the same course. The cows I saw here, like all
those of the Hedjaz, are small, but of a stout, bony make: they have
generally only short stumps of horns, and a hump on the back, just over
the shoulder, about five inches in height and six in length, much
resembling in this respect the cows which I saw on the borders of the
Nile in Nubia. According to the natives, the whole chain of mountains
from hence southward, as far as the country where the coffee-plantations
begin, is intersected by similar cultivated valleys at some distance
from each other, the intermediate space consisting chiefly of barren
rocky soil.

From Wady Mohram we again crossed uneven, mountainous ground, where I
found sand-stone and silex. Acacia trees are seen in several sandy
valleys, branching out from the road. At two hours and a half from Wady
Mohram we ascended, and at the top of the hill saw Tayf lying before us.
We reached it in three hours and a half from Wady Mohram, after having
crossed the barren sandy plain which separates it from the surrounding
hills. The rate of our march from Mekka, when we were quite alone upon
our dromedaries, and able to accelerate their pace at pleasure, was not

[p.69] less than three miles, and a quarter per hour. I therefore
calculate from Mekka to the foot of Djebel Kora, about thirty-two miles;
to its top, ten miles; and from thence to Tayf, thirty miles, making in
the whole seventy-two miles. The bearing of the road from Arafat to Tayf
is about twelve or fifteen degrees of the compass, to the southward of
that from Mekka to Arafat; but having had no compass with me, I cannot
give the bearing with perfect accuracy.

[p.70] RESIDENCE AT TAYF.

I ARRIVED at Tayf about mid-day, and alighted at the house of Bosari,
the Pasha's physician, with whom I had been well acquainted at Cairo. As
it was now the fast of Ramadhan, during which the Turkish grandees
always sleep in the day-time, the Pasha could not be informed of my
arrival till after sun-set. In the mean while, Bosari, after the usual
Levantine assurances of his entire devotion to my interests, and of the
sincerity of his friendship, asked me what were my views in coming to
the Hedjaz. I answered, to visit Mekka and Medina, and then to return to
Cairo. Of my intention respecting Egypt he seemed doubtful, begged me to
be candid with him as with a friend, and to declare the truth, as he
confessed that he suspected I was going to the East Indies. This I
positively denied; and in the course of our conversation, he hinted that
if I really meant to return to Egypt, I had better remain at head-
quarters with them, till the Pasha himself should proceed to Cairo.
Nothing was said about money, although Bosari was ignorant that my
pecuniary wants had been relieved at Djidda.

In the evening Bosari went privately to the Pasha at his women's
residence, where he only received visits from friends or very intimate
acquaintances. In half an hour he returned, and told me that the Pasha
wished to see me rather late that evening in his public room. He added,
that he found seated with the Pasha

[p.071] the Kadhy of Mekka, who was then at Tayf for his health; and
that the former, when he heard of my desire to visit the holy cities,
observed jocosely, "it is not the beard [I wore a beard at this time, as
I did at Cairo, when the Pasha saw me.] alone which proves a man to be a
true Moslem;" but turning towards the Kadhy, he said, "you are a better
judge in such matters than I am." The Kadhy then observed that, as none
but a Moslem could be permitted to see the holy cities, a circumstance
of which he could not possibly suppose me ignorant, he did not believe
that I would declare myself to be one, unless I really was. When I
learnt these particulars, I told Bosari that he might return alone to
the Pasha; that my feelings had already been much hurt by the orders
given to my guide not to carry me through Mekka; and that I certainly
should not go to the Pasha's public audience, if he would not receive me
as a Turk.

Bosari was alarmed at this declaration, and in vain endeavoured to
dissuade me from such a course, telling me that he had orders to conduct
me to the Pasha, which he could not disobey. I however adhered firmly to
what I had said, and he reluctantly went back to Mohammed Aly, whom he
found alone, the Kadhy having left him. When Bosari delivered his
message, the Pasha smiled, and answered that I was welcome, whether Turk
or not. About eight o'clock in the evening I repaired to the castle, a
miserable, half-ruined habitation of Sherif Ghaleb, dressed in the new
suit which I had received at Djidda by the Pasha's command. I found his
highness seated in a large saloon, with the Kadhy on one hand, and
Hassan Pasha, the chief of the Arnaut soldiers, on the other; thirty or
forty of his principal officers formed a half-circle about the sofa on
which they sat; and a number of Bedouin sheikhs were squatted in the
midst of the semicircle. I went up to the Pasha, gave him the "Salam
Aleykum," and kissed his hand. He made a sign for me to sit down by the
side of the

[p.72] Kadhy, then addressed me very politely, inquired after my health,
and if there was any news from the Mamelouks in the Black country which
I had visited; but said nothing whatever on the subject most interesting
to me. Amyn Effendi, his Arabic dragoman, interpreted between us, as I
do not speak Turkish, and the Pasha speaks Arabic very imperfectly. In
about five minutes he renewed the business with the Bedouins, which I
had interrupted. When this was terminated, and Hassan Pasha had left the
room, every body was ordered to withdraw, except the Kadhy, Bosari, and
myself. I expected now to be put to the proof, and I was fully prepared
for it; but not a word was mentioned of my personal affairs, nor did
Mohammed Aly, in any of our subsequent conversations, ever enter further
into them than to hint that he was persuaded I was on my way to the East
Indies. As soon as we were alone, the Pasha introduced the subject of
politics. He had just received information of the entrance of the allies
into Paris, and the departure of Bonaparte for Elba; and several Malta
gazettes, giving the details of these occurrences, had been sent to him
from Cairo. He seemed deeply interested in these important events,
chiefly because he laboured under the impression that, after Bonaparte's
downfall, England would probably seek for an augmentation of power in
the Mediterranean, and consequently invade Egypt.

After remaining for two or three hours with the Pasha in private
conversation, either speaking Arabic to him, through the medium of the
Kadhy, who, though a native of Constantinople, knew that language
perfectly, or Italian, through Bosari, who was an Armenian, but had
acquired a smattering of that tongue at Cairo, I took my leave, and the
Pasha said that he expected me again on the morrow at the same hour.

August 29th.--I paid a visit to the Kadhy before sun-set, and found him
with his companion and secretary, a learned man of Constantinople. The
Kadhy Sadik Effendi was a true eastern

[p.73] courtier, of very engaging manners and address, possessing all
that suavity of expression for which the well-bred natives of Stamboul
are so distinguished. After we had interchanged a few complimentary
phrases, I mentioned my astonishment on finding that the Pasha had
expressed any doubts of my being a true Moslem, after I had now been a
proselyte to that faith for so many years. He replied that Mohammed Aly
had allowed that he (the Kadhy) was the best judge in such matters; and
added, that he hoped we should become better acquainted with each other.
He then began to question me about my Nubian travels. In the course of
conversation literary subjects were introduced: he asked me what Arabic
hooks I had read, and what commentaries on the Koran and on the law; and
he probably found me better acquainted, with the titles, at least, of
such works than he had expected, for we did not enter deeply into the
subject. While we were thus conversing, the call to evening prayers
announced the termination of this day's fast. I supped with the Kadhy,
and afterwards performed the evening prayers in his company, when I took
great care to chaunt as long a chapter of the Koran as my memory
furnished at the moment; after which we both went to the Pasha, who
again sat up a part of the night in private conversation with me,
chiefly on political affairs, without ever introducing the subject of my
private business.

After another interview, I went every evening, first to the Kadhy, and
then to the Pasha; but, notwithstanding a polite reception at the
castle, I could perceive that my actions were closely watched. Bosari
had asked me if I kept a journal; but I answered that the Hedjaz was not
like Egypt, full of antiquities, and that in these barren mountains I
saw nothing worthy of notice. I was never allowed to be alone for a
moment, and I had reason to suspect that Bosari, with all his assurances
of friendship, was nothing better than a spy. To remain at Tayf for an
indeterminate period, in the situation I now found myself, was little

[p.74] desirable; yet I could not guess the Pasha's intentions with
respect to me. I was evidently considered in no other light than as a
spy sent to this country by the English government, to ascertain its
present state, and report upon it in the East Indies. This, I presume,
was the Pasha's own opinion: he knew me as an Englishman, a name which I
assumed during my travels (I hope without any discredit to that
country), whenever it seemed necessary to appear as an European; because
at that time none but the subjects of England and France enjoyed in the
East any real security: they were considered as too well protected, both
by their governments at home and their ministers at Constantinople, to
be trifled with by provincial governors. The Pasha, moreover, supposed
me to be a man of some rank, for every Englishman travelling in the East
is styled "My lord;" and he was the more convinced of this by a certain
air of dignity which it was necessary for me to assume in a Turkish
court, where modesty of behaviour and affability are quite out of place.
Afraid as he then was of Great Britain, he probably thought it imprudent
to treat me ill, though he did nothing whatever to forward my projects.
As far as he knew, I could have only the five hundred piastres which he
had ordered for me at Djidda, and which were not sufficient to pay my
expenses for any length of time in the Hedjaz. Nothing was said to me
either by him or Bosari of taking my bill upon Cairo, as I had requested
him to do; but this favour I did not again solicit, having money enough
for the present, and expecting a fresh supply from Egypt.

To remain for any length of time at Tayf, in a sort of polite
imprisonment, was little to my taste; yet I could not press my departure
without increasing his suspicions. This was manifest after my first
interview with the Pasha and the Kadhy, and I knew that the reports of
Bosari might considerably influence the mind of Mohammed. Under these
circumstances, I thought the best course was to make Bosari tired of me,
and thus induce him

[p.75] involuntarily to forward my views. I therefore began to act at
his house with all the petulance of an Osmanly. It being the Ramadhan, I
fasted during the day, and at night demanded a supper apart; early on
the following morning I called for an abundant breakfast, before the
fast recommenced. I appropriated to myself the best room which his small
house afforded; and his servants were kept in constant attendance upon
me. Eastern hospitality forbids all resentment for such behaviour; I
was, besides, a great man, and on a visit to the Pasha. In my
conversations with Bosari, I assured him that I felt myself most
comfortably situated at Tayf, and that its climate agreed perfectly with
my health; and I betrayed no desire of quitting the place for the
present. To maintain a person in my character for any length of time at
Tayf, where provisions of all kinds were much dearer than in London, was
a matter of no small moment; and a petulant guest is everywhere
disagreeable. The design, I believe, succeeded perfectly; and Bosari
endeavoured to persuade the Pasha that I was a harmless being, in order
that I might be the sooner dismissed.

I had been six days at Tayf, but seldom went out, except to the castle
in the evening, when Bosari asked whether my business with the Pasha was
likely to prevent me much longer from pursuing my travels, and visiting
Mekka. I replied that I had no business with the Pasha, though I had
come to Tayf at his desire; but that my situation was very agreeable to
me, possessing so warm and generous a friend as he, my host. The next
day he renewed the subject, and remarked that it must be tiresome to
live entirely among soldiers, without any comforts or amusements,
unacquainted besides, as I was, with the Turkish language. I assented to
this; but added, that being ignorant of the Pasha's wishes, I could
determine on nothing. This brought him to the point I wished. "This
being the case," said he, "I will, if you like, speak to his Highness on
the subject." He did so in the evening, before I went to the castle; and
the Pasha told me, in the course of conversation,

[p.76] that as he understood I wished to pass the last days of Ramadhan
at Mekka, (a suggestion originating with Bosari,) I had better join the
party of the Kadhy, who was going there to the feast, and who would be
very glad of my company. This was precisely such a circumstance as I
wished for. The departure of the Kadhy was fixed for the 7th of
September, and I hired two asses, the usual mode of conveyance in this
country, in order to follow him.

As it was my intention to proceed afterwards to Medina, where Tousoun
Pasha, the son of Mohammed Aly, was governor, I begged Bosari to ask the
Pasha for a firman or passport, authorising me to travel through all the
Hedjaz, together with a letter of recommendation to his son. In reply,
Bosari told me that the Pasha did not like to interfere personally in my
travels; that I might act as I pleased, on my own responsibility; and
that my knowledge of the language rendered a passport unnecessary. This
was equivalent to telling me, "Do what you please; I shall neither
obstruct nor facilitate your projects," which, indeed, was as much, at
present, as I could well expect or desire.

On the 6th of September I took my leave of the Pasha, who told me at
parting, that if ever my travels should carry me to India, I might
assure the English people there that he was much attached to the
interests of the India trade. Early on the 7th the Kadhy sent me word
that he should not set out till evening, would travel during the night,
and hoped to meet me at Djebel Kora, midway to Mekka. I therefore left
Tayf alone, as I had entered it, after a residence of ten days. At
parting, Bosari assured me of his inviolable attachment to my interest;
and I blessed my good stars, when I left the precincts of the town, and
the residence of a Turkish court, in which I found it more difficult to
avoid danger, than among the wild Bedouins of Nubia.

During my stay at Tayf, I had five or six interviews with the

[p.77] Pasha; and the following extracts from my journal will show the
general result of what passed between us on those different occasions:--

Q. Sheikh Ibrahim, I hope you are well.
A. Perfectly well, and most happy to have the honour of seeing you
again.
Q. You have travelled much since I saw you at Cairo. How far did you
advance into the negro country?

To this question I replied, by giving a short account of my journey in
Nubia.

Q. Tell me, how are the Mamelouks at Dongola?

I related what the reader will find in my Nubian Travels.

Q. I understand that you treated with two of the Mamelouk Beys at Ibrim;
was it so?

The word treated (if the dragoman rightly translated the Turkish word),
startled me very much; for the Pasha, while he was in Egypt, had heard
that, on my journey towards Dongola, I had met two Mamelouk Beys at
Derr; and as he still suspected that the English secretly favoured the
Mamelouk interest, he probably thought that I had been the bearer of
some message to them from government. I therefore assured him that my
meeting with the two Beys was quite accidental that the unpleasant
reception which I experienced at Mahass was on their account; and that I
entertained fears of their designs against my life. With this
explanation the Pasha seemed satisfied.

Q. Let us only settle matters here with the Wahabys, and I shall soon be
able to get rid of the Mamelouks. How many soldiers do you think are
necessary for subduing the country as far as Senaar?
A. Five hundred men, good troops, might reach that point, but could not
keep possession of the country; and the expenses would scarcely be
repaid by the booty.
Q. What do those countries afford?

[p.78]
A. Camels and slaves; and, towards Senaar, gold, brought from Abyssinia;
but all this is the property of individuals. The chiefs or kings in
those countries do not possess any riches.
Q. In what state are the roads from Egypt to Senaar?
A. I described the road between Asouan and Shendy, and from Souakin to
the same place.
Q. How did you pass your time among the Blacks?
A. I related some laughable stories, with which he seemed greatly
amused.
Q. And now, Sheikh Ibrahim, where do you mean to go?
A. I wish to perform the Hadj, return to Cairo, and then proceed to
visit Persia.--(I did not think it advisable to mention my design of
returning into the interior of Africa.)
Q. May God render the way smooth before you! but I think it folly and
madness to travel so much. What, let me ask, is the result of your last
journey?
A. Men's lives are predestined; we all obey our fate. For myself, I
enjoy great pleasure in exploring new and unknown countries, and
becoming acquainted with different races of people. I am induced to
undertake journies by the private satisfaction that travelling affords,
and I care little about personal fatigue.
Q. Have you heard of the news from Europe?
A. Only some vague reports at Djidda.

The Pasha then gave me an account of the events which ended in
Bonaparte's banishment to Elba, after the entrance of the allies into
Paris. Bonaparte, he said, behaved like a coward; he ought to have
sought for death, rather than expose himself in a cage to the laughter
of the universe. The Europeans, he said, are as treacherous as the
Osmanlys; all Bonaparte's confidants abandoned him--all his generals, who
owed to him their fortunes.

He was eager in his inquiries about the political relations between
Great Britain and Russia, and whether it was not likely that war might
break out between them, on account of the hostile

[p.79] intentions of the latter towards the Porte. (On this point he had
received false intelligence.) His only fear seemed to be that the
English army, which had been employed in the south of France, and in
Spain, would now be at liberty to invade Egypt. "The great fish swallow
the small," he said; "and Egypt is necessary to England, in supplying
corn to Malta and Gibraltar." I reasoned with him in vain on this
subject, and perceived that the dragoman did not always interpret my
answers correctly, from the fear of contradicting the well-known
opinions of his master. These opinions, indeed, were deeply rooted, and
had been fostered by the French mission in Egypt. "I am the friend of
the English," he continued. (This addressed by a Turk to a Christian,
means only that he fears him, or wants his money.) "But to tell you the
truth, among great men we see many compliments, and very little
sincerity. My hope is, that they will not fall upon Egypt during my stay
in the Hedjaz; if I am there myself, I shall at least have the
satisfaction of fighting personally for my dominions. Of the Sultan I am
not afraid, (this he repeatedly asserted, but I much doubt his
sincerity,) and I shall know how to outwit him in all his measures. An
army from Syria can never attack Egypt by land in very large bodies,
from the want of camels; and separate corps are easily destroyed as soon
as they have passed the desert."

I took the liberty of telling him that he was like a young man in
possession of a beautiful girl; although sure of her affection, he would
always be jealous of every stranger. "You say well," he replied. "I
certainly love Egypt with all the ardour of a lover; and if I had ten
thousand souls, I would willingly sacrifice them for its possession."

He asked me in what state I had found Upper Egypt; and whether his son
Ibrahim Pasha (the governor) was liked there. I replied, in the language
of truth, that all the chiefs of villages hated him (for he had
compelled them to abandon their despotic treatment of their fellow-
peasants); but that the peasants themselves

[p.80] were much attached to him. (The fact is, that instead of being
oppressed, as formerly, by the Mamelouk Beys and Kashefs, as well as by
their own Sheikhs, they have at present only one tyrant, the Pasha
himself, who keeps his governors of districts in perfect order.)

Mohammed Aly wished to know my opinion respecting the number of troops
necessary for defending Egypt against a foreign army. I answered, that I
knew nothing of war, but from what I had read in books. "No, no;" he
exclaimed, "you travellers always have your eyes open, and you inquire
after every thing." He persisted in his question; and being thus forced
to reply, I said that twenty-five thousand chosen troops would probably
be able to resist any attack. "I have now thirty-three thousand," said
he--a false assertion, for I am quite certain that he had at that time
not more than sixteen thousand men, dispersed over Egypt and the Hedjaz.

He would next explain to me the Nizam Djedyd, or new system of
discipline and military regulations He said it was only the avidity of
the chiefs, and not the dislike of the common sol-diers, that obstructed
the institution of a well-organised army in Turkey, and opposed the
mustering necessary to prevent the officers from imposing on the public
treasury. "But I shall make a regular corps of negro soldiers," he
added. This his predecessor Khurshid Pasha had attempted, but with
little success. The subject of the Nizam Djedyd was resumed as soon as
Mohammed Aly returned to Egypt from this expedition; but the revolt of
his soldiers, who plundered his own capital, obliged him to abandon the
undertaking, which had been badly planned. In the defence of Egypt, he
said, he should principally use his cavalry and horse-artillery; the
former should destroy all the provisions in advance of the enemy, as the
Russians had lately done; and the latter would harass them on all sides,
without ever attempting to make a stand.

[p.81] During my stay at Tayf, letters arrived from Constantinople,
across the Desert, by way of Damascus, bringing to the Pasha a Turkish
translation of the treaty of peace concluded at Paris. After having read
it several times, he ordered his Turkish writer to explain it to me in
Arabic, word for word. This occupied us in a private apartment several
hours. I then returned to the audience, and was desired by the Pasha to
tell him my opinion of the treaty. Referring to a Turkish atlas, copied
from European maps, and printed at Constantinople, he made me point out
to him the new limits of Belgium, the islands Mauritius and Tobago, the
position of Genoa, &c. &c. With respect to the latter place, a curious
mistake occurred. It had been stated to me that Genoa was ceded to the
Swedes, which I could not credit. Upon inquiry, I found that Geneva and
Switzerland were meant; a town and country which, I am sorry to say,
were not comprised in the geographical knowledge of a Turkish viceroy.
The mistake, how-ever, was easily made; for in Turkish, Geneva is
written like Genoua, and Sweden is pronounced Shwit.

The Pasha observed that much yet remained to be done, before all
differences between the parties could be settled; and I clearly saw how
impatiently he looked forward to a war among the European powers, which
would relieve him from any apprehensions for his own safety, and at the
same time occasion a great demand for corn at Alexandria.

With respect to Bonaparte, he seemed quite certain that the English
would one day seize him in Elba. "Have the English, then," he exclaimed,
"fought for nothing these twenty years? They have only got Malta, and a
few other islands!" He was impressed with the fear that there were
secret articles in the peace, which assigned to them the possession of
Egypt. The notion of their having re-established the balance of power in
Europe, and secured their own safety and independence, did not enter
into his mind. "They should not leave Spain," he continued, "without

[p.82] being handsomely paid by the Spaniards; and why now abandon
Sicily?" That the English were guided in their policy by the laws of
honour, and a sense of the general good of Europe, he could not
comprehend. "A great king," he exclaimed, with much warmth, "knows
nothing but his sword and his purse; he draws the one to fill the other;
there is no honour among conquerors!"--a frank avowal of the sentiments
which guide even the most petty of the Turkish rulers.

Mohammed Aly had some notions of the English parliament; the name of
Wellington was familiar to him. "He was a great general," he said; but
he doubted whether, if his Lordship had commanded such bad soldiers as
the Turkish troops are, he would have been able to do with them as much
as he (the Pasha) had done in conquering Egypt and the Hedjaz. He
betrayed great anxiety about the fate and future possession of Corfu and
the Seven Islands. On the one hand, he wished the Russians to make war
on the Porte, and to drive the Sultan out of Europe; on the other, he
feared that, if the Russians should seize Turkey in Europe, the English
would not remain quiet spectators, but would take their share of the
Turkish empire, which he was firmly persuaded would be no other than the
province of Egypt.

I am still ignorant of the Pasha's real opinion concerning my sincerity
in professing the Mohammedan faith. He certainly treated me as a
muselman, and I flattered myself that the boldness of my conduct at Tayf
had convinced him that I was a true pro-selyte. As to the Kadhy, who was
a shrewd Constantinopolitan, most people supposed that the Porte had
sent him to watch the proceedings of Mohammed Aly, and give information
accordingly to the Sultan; and it struck me that his behaviour towards
myself was connected with an intention of accusing the Pasha, on his
return to Constantinople, of having protected a Christian in his visit
to the holy cities, a crime which would be considered unpar-donable in a
Pasha. Mohammed Aly, after his return to Cairo,

[p.83] (where, contrary to his expectations, he again found me, and
where I only saw him once,) took frequent opportunities, and indeed
seemed anxious, to convince Mr. Salt and Mr. Lee, His Majesty's and the
Levant Company's consuls, as well as several English travellers of note
who passed through Cairo, that he knew per-fectly well, in the Hedjaz,
that I was no Moslem, but that his friendship for the English nation
made him overlook the circum-stance, and permit me to impose upon the
Kadhy. He entertained a notion, suggested to him by some of his Frank
counsellors at Cairo, that, in some future account of my travels, I
might perhaps boast of having imposed upon him, like Aly Bey el Abassi,
whose work had just been received at Cairo, and who declares that he
deceived not only the Pasha, but all the olemas, or learned men, of
Cairo. To Mohammed Aly it was of more consequence not to be thought a
fool than a bad muselman.

Notwithstanding these declarations of the Pasha to the English
gentlemen, which were made in private, and certainly were not occasioned
by any imprudent speeches of mine, I continued to live, after my return
to Cairo, without molestation, as a Moslem, in the Turkish quarter. I
have to thank him for his polite reception of me at Tayf, and for his
having thrown no obstacles in the way of my travels through the Hedjaz.

I was at Mekka in December, and at Medina in the April following, when
the Pasha was at both places; but I did not think it necessary or
advisable to wait upon him at either place, where I was otherwise wholly
unknown. My practice in travelling has been to live as retired as
possible; and, except during my short visit to Tayf, where circumstances
forced me to appear somewhat conspicuously, I was known only in the
Hedjaz as a hadjy, or pilgrim, a private gentleman from Egypt, one with
whom no person was acquainted but the few officers of the Pasha whom I
had seen at Tayf.

My information respecting Tayf is very scanty, and was not

[p.84] committed to paper until after I had left the town. I was never
suffered to be alone during my stay there. I had no acquaintances from
whom much could be learned; and during the fast of Ramadhan, few
individuals of the higher classes, among whom I lived, stir out of their
houses in the day-time.

The town of Tayf is situated in the midst of a sandy plain, about four
hours in circuit, overgrown with shombs, and encompassed by low
mountains, called Djebal Ghazoan. These are subordinate ridges of the
great chain, which, continuing for four or five hours farther east, are
then lost in the plain. Tayf is an irregular square, of thirty-five
minutes quick walking in circum-ference; it is inclosed with a wall and
a ditch, newly constructed by Othman el Medhayfe. The wall has three
gates, and is defended by several towers; but it is much less solid than
the walls of Djidda, Medina, and Yembo, being in few places more than
eighteen inches thick. On the west side, within the town, and forming a
part of its wall, stands the castle, upon a rocky elevated site. It was
built by Sherif Ghaleb, and has no claim to the title of a castle,
except that it is larger than the other buildings in the town, and that
its stone walls are stronger. Though it is now half ruined, Mohammed Aly
had made this castle his head-quarters. The houses of the town are
mostly small, but well built with stone: the sitting-rooms are on the
upper floor; at least I saw no saloons on the ground-floor, as usual in
Turkey. The streets are broader than those in most eastern towns. The
only public place is in front of the castle, a large open space which
serves for a market.

At present, Tayf may be described as in a state of ruin, for but few
houses are in complete repair. Many of the buildings were destroyed by
the Wahabys, when they took the town, in 1802; and as it has been almost
abandoned since that period, every thing is hastening to decay. I saw
two small mosques; the best, that of the Henoud, or Indians. The tomb of
El Abbas, which had a good dome over it, and was often visited by
pilgrims, has been entirely

[p.85] destroyed by the Wahabys. Excepting four or five buildings, now
inhabited by the principal officers of the Pasha, I saw none above the
most common size.

Tayf is supplied with water from two copious wells, one of which is
within the walls, and the other just before one of the gates. The water
is well-tasted, but heavy. The town is celebrated all over Arabia for
its beautiful gardens; but these are situated at the foot of the
mountains which encircle the sandy plain. I did not see any gardens, nor
even a single tree within the walls; and the immediate neighbourhood is
entirely destitute of verdure, which renders a residence here as
melancholy as in any other city of Arabia. The nearest gardens appeared
to be on the S.W. side, at the distance of about half or three quarters
of an hour: on that side also stands a deserted suburb, separated from
the town, with some date-trees among its ruins; it was abandoned long
before the invasion of the Wahabys.

I did not visit any of the gardens. In some of them are small pavilions,
where the people of Tayf pass their festive hours; the most noted of
them are Wady Methna, Wady Selame, and Wady Shemal. The gardens are
watered by wells and by rivulets, which descend from the mountains.
Numerous fruit-trees are found here, together with fields of wheat and
barley. The fruits which I tasted at Tayf were grapes of a very large
size and delicious flavour, figs, quinces, and pomegranates; but all the
other sorts mentioned at Djebel Kora are likewise found here. The
gardens of Tayf are renowned also for the abundance of their roses,
which, like the grapes, are transported to all parts of the Hedjaz. To
these gardens all the great merchants of Mekka formerly retired in
summer; and here the Sherif himself often passed a part of the hot
season: they had all their houses and establishments here, and therefore
lost considerable property, when Tayf was plundered by the Wahabys.

The indigenous inhabitants of Tayf are Arabs, of the tribe of

[p.86] Thekyf, [Of the Thekyf tribes are El Hamde, Beni Mohammed, and
Themale.--Vide Assamy.] who have become settlers: in their possession are
all the gardens adjoining the town, and most of the provision-shops
within its walls. A few Mekkawys are also settled here, but the far
greater part of the foreigners are Indians by origin. As at Djidda,
these people, although born in Arabia, and in some instances established
here for several generations, still preserve the dress and manners of
the Indian Muselmans: some of them are merchants; but the greater part
are druggists, whose trade is of much more importance in the Hedjaz than
in other countries, from the general predilection of all classes for
drugs, perfumes, &c. There are, I believe, no wholesale merchants in
Tayf; I counted in all about fifty shops. Before the Wahaby invasion,
this was a commercial town, to which the Arabs of the country around, at
the distance of many days' journey, resorted, that they might pur-chase
articles of dress; while those of the mountains brought caravans of
wheat and barley: it was also a considerable entrepot for coffee,
brought on camels from the mountains of Yemen by Be-douins, who thus
eluded the heavy duties levied in the harbours of the Arabian coast.
Every thing denotes great misery in the town. At present, the only
imports from the interior are dates, brought by the Ateybe Arabs from
the many fruitful plantations in their territory. The principal streets
abound with beggars, amongst whom are many Indians, who must often be
exposed to perish from absolute hunger; for, during my residence, it
required at least two piastres, (which, according to the actual
exchange, was equal to about one-sixth of a dollar, or ten-pence) to
procure bread enough for a man's daily subsistence. Caravans of
provisions arrived every week, but the want of camels did not allow of a
suffi-cient importation from the coast to lower the price of food; and
although the common class lived principally upon dates, and thus

JOURNEY TO MEKKA

[p.87] consumed none of the provisions brought hither from Mekka; yet I
learned from good authority that there was only a supply for ten days in
Tayf for the Turkish army.

In the time of the Sherif, this town was governed by an officer of his
appointment, named Hakem, himself a sherif, and who nar-rowly escaped
the sword of the Wahabys. He has been restored to his office by Mohammed
Aly; but it is at present merely honorary. Several sherif families of
Mekka are settled here; and the mode of living, the dress, and manners,
appear to be the same as at Mekka; but I had few opportunities of making
observations on this subject.

September 7th. I set out early in the morning from Tayf for Mekka, by
the same road which I had come. There is, as I have already mentioned, a
more northern route, by which caravans may avoid the difficulties of
passing Djebel Kora. The first station from Mekka, on that road, is
Zeyme, short of which, about ten miles, are several steep ascents. Zeyme
is a half-ruined castle, at the eastern extremity of Wady Lymoun, with
copious springs of run-ning water. Wady Lymoun is a fertile valley,
which extends for several hours in the direction of Wady Fatme; it has
many date-plantations, and formerly the ground was cultivated; but this,
I believe, has ceased since the Wahaby invasion: its fruit-gardens, too,
have been ruined. This is the last stage of the Eastern-Syrian Hadj
route, or that which lies to the east of the Great Hedjaz chain, running
from Medina to Mekka. To the S.E. or E.S.E. of Wady Lymoun, is another
fertile valley, called Wady Medyk, where some sherifs are settled, and
where Sherif Ghaleb possessed landed property.

From Zeyme, the road to Tayf leads, on the second day, from Mekka to
Seyl, a rivulet so called, flowing across a plain, which is without
trees, but affords abundance of rich pasture. At Seyl, the road enters a
mountainous tract, through which is a difficult and very narrow passage
of about six hours. The station of

[p.88] this day is Akrab, situated in the upper plain, at about three
hours' distance from Tayf, to the northward, and on the same level with
it: thus a traveller reaches Tayf on the fourth day from Mekka. This
route was now impassable, except to large and well-protected caravans,
the hostile Arabs of the Ateybe tribe having frequently made inroads on
that side, and plundered small caravans.

Not far from Tayf I overtook three Arnaut soldiers, each, like myself,
mounted on an ass. At Tayf they had exchanged their money, getting
thirteen piastres of the Cairo mint for one Spanish dollar, which at
Djidda was worth but eleven; they had, therefore, made a common purse of
one thousand dollars, and travelled from Djidda to Tayf, whenever the
road was secure, for the sake of the two piastres which they gained upon
each dollar. They carried the money, sewed in bags, upon their asses;
and having forgotten, perhaps, to leave out any cash for travelling
expenses, they joined me, finding that my travelling sack was well
stocked with provi-sions, and left me to pay for our joint expenses on
the road, when-ever we stopped at the coffee-huts. But they were good-
humoured companions, and the expense was not thrown away.

In passing by Wady Mohram, I assumed the ihram, as being now for the
first time about to visit Mekka and its temple. The ihram consists of
two pieces of linen, or woollen, or cotton cloth, one of which is
wrapped round the loins, and the other thrown over the neck and
shoulders, so as to leave part of the right arm uncovered. Every garment
must be laid aside before this is put on. Any piece of stuff will answer
the purpose; but the law ordains that there shall be no seams in it, nor
any silk or orna-ments; and white is considered preferable to any other
colour. White Indian cambric is usually employed for the purpose; but
rich hadjys use, instead of it, white Cashmere shawls, which have not
flowered borders. The head remains totally uncovered. It is not
permitted to have the head shaved, in conformity with the oriental
habits, until it is permitted also to lay aside the ihram.

[p.89] The instep must likewise be uncovered: those, accordingly, who
wear shoes, either cut a piece out of the upper leather, or have shoes
made on purpose, such as the Turkish hadjys usually bring with them from
Constantinople. Like most of the natives, I wore sandals while dressed
in the ihram.

Old-age and disease are excuses for keeping the head covered; but this
indulgence must be purchased by giving alms to the poor. The sun's rays
become extremely troublesome to persons bare-headed; but although the
law forbids that the head should be protected by any thing in immediate
contact with it, there is no prohibition against the use of umbrellas,
and with these most of the northern hadjys are provided, while the
natives either brave the sun's rays, or merely tie a rag to a stick, and
make a little shade, by turning it towards the sun.

Whether assumed in summer or in winter, the ihram is equally
inconvenient and prejudicial to health, particularly among the northern
Mohammedans, who, accustomed to thick woollen clothes, are at this
period obliged to leave them off for many days; yet the religious zeal
of some who visit the Hedjaz is so ardent, that if they arrive even
several months previous to the Hadj, they vow on taking the ihram, in
approaching Mekka, not to throw it off till after the completion of
their pilgrimage to Arafat; and thus they remain for months covered,
night and day, only with this thin cloak; [The Arabian historians relate
that Haroun Errashid and his wife Zobeyda once performed the pilgrimage
on foot, from Baghdad to Mekka, clothed only with the ihram; that at
every station of the caravan there was a castle, with apartments
splendidly furnished; and that the whole road was covered daily with
carpets, on which they walked.] for the law forbids any other covering
even at night; but with this few hadjys strictly comply.

When the ancient Arabs performed their pilgrimage to the idols at Mekka,
they also took the ihram; but that pilgrimage was fixed to a certain
period of the year, probably autumn; for although the Arabs computed by
lunar months, they inserted one month every

[p.90] three years; and thus the month of the pilgrimage did not vary in
its season, as at present. The intercalation of a month, established two
hundred years before Islam, was prohibited by the Koran, which ordained
that the same pilgrimage should be continued, in honour of the living
God, which had before been performed in honour of idols, but that it
should be fixed to a lunar month; thus its period became irregular, and
in the space of thirty-three years was gradually changed from the depth
of winter to the height of summer.

The person covered by the ihram, or, as he is called, El Mohrem, is not
obliged to abstain from particular kinds of food, as ancient Arabians,
who, during the time of wearing it, did not taste butter among other
things; but he is enjoined to behave decently, not to curse, or quarrel,
not to kill any animal, not even a flea on his body, nor to communicate
with the other sex. The ihram of the women consists of a cloak which
they wrap completely about them, with a veil so close that not even
their eyes can be seen: according to the law, their hands and ankles
must be covered, but this rule they generally disregard.

Although my companions, the soldiers, were going to Mekka, as well as
myself, they did not think it necessary to take the ihram, which, as I
have already said, the law prescribes at all times of the year to every
one travelling towards the sacred city.

We remained an hour on the delightful summit of Djebel Kora, and towards
the evening descended the mountain. A shower of rain obliged us to seek
shelter in a spacious cavern by the side of the road, which is used on
similar occasions by shepherds of the Hodheyl tribe; and we arrived
after sun-set at the coffee-huts, before mentioned, on the mountain-
side, where the caravans from Mekka alight. Here we kindled a large
fire, and hired an earthen pot of the Arabs, in which we boiled some
rice for our supper. The long day's march, the rain, and my light
covering, brought on a slight fever; but I kept myself well covered
during the night, and was in good health the next morning. The change of
air, during my journey to Tayf, and the comparatively cooler climate of
that place

[p.91] had already completely recovered me from the effects of my severe
illness at Djidda. During the night, the Kadhy of Mekka arrived from
Tayf.

September 8th. At day-break, I went to visit the Kadhy, whom I found
smoking his pipe and drinking coffee; availing himself of the privilege
granted to travellers in Ramadhan, of dispensing with the fast.
According to our agreement at Tayf, I was to join him here on his way to
Mekka; I could not therefore avoid joining him; but I was extremely
averse to continuing with him, because he would probably carry me to his
house at Mekka, where I should be again placed in a situation similar to
that which had proved so uncomfortable at Tayf. He seemed, however,
willing to avoid the trouble and expense of a guest; for when I
expressed some appre-hensions that my tired ass would be unable to keep
pace with his fine mule, he immediately answered, that he hoped, at all
events, to meet me again at Mekka. I departed, therefore, with the
soldiers, leaving the Kadhy to repose a little longer. We passed the
mid-day hours at the coffee-hut called Shedad, where several Bedouins
were amusing themselves by shooting at a mark. They gave proofs of great
dexterity, often hitting a piastre, which I placed at about forty yards'
distance. Except coffee and water, nothing is to be procured in any of
the huts on this road; the coffee is not served up in single cups, as
usual in most parts of the Levant; but, whoever asks for it, has a small
earthen pot of hot coffee set before him, containing from ten to fifteen
cups: this quantity the traveller often drinks three or four times a
day. These pots are called mashrabe. (See their form in the outlines
annexed.) [Illustration not included].

Into the mouth of the pot is stuck a bunch of dry herbs, through which
the liquid is poured. I have already noticed the immoderate

[p.92] use of coffee in this part of Arabia, and it is said to prevail
still more in the south, and towards the vicinity of the coffee country.

On the road from Shedad, which lies along the lower plains, between
sharp mountains, we were surprised by a most violent shower of rain and
hail, which obliged us to halt. In a very short time the water poured
down in torrents from the mountains and when the hail ceased, after
about an hour, we found that the rain, which still continued, had
covered the Wady Noman with a sheet of water three feet deep, while
streams of nearly five feet in breadth crossed the road with an
impetuosity which rendered it impossible for us to pass them. In this
situation we could neither advance nor retreat, knowing that similar
currents would have been formed in our rear we therefore took post on
the side of the mountain, where we were sure of not being washed away,
and where we could wait in security till the subsiding of the storm. The
mountains, however, soon pre-sented on their sides innumerable cascades,
and the inundation became general; while the rain, accompanied with
thunder and lightning, continued with undiminished violence. I saw the
Kadhy, who had quitted Shedad soon after us, at some distance, separated
from our party by a deep torrent, while several of his women, mounted
upon mules, were also obliged to remain at a distance from him. We
continued in this disagreeable situation for about three hours, when the
rain ceased and the torrents soon diminished; but our asses could with
difficulty be brought to attempt the slippery ground still covered with
water, and we were at last obliged to alight and drive them before us,
till we reached a more elevated surface. The Kadhy and his whole party
were under the necessity of doing the same. Night now overtook us, and
the cloudy sky involved us in complete darkness; but after an
adventurous walk of three or four hours, stumbling or falling almost at
every step, we reached the coffee-houses of Arafat, to the great
satisfaction of my companions, the soldiers, who had entertained
apprehensions for their money-bags. I was not less pleased myself, being
much in want of a fire after such a drenching, with only the scanty
covering of the ihram.

ARRIVAL AT MEKKA

[p.93] The coffee-houses, unfortunately, had also been inundated; we
could not find a dry place on which to sit, and with some difficulty a
fire was lighted in one of the small and more weather-proof huts of the
Arabs, into which the Kadhy, with a few of his people and myself, crept,
and boiled our coffee; in another hut were his women, crying from the
severity of the cold. He not wishing that they should be exposed to the
consequences of such a night's lodging, mounted again, after a stay of
half an hour, and proceeded towards Mekka, leaving me and my party in
possession of the fire, by the side of which, after some time, we
contrived to make ourselves com-fortable.

September 9th. We set out early, and found that the storm of yesterday
had not extended farther than the plain of Arafat. Such storms and
inundations are frequent in this country, where the seasons seem to be
much less regular than in other places under the same latitude. I heard
that in the Upper Mountains, and at Tayf, the rainy season, although not
so regular as under the tropics in Africa, is yet more steady than in
the low country of Mekka and Djidda, where, even in the midst of summer,
the sky is often clouded by storms and rain. The historians of Mekka
have recorded several dreadful inundations in that city; the most
disastrous occurred in the years of the Hedjira 80, 184, 202, 280, 297,
549, 620, 802, 829. In some of these, the whole town of Mekka, and the
Temple, as high as the black stone, were under water, and in all of them
many houses were destroyed and lives lost. Assamy gives the details of
an inundation which devastated Mekka in A.H. 1039, or in the year 1626
of our era, when five hundred lives were lost, and the Kaaba in the
Temple was destroyed. Another dreadful inundation happened in 1672.

I arrived at Mekka about mid-day, when my companions went in search of
their acquaintance among the soldiers, and left me to shift for myself,
without knowing a single individual in the town, and without being
recommended to any body but the Kadhy, whom, as I have already said, I
wished to avoid.

MEKKA

[p.94] Whoever enters Mekka, whether pilgrim or not, is enjoined by the
law to visit the Temple immediately, and not to attend to any worldly
concern whatever, before he has done so. We crossed the line of shops
and houses, up to the gates of the mosque, where my ass-driver took his
fare and set me down: here I was accosted by half a dozen metowef, or
guides to the holy places, who knew, from my being dressed in the ihram,
that I intended to visit the Kaaba. I chose one of them as my guide,
and, after having deposited my baggage in a neighbouring shop, entered
the mosque at the gate called Bab-es'-Salam, by which the new-comer is
recommended to enter. The ceremonies to be performed in visiting the
mosque are the following:--1. Certain religious rites to be practised in
the interior of the temple; 2. The walk between Szafa and Meroua; 3. The
visit to the Omra. These ceremonies ought to be repeated by every Moslem
whenever he enters Mekka from a journey farther than two days' distance,
and they must again be more particularly performed at the time of the
pilgrimage to Arafat. I shall here describe them as briefly as possible;
a full detail and explanation of the Mohammedan law on this subject
would be extremely tedious; indeed there exist many voluminous works in
Arabic which treat of nothing else.

1. Rites to be performed in the Interior of the Temple.

At the entrance, under the colonnade, some prayers are recited on first
sight of the Kaaba, and then two rikats, or four prostrations addressed
to the divinity, in thanks for having reached the holy spot, and in
salutation of the mosque itself; after which the pilgrim approaches the
Kaaba by one of the paved ways to it, through the open area in which it
stands. In passing under the insulated arch in front of the Kaaba,
called Bab-es'-Salam, certain prayers are said. Other prayers are
recited in a low voice, and the visitor then places himself opposite to
the black stone of the Kaaba, and prays two

[p.95] rikats; at the conclusion of which, the stone is touched with the
right hand, or kissed, if there is no great pressure of people. The
devotee then begins the Towaf, or walk round the Kaaba, keeping that
building on his left hand. This ceremony is to be repeated seven times;
the three first are in a quick pace, in imitation of the Prophet, whose
enemies having reported that he was dangerously ill, he contradicted
them by running thrice round the Kaaba at full speed. Every circuit must
be accompanied with prescribed prayers, which are recited in a low
voice, and appropriated to the different parts of the building that are
passed: the black stone is kissed or touched at the conclusion of each
circuit, as well as another stone, walled in at one corner of the black
stone. When the seven circuits are finished, the visiter approaches the
wall of the Kaaba, between the black stone and the door of the building,
which space is called El Metzem. There, with widely outstretched arms,
and with his breast closely pressed against the wall, he beseeches the
Lord to pardon his sins. He then retires towards the neighbouring Mekam
Ibrahim, and there prays two rikats, called Sunnet-et-towaf, after which
he repairs to the adjoining well of Zemzem; and, after a short pious
address in honour of the well, drinks as much of the water as he wishes,
or as he can on occasions when the crowd is very great; and this
completes the ceremonies to be observed within the temple.

I may here add, that the Towaf is a Muselman ceremony not exclusively
practised in the temple at Mekka. In the summer of 1813, I was present
at the annual festival of the patron saint of Kenne, in Upper Egypt,
called Seid Abderrahman el Kennawy. Many thousands of the people of the
country were assembled on the plain, in which stands the saint's tomb,
at a distance of one mile from the town. Each person, as he arrived,
walked seven times round the small mosque which contains the tomb; and
when the new covering intended to be laid over it for that year was
brought in solemn procession, the whole assembly followed it seven times
round the building, after which it was placed upon the tomb.

[p.96] 2. Walk between Szafa and Meroua.

My guide, who, during the whole of the ceremonies above men-tioned, had
been close at my heels, reciting all the necessary prayers, which I
repeated after him, now led me out of the mosque by the gate called Bab-
es'-Szafa. About fifty yards from the S.E. side of the mosque, on a
slightly ascending ground, stand three small open arches, connected by
an architrave above, having below three broad stone steps leading up to
them.

This is called the Hill of Szafa: here, standing on the upper step, with
his face turned towards the mosque, which is hidden from view by
intervening houses, the pilgrim raises his hands towards heaven,
addresses a short prayer to the Deity, and implores his assistance in
the holy walk, or Say, as it is called; he then descends, to begin the
walk, along a level street about six hundred paces in length, which the
Arabian historians call Wady Szafa, leading towards Meroua, which is at
its farther extremity, where stands a stone platform, ele-vated about
six or eight feet above the level of the street, with several broad
steps ascending to it. The visiter is enjoined to walk at a quick pace
from Szafa to Meroua; and for a short space, which is marked by four
stones or pilasters, called El Myleyn el Akhdereyn, built into the walls
of the houses on both sides, he must run. Two of these stones seemed to
be of a green colour; they exhibit nume-rous inscriptions; but these are
so high in the walls, that it would be difficult to read them. Prayers
are recited uninterruptedly in a loud voice during this walk. Persons
who are unwell may ride, or be borne in a litter. On reaching Meroua,
the pilgrim ascends the

ARRIVAL AT MEKKA

[p.97] steps, and, with uplifted hands, repeats a short prayer like that
of Szaffa, to which place he must now return. The walk between the two
places is to be repeated seven times, concluding at Meroua; four times
from Szaffa to Meroua; and three times from Meroua to Szaffa.

3. The Visit to the Omra.

In the vicinity of Meroua are many barbers' shops; into one of these the
pilgrim enters, having completed the Say, and the barber shaves his
head, reciting a particular prayer, which the pilgrim repeats after him.
The Hanefys, one of the four orthodox sects of Moslims, shave only one-
fourth part of the head; the other three-fourths continuing untouched
till they return from the Omra. After the ceremony of shaving is
finished, the visitor is at liberty to lay aside the ihram, and put on
his ordinary dress; or, if he choose, he may go immediately from thence
to the Omra, in which case he still wears the ihram, and says only two
rikats on setting out. This, however, is seldom done, as the ceremonies
of the Towaf and Say are sufficiently fatiguing to render repose
desirable on their completion the visitor, therefore, dresses in his
usual clothes; but the next or any following day, (the sooner the
better,) he resumes the ihram, with the same ceremonies as are observed
on first assuming it, and then proceeds to the Omra, a place one hour
and a half from Mekka. Here he repeats two rikats in a small chapel, and
returns to the city, chanting all the way the pious ejaculations called
Telby, beginning with the words, "Lebeyk, Alla humma, Lebeyk." He must
now again perform the Towaf and the Say, have his head completely
shaved, and lay aside the ihram, which closes those ceremonies. A visit
to the Omra is enjoined by the law as absolutely necessary; but many
individuals, notwithstanding, dispense with it. I went thither, on the
third day after my arrival in the city, performing the walk in the
night-time, which is the fashion during the hot season.

At the time of the Hadj, all these ceremonies must be repeated

[p.98] after returning from Wady Muna, and again on taking leave of
Mekka. The Towaf, or walk round the Kaaba, should also be performed as
often as convenient; and few foreigners live at Mekka, who do not make
it a point to execute it twice daily; in the evening and before day-
break.

Prior to the age of Mohammed, when idolatry prevailed in Arabia, the
Kaaba was regarded as a sacred object, and visited with religious
veneration by persons who performed the Towaf nearly in the same manner
as their descendants do at present. The building, however, was, in those
times, ornamented with three hundred and sixty idols, and there was a
very important difference in the cere-mony; for men and women were then
obliged to appear in a state of perfect nudity, that their sins might be
thrown off with their garments. The Mohammedan Hadj or pilgrimage, and
the visit to the Kaaba, are, therefore, nothing more than a continuation
and con-firmation of the ancient custom. In like manner, Szafa and
Meroua were esteemed by the old Arabians as holy places, which contained
images of the gods Motam and Nehyk; and here the idolaters used to walk
from the one place to the other, after their return from the pilgrimage
to Arafat. Here, if we may believe Mohammedan tradition, Hadjer, the
mother of Ismayl, wandered about in the Desert, after she had been
driven from Abraham's house, that she might not witness the death of her
infant son, whom she had laid down almost expiring from thirst; when the
angel Gabriel appearing, struck the ground with his foot, which caused
the well of Zemzem immediately to spring forth. In commemoration of the
wanderings of Hadjer, who in her affliction had gone seven times between
Szafa and Meroua, the walk from one place to the other is said to have
been instituted.

El Azraky relates that, when the idolatrous Arabs had concluded the
ceremonies of the Hadj at Arafat, all the different tribes that had been
present, assembled, on their return to Mekka, at the holy place called
Szafa, there to extol, in loud and impassioned strains, the glory of
their ancestors, their battles, and the fame of their

[p.99] nation. From each tribe, in its turn, arose a poet who addressed
the multitude. "To our tribe," exclaimed he, "belonged such and such
eminent warriors and generous Arabs; and now," he added, "we boast of
others." He then recited their names, and sang their praises; concluding
with a strain of heroic poetry, and an appeal to the other tribes, in
words like the following:--"Let him who denies the truth of what I have
said, or who lays claim to as much glory, honour, and virtue as we do,
prove it here!"	Some rival poet then arose, and celebrated in similar
language the equal or superior glory attached to his own tribe,
endeavouring, at the same time, to under-value or ridicule his rival's
pretensions.

To allay the animosity and jealousies produced by this custom; or,
perhaps, to break the independent spirit of his fierce Bedouins,
Mohammed abolished it by a passage in the Koran, which says:--"When you
have completed the rites of the pilgrimage, remember God, as you
formerly were wont to commemorate your forefathers, and with still
greater fervency." Thus, probably, was removed the cause of many
quarrels; but, at the same time, this stern lawgiver destroyed the
influence which the songs of those rival national bards exercised over
the martial virtues and literary genius of their countrymen.

The visit of the Omra was likewise an ancient custom. Mohammed retained
the practice; and it is said that he frequently recited his evening
prayers on that spot.

Having completed the fatiguing ceremonies of the Towaf and Say, I had a
part of my head shaved, and remained sitting in the barber's shop, not
knowing any other place of repose. I inquired after lodgings, but
learned that the town was already full of pil-grims, and that many
others, who were expected, had engaged apartments. After some time,
however, I found a man who offered me a ready-furnished room: of this I
took possession, and having no servant, boarded with the owner. He and
his family, consisting of a wife and two children, retired into a small,
open court-yard, on the side of my room. The landlord was a poor man
from Medina,

MEKKA

[p.100] and by profession a Metowaf, or cicerone. Although his mode of
living was much below that of even the second class of Mekkawys, yet it
cost me fifteen piastres a day; and I found, after we parted, that
several articles of dress had been pilfered from my travelling sack; but
this was not all: on the feast-day he invited me to a splendid supper,
in company with half a dozen of his friends, in my room, and on the
following morning he presented me with a bill for the whole expense of
this entertainment.

The thousands of lamps lighted during Ramadhan in the great mosque,
rendered it the nightly resort of all foreigners at Mekka; here they
took their walk, or sat conversing till after midnight. The scene
presented altogether a spectacle which (excepting the absence of women)
resembled rather an European midnight assemblage, than what I should
have expected in the sanctuary of the Mohammedan religion. The night
which closes Ramadhan, did not present those brilliant displays of
rejoicing that are seen in other parts of the East; and the three
subsequent days of the festival are equally devoid of public amusements.
A few swinging machines were placed in the streets to amuse children,
and some Egyptian jugglers exhibited their feats to multitudes assembled
in the streets; but little else occurred to mark the feast, except a
display of gaudy dresses, in which the Arabians surpass both Syrians and
Egyptians.

I paid the visit, customary on occasion of this feast, to the Kadhy, and
at the expiration of the third day, (on the 15th of September,) set out
for Djidda, to complete my travelling equipments, which are more easily
procured there than at Mekka. On my way to the coast, I was nearly made
prisoner at Bahra by a flying corps of Wahabys. My stay at Djidda was
prolonged to three weeks, chiefly in consequence of sore legs; a disease
very prevalent on this unhealthy coast, where every bite of a gnat, if
neglected, becomes a serious wound.

About the middle of October I returned to Mekka, accompanied by a slave
whom I had purchased. This boy had been in the caravan with which I went
from the Black Country to Sowakin, and was

[p.101] quite astonished at seeing me in a condition so superior to that
in which he had before known me. I took with me a camel-load of
provisions, mostly flour, biscuit, and butter, procured in Djidda at one
third of the price demanded at Mekka, where, immediately on my arrival,
I hired decent apartments in a quarter of the town not much frequented,
called Haret el Mesfale. I had here the advantage of several large trees
growing before my windows, the verdure of which, among the barren and
sun-burnt rocks of Mekka, was to me more exhilarating than the finest
landscape could have been under different circumstances. At this place I
enjoyed an enviable freedom and independence, known only to the Kadhy
and his followers, who soon after took their departure. The Pasha and
his court remained at Tayf till the days of the Hadj. I frequented only
such society as pleased me, and, mixing with a crowd of foreign pilgrims
from all parts of the world, I was not liable to impertinent remarks or
disagreeable inquiries. If any question arose about my origin (a
circum-stance that rarely happened in a place which always abounds with
strangers), I stated myself to be a reduced member of the Mamelouk corps
of Egypt, and found it easy to avoid those persons whose intimate
knowledge of that country might perhaps have enabled them to detect the
falsehood. But there was little to be appre-hended even from the
consequences of such detection; for the assumption of a false character
is frequent among all eastern travellers, and especially at Mekka, where
every one affects poverty in order to escape imposition, or being led
into great expenses. During all my journies in the East, I never enjoyed
such perfect ease as at Mekka; and I shall always retain a pleasing
recollection of my residence there, although the state of my health did
not permit me to benefit by all the advantages that my situation
offered. I shall now proceed to describe the town, its inhabitants, and
the pilgrimage, and then resume the narrative of my travels.

[p.102] DESCRIPTION OF MEKKA. [EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN. [not included]]

MEKKA is dignified among the Arabs with many lofty-sounding titles. The
most common are Om el Kora (the mother of towns);

[p.103] El Mosherefe (the noble); Beled al Ameyn (the region of the
faithful). Firuzabadi, the celebrated author of the Kamus, has composed
a whole treatise on the different names of Mekka. This town is situated
in a valley, narrow and sandy, the main direction of which is from north
to south; but it inclines towards the north-west near the southern
extremity of the town. In breadth this valley varies from one hundred to
seven hundred paces, the chief part of the city being placed where the
valley is most broad. In the narrower part are single rows of houses
only, or detached shops. The town itself covers a space of about fifteen
hundred paces in length, from the quarter called El Shebeyka to the
extremity of the Mala; but the whole extent of ground comprehended under
the denomination of Mekka, from the suburb called Djerouel (where is the
entrance from Djidda) to the suburb called Moabede (on the Tayf road),
amounts to three thousand five hundred paces. The mountains inclosing
this valley (which, before the town was built, the Arabs had named Wady
Mekka or Bekka) are from two to five hundred feet in height, completely
barren and destitute of trees. The principal chain lies on the eastern
side of the town: the valley slopes gently towards the south, where
stands the quarter called El Mesfale (the low place). The rain-water
from the town is lost towards the south of Mesfale in the open valley
named Wady el Tarafeyn. Most of the town is situated in the valley
itself; but there are also parts built on the sides of the mountains,
principally of the eastern chain, where the primitive habitations of the
Koreysh, and the ancient town appear to have been placed.

Mekka may be styled a handsome town: its streets are in general broader
than those of eastern cities; the houses lofty, and built of stone; and
the numerous windows that face the streets give them a more lively and
European aspect than those of Egypt or Syria, where the houses present
but few windows towards the exterior. Mekka (like Djidda) contains many
houses three stories high; few at Mekka are white-washed; but the dark
grey colour of the stone is much pre-ferable to the glaring white that
offends the eye in Djidda. In most

[p.104] towns of the Levant the narrowness of a street contributes to
its coolness; and in countries where wheel-carriages are not used, a
space that allows two loaded camels to pass each other is deemed
sufficient. At Mekka, however, it was necessary to leave the passages
wide, for the innumerable visitors who here crowd together; and it is in
the houses adapted for the reception of pilgrims and other sojourners,
that the windows are so contrived as to command a view of the streets.

The city is open on every side; but the neighbouring mountains, if
properly defended, would form a barrier of considerable strength against
an enemy. In former times it had three walls to protect its extremities;
one was built across the valley, at the street of Mala; another at the
quarter of Shebeyka; and the third at the valley opening into the
Mesfale. These walls were repaired in A.H. 816 and 828, and in a century
after some traces of them still remained. [See Azraky, Fasy, and
Kotobeddyn.]

The only public place in the body of the town is the ample square of the
great mosque; no trees or gardens cheer the eye; and the scene is
enlivened only during the Hadj by the great number of well-stored shops
which are found in every quarter. Except four or five large houses
belonging to the Sherif, two medreses or colleges (now converted into
corn magazines), and the mosque, with some buildings and schools
attached to it, Mekka cannot boast of any public edifices, and in this
respect is, perhaps, more deficient than any other eastern city of the
same size. Neither khans, for the accommodation of travellers, or for
the deposit of merchandize, nor palaces of grandees, nor mosques, which
adorn every quarter of other towns in the East, are here to be seen; and
we may perhaps attribute this want of splendid buildings to the
veneration which its inhabi-tants entertain for their temple; this
prevents them from construct-ing any edifice which might possibly
pretend to rival it.

he mode of building is the same as that adopted at Djidda, with the
addition of windows looking towards the street; of these many project
from the wall, and have their frame-work elaborately

[p.105] carved, or gaudily painted. Before them hang blinds made of
slight reeds, which exclude flies and gnats while they admit fresh air.
Every house has its terrace, the floor of which (composed of a
preparation from lime-stone) is built with a slight inclination, so that
the rain-water runs off through gutters into the street; for the rains
here are so irregular that it is not worth while to collect the water of
them in cisterns, as is done in Syria. The terraces are concealed from
view by slight parapet walls; for throughout the east it is reckoned
discreditable that a man should appear upon the terrace, whence he might
be accused of looking at women in the neighbour-ing houses, as the
females pass much of their time on the terraces, employed in various
domestic occupations, such as drying corn, hanging up linen, &c. The
Europeans of Aleppo alone enjoy the privilege of frequenting their
terraces, which are often beautifully built of stone; here they resort
during the summer evenings, and often to sup and pass the night. All the
houses of the Mekkawys, except those of the principal and richest
inhabitants, are constructed for the accommodation of lodgers, being
divided into many apart-ments, separated from each other, and each
consisting of a sitting-room and a small kitchen. Since the pilgrimage,
which has begun to decline, (this happened before the Wahaby conquest,)
many of the Mekkawys, no longer deriving profit from the letting of
their lodgings, found themselves unable to afford the expense of
repairs; and thus numerous buildings in the out-skirts have fallen
completely into ruin, and the town itself exhibits in every street
houses rapidly decaying.	I saw only one of recent construction; it was
in the quarter of El Shebeyka, belonged to a sherif, and cost, as report
said, one hundred and fifty purses; such a house might have been built
at Cairo for sixty purses.

The streets are all unpaved; and in summer time the sand and dust in
them are as great a nuisance as the mud is in the rainy season, during
which they are scarcely passable after a shower; for in the interior of
the town the water does not run off, but remains till it is dried up. It
may be ascribed to the destructive rains,

[p.106] which, though of shorter duration than in other tropical
countries, fall with considerable violence, that no ancient buildings
are found in Mekka. The mosque itself has undergone so many repairs
under different sultans, that it may be called a modern structure; and
of the houses, I do not think there exists one older than four
centuries; it is not, therefore, in this place, that the traveller must
look for interesting specimens of architecture or such beautiful remains
of Saracenic structures as are still admired in Syria, Egypt, Barbary,
and Spain. In this respect the ancient and far-famed Mekka is surpassed
by the smallest provincial towns of Syria or Egypt. The same may be said
with respect to Medina, and I suspect that the towns of Yemen are
generally poor in architectural remains.

Mekka is deficient in those regulations of police which are customary in
Eastern cities. The streets are totally dark at night, no lamps of any
kind being lighted; its different quarters are without gates, differing
in this respect also from most Eastern towns, where each quarter is
regularly shut up after the last evening prayers. The town may therefore
be crossed at any time of the night, and the same attention is not paid
here to the security of merchants, as well as of husbands, (on whose
account principally, the quarters are closed,) as in Syrian or Egyptian
towns of equal magnitude. The dirt and sweepings of the houses are cast
into the streets, where they soon become dust or mud according to the
season. The same custom seems to have prevailed equally in ancient
times; for I did not perceive in the skirts of the town any of those
heaps of rubbish which are usually found near the large towns of Turkey.

With respect to water, the most important of all supplies, and that
which always forms the first object of inquiry among Asiatics, Mekka is
not much better provided than Djidda; there are but few cisterns for
collecting rain, and the well-water is so brackish that it is used only
for culinary purposes, except during the time of the pilgrimage, when
the lowest class of hadjys drink it. The famous well of Zemzem, in the
great mosque, is indeed sufficiently copious to supply the whole town;
but, however holy, its water is heavy to

[p.107] the taste and impedes digestion; the poorer classes besides have
not permission to fill their water-skins with it at pleasure. The best
water in Mekka is brought by a conduit from the vicinity of Arafat, six
or seven hours distant. The present government, instead of constructing
similar works, neglects even the repairs and requisite cleansing of this
aqueduct. It is wholly built of stone; and all those parts of it which
appear above ground, are covered with a thick layer of stone and cement.
I heard that it had not been cleaned during the last fifty years; the
consequence of this negligence is, that the most of the water is lost in
its passage to the city through apertures, or slowly forces its way
through the obstructing sediment, though it flows in a full stream into
the head of the aqueduct at Arafat. The supply which it affords in
ordinary times is barely sufficient for the use of the inhabitants, and
during the pilgrimage sweet water becomes an absolute scarcity; a small
skin of water (two of which skins a person may carry) being then often
sold for one shilling--a very high price among Arabs.


There are two places in the interior of Mekka where the aqueduct runs
above ground; there the water is let off into small channels or
fountains, at which some slaves of the Sherif are stationed, to exact a
toll from persons filling their water-skins. In the time of the Hadj,
these fountains are surrounded day and night by crowds of people
quarrelling and fighting for access to the water. During the late siege
the Wahabys cut off the supply of water from the aqueduct; and it was
not till some time after, that the injury which this structure then
received, was partially repaired.

The history of this aqueduct, a work of vast labour and magnitude, is
given by the Arabian historians at great length. Zebeyda, the wife of
Haroun-er'-Rashid, first carried the spring, called Ayn Noman, from its
source in Djebel Kora to the town. The spring of Ayn Arf from the foot
of Djebel Shamekh to the north of Djebel Kora, which watered the fertile
valley called Wady Honeyn, was next brought to join the Ayn Noman; and,
finally, four other sources were added to the aqueduct--El Beroud,
Zafaran, Meymoun, and Ayn Meshash.

[p.108] Subsequently it seems to have been obstructed; but in A.H. 643
it was repaired by Kokeboury, King of Arbela; again in 762, by order of
Sultan Sayd Khadanbede; and a third time, but not completely, in 811, by
the SheriL Hassan Ibn Adjelan, then reigning. Kaiabey, Sultan of Egypt,
expended a large sum upon it in 879; and in 916, Kansoue el Ghoury, one
of the last of the Zirkassian kings of Egypt, contributed to its repair:
but the aqueduct was still often obstructed; and whenever that happened,
the Mekkawys and Hadjys were ex-posed to great privations. In 931,
Sultan Soleyman attempted to construct it anew; but the design was not
completed. At last, his son, Selym Ibn Soleyman, or Selim II., after
many years labour, and at enormous expense, excavated a passage through
the rocks behind Arafat, and formed a new conduit, which alone now
subsists. He succeeded in bringing water very abundantly to the town, in
A.H. 979. The whole length of the aqueduct is seven or eight hours.

There is a small spring which oozes from under the rocks behind the
great palace of the Sherif, called Beit el Sad; it is said to afford the
best water in this country, but the supply is very scanty. The spring is
inclosed, and appropriated wholly to the Sherif's family.

Beggars, and infirm or indigent hadjys, often intreat the passengers in
the streets of Mekka for a draught of sweet water; they particularly
surround the water-stands, which are seen in every corner, and where,
for two paras in the time of the Hadj, and for one para, at other times,
as much water may be obtained as will fill a jar.

I shall now proceed to describe the different quarters of Mekka,
reserving an account of the great mosque to the last; and then add some
notices respecting the inhabitants and government.

[p.109] QUARTERS OF MEKKA.

AT the entrance from the side of Djidda, in turning round the angle of a
sandy and gravelly valley, the traveller sees two round watch-towers.
They were constructed by the Sherif Ghaleb for the defence of his
capital. Similar towers are seen at the other entrances of the town, and
they are sufficiently spacious to contain about twenty men. As the hills
approach very closely at the en-trance of the city, these towers command
the passage. Here, it appears, was formerly a gate, the threshold of
which only is now remaining, close to a small building, where the
officers of the Sherif collected the duties on merchandize, &c. carried
into the town. Here, also, is a row of shops, and low, ruined dwelling-
houses, known by the appellation of Hareh, or the quarter El Djerouel.
It comprises an encampment to the right, in which the Bedouins live who
carry on the transport trade between Mekka and Djidda; they belong to
the tribes of Harb, Metrefy, and Lahawy.


Beyond the Djerouel, the name of the street changes to that of Haret el
Bab. This is a broad street, with several good houses, and leads into
the quarter of El Shebeyka, which extends principally to the right, and
is so called because the followers of Mohammed, in their wars with the
Koreysh, were here attacked and closely pressed by their enemies. There
are many good houses in Shebeyka, which is one of the cleanest and
airiest quarters in the town. Many of the people of Djidda reside in it;
and here also the Sherif Ghaleb has a good house, where his family,
consisting of several young children

[p.110] and a grown-up daughter, continued to dwell after his
deposition. The main street is lined with coffee-shops, from which the
post sets out every evening, on asses, with the letters for Djidda. This
is the only post for letters that I have seen in the East, besides that
esta-blished among the Europeans at Cairo, between that city and
Alex-andria; but the delivery of letters is there much less regular than
it is at Mekka, where it is duly performed, and at the trifling expense
of two paras upon each letter, and as much more for the person who
distributes the letters received from Djidda.

In the coffee-shops just mentioned, live also the caravan-brokers,
through whose agency the Bedouins let out their camels for the journey
to Djidda and Medina.

On the western side of the Shebeyka, towards the mountain, is a large
burying-ground, in which are dispersed huts and tents of Bedouins, and
some miserable dwellings of the lowest class of public women: this is
called El Khandaryse. Although tradition says that great numbers of the
friends and adherents of Mohammed lie buried here, yet it has become
unfashionable to deposit the dead in it; and all of the first and second
classes of Mekkawys use the extensive cemeteries lying on the north of
the town. There are few shops in the Shebeyka; and it does not contain
many foreign inmates during the Hadj, being inhabited by persons in easy
circumstances, who consider it disgraceful to let out apartments.

In proceeding from the Shebeyka along the broad street, nor-therly, we
come to a bath, which, though by far the best of the three in Mekka, is
inferior to those of other Asiatic cities, from the scarcity of water;
it was built in A.H. 980, by Mohammed Pasha, the vizier of Sultan
Soleyman II., and is one of the best structures in the town. [Vide
Kotobeddyn.] It is frequented principally by foreigners, the native
Arabs being little accustomed to the use of the bath, and choosing to
perform the ablutions prescribed by their religion at their own
dwellings.

The bath, together with several by-streets leading to the mosque, forms
the quarter called Haret Bab el Omra, which is inhabited by

[p.111] a number of the guides called Metowef, and is full of pilgrims,
espe-cially of those from Turkey. The streets are narrow, and
excessively dirty; but the hadjys prefer the quarter, because it is the
cheapest in the vicinity of the mosque, near which they are anxious to
reside, that they may be sure of not missing the prayers; or, (as they
add) that, if disturbed in their sleep, they may have the temple close
at hand to dispel their bad dreams. Men are seen, in the middle of the
night, running to the mosque in their sleeping-clothes; here they
perform the walk round the Kaba, kiss the black stone, utter a short
prayer, drink of the water of Zemzem, and then return to their beds.
Near to the gate of the mosque called Bab Omra, from which this quarter
takes its name, is a spacious building, originally a public school, but
now occupied by Hassan Pasha, governor of Mekka. It is probably the
Medrese mentioned by El Fasy, as having been built near Bab el Omra, in
A.H. 814, by the orders of Mansour Ghyath Eddyn Atham Shah, the Lord of
Bengal. In A.H. 519, the governor of Aden also ordered a Medrese to be
built in this neighbourhood, which was called Dar-es'-Selsale. In this
quarter is one of the fountains of sweet water derived from the canal,
and there are several wells of brackish water.

Returning from hence to the Shebeyka, and then turning southerly along
different streets, composed of good buildings, but which are rapidly
falling to decay, we descend by a slight slope into the street called
Souk-es'-Sogheyr, or the little market, which terminates at the gate of
the great mosque, called Bab Ibrahim. The houses on both sides of this
street are low, and inhabited by the lower classes. There is a continued
range of shops, in which are sold all sorts of provisions, but
principally grain, butter, and dates. In some of the shops locusts are
sold by measure. The Souk is fre-quented chiefly by Bedouins of the
southern part of Arabia, who bring hither charcoal. Some poor Negro
pilgrims of Africa take up their abode also in the miserable huts and
ruined houses of this part of the town, and have here established a
market for firewood, which they collect in the surrounding mountains.


[p.112] The extremity of Souk-es'-Sogheyr, towards the mountain, is
called Haret el Hadjela, or Hadjela b'il Tekyet Sadek; where stand a few
tolerably good houses, inhabited by the eunuchs who guard the mosque,
and who live there with their wives, for they are all married to black
slaves. This is the lowest part of the town; and whenever great floods,
during the rainy season, inundate the valley, the water rushes through
this street, in its way to the open country. Some remains of the
aqueduct are visible here; for when it was kept in good repair, its
water, after supplying the town, was conducted this way into the
southern valley, where it served to irrigate some fields.

The Souk-es'-Sogheyr is sometimes comprehended in the Mesfale, or "low
place," the name of the quarter on the east and south sides of the Souk;
but that name is more commonly applied exclusively to the latter
district. The Mesfale is tolerably well built, and, like the Shebeyka,
contains a few new houses; but that part of it which lies towards the
great castle-hill is now almost entirely in ruins. It is inhabited by
Arab and Bedouin merchants, who travel in time of peace to Yemen,
principally to Mokhowa, from whence they import grain, coffee-beans, and
dried grapes. It is also the residence of many poor Indians, established
at Mekka; these let out their houses to their countrymen, who visit this
city in the time of the Hadj. In the ruined dwellings, Negro pilgrims
take up their temporary abode; some of these are settled in Mekka, and
their wives prepare the intoxicating liquor made from durra, and called
bouza, of which the meaner inhabitants are very fond. It was in the
Mesfale, as I have already mentioned, that I took up my lodging on
returning from Djidda, at first in the house of a Maggrebyn settler,
from which I soon afterwards removed into that of a Yemen merchant close
by. The person, whose apartment I hired, was from Szana in Yemen, a
Metowef or guide by profession, and who occupied the first floor of the
house, from which he removed, during my stay, into a corner on the
ground-floor; the other parts of the dwelling were inhabited by the
Maggrebyn landlord and his family, by a village sheikh from

[p.113] Egypt, who had come to the Hadj, accompanied by several fellahs,
by a poor man from the Afghan country, or territory El Soleymanye, as it
is now usually called; and by a hadjy or pilgrim from one of the Greek
islands. In the house of the Yemen merchant, I found myself among a
party of Maggrebyn pilgrims belonging to the Berber nation, or the
Shilhy, who had come by sea to Egypt. There are few houses in this part
of the town, where the same strange mixture of nations is not to be met
with.

On the southern extremity of the Mesfale is a large ruined khan, which,
even when new, must have been a mean building. It was destined for the
accommodation of the pilgrim-caravan, which formerly arrived by land
from Yemen, along the coast. Another Yemen pilgrim-caravan came along
the mountains.

In issuing from the town on this side, we discover a watch-tower
standing in the plain, similar in construction to those at the Djerouel
entrance. A broad valley leads from hence, in a southern direction, to
the small village of Hosseynye, two or three hours distant, where are
some date-trees. Here the Sherif Ghaleb had a small pleasure-garden and
a country-house; and he kept here a herd of buffaloes, brought from
Egypt; but they did not prosper. From Hosseynye a road leads to Arafat,
passing to the S. and S.E. of Mekka, two or three hours distant from
which, on that road, is the small fertile valley and Arab settlement of
Aabedye. The valley just mentioned is called El Tarafeyn; one mile
beyond the present skirts of the city may be traced the ruins of former
habitations; among them are several large, deep, and well-built
cisterns, which, with little labour, might again be rendered fit for
their original purpose of collecting rain-water. At a mile and a half
from the city is a large stone tank, called Birket Madjen, built for the
supplying of water to the Yemen caravan; I found some water in it, but
it is falling rapidly to decay. Beyond this tank, the people of the
Mesfale cultivate a few fields of cucumbers and different vegetables,
immediately after the fall of the rains, when the ground has been
copiously irrigated. Many Bedouin huts and tents of the tribes of Faham

[p.114] and Djehadele are scattered over this valley: their inhabitants
earn a livelihood by collecting in the mountains grass and wild herbs,
which they sell, when dry, in the Mekka market, twisted into bundles:
they serve to feed horses, camels, and asses; but are so scarce and
dear, that the daily feed for a horse costs from two to three piastres.
These Bedouins also rear a few sheep; but although poor, they keep
themselves quite distinct from the lower classes of the Mekkawys, whom
they scorn to imitate in their habits of mendicity. Some few of them are
water-carriers in the city.

On one summit of the western chain of the valley of Tarafeyn, just in
front of the Mesfale, stood, prior to the invasion of the Wahabys, a
small building with a dome, erected in honour of Omar, one of Mohammed's
immediate successors, and therefore called Mekam Seydna Omar.	It was
completely ruined by the Wahabys.

Nearly on the summit of the opposite mountain stands the Great Castle, a
very large and massy structure, surrounded by thick walls and solid
towers. It commands the greatest part of the town, but is commanded by
several higher summits. I heard that this castle owes its origin to the
Sherif Serour, the predecessor of Ghaleb; but I believe it to be of a
more ancient date. It is often mentioned by Asamy, in his history, as
early as the fourteenth century; but he does not say who built it. No
person might enter without per-mission from the governor of Mekka, and I
did not think it either prudent, or worth the trouble, to apply for that
favour. Ghaleb considerably strengthened and thoroughly repaired the
building, and mounted it with heavy guns. It was said that he had made
its principal magazines bomb-proof. It contains a large cistern and a
small mosque; and might accommodate a garrison of about one thousand
men. To Arabs it is an impregnable fortress; and so it is considered by
the Mekkawys; even against Europeans, it might offer some resistance.
The approach is by a steep narrow path.

Below the castle-hill, upon a small plain between the mountain and the
Djebel Kobeys, stands the great palace of the reigning

[p.115] sherif, called Beit es' Sade. This, too, is said to have been
built by Serour; but I find it mentioned by Asamy in the account of
trans-actions that occurred two hundred years ago. Its walls are very
high and solid, and seem to have been intended for an outwork to the
castle above it, with which, according to the reports of the Mekkawys,
there is a subterranean communication. It is an irregular pile of
building, and comprises many spacious courts and gloomy chambers, which
have not been inhabited since Sherif Ghaleb fled before the enemy to
Djidda: he then attempted to destroy it by fire; but it was too strongly
built. The Turks, under Mohammed Aly, have converted it into a magazine
of corn. In the adjacent plain, which was formerly the place of exercise
for the Sherif's troops, I found a herd of camels, with the encampment
of their drivers, who make a journey weekly to Djidda or Tayf. Here also
many poor hadjys, who could not pay for lodgings, had erected their
miserable tents, formed of a few rags spread upon sticks. The soldiers
were busily occupied in destroying all the remaining ceilings of the
palace, in quest of fire-wood.

In a narrow inlet in the mountain, to the north of the palace, and
adjoining the above-mentioned plain, are numerous low huts built of
brush-wood, the former abodes of Sherif Ghaleb's slaves, who served as
soldiers in his guard. The greater part of them fled after the Sherif's
capture; and the huts now form barracks for about two hundred Arab
soldiers, in the service of his successor, Sherif Yahya.

In turning from hence towards the mosque, on the right hand, we come to
a small quarter, built on the declivity of the mountain, in which are
many half-ruined houses: it is called Haret el Djyad, and is inhabited
by poor people, and several of the lower servants of the Sherif's
household. Asamy says that it derives its name from having been the post
occupied by the horsemen who accompanied Toba, King of Yemen, in his
expedition against Mekka; an event celebrated among the Moslim writers,
for the miraculous destruction of the army. This is certainly one of the
most ancient quarters of the town.

[p.116] Close by the mosque, on either side of the entrance to the
above-mentioned plain, stands a palace of the Sherif; the northern
consists of two stately houses, connected together, which are occupied
by Sherif Yahya: his women reside in the opposite southern building,
which was erected by Sherif Ghaleb, who in this favourite residence
spent the greater part of his time, induced by its vicinity to the
mosque, its central situation, and the large open space which it
commands.

Continuing from this place, in a northern direction, parallel with the
mosque, we enter the long street called Mesaa. The small by-streets to
the right, in approaching the Mesaa, form the quarter of El Szafa, which
takes its name from the holy place Szafa, already de-scribed. The houses
surrounding this place are handsome buildings, and here the richest
foreigners, in the time of the pilgrimage, take up their abode. In a
large house here resides the Aga of the eunuchs belonging to the temple,
together with all the eunuch boys, who are educated here, till they
attain a sufficient age to allow of their living in private lodgings.

We now turn into the Mesaa, the straightest and longest street in Mekka,
and one of the best built. It receives its name from the ceremony of the
Say, which is performed in it, and which I have already described: from
this circumstance, and its being full of shops, it is the most noisy and
most frequented part of the town. The shops are of the same description
as those enumerated in the account of Djidda, with the addition of a
dozen of tin-men, who make tin bottles of all sizes, in which the
pilgrims, upon their return, carry the water of Zemzem to their homes.
The shops are generally magazines on the ground-floor of the houses,
before which a stone bench is reared. Here the merchant sits, under the
shade of a slight awning of mats fastened to long poles; this custom
prevails throughout the Hedjaz. All the houses of the Mesaa are rented
by Turkish pilgrims. On the arrival of a party of hadjys from Djidda,
which happens almost every morning, for four or five months of the year,
their baggage is usually deposited in this street, after which they pay
their visit to the mosque,

[p.117] and then go in quest of lodgings; and in this manner I found the
street crowded almost every day with new comers, newsmongers, and
guides.

About the time of my stay at Mekka, the Mesaa resembled a
Constantinopolitan bazar. Many shops were kept by Turks from Europe or
Asia Minor, who sold various articles of Turkish dress, which had
belonged to deceased hadjys, or to those who, being deficient in cash,
had sold their wardrobe. Fine swords, good English watches, and
beautiful copies of the Koran, the three most valuable articles in a
Turkish pilgrim's baggage, were continually offered for sale.
Constantinopolitan pastry-cooks sold here pies and sweetmeats in the
morning; roasted mutton, or kebabs, in the afternoon; and in the
evening, a kind of jelly called mehalabye. Here, too, are nume-rous
coffee-houses, crowded from three o'clock in the morning until eleven
o'clock at night. The reader will be surprised to learn, that in two
shops intoxicating liquors are publicly sold during the night, though
not in the day-time: one liquor is prepared from fermented raisins, and
although usually mixed with a good deal of water, is still so strong,
that a few glasses of it produce intoxication. The other is a sort of
bouza, mixed with spices, and called soubye. This beverage is known
(although not made so strong) at Cairo.

The Mesaa is the place of punishment: there capital offenders are put to
death. During my stay, a man was beheaded, by sentence of the Kadhy, for
having robbed a Turkish pilgrim of about two hun-dred pounds sterling;
this was the only instance of the kind which came to my knowledge,
though thieves are said to abound in Mekka, while the Hadj continues.
The history of Mekka, however, affords many instances of the most cruel
punishments: in A.D. 1624, two thieves were flayed alive in this street;
in 1629, a military chief of Yemen, who had been made prisoner by the
reigning Sherif, had both his arms and shoulders perforated in many
places, and lighted tapers put into the wounds; one of his feet was
turned up, and fastened to his shoulder by an iron hook, and in this
posture he was suspended two days on a tree in the Mala, till he died.
The destruction

[p.118] of a man's sight, no uncommon punishment in other parts of the
east, seems never to have been inflicted by the Hedjaz governors.

In the Mesaa, and annexed to the mosque, stands a handsome building,
erected in A.H. 882, by Kaid Bey, Sultan of Egypt, in which he
established a large public school, with seventy-two different
apartments; he also furnished it with a valuable library. The historian
Kotobeddyn, who, one hundred years afterwards, was librarian here,
complains that only three hundred volumes remained in his time, the rest
having been stolen by his unprincipled predecessors.

On the northern extremity of the Mesaa is the place called Merowa, the
termination of the Say, as already described; this, as it now stands,
was built in A.H. 801. Behind it is shown a house which was the original
habitation of El Abbas, one of the many uncles of Mohammed. Near the
Merowa are the barbers' shops, in which pilgrims have their heads shaved
after performing the Say. Here, too, public auctions are held every
morning, where wearing-apparel, and goods of every description, are
offered to the highest bidder: for the sake of the Turkish pilgrims,
their language is used on these occasions; and there is scarcely a boy
at Mekka who is not thus acquainted with, at least, the Turkish
numerals. Near this place, too, is a public fountain, the work of the
Othman Emperor Soleyman Ibn Selym: it is supplied from the Mekka
aqueduct, and is crowded the whole day by hadjys, who come to fill their
water-skins.

Eastward of the Mesaa, near its extremity at the Merowa, branches off a
street called Soueyga, or the Little Market, which runs almost parallel
with the east side of the mosque. Though narrow, it is the neatest
street in the town, being regularly cleaned and sprinkled with water,
which is not the case with any of the others. Here the rich India
merchants expose their piece-goods for sale, and fine Cashmere shawls
and muslins. There are upwards of twenty shops, in which are sold
perfumes, sweet oils, Mekka balsam, (in an adulterated state,) aloe-
wood, civet, &c. Few pilgrims return to their homes without

[p.119] carrying some presents for their families and friends; these are
usually beads, perfumes, balm of Mekka, aloe-wood, which last is used
throughout the east, in small pieces, placed upon the lighted tobacco in
the pipe, producing an agreeable odour.

In other shops are sold strings of coral, and false pearls, rosaries
made of aloe, sandal or kalembac wood, brilliant necklaces of cut
cornelians, cornelians for seal-rings, and various kinds of China ware.
These shops are all kept by Indians, and their merchandize is entirely
of Indian production and manufacture. Against these Indians much
prejudice is entertained in Arabia, from a general opinion that they are
idolaters, who comply in outward appearance only with the rites of
Mohammedism: they are supposed to be of the Ismayley sect; those
mysterious devotees, of whom I have given some account in my journey to
Lebanon, [See Travels in Syria, &c.] and whose name is, at Mekka, applied
to those Indians. About a dozen of them reside here; the others arrive
annually at the pilgrimage; they buy up old gold and silver, which they
remit to Surat, from whence most of them come. Some have lived at Mekka
for ten years, scrupulously performing every religious ceremony; they
rent a large house, in which they live together, never allowing other
strangers to occupy any part of it, even should several of the
apartments be untenanted. Contrary to the practice of all other
Mohammedans, these Indians never bring their women to the pilgrimage,
although they could well afford the expense; and those residing, for
however long a period, at Mekka have never been known to marry there;
which is the more remarkable, as other natives of India, who live here
for any length of time, usually take wives, although they may have been
already married at home.

The same stories are prevalent respecting them, which are told of the
Syrian Ismayleys, to my account of whom I must refer the reader. [See
Travels in Syria and the Holy Land.] My endeavours to collect authentic
information on the subject of their secret doctrines were as fruitless
here as they had

[p.120] been in Syria, where it was vaguely reported that the chief seat
of the Ismayleys was in India, and that they kept up regular
correspondence between that country and Syria. A sect of "Light-
-extinguishers" is said to exist in India, as well as in Mesopotamia,
and to them the Ismayleys of Syria and those of Mekka may, perhaps,
belong. Those whom I saw at Mekka have rather the features of Persians
than of Indians, and are taller and stouter men than Indians in
general. [The people here mentioned by our author were probably some
Parsees from Surat or Bombay.]

About the middle of the Soueyga, where the street is only four paces in
breadth, are stone benches on each side. Here Abyssinian male and female
slaves are exposed for sale; and as beauty is an universal attraction,
these benches are always surrounded by hadjys, both old and young, who
often pretend to bargain with the dealers, for the purpose of viewing
the slave-girls, during a few moments, in some adjoining apartment. Many
of these slaves are carried from hence to the northern parts of Turkey.
The price of the handsomest was from one hundred and ten to one hundred
and twenty dollars.

At the extremity of the Soueyga, the street is covered with a high
vaulted roof of stone, supported on each side by several massy
buildings, serving as warehouses to the wealthy merchants; they were the
work of one Mohammed, Pasha of Damascus, who lived several centuries
ago, and now belong to the mosque. This, being the coolest spot in the
town during mid-day, is on that account the most frequented. In the
Soueyga all the gentlemen hadjys take their morning and evening lounge,
and smoke their pipes. I formed an acquaintance with one of the perfume-
sellers, and daily passed an hour in the morning, and another in the
afternoon, seated on the bench before his shop, smoking my nargyle, and
treating my friend with coffee. Here I heard the news:--whether any great
hadjy had arrived the preceding night; what law-suits had been carried
before

[p.121] the Kadhy; what was going forward in Mohammed Aly's army; or
what great commercial bargains had been concluded. Sometimes European
news would be discussed, such as the last fortunes of Bonaparte; for the
pilgrims who arrived from Constantinople and Greece were continually
bringing news from Europe. I usually spent the early part of each
morning, and the later part of the evening, in walking about the town,
and frequenting the coffee-houses in its extremities, where I might meet
with Bedouins, and, by treating them with a cup of coffee, soon engage
them to talk about their country and their nation. During the mid-day
hours I staid at home: the first part of the night I passed in the great
square of the mosque, where a cooling breeze always reigns; here, seated
upon a carpet, which my slave spread for me, I indulged in recollections
of far distant regions, while the pilgrims were busily engaged in
praying and walking round the Kaaba.

At the eastern extremity of the Soueyga, the street changes its name
into that of Shamye, which is applied also to several by-streets on
either side, those on the right leading towards the mountain, and those
on the left towards the mosque. At the further end the Shamye joins the
quarter of Shebeyka and Bab el Omar. This is a well-built part of the
town, chiefly inhabited by rich merchants, or by olemas attached to the
mosque. There are few shops in the main street except during the
pilgrimage, when many are opened, in which the Syrian merchants display
the produce and manufactures of their country; a circumstance from which
it derives its name. In these shops are found silk stuffs from Damascus
and Aleppo; cambric manufactured in the district of Nablous; gold and
silver thread from Aleppo; Bedouin handkerchiefs, called keffie, of
Baghdad and Damascus fabric; silk from Lebanon; fine carpets from
Anadolia and the Turkman Bedouins; abbas from Hamah; dried fruits and
the kammereddyn from Damascus; pistacios from Aleppo, &c. Among all the
Syrians at Mekka, I could never discover any indi-vidual whom I had
known in his own country, except the son of the chief of Palmyra, who,
however, did not recognise me. He had come

[p.122] with two or three hundred camels, to transport the baggage of
the Pasha of Damascus.

In returning through the Shamye towards the Soueyga, we find, on the
north side of these streets, a quarter called Garara, the most reputable
of the town, and perhaps the best built, where the weal-thiest merchants
have their houses. The two first merchants of the Hedjaz, Djeylany and
Sakkat, live here for the greater part of the year, and only go to
Djidda (where they also have establishments,) when the arrival of the
Indian fleet demands their presence at that place. In the quarter of
Garara, the women of Mohammed Aly Pasha, with a train of eunuchs
attached to them, have now taken up their abode. The houses are all two
or three stories high, many of them gaudily painted, and containing
spacious apartments. Here Sherif Ghaleb built a palace, the finest of
all those he possessed at Mekka, and resided in it principally during
the winter months, when he divided his time between this mansion and
that near the mosque. Some military chiefs have now taken up their
quarters in this palace, which will soon be ruined. It is distinguished
from the other houses of Mekka only by its size, and the number of
windows; having neither a fine portico, nor any other display of
architecture.

Near the palace, upon a hill which may be described as within the town,
Ghaleb built a fort, flanked by strong towers, but of much smaller size
than the great castle. When the Turkish army advanced towards the
Hedjaz, he mounted it with guns, and stored it well with provisions; but
the garrison, like that of the castle, dis-persed immediately after he
was made prisoner. The hill upon which it stands is known by the name of
Djebel Lala, and is often mentioned by Arabian poets. Opposite to this
hill, in a S.E. direc-tion, upon the summit of a mountain beyond the
precincts of the town, stands another small fort, which was also
repaired by Ghaleb. It is called Djebel Hindy, from the circumstance of
a great sheikh or devotee from Cashmere having been buried there. The
tower is now inhabited by a few Indian families, who enjoy the advantage
of an excellent cistern for rain-water. This mountain is also called by
the

[p.123] present Mekkawys "Djebel Keykaan"--an appellation more ancient
probably than that of Mekka itself. Azraky, however, places the Djebel
Keykaan more to the north, and says that the name is derived from the
cries and the clashing of arms of the Mekkawy army, which was stationed
there, when the Yemen army, under Toba, had taken possession of the hill
of Djyad. Between the two castle-hills, the space is filled with poor,
half-ruined houses, which are principally inha-bited by the lowest class
of Indians established at Mekka.

In turning eastward from the Garara, and passing the quarter called
Rekoube, which, in point of building, nearly equals the Garara, although
it is not reckoned so genteel a residence, we arrive at the great street
called Modaa, which is a continuation of the Mesaa, and then retrace our
steps through the latter to the vicinity of El Szafa, that we may survey
the eastern quarters of the town.

Near the Szafa branches off a broad street, running almost parallel with
the Modaa, to the east of it, called Geshashye. Here, among many smaller
dwellings, are several well-built, and a few lofty edifices; a number of
coffee-houses; several gunsmiths' shops; and a bath. Here resides the
Hakem, or superintendant of the police, who is the first officer under
the Sherif at Mekka. Part of the street is built on the lower declivity
of the eastern mountain, called Djebel Kobeys, to which narrow, dirty,
and steep lanes lead up on that side. The Geshashye is a favourite
quarter of the pilgrims, being broad, airy, and open to the northerly
winds. I lived here during the last days of Ramadhan, in September,
1814, when I first arrived at Mekka from Tayf.

This street, as it proceeds, adopts the name of Haret Souk el Leyl,
which comprises an extensive quarter on the East, where the Moled e'
Nebby, or Prophet's birth-place, is shown, and which adjoins the
Moamele, or establishment of the potteries. The by-streets close to the
Moled are denominated Shab el Moled, or "Rocks of the Moled," the ground
which rises here being covered with stones.

The Moamele lies on the side of Djebel Kobeys, and comprises about a
dozen furnaces, of which the chief productions are jars, especially

[p.124] those used in carrying the water of the celebrated well Zemzem.
These Moamele jars, although prettily wrought, are too heavy, dif-fering
in this respect from the beautiful pottery of Upper Egypt and Baghdad,
which are so slight that an empty jar may be thrown down by a mere puff
of wind. The Moamele alone supplies all the Hedjaz, at present, with
these water-vessels; and few hadjys return to their homes without some
jars, as specimens of Mekkawy ingenuity.

Farther on, the Souk el Leyl takes the name of El Ghazze, and so are
called both sides of the main street, which still forms a continuation
of the Geshashye. Several deep wells of brackish water are situated in
this street. Here also are found the shops of carpenters, upholsterers
from Turkey, undertakers, who make the seryrs, or stands, upon which the
Mekkawys sleep, as well as those on which they are carried to the grave.
Wholesale dealers in fruits and vegetables, which are brought from Tayf
and Wady Fatme, here dispose of their stock to the retail dealers early
in the morning. At the northern end of the Ghazze, where the street
widens consi-derably, is held a daily market of camels and cows. On the
east side, towards the mountain, and partly on its declivity, stands the
quarter called Shab Aly, adjoining the Shab el Moled: here is shown the
venerated place of Aly's nativity. Both these quarters, called Shab,
(i.e. rock,) are among the most ancient parts of the town, where the
Koreysh formerly lived; they are even now inhabited principally by
sherifs, and do not contain any shops. The houses are spacious, and in
an airy situation.

Beyond the cattle-market in the Ghazze, the dwelling-houses terminate,
and low shops and sheds occupy both sides of the street. This part is
called Souk el Haddadeyn; and here blacksmiths and Turkish locksmiths
have their shops. A little further, the street opens into that called
Mala, which is itself a continuation of the Modaa, and forms the
division between the eastern and western parts of the town, running due
north along the slightly ascending slope of the valley. The Modaa and
the Mala, (which latter means

[p.125] the High Place, in opposition to the Mesfale, or the low
quarter,) are filled with shops on both sides. Here are found grocers,
drug-gists, corn-merchants, tobacconists, haberdashers, sandal-makers,
and a great number of dealers in old clothes. In the Modaa is a large
corn magazine, formerly a public school; and there is another in the
Mala. From these, the provision-caravans for the Turkish army at Tayf
take their departure: public auctions are held in this place every
morning. At the northern end of the Mala is a market, whi-ther Bedouins
from all quarters bring their sheep for sale. Here, also, are the
butchers' shops, in which beef, mutton, and camels' flesh are sold; and
in the same street is a small chapel, or Mesdjed, [I believe this to be
the Mesdjed mentioned by historians under the name of Mesdjed Rayet. El
Azraky speaks of four or five other mosques at Mekka in his time.] for
daily prayers, the great mosque being distant; but the Friday's prayers
are always said in the latter. Towards this northern end of the Mala,
where it joins the Souk el Haddadeyn, the stone houses terminate, and
are succeeded by a single row of low shops and stands on each side,
where provisions are sold to the eastern Bedouins, who come to Mekka for
grain. Here is a coffee-house, called Kahwet el Hashashein, where are
sold the intoxicating preparations of hashysh and bendj, which are mixed
and smoked with tobacco. This house is frequented by all the lowest and
most disorderly persons of the town. Sherif Ghaleb had imposed a heavy
tax on the sale of hashysh, in order to discourage a practice directly
violating the law.

The Mala is known also under the appellation of Haret el Naga, which is
derived from the ancient name of Wady el Naga, given to this part of the
valley of Mekka.

In the by-streets of the Modaa the richest Indian traders have their
houses; here they receive customers, being too proud to open public
shops or warehouses. An Indian of this quarter, originally from Surat,
called El Shamsy, was esteemed the wealthiest man in the Hedjaz; yet his
mercantile concerns were much less extensive than those of Djeylany, and
several others. Though possessing

[p.126] several hundred thousand pounds sterling, this man bargained
with me personally for nearly an hour and a half about a muslin shawl,
not worth more than four dollars!

In the Modaa, a high, broad mole or embankment was thrown across the
valley, with an iron gate, by Omar Ibn el Khatab, to resist the torrents
flowing in this direction towards the mosque, during heavy rains. Some
vestiges of it remained till the fourteenth century. While it existed,
the pilgrims on arriving at Mekka used to enjoy from its summit the
first sight of the Kaaba; there also they recited prayers, from which
circumstance the street takes its name, Modaa meaning " place of
prayers."

Between the Modaa and Mala, on the one side, and the Ghazze and
Geshashye on the other, are several quarters consisting of tole-rable
buildings, but of extremely dirty and narrow streets, from which the
filth is never removed, and fresh air is always excluded. Here we find
the Zokak e Seiny, or "Chinese street," where gold and silversmiths have
their shops. They work in the coarsest manner, but are very much
employed, principally in making silver rings for men and women--ornaments
very generally used among the Arabs. To the south of this quarter is the
Zokak el Hadjar (called also Zokak el Merfek), or the "street of the
stone," which comprises the birth-place of Fatme, the daughter of
Mohammed; and of Abou Beker, the prophet's successor in the Khalifat.
This street takes its name from the hadjar, or stone, which used
miraculously to greet Mohammed with the salutation of "Salam aleyk,"
whenever he passed this way on his return from the Kaaba. It has been
mute since the days of the prophet, but is still shown, projecting a
little from the wall of a house, which, in honour of it has been white-
washed.

We now return towards the Mala, a little beyond the spot where it joins
the Ghazze. The shops terminate, and a broad, sandy plain commences, on
which there are only a few detached coffee-houses. This may be called
the extremity of the town. What lies farther towards the north, must be
considered as forming part of the suburbs. Continuing along the plain,
we find on each side of the

[p.127] road large birkets, or reservoirs of water, for the
accommodation of the pilgrim-caravans: they can be filled from the
aqueduct which passes this way towards the town. Of these birkets, one
is for the Egyptian caravan; another for the Syrian: they were
constructed in A.H. 821, are entirely cased with stone, and continue in
a state of perfect repair. Similar monuments of the munificent Turkish
Sul-tans are found at every station of the Hadj, from Medina as far as
Damascus and Aleppo. Some of those which I saw to the southward of
Damascus, appeared more solid in their construction than the birkets of
Mekka: that appropriated to the Egyptian pilgrims is about one hundred
and sixty feet square, and from thirty to thirty-five feet in depth.
When the birket contains from eight to ten feet of water, the supply is
deemed sufficient for the caravan. These reservoirs are never completely
filled. As the aqueduct furnishes water but scantily, adjoining to the
western birket are some acres, irrigated by means of a well, and
producing vegetables. Near it, also, is a small mosque, called Djama e
Soleymanye, in a state of decay, and no longer used for religious
purposes; but serving, at present, to lodge a few Turkish soldiers. It
belongs to the quarter named El Soleymanye, which extends from Djebel
Lala close to the western mountain, as far as the cemeteries beyond the
birkets. It does not contain any good houses; and I heard that it
derives its name from the Soleymanye, as the Muselmans call the people
of Kandahar, Afghanistan, Cashmere, and several other countries on this
side of the Indus. It is said that some descendants of those people who
were the original settlers, still reside here, mixed with many Indians.
It appears, however, from Kotobeddyn's history, that Sultan Solyman
erected, about A.H. 980, a mosque in this quarter. The mosque at least
may be supposed to have borrowed its name from the founder. The
inhabitants of Soleymanye are Muselmans of the Hanefy sect, the first of
the four orthodox divi-sions, and not disciples of Aly, like the
Persians; many of whom come yearly to the Hadj of Mekka, either by sea
from Bombay or Bassora, or by land, travelling as dervises, along the
southern provinces of

[p.128] Persia to Baghdad, and through Mesopotamia and Syria to Egypt. I
have seen many who had come by that route; they appeared to be men of a
much better and more vigorous character than the gene-rality of Indians.

Opposite to this quarter El Soleymanye, on the eastern mountain, and
adjoining the Ghazze and Shab Aly, is a half-ruined district, called
Shab Aamer, inhabited by Bedouin pedlars of the Thekyf and Koreysh
tribes, and by a few poor sherif families. In this quarter are some
large mills, worked by horses, for the Turkish governor: the town, I
believe, does not contain any others of considerable size. It is the
custom at Mekka to use hand-mills, which are usually turned by the
slaves of the family, or, among the poorer classes, by the women. Here,
also, are the only places in Mekka (or perhaps in the Hedjaz) where
linen and cotton are dyed with indigo and saffron: woollen cloth is not
dyed here.

As numbers of the public women reside at Shab Aamer, this quarter is not
ranked among the most respectable in Mekka. Sherif Ghaleb imposed a
regular tax upon those females, and required an additional payment from
such of them as, in the time of the pilgrim-age, followed the hadjys to
Arafat. A similar tax is levied at Cairo, and in all the great
provincial towns of Egypt. Mekka abounds with the frail sisterhood,
whose numbers are increased during the Hadj by adventurers from foreign
countries. They are somewhat more decorous than the public women in
Egypt, and never appear in the streets without veils. Among them are
many Abyssinian slaves, whose former masters, according to report, share
the profits of their vocation. Some are slaves belonging to Mekkawys.

The Arabian poets make frequent allusions to Shab Aamer; thus Ibn el
Faredh says:--

	"Is Shab Aamer, since we left it, still inhabited?
	Is it to this day the place of meeting for lovers?" [See Sir William
Jones's Comment de Poes. Asiat., on the subject of a poem by Ibn Faredh,
which abounds with local allusions to Mekka.]


[p.129] Proceeding from the birkets northward over the plain, we come to
an insulated house, of good size and construction, belonging to the
Sherif, in which some of Ghaleb's favourites once resided. Opposite to
this building, a paved causeway leads towards the western hills, through
which is an opening that seems artificial. El Azraky applies the name
Djebel el Hazna to this part of the mountain; and says that the road was
cut through the rock by Yahia Ibn Khold Ibn Barmak. On the other side of
the opening, the road descends into the plain of Sheikh Mahmoud, so
named from the tomb of a saint, round which the Syrian pilgrims
generally encamp. Sherif Ghaleb erected upon the hill, on both sides of
the narrow road, which is formed in rude steps, (whether natural or
artificial, it would be difficult to say,) two watch-towers, similar to
those already described. On both sides of the causeway, in the valley of
Mekka, extend the burying-grounds, where most of the inhabitants of the
city have their family tombs.

A little beyond the Sherif's house just mentioned, and at the
termi-nation of the Mala, stands the tomb of Abou Taleb, an uncle of
Mo-hammed, and father of Aly. The Wahabys reduced the building which
covered the tomb to a mere heap of rubbish; and Mohammed Aly Pasha has
not thought fit to rebuild it. Abou Taleb is the great patron of the
city; and there are many persons at Mekka who, though they would have
little scruple in breaking an oath taken before God, yet would be afraid
of invoking the name of Abou Taleb in confirmation of a falsehood. "I
swear by the Mosque"--"I swear by the Kaaba," are ejaculations constantly
used by the Mekkawys to impose upon strangers; but to swear by Abou
Taleb is a more serious imprecation, and is seldom heard upon such
occasions. Opposite to the ruined tomb stands a public fountain,
consisting of a trough built of stone, fifty or sixty feet in length,
which is daily filled with water from the aqueduct. Near it grow a few
trees.

No buildings are seen beyond the fountain, till we come to a large
palace of the Sherif, which is surrounded by high walls flanked with
towers, and contains within the inclosure a spacious court-yard. In the
time of the Sherif it was well garrisoned, and during his wars with the
Wahabys he often resided here, as he could set out from hence upon a

[p.130] secret attack or expedition, without its becoming immediately
known in the city. The building now serves as a barrack for the Turkish
soldiers.

To the north of this palace lies the quarter or suburb called Moabede,
which consists partly of low and ill-built stone houses, and partly of
huts constructed of brushwood; it is wholly inhabited by Bedouins, who
have become settlers here, for the purpose of carrying on a traffic,
principally in corn, dates, and cattle, between the town and their
native tribes. I have seen among them Arabs of the tribes of Koreysh,
Thekyf, Hodheyl, and Ateybe; and it was said that, in time of peace,
individuals of all the great tribes of the Desert, and of Nedjed, are
occasionally found here.  They live, as I have already observed in
speaking of those who occupy another part of Mekka, much in the same
manner as they would do in the Desert. Their houses contain no furniture
but such as is to be found under the tent of a wealthy Bedouin. Being at
a distance from the great mosque, they have en-closed a square space
with low walls, where such of them as pretend to any regularity in their
devotions (which seldom happens among Bedouins), recite their prayers
upon the sand, according to the custom of the Desert.

The Turkish governor of Mekka has not thought proper to place here any
of his soldiers, for which the suburb is much indebted to him. The
Moabede is, by its situation, and the pursuits of its inhabitants, so
much separated from the city, that a woman here had not entered the town
for the last three years, as she herself assured me; although the
Bedouin females walk about the valley with freedom.

The valley of Mekka has here two outlets: on the north side is a narrow
passage, defended by two watch-towers: it leads to Wady Fatme. At the
eastern extremity, the Moabede is terminated by a garden and pleasure-
house of the Sherif, where Ghaleb used frequently to pass the hours of
noon. The garden is enclosed by high walls and towers, and forms a
fortified post in advance of the town. It contains date and nebek and a
few other fruit-trees, the verdure and shade of which must be
particularly agreeable. In the time of Ghaleb, the entrance was always
open to the people of Mekka. The house is badly

[p.131] built, and is not one of Ghaleb's works. During his last wars
with the Wahabys, the latter obtained possession of this residence, and
fought for several weeks with the soldiers of Mekka, who were posted at
the neighbouring palace or barrack to the south; and who, having laid a
mine, and blown up a part of the walls, forced the Wahabys to retreat.
Ghaleb subsequently repaired the damage. Some Turkish soldiers now live
in the house, which is already half ruined by them. A public fountain of
sweet water, no longer in use, with a pretty cupola built over it,
stands on one side of the garden; on the other is a large well of
brackish water: many such are dispersed over the Moabede.

The road from Mekka, eastward, towards Arafat and Tayf, passes by this
house; at a short distance beyond it the valley widens, and here the
Egyptian Hadj establishes its encampment, part of which generally
stretches over the plain towards the birket. Formerly, the Syrian
caravan used to encamp at the same place. Between the garden-house and
the palace or barrack just mentioned, the aqueduct of Mekka is conducted
above ground for about one hundred paces, in a channel of stone,
plaistered on the inside, and rising four feet above the surface. This
is the only place in the valley of Mekka where it is visible.

As soon as we pass these extreme precincts of Mekka, the Desert presents
itself; for neither gardens, trees, nor pleasure-houses, line the
avenues to the town, which is surrounded on every side by barren sandy
valleys, and equally barren hills. A stranger placed on the great road
to Tayf, just beyond the turn of the hill, in the immediate
neigh-bourhood of the Sherif's garden-house, would think himself as far
removed from human society as if he were in the midst of the Nubian
Desert. But this may be wholly ascribed to the apathy of the
inhabitants, and their indifference for agricultural pursuits. Numerous
wells, dispersed throughout the town, prove that water may be easily
obtained at about thirty feet below the surface.

In Arabia, wherever the ground can be irrigated by wells, the sands may
be soon made productive. The industry of a very few years might thus
render Mekka and its environs as remarkable for gardens and plantations,
as it now is for absolute sterility. El Azraky speaks

[p.132] of gardens in this valley, and describes different springs and
wells that no longer exist, having probably been choked up by the
violent torrents. El Fasy likewise affirms that in his days the town
contained no less than fifty-eight wells. But, in the earliest times of
Arabian history, this place was certainly barren; and the Koran styles
it accordingly "the valley without seeds." Azraky further says, that
before houses were constructed here by the Kossay, this valley abounded
with acacias and various thorny trees.

Nothing is more difficult than to compute exactly the population of
eastern towns, where registers are never kept, and where even the number
of houses can scarcely be ascertained. To judge from appearances, and by
comparison with European towns, in which the amount of population is
well known, may be very fallacious. The private habitations in the East
are generally (though the Hedjaz forms an exception to this rule) of one
story only, and therefore contain fewer inmates in proportion than
European dwellings. On the other hand, Eastern towns have very narrow
streets, are without public squares or large market-places, and their
miserable suburbs are in general more nurously peopled than their
principal and best streets. Travellers, however, in passing rapidly
through towns, may be easily deceived, for they see only the bazars and
certain streets, in which the greater part of the male population is
usually assembled during the day. Thus it happens that recent and
respectable authorities have stated two hundred thousand souls as the
population of Aleppo; four hundred thousand as that of Damascus; and
three hundred thousand as that of Cairo. My estimate of the population
of the three great Syrian towns is as follows:--Damascus two hundred and
fifty thousand; Hamah (of which, however, I must speak with less
confidence) from sixty to one hundred thousand; and Aleppo, daily
dwindling into decay, between eighty and ninety thousand. To Cairo I
would allow at most two hundred thousand. As to Mekka, which I have seen
both before and after the Hadj, and know, perhaps, more thoroughly than
any other town of the East, the result of my inquiries gives between
twenty-five and thirty thousand stationary inhabitants, for the
population of the city and suburbs; besides from three to four thousand
Abyssinian and

[p.133] black slaves: its habitations are capable of containing three
times this number. In the time of Sultan Selym I. (according to
Kotobeddyn, in A.H. 923) a census was taken of the inhabitants of Mekka,
previous to a gratuitous distribution of corn among them, and the number
was found to be twelve thousand, men, women, and children. The same
author shows that, in earlier times, the population was much more
considerable; for when Abou Dhaher, the chief of the Carmatis, (a
heretic sect of Moslims) sacked Mekka, in A.H. 314, thirty thousand of
the inhabitants were killed by his ferocious soldiers.

[p.134] DESCRIPTION OF THE BEITULLAH, OR GREAT
MOSQUE, AT MECCAH.

WHERE the valley is wider than in other interior parts of the town,
stands the mosque, called Beitullah, or El Haram, a building remarkable
only on account of the Kaaba, which it encloses; for there are several
mosques in other places of the East nearly equal to this in size, and
much superior to it in beauty.

The Kaaba stands in an oblong square, two hundred and fifty paces long,
and two hundred broad, none of the sides of which run quite in a
straight line, though at first sight the whole appears to be of a
regular shape. This open square is enclosed on the eastern side by a
colonnade: the pillars stand in a quadruple row: they are three deep on
the other sides, and united by pointed arches, every four of which
support a small dome, plastered and whitened on the outside. These
domes, according to Kotobeddyn, are one hundred and fifty-two in number.
Along the whole colonnade, on the four sides, lamps are suspended from
the arches. Some are lighted every night, and all during the nights of
Ramadhan. The pillars are above twenty feet in height, and generally
from one foot and a half to one foot and three quarters in diameter; but
little regularity has been observed in regard to them. Some are of white
marble, granite, or porphyry, but the greater number are of common stone
of the Mekka mountains. El Fasy states the whole at five hundred and
eighty-nine, and says they are all of marble, excepting one hundred and
twenty-six, which are of common stone, and three of composition.
Kotobeddyn reckons five hundred and fifty-five, of which, according to
him, three hundred and eleven are of marble, and the rest of stone taken
from the neighbouring mountains; but neither of these authors lived to
see

[p.135] the latest repairs of the mosque, after the destruction
occasioned by a torrent, in A.D. 1626. Between every three or four
columns stands an octagonal one, about four feet in thickness. On the
east side are two shafts of reddish gray granite, in one piece, and one
fine gray porphyry column with slabs of white feldspath. On the north
side is one red granite column, and one of fine-grained red porphyry:
these are probably the columns which Kotobeddyn states to have been
brought from Egypt, and principally from Akhmim (Panopolis), when the
chief El Mohdy enlarged the mosque, in A.H. 163. Among the four hundred
and fifty or five hundred columns, which form the enclosure, I found not
any two capitals or bases exactly alike: the capitals are of coarse
Saracen workmanship; some of them, which had served for former
buildings, by the ignorance of the workmen have been placed upside down
upon the shafts. I observed about half a dozen marble bases of good
Grecian workmanship. A few of the marble columns bear Arabic or Cufic
inscriptions, in which I read the dates 863 and 762. (A.H). A column on
the east side exhibits a very ancient Cufic inscription, somewhat
defaced, which I could neither read nor copy. Those shafts, formed of
the Mekka stone, cut principally from the side of the mountain near the
Shebeyka quarter, are mostly in three pieces, but the marble shafts are
in one piece. Some of the columns are strengthened with broad iron rings
or bands, as in many other Saracen buildings of the East: they were
first employed here by Ibn Dhaher Berkouk, King of Egypt, in rebuilding
the mosque, which had been destroyed by fire in A. H. 802.

This temple has been so often ruined and repaired, that no traces of
remote antiquity are to be found about it. On the inside of the great
wall which encloses the colonnades, a single Arabic inscription is seen,
in large characters, but containing merely the names of Mohammed and his
immediate successors: Abou Beker, Omar, Othman, and Aly. The name of
Allah, in large characters, occurs also in several places. On the
outside, over the gates, are long inscriptions, in the Solouth
character, commemorating the names of those by whom the gates were
built, long and minute details of which are given by the historians of
Mekka. The inscription on the south side, over Bab

[p.136] Ibrahim, is most conspicuous; all that side was rebuilt by the
Egyptian Sultan El Ghoury, in A.H. 906. Over the Bab Aly and Bab Abbas
is a long inscription, also in the Solouth character, placed there by
Sultan Murad Ibn Soleyman, in A.H. 984, after he had repaired the whole
building. Kotobeddyn has given this inscription at length; it occupies
several pages in his history, and is a monument of the Sultan's vanity.
This side of the mosque having escaped destruction in 1626, the
inscription remains uninjured.

Some parts of the walls and arches are gaudily painted, in stripes of
yellow, red, and blue, as are also the minarets. Paintings of flowers,
in the usual Muselman style, are no where seen; the floors of the
colonnades are paved with large stones badly cemented together.

Seven paved causeways lead from the colonnades towards the Kaaba, or
holy house, in the centre. They are of sufficient breadth to admit four
or five persons to walk abreast, and they are elevated about nine inches
above the ground. Between these causeways, which are covered with fine
gravel or sand, grass appears growing in several places, produced by the
Zemzem water dozing out of the jars, which are placed in the ground in
long rows during the day. The whole area of the mosque is upon a lower
level than any of the streets surrounding it. There is a descent of
eight or ten steps from the gates on the north side into the platform of
the colonnade, and of three or four steps from the gates, on the south
side.

Towards the middle of this area stands the Kaaba; it is one hundred and
fifteen paces from the north colonnade, and eighty-eight from the south.
For this want of symmetry we may readily account, the Kaaba having
existed prior to the mosque, which was built around it, and enlarged at
different periods. The Kaaba is an oblong massive structure, eighteen
paces in length, fourteen in breadth, and from thirty-five to forty feet
in height. I took the bearing of one of its longest sides, and found it
to be N.N.W. 1/2 W. It is constructed of the grey Mekka stone, in large
blocks of different sizes, joined together in a very rough manner, and
with bad cement. It was entirely rebuilt as it now stands in A.D. 1627:
the torrent, in the preceding year, had thrown down three of its sides;
and preparatory to its re-erection, the fourth

[p.137] side was, according to Asamy, pulled down, after the olemas, or
learned divines, had been consulted on the question, whether mortals
might be permitted to destroy any part of the holy edifice without
incurring the charge of sacrilege and infidelity.

The Kaaba stands upon a base two feet in height, which presents a sharp
inclined plane; its roof being flat, it has at a distance the appearance
of a perfect cube. The only door which affords entrance, and which is
opened but two or three times in the year, is on the north side, and
about seven feet above the ground. In entering it, therefore, wooden
steps are used--of them I shall speak hereafter. In the first periods of
Islam, however, when it was rebuilt in A.H. 64, by Ibn Zebeyr, chief of
Mekka, the nephew of Aysha, it had two doors even with the ground-floor
of the mosque. The present door (which, according to Azraky, was brought
hither from Constantinople in 1633) is wholly coated with silver, and
has several gilt ornaments. Upon its threshold are placed every night
various small lighted wax candles, and perfuming-pans, filled with musk,
aloe-wood, &c.

At the North-east corner of the Kaaba, near the door, is the famous
"Black Stone;" it forms a part of the sharp angle of the building, at
four or five feet above the ground. It is an irregular oval, about seven
inches in diameter, with an undulated surface, composed of about a dozen
smaller stones of different sizes and shapes, well joined together with
a small quantity of cement, and perfectly smoothed: it looks as if the
whole had been broken into many pieces by a violent blow, and then
united again. It is very difficult to determine accurately the quality
of this stone, which has been worn to its present surface by the
millions of touches and kisses it has received. It appeared to me like a
lava, containing several small extraneous particles, of a whitish and of
a yellowish substance. Its colour is now a deep reddish brown,
approaching to black: it is surrounded on all sides by a border,
composed of a substance which I took to be a close cement of pitch and
gravel, of a similar, but not quite the same brownish colour. This
border serves to support its detached pieces; it is two or three inches
in breadth, and rises a little above the surface of the stone: Both the
border and the stone itself are encircled by a silver band, broader
below than above

[p.138] and on the two sides, with a considerable swelling below, as if
a part of the stone were hidden under it. The lower part of the border
is studded with silver nails.

In the south-east corner of the Kaaba, or, as the Arabs call it, Roken
el Yemany, there is another stone, about five feet from the ground; it
is one foot and a half in length, and two inches in breadth, placed
upright, and of the common Mekka stone. This the people walking round
the Kaaba touch only with the right hand: they do not kiss it.

On the north side of the Kaaba, just by its door, and close to the wall,
is a slight hollow in the ground, lined with marble, and sufficiently
large to admit of three persons sitting. Here it is thought meritorious
to pray: the spot is called El Madjen, and supposed to be that where
Abraham and his son Ismayl kneaded. the chalk and mud which they used in
building the Kaaba; and near this Madjen, the former is said to have
placed the large stone upon which he stood while working at the masonry.
On the basis of the Kaaba, just over the Madjen, is an ancient Cufic
inscription; but this I was unable to decipher, and had no opportunity
of copying it. I do not find it mentioned by any of the historians.

On the west side of the Kaaba, about two feet below its summit, is the
famous Myzab, or water-spout, through which the rain-water collected on
the roof of the building is discharged, so as to fall upon the ground;
it is about four feet in length, and six inches in breadth, as well as I
could judge from below, with borders equal in height to its breadth. At
the mouth, hangs what is called the beard of the Myzab, a gilt board,
over which the water falls. This spout was sent hither from
Constantinople in A.H. 981, and is reported to be of pure gold. The
pavement round the Kaaba, below the Myzab, was laid down in A.H. 826,
and consists of various coloured stones, forming a very handsome
specimen of mosaic. There are two large slabs of fine verde-antico in
the centre, which, according to Makrizi, [See, in his work, the chapter
"On the Excellencies of Egypt."] were sent thither as

[p.139] presents from Cairo, in A.H. 241. This is the spot where,
according to Mohammedan tradition, Ismayl, the son of Ibrahim, or
Abraham, and his mother Hagar, are buried; and here it is meritorious
for the pilgrim to recite a prayer of two rikats. On this west side is a
semicircular wall, the two extremities of which are in a line with the
sides of the Kaaba, and distant from it three or four feet, leaving an
opening which leads to the burying-place of Ismayl. The wall bears the
name of El Hatym, and the area which it encloses is called Hedjer, or
Hedjer Ismayl, on account of its being separated from the Kaaba: the
wall itself, also, is sometimes so called; and the name Hatym is given
by the historians to the space of ground between the Kaaba and the wall
on one side, and the Bir Zemzem and Makam Ibrahim on the other. The
present Mekkawys, however, apply the name Hatym to the wall only.

Tradition says that the Kaaba once extended as far as the Hatym, and
that this side having fallen down just at the time of the Hadj, the
expenses of repairing it were demanded from the pilgrims, under a
pretence that the revenues of government were not acquired in a manner
sufficiently pure to admit of their application towards a purpose so
sacred, whilst the money of the hadjys would possess the requisite
sanctity. The sum, however, obtained from them, proved very inadequate:
all that could be done, therefore, was to raise a wall, which marked the
space formerly occupied by the Kaaba. This tradition, although current
among the Metowefs, is at variance with history, which declares that the
Hedjer was built by the Beni Koreysh, who contracted the dimensions of
the Kaaba; that it was united to the building by Hadjadj, and again
separated from it by Ibn Zebeyr. It is asserted by Fasy, that a part of
the Hedjer, as it now stands, was never comprehended within the Kaaba.
The law regards it as a portion of the Kaaba, inasmuch as it is esteemed
equally meritorious to pray in the Hadjer as in the Kaaba itself; and
the pilgrims who have not an opportunity of entering the latter, are
permitted to affirm upon oath that they have prayed in the Kaaba,
although they may have only prostrated themselves within the enclosure
of the Hatym.

[p.140] The wall is built of solid stone, about five feet in height, and
four in thickness, cased all over with white marble, and inscribed with
prayers and invocations, neatly sculptured upon the stone in modern
characters. These and the casing are the work of El Ghoury, the Egyptian
Sultan, in A.H. 917, as we learn from Kotobeddyn. The walk round the
Kaaba is performed on the outside of the wall--the nearer to it the
better.

The four sides of the Kaaba are covered with a black silk stuff, hanging
down, and leaving the roof bare. [The Wahabys, during the first year of
their residence at Mekka, covered the Kaaba with a red kesoua, worked at
El Hassa, of the same stuff as the fine Arabian Abbas.] This curtain, or
veil, is called kesoua, and renewed annually at the time of the Hadj,
being brought from Cairo, where it is manufactured at the Grand
Seignior's expense. [During the first century of Islam, the kesoua was
never taken away, the new one being annually put over the old. But the
Mekkawys at length began to fear that the Kaaba might yield under such
an accumulation, and the Khalif El Mohdy Abou Abdallah removed the
coverings in A.H. 160. (See Makrizy.)] On it are various prayers
interwoven in the same colour as the stuff, and it is, therefore,
extremely difficult to read them. A little above the middle, and running
round the whole building, is a line of similar inscriptions, worked in
gold thread. That part of the kesoua which covers the door is richly
embroidered with silver. Openings are left for the Black Stone, and the
other in the south-east corner, which thus remain uncovered. The kesoua
is always of the same form and pattern; that which I saw on my first
visit to the mosque, was in a decayed state, and full of holes. On the
25th of the month Zul' Kade the old one is taken away, and the Kaaba
continues without a cover for fifteen days. It is then said that El
Kaaba Yehrem, "The Kaaba has assumed the ihram," which lasts until the
tenth of Zul Hadje, the day of the return of the pilgrims from Arafat to
Wady Muna, when the new kesoua is put on. During the first days, the new
covering is tucked up by cords fastened to the roof, so as to leave the
lower part of the building exposed: having remained thus for some days,
it is let down, and covers the whole structure, being then tied to
strong brass

[p.141] rings in the basis of the Kaaba. The removal of the old kesoua
was performed in a very indecorous manner; and a contest ensued among
the hadjys and people of Mekka, both young and old, about a few rags of
it. The hadjys even collect the dust which sticks to the walls of the
Kaaba, under the kesoua, and sell it, on their return, as a sacred
relic. At the moment the building is covered, and completely bare,
(uryan, as it is styled,) a crowd of women assemble round it, rejoicing
with cries called "Walwalou."

The black colour of the kesoua, covering a large cube in the midst of a
vast square, gives to the Kaaba, at first sight, a very singular and
imposing appearance; as it is not fastened down tightly, the slightest
breeze causes it to move in slow undulations, which are hailed with
prayers by the congregation assembled around the building, as a sign of
the presence of its guardian angels, whose wings, by their motion, are
supposed to be the cause of the waving of the covering. Seventy thousand
angels have the Kaaba in their holy care, and are ordered to transport
it to Paradise, when the trumpet of the last judgment shall be sounded.

The clothing of the Kaaba was an ancient custom of the Pagan Arabs. The
first kesoua, says El Azraky, was put on by Asad Toba, one of the
Hamyarite kings of Yemen: before Islam it had two coverings, one for
winter and the other for summer. In the early ages of Islam it was
sometimes white and sometimes red, and consisted of the richest brocade.
In subsequent times it was furnished by the different Sultans of
Baghdad, Egypt, or Yemen, according as their respective influence over
Mekka prevailed; for the clothing of the Kaaba appears to have always
been considered as a proof of sovereignty over the Hedjaz. Kalaoun,
Sultan of Egypt, assumed to himself and successors the exclusive right,
and from them the Sultans at Constantinople have inherited it. Kalaoun
appropriated the revenue of the two large villages Bysous and Sandabeir,
in Lower Egypt, to the expense of the kesoua; and Sultan Solyman Ibn
Selym subsequently added several others; but the Kaaba has long been
deprived of this resource. [Vide Kotobeddyn and Asamy]

[p.142] Round the Kaaba is a good pavement of marble, about eight inches
below the level of the great square; it was laid in A.H. 981, by order
of the Sultan, and describes an irregular oval; it is surrounded by
thirty-two slender gilt pillars, or rather poles, between every two of
which are suspended seven glass lamps, always lighted after sun-set.
Beyond the poles is a second pavement, about eight paces broad, somewhat
elevated above the first, but of coarser work; then another, six inches
higher, and eighteen paces broad, upon which stand several small
buildings; beyond this is the gravelled ground, so that two broad steps
may be said to lead from the square down to the Kaaba. The small
buildings just mentioned, which surround the Kaaba, are the five Makams,
with the well of Zemzem, the arch called Bab-es'-Salam, and the Mambar.

Opposite the four sides of the Kaaba stand four other small buildings,
where the Imaums of the orthodox Mohammedan sects, the Hanefy, Shafey,
Hanbaly, and Maleky, take their station, and guide the congregation in
their prayers. The Makam el Maleky, on the south, and that of Hanbaly,
opposite the Black Stone, are small pavilions, open on all sides, and
supported by four slender pillars, with a light sloping roof,
terminating in a point, exactly in the style of Indian pagodas. The
Makam el Hanefy, which is the largest, being fifteen paces by eight, is
open on all sides, and supported by twelve small pillars; it has an
upper story, also open, where the Mueddin who calls to prayers, takes
his stand. This was first built in A.H. 923, by Sultan Selym I.; it was
afterwards rebuilt by Khoshgeldy, governor of Djidda, in 947; but all
the four Makams, as they now stand, were built in A.H. 1074. [Vide
Kotobeddyn and Asamy] The Makam-es-Shafey is over the well Zemzem, to
which it serves as an upper chamber.

Near their respective Makams, the adherents of the four different sects
seat themselves for prayers. During my stay at Mekka, the Hanefys always
began their prayer first; but according to Muselman custom the Shafeys
should pray first in the mosque; then the Hanefys, Malekys, and
Hanbalys. The prayer of the Magreb is an exception, which they are all
enjoined to utter together. [Vide Fasy.] The Makam el Hanbaly

[p.143] is the place where the officers of government, and other great
people, are seated during prayers; here the Pasha and the Sherif are
placed; and, in their absence, the eunuchs of the temple. These fill the
space under this Makam in front, and behind it the female hadjys, who
visit the temple, have their places assigned, to which they repair
principally for the two evening prayers, few of them being seen in the
mosque at the three other daily prayers: they also perform the towaf, or
walk round the Kaaba, but generally at night, though it is not uncommon
to see them walking in the day-time among the men.

The present building which encloses Zemzem, stands close by the Makam
Hanbaly, and was erected in A.H. 1072 [Vide Asamy.]: it is of a square
shape, and of massive construction, with an entrance to the north,
opening into the room which contains the well. This room is beautifully
ornamented with marbles of various colours; and adjoining to it, but
having a separate door, is a small room with a stone reservoir which is
always full of Zemzem water: this the hadjys get to drink by passing
their hand with a cup through an iron grated opening, which serves as a
window, into the reservoir, without entering the room. The mouth of the
well is surrounded by a wall five feet in height, and about ten feet in
diameter. Upon this the people stand, who draw up the water, in leathern
buckets, an iron railing being so placed as to prevent their falling in.
In El Fasy's time there were eight marble basins in this room, for the
purpose of ablution.

From before dawn till near midnight, the well-room is constantly filled
with visitors. Every one is at liberty to draw up the water for himself,
but the labour is generally performed by persons placed there on
purpose, and paid by the mosque: they expect also a trifle from those
who come to drink, though they dare not demand it. I have been more than
once in the room a quarter of an hour before I could get a draught of
water, so great was the crowd. Devout hadjys sometimes mount the wall,
and draw the bucket for several hours, in the hope of thus expiating
their evil deeds.

Before the Wahaby invasion, the well Zemzem belonged to the

[p.144] Sherif; and the water becoming thus a monopoly, was only to be
purchased at a high price; but one of Saoud's first orders, on his
arrival at Mekka, was to abolish this traffic, and the holy water is now
dispensed gratis. The Turks consider it a miracle that the water of this
well never diminishes, notwithstanding the continual draught from: it
there certainly is no diminution in its depth; for by an accurate
inspection of the rope by which the buckets are drawn up, I found that
the same length was required both at morning and evening to reach the
surface of the water. Upon inquiry, I learned from one of the persons
who had descended in the time of the Wahabys to repair the masonry, that
the water was flowing at the bottom, and that the well is therefore
supplied by a subterraneous rivulet. The water is heavy to the taste,
and sometimes in its colour resembles milk; but it is perfectly sweet,
and differs very much from that of the brackish wells dispersed over the
town. When first drawn up, it is slightly tepid, resembling, in this
respect, many other fountains of the Hedjaz.

Zemzem supplies the whole town, and there is scarcely one family that
does not daily fill a jar with the water: this only serves, however, for
drinking or for ablution, as it is thought impious to employ water so
sacred for culinary purposes or on common occasions. Almost every hadjy,
when he repairs to the mosque for evening prayer has a jar of the water
placed before him by those who earn their livelihood by performing this
service. The water is distributed in the mosque to all who are thirsty
for a trifling fee, by water-carriers with large jars upon their backs:
these men are also paid by charitable hadjys for supplying the poorer
pilgrims with this holy beverage immediately before or after prayers.

The water is regarded as an infallible cure for all diseases; and the
devotees believe that the more they drink of it, the better their health
will be, and their prayers the more acceptable to the Deity. I have seen
some of them at the well swallowing such a quantity of it as I should
hardly have thought possible. A man who lived in the same house with me,
and who was ill of an intermittent fever, repaired every evening to
Zemzem, and drank of the water till he was almost fainting,

[p.145] after which he lay for several hours extended upon his back on
the pavement near the Kaaba, and then returned to renew his draught.
When by this practice he was brought to the verge of death, he declared
himself fully convinced that the increase of his illness proceeded
wholly from his being unable to swallow a sufficient quantity of the
water! Many hadjys, not content with drinking it merely, strip
themselves in the room, and have buckets of it thrown over them, by
which they believe that the heart is purified as well as the outer body.
Few pilgrims quit Mekka without carrying away some of this water in
copper or tin bottles, either for the purpose of making presents, or for
their own use in case of illness, when they drink it, or for ablution
after death. I carried away four small bottles, with the intention of
offering them as presents to the Mohammedan kings in the Black
countries. I have seen it sold at Suez by hadjys returning from Mekka at
the rate of one piastre for the quantity that filled a coffee-cup.

The chief of Zemzem is one of the principal olemas of Mekka. I need not
remind the reader that Zemzem is supposed to be the spring found in the
wilderness by Hagar, at the moment when her infant son Ismayl was dying
of thirst. It seems probable that the town of Mekka owes its origin to
this well; for many miles round, no sweet water is found, nor is there
in any part of the adjacent country so copious a supply.

On the north-east side of Zemzem stand two small buildings, one behind
the other, called El Kobbateyn; they are covered by domes painted in the
same manner as the mosque, and in them are kept water jars, lamps,
carpets, mats, brooms, and other articles used in the very mosque. These
two ugly buildings are injurious to the interior appearance of the
building, their heavy forms and structure being disadvantageously
contrasted with the light and airy shape of the Makams. I heard some
hadjys from Greece, men of better taste than the Arabs, express their
regret that the Kobbateyn should be allowed to disfigure the mosque.
Their contents might be deposited in some of the buildings adjoining the
mosque, of which they form no essential part, no religious importance
being attached to them. They were built by Khoshgeldy, governor of
Djidda, A.H. 947: one is called

[p.146] Kobbet el Abbas, from having been placed on the site of a small
tank said to have been formed by Abbas, the uncle of Mohammed.

A few paces west of Zemzem, and directly opposite to the door of the
Kaaba, stands a ladder or staircase, which is moved up to the wall of
the Kaaba, on the days when that building is opened, and by which the
visitors ascend to the door: it is of wood, with some carved ornaments,
moves on low wheels, and is sufficiently broad to admit of four persons
ascending abreast. The first ladder was sent hither from Cairo in A.H.
818, by Moay-ed Abou el Naser, King of Egypt; for in the Hedjaz it seems
there has always been so great a want of artizans, that whenever the
mosque required any work, it was necessary to have mechanics brought
from Cairo, and even sometimes from Constantinople.

In the same line with the ladder, and close by it, stands a lightly-
built, insulated, and circular arch, about fifteen feet wide and
eighteen feet high, called Bab-es'-Salam, which must not be confounded
with the great gate of the mosque bearing the same name. Those who enter
the Beitullah for the first time, are enjoined to do so by the outer and
inner Bab-es'-Salam: in passing under the latter, they are to exclaim,
"O God, may it be a happy entrance!" I do not know by whom this arch was
built, but it appears to be modern.

Nearly in front of the Bab-es'-Salam; and nearer to the Kaaba than any
of the other surrounding buildings, stands the Makam Ibrahim. This is a
small building, supported by six pillars about eight feet high, four of
which are surrounded from top to bottom by a fine iron railing, which
thus leaves the space beyond the two hind pillars open: within the
railing is a frame about five feet square, terminating in a pyramidal
top, and said to contain the sacred stone upon which Ibrahim (Abraham)
stood when he built the Kaaba, and which, with the help of his son
Ismayl, he had removed from hence to the place called Madjen, already
mentioned. The stone is said to have yielded under the weight of the
patriarch, and to preserve the impression of his foot still visible upon
it; but no hadjy has ever seen it, as the frame is always entirely
covered with a brocade of red silk richly embroidered. Persons are
constantly seen before the railing, invoking the good offices of

[p.147] Ibrahim; and a short prayer must be uttered by the side of the
Makam, after the walk round the Kaaba is completed. It is said that many
of the Sahabe, or first adherents of Mohammed, were interred in the open
space between this Makam. and Zemzem, from which circumstance it is one
of the most favourite places of prayer in the mosque. In this part of
the area, the Khalif Soleyman Ibn Abd el Melek, brother of Wolyd, built
a fine reservoir, in A.H. 97, which was filled from a spring east of
Arafat; but the Mekkawys destroyed it after his death, on the pretence
that the water of Zemzem was preferable. [Vide Makrizi's Treatise--
"Manhadj myn el Kholafa."]

On the side of Makam Ibrahim, facing the middle part of the front of the
Kaaba, stands the Mambar or pulpit of the mosque; it is elegantly formed
of fine white marble, with many sculptured ornaments, and was sent as a
present to the mosque in A.H. 969, by Sultan Soleyman Ibn Selym: [The
first Mambar was sent from Cairo in A.H. 818, together with the steps
above mentioned, by Moay-ed, King of Egypt. See Asamy.] a straight
narrow staircase leads up to the post of the Khatyb, or preacher, which
is surmounted by a gilt polygonal pointed steeple, resembling an
obelisk. Here a sermon is preached on Fridays, and on certain festivals;
these, like the Friday sermons of all mosques in the Mohammedan
countries, are usually of the same tenor, with some slight alterations
upon extraordinary occasions. Before the Wahabys invaded Mekka, prayers
were added for the Sultan and the Sherif; but these were forbidden by
Saoud. Since the Turkish conquest, however, the ancient custom has been
restored; and on Fridays, as well as at the end of the first daily
evening prayers, the Sultan, Mohammed Aly Pasha, and Sherif Yahya are
included in the formula. The right of preaching in the Mambar is vested
in several of the first olemas in Mekka; they are always elderly
persons, and officiate in rotation. In ancient times, Mohammed himself,
his successors, and the Khalifes, whenever they came to Mekka, mounted
the pulpit, and preached to the people.

The Khatyb, or preacher, appears in the Mambar wrapped in a white cloak,
which covers his head and body, and with a stick in his

[p.148] hand; a practice observed also in Egypt and Syria, in memory of
the first age of Islam, when the preachers found it necessary to be
armed, from fear of being surprised. As in other mosques, two green
flags are placed on each side of him.

About the Mambar, the visitors of the Kaaba deposit their shoes; as it
is neither permitted to walk round the Kaaba with covered feet, nor
thought decent to carry the shoes in the hand, as is done in other
mosques. Several persons keep watch over the shoes, for which they
expect a small present; but the vicinity of the holy temple does not
intimidate the dishonest, for I lost successively from this spot three
new pairs of shoes; and the same thing happens to many hadjys.

I have now described all the buildings within the enclosure of the
Temple. [The ground-plan of the Temple given by Aly Bey el Abbassi is
perfectly correct. This cannot be said of his plan of Mekka, nor of his
different views in the Hedjaz: a comparison of my description with his
work will show in what points I differ from him, as well in regard to
the temple, as to the town and its inhabitants. His travels came to my
hands after I had returned from Arabia. The view of the mosque given by
d'Ohsson, in his valuable work, is tolerably correct, except that the
Kaaba is too large in proportion to the rest of the building. The view
of the town of Mekka, on the contrary, is very unfaithful. That in
Niebuhr, which was copied from an ancient Arabic drawing, is less
accurate than d'Ohsson's. The original seems to have been taken before
the last alterations made in the buildings of the Temple.]

The gravel-ground, and part of the adjoining outer pavement of the
Kaaba, is covered, at the time of evening prayers, with carpets of from
sixty to eighty feet in length, and four feet in breadth, of Egyptian
manufacture, which are rolled up after prayers. The greater part of the
hadjys bring their own carpets with them. The more distant parts of the
area, and the floor under the colonnade, are spread with mats, brought
from Souakin; the latter situation being the usual place for the
performance of the mid-day and afternoon prayers. Many of these mats are
presented to the mosque by the hadjys, for which they have in return the
satisfaction of seeing their names inscribed on them in large
characters.

At sun-set, great numbers assemble for the first evening prayer: they
form themselves into several wide circles, sometimes as many as

[p.149] twenty, around the Kaaba as a common centre before which every
person makes his prostration; and thus, as the Mohammedan doctors
observe, Mekka is the only spot throughout the world in which the true
believer can, with propriety, turn during his prayers towards any point
of the compass. The Imam takes his post near the gate of the Kaaba, and
his genuflexions are imitated by the whole assembled multitude. The
effect of the joint prostrations of six or eight thousand persons, added
to the recollection of the distance and various quarters from whence
they come, and for what purpose, cannot fail to impress the most cool-
minded spectator with some degree of awe. At night, when the lamps are
lighted, and numbers of devotees are performing the Towaf round the
Kaaba, the sight of the busy crowds--the voices of the Metowefs, intent
upon making themselves heard by those to whom they recite their prayers--
the loud conversation of many idle persons--the running, playing, and
laughing of boys, give to the whole a very different appearance, and one
more resembling that of a place of public amusement. The crowd, however,
leaves the mosque about nine o'clock, when it again becomes the place of
silent meditation and prayer, to the few visitors who are led to the
spot by sincere piety, and not worldly motives or fashion.

There is an opinion prevalent at Mekka, founded on holy tradition, that
the mosque will contain any number of the faithful; and that if even the
whole Mohammedan community were to enter at once, they would all find
room in it to pray. The guardian angels, it is said, would invisibly
extend the dimensions of the building, and diminish the size of each
individual. The fact is, that during the most numerous pilgrimages, the
mosque, which can contain, I believe, about thirty-five thousand persons
in the act of prayer, is never half filled. Even on Fridays, the greater
part of the Mekkawys, contrary to the injunctions of the law, pray at
home, if at all, and many hadjys follow their example. I could never
count more than ten thousand individuals in the mosque at one time, even
after the return from Arafat, when the whole body of hadjys were
collected, for a few days, in and about the city.

At every hour of the day persons may be seen under the colonnade,

[p.150] occupied in reading the Koran and other religious books; and
here many poor Indians, or negroes, spread their mats, and pass the
whole period of their residence at Mekka. Here they both eat and sleep;
but cooking is not allowed. During the hours of noon, many persons come
to repose beneath the cool shade of the vaulted roof of the colonnade; a
custom which not only accounts for the mode of construction observed in
the old Mohammedan temples of Egypt and Arabia, but for that also of the
ancient Egyptian temples, the immense porticoes of which were probably
left open to the idolatrous natives, whose mud-built houses could afford
them but an imperfect refuge against the mid-day heats.

It is only during the hours of prayer that the great mosques of these
countries partake of the sanctity of prayer, or in any degree seem to be
regarded as consecrated places. In El Azhar, the first mosque at Cairo,
I have seen boys crying pancakes for sale, barbers shaving their
customers, and many of the lower orders eating their dinners, where,
during prayers, not the slightest motion, nor even whisper, diverts the
attention of the congregation. Not a sound but the voice of the Imam is
heard during prayers in the great mosque at Mekka, which at other times
is the place of meeting for men of business to converse on their
affairs, and is sometimes so full of poor hadjys, or of diseased persons
lying about under the colonnade, in the midst of their miserable
baggage, as to have the appearance of an hospital rather than a temple.
Boys play in the great square, and servants carry luggage across it, to
pass by the nearest route from one part of the town to the other. In
these respects, the temple of Mekka resembles the other great mosques of
the East. But the holy Kaaba is rendered the scene of such indecencies
and criminal acts, as cannot with propriety be more particularly
noticed. They are not only practised here with impunity, but, it may be
said, almost publicly; and my indignation has often been excited, on
witnessing abominations which called forth from other passing spectators
nothing more than a laugh or a slight reprimand.

In several parts of the colonnade, public schools are held, where young
children are taught to spell and read: they form most noisy

[p.151] groups, and the schoolmaster's stick is in constant action. Some
learned men of Mekka deliver lectures on religious subjects every
afternoon under the colonnade, but the auditors are seldom numerous. On
Fridays, after prayer, some Turkish olemas explain to their countrymen
assembled around them a few chapters of the Koran, after which each of
the audience kisses the hand of the expositor, and drops money into his
cap. I particularly admired the fluency of speech of one of these
olemas, although I did not understand him, the lecture being delivered
in the Turkish language. His gesticulations, and the inflexions of his
voice, were most expressive; but like an actor on the stage, he would
laugh and cry in the same minute, and adapt his features to his purpose
in the most skilful manner. He was a native of Brusa, and amassed a
considerable sum of money.

Near the gate of the mosque called Bab-es'-Salam, a few Arab Sheikhs
daily take their seat, with their ink-stand and paper, ready to write,
for any applicant, letters, accounts, contracts, or any similar
document. They also deal in written charms, like those current in the
Black countries, such as amulets, and love-receipts, called "Kotob
muhbat o kuboul." They are principally employed by Bedouins, and demand
an exorbitant remuneration.

Winding-sheets (keffen), and other linen washed in the waters of Zemzem,
are constantly seen hanging to dry between the columns. Many hadjys
purchase at Mekka the shroud in which they wish to be buried, and wash
it themselves at the well of Zemzem, supposing that, if the corpse be
wrapped in linen which has been wetted with this holy water, the peace
of the soul after death will be more effectually secured. Some hadjys
make this linen an article of traffic.

Mekka generally, but the mosque in particular, abounds with flocks of
wild pigeons, which are considered to be the inviolable property of the
temple, and are called the Pigeons of the Beitullah. Nobody dares to
kill any of them, even when they enter the private houses. In the square
of the mosque, several small stone basins are regularly filled with
water for their use; here also Arab women expose to sale, upon small
straw mats, corn and durra, which the pilgrims

[p.152] purchase, and throw to the pigeons. I have seen some of the
public women take this mode of exhibiting themselves, and of bargaining
with the pilgrims, under pretence of selling them corn for the sacred
pigeons.

The gates of the mosque are nineteen in number, and are distributed
about it, without any order or symmetry. I subjoin their names, as they
are usually written upon small cards by the Metowefs: in another column
are the names by which they were known in more ancient times,
principally taken from Azraky and Kotoby.

Modern Names.					Ancient Names.

Bab-es'-Salam, composed of       3              Bab beni Sheybe.
smaller gates, or arches.
Bab el Neby                      2              Bab el Djenaiz,
                                                The dead being
                                                carried through it
                                                to the mosque,
                                                that prayers may
                                                be said over their
                                                bodies.
Bab el Abbas.                   3               Bab Sertakat.
Opposite to this the house
of Abbas once stood.
Bab Aly                         3               Bab Beni Hashem.
Bab el Zeyt
                                2               Bab Bazan.
Bab el Ashra
Bab el Baghle                   2
Bab el Szafa                    5               Bab Beni Makhzoum.
Bab Sherif                      2               Bab el Djyad.
Bab Medjahed                    2               Bab el Dokhmase
Bab Zoleykha                    2               Bab Sherif Adjelan
                                                (who built it.)
Bab Om Hany.                    2
So called from the daughter
of Aby Taleb.
Bab el Wodaa.                   2               Bab el Hazoura
Through which the pilgrim
passes in taking his final
leave of the temple.
Bab Ibrahim                     1               Bab el Kheyatyn,
                                                or Bab Djomah.
[So called, not from
Abraham, but from a
tailor who had his
shop near it.]

[p.153]

Bab el Omra                     1
Through which the pilgrims
issue to visit the Omra.
Also called Beni Saham.
Bab Ateek                       1               Bab Amer Ibn el
                                                Aas, or Bab el
                                                Sedra.
Bab el Bastye                   1               Bab el Adjale.
Bab el Kotoby                   1               Bab Zyade Dar
                                                el Nedoua.
[Taking its name from the
famous author of a History
of Mekka, who lived in an
adjoining lane, and opened
this small gate into the
mosque.
Bab Zyade                       3
Bab Dereybe                     1               Bab Medrese.
                               --
Total number of arches         39


The principal of these gates are:--on the north side, Bab-es-Salam, by
which every pilgrim enters the mosque; Bab Abbas; Bab el Neby, by which
Mohammed is said to have always entered the mosque; Bab Aly. On the east
side, Bab el Zeyt, or Bab el Ashra, through which the ten first Sahabe,
or adherents of Mohammed, used to enter; Bab el Szafa; two gates called
Biban el Sherif, opposite the palaces of the Sherif. On the south side,
Bab Ibrahim, where the colonnade projects beyond the straight line of
the columns, and forms a small square; Bab el Omra, through which it is
necessary to pass, on visiting the Omra. On the west side, Bab el Zyade,
forming a projecting square similar to that at Bab Ibrahim, but larger.
Most of these gates have high pointed arches; but a few round arches are
seen among them, which, like all the arches of this kind in the Hedjaz,
are nearly semi-circular. They are without any ornament, except the
inscription on the exterior, which commemorates the name of the builder;
and they are all posterior in date to the fourteenth century. As each
gate consists of two or three arches, or divisions, separated by narrow
walls, these divisions are counted in the enumeration of the gates
leading into the Kaaba, and thus make up the number thirty-nine. There
being no doors to the gates, the mosque is consequently open at all

[p.154] times. I have crossed at every hour of the night, and always
found people there, either at prayers, or walking about.

The outside walls of the mosque are those of the houses which surround
it on all sides. These houses belonged originally to the mosque; the
greater part are now the property of individuals, who have purchased
them; they are let out to the richest hadjys, at very high prices, as
much as five hundred piastres being given, during the pilgrimage, for a
good apartment, with windows opening into the mosque. Windows have, in
consequence, been opened in many parts of the walls, on a level with the
street, and above that of the floor of the colonnades: Hadjys living in
these apartments are allowed to perform the Friday's prayers at home;
because, having the Kaaba in view from the windows, they are supposed to
be in the mosque itself, and to join in prayer those assembled within
the temple. Upon a level with the ground-floor of the colonnades, and
opening into them, are small apartments formed in the walls, having the
appearance of dungeons: these have remained the property of the mosque,
while the houses above them belong to private individuals. They are let
out to watermen, who deposit in them the Zemzem jars; or to less opulent
hadjys, who wish to live in the mosque. Some of the surrounding houses
still belong to the mosque, and were originally intended for public
schools, as their name of Medrese implies: they are now all let out to
hadjys. In one of the largest of them, Mohammed Aly Pasha lived; in
another Hassan Pasha. [One of the finest Medreses in Mekka, built by
order of Kail Beg, Sultan of Egypt, in A.H. 888, in the side of the
mosque fronting the street Masaa, has also become a private building,
after having been deprived of its revenue by the peculation of its
guardians. Besides the Medreses, there were other buildings of less
extent erected by different Sultans of Egypt and Constantinople for
similar purposes, called Rebat, where poor pilgrims might reside, who
chose to study there; but these have shared the fate of the Medreses,
and are now either the private property of Mekkawys, or let to
individuals on long leases by the mosque, and used as common lodging-
houses.]

Close to Bab Ibrahim is a large Medrese, now the property of Seyd Ageyl,
one of the principal merchants of the town, whose ware-house opens into
the mosque. This person, who is aged, has the reputation

[p.155] of great sanctity; and it is said that the hand of Sherif
Ghaleb, when once in the act of collaring him, for refusing to advance
some money, was momentarily struck with palsy. He has every evening
assemblies in his house, where theological books are read, [The cousin of
this man is the famous pirate Syd Mohammed el Ageyl, who has committed
many outrages upon European ships in the Red Sea, and even insulted the
English flag. In the beginning of 1814 he was called to Djidda, with
offers to enter the service of Mohammed Aly Pasha, who, it was then
thought, had some hostile intentions against Yemen. The Pasha made him
considerable presents, either in the hope of engaging him in his
service, or of securing his friendship; but the pirate declined his
proposals. He has amassed great wealth; has establishments in almost
every harbour of the Red Sea; and is adored by his sailors and soldiers
for his great liberality. Like his cousin at Mekka, he has succeeded in
making people believe that he is endowed with supernatural powers.] and
religious topics discussed.

Among other buildings forming the enclosure of the Mesjed, is the
Mehkam, or house of justice, close by the Bab Zyade: it is a fine,
firmly-built structure, with lofty arches in the interior, and has a row
of high windows looking into the mosque. It is inhabited by the Kadhy.
Adjoining to it stands a large Medrese, inclosing a square, known by the
name of Medrese Soleymanye, built by Sultan Soleyman, and his son Selym
II., in A.H. 973. It is always well filled with Turkish hadjys, the
friends of the Kadhy, who disposes of the lodgings.

The exterior of the mosque is adorned with seven minarets, irregularly
distributed:--1. Minaret of Bab el Omra; 2. of Bab el Salam; 3. of Bab
Aly; 4. of Bab el Wodaa; 5. of Medrese Kail Beg; 6. of Bab el Zyade; 7.
of Medreset Sultan Soleyman. They are quadrangular or round steeples, in
no way differing from other minarets. The entrance to them is from the
different buildings round the mosque, which they adjoin. A beautiful
view of the busy crowd below is obtained by ascending the most northern
one.

It will have been seen by the foregoing description, that the mosque of
Mekka differs little in its construction from many other buildings of
the same nature in Asia. The mosque of Zakaria at Aleppo, the great
mosque called El Amouy at Damascus, and the greater number of the larger
mosques at Cairo, are constructed exactly

[p.156] upon the same plan, with an arched colonnade round an open
square. None is more like it than the mosque of Touloun, at Cairo, built
in A.H. 263; and that of Ammer, situated between Cairo and Old Cairo,
upon the spot where Fostat once stood: it was built by Ammer Ibn el Aas,
in the first years of the conquest of Egypt; it has an arched fountain
in the midst, where at Mekka stands the Kaaba; but is only one-third as
large as the mosque of Mekka. The history of Beitullah (or God's house)
has exercised the industry of many learned Arabians: it is only in
latter times that the mosque has been enlarged; many trees once stood in
the square, and it is to be regretted that others have not succeeded
them.

The service of the mosque occupies a vast number of people. The Khatybs,
Imams, Muftis, those attached to Zemzem, the Mueddins who call to
prayers, numbers of olemas, who deliver lectures, lamp-lighters, and a
crowd of menial servants, are all employed about the Beitullah. They
receive regular pay from the mosque, besides what they share of the
presents made to it by hadjys, for the purpose of distribution; those
not made for such purpose, are reserved for the repairs of the building.
The revenue of the mosque is considerable, although it has been deprived
of the best branches of its income.

There are few towns or districts of the Turkish empire in which it does
not possess property in land or houses; but the annual amount of this
property is often withheld by provincial governors, or at least it is
reduced, by the hands through which it passes, to a small proportion of
its real value. El Is-haaky, in his History of Egypt, states, that in
the time of Sultan Achmed, the son of Sultan Mohammed, (who died in A.H.
1027,) Egypt sent yearly to Mekka two hundred and ninety-five purses,
destined principally for the mosque, and forty-eight thousand and eighty
erdebs of corn. Bayazyd Ibn Sultan Mohammed Khan (in 912) fixed the
income of Mekka and Medina, to be sent from Constantinople, at fourteen
thousand ducats per annum, in addition to what his predecessors had
already ordered; and Sultan Solyman Ibn Selym I. increased the annual
income of Mekka, sent from Constantinople, which his father Selym had
fixed at seven thousand erdebs of corn, to ten thousand erdebs, and five
thousand for the inhabitants of

[p.157] Medina. [See Kotobeddyn.] He likewise fixed the surra from
Constantinople, or, as it is called, the Greek surra, at thirty-one
thousand ducats per annum. [See Assamy. These surras (or purses) were
first instituted by Mohammed Ibn Sultan Yalderem, in A.H. 816.] Almost
all the revenues derived from Egypt were sequestrated by the Mamelouk
Beys; and Mohammed Aly has now seized what remained. Some revenue is yet
drawn from Yemen, called Wakf el Hamam, and a little is brought in
annually by the Hadj caravans. At present, therefore, the mosque of
Mekka may be called poor in comparison with its former state. [The
princes of India have frequently given proofs of great munificence
towards the mosque at Mekka. In A.H. 798, large presents in money and
valuable articles were sent by the sovereigns of Bengal and Cambay;
those of Bengal, especially, are often mentioned as benefactors by
Asamy.] Excepting a few golden lamps in the Kaaba, it possesses no
treasures whatever, notwithstanding the stories prevalent to the
contrary; and I learnt from the Kadhy himself, that the Sultan, in order
to keep up the establishment, sends at present four hundred purses
annually, as a present to the Kaaba; which sum is partly expended in the
service of the mosque, and partly divided among the servants belonging
to it.

The income of the mosque must not be confounded with that of a number of
Mekkawys, including many of the servants, which they derive from other
pious foundations in the Turkish empire, known by the name of Surra, and
of which a great part still remains untouched. The donations of the
hadjys, however, are so ample as to afford abundant subsistence to the
great numbers of idle persons employed about the mosque; and as long as
the pilgrimage exists, there is no reason to apprehend their wanting
either the necessaries or the luxuries of life.

The first officer of the mosque is the Nayb el Haram, or Hares el Haram,
the guardian who keeps the keys of the Kaaba. In his hands are deposited
the sums bestowed as presents to the building, and which he distributes
in conjunction with the Kadhy: under his directions,

[p.158] also, the repairs of the building are carried on. [The honour of
keeping the keys of the Kaaba, and the profits arising from it, were
often subjects of contention among the ancient Arabian tribes.] I have
been assured, but do not know how truly, that the Nayb el Haram's yearly
accounts, which are countersigned by the Sherif and Kadhy, and sent to
Constantinople, amount to three hundred purses, merely for the expenses
of the necessary repairs, lighting, carpets, &c., and the maintenance of
the eunuchs belonging to the temple. This officer happens at present to
be one of the heads of the three only families descended from the
ancient Koreysh who remain resident at Mekka. Next to him, the second
officer of the mosque in rank is the Aga of the eunuchs, or, as he is
called; Agat el Towashye. The eunuchs perform the duty of police
officers in the temple; [The employment of slaves or eunuchs in this
mosque is of very ancient date. Mawya Ibn Aly Sofyan, a short time after
Mohammed, first ordered slaves for the Kaaba.--Vid. Fasy.] they prevent
disorders, and daily wash and sweep, with large brooms, the pavement
round the Kaaba. In time of rain, I have seen the water stand on the
pavement to the height of a foot; on such occasions many of the hadjys
assist the eunuchs in removing it through several holes made in the
pavement, which, it is said, lead to large vaults beneath the Kaaba,
though the historians of Mekka and of the temple make no mention of
them. The eunuchs are dressed in the Constantinopolitan kaouk, with wide
robes, bound by a sash, and carry a long stick in their hands. The
engraving of their dress given by d'Ohsson is strikingly correct; as
are, in general, all the representations of costume in that work, which
I had an opportunity of comparing with the original. [This excellent work
is the only perfect source of information respecting the laws and
constitution of the Turkish empire; but it must not be forgotten that
the practices prevalent in the provinces are, unfortunately, often in
direct contravention of the spirit and letter of the code of law, as
explained by the author.] The number of eunuchs now exceeds forty, and
they are supplied by Pashas and other grandees, who send them, when
young, as presents to the mosque: one hundred dollars are sent with each
as an outfit. Mohammed Aly presented ten young eunuchs to the mosque. At
present there

[p.159] are ten grown-up persons, and twenty boys; the latter live
together in a house, till they are sufficiently instructed to be given
in charge to their elder brethren, with whom they remain a few years,
and then set up their own establishments. Extraordinary as it may
appear, the grown-up eunuchs are all married to black slaves, and
maintain several male and female slaves in their houses as servants.
They affect great importance; and in case of quarrels or riots, lay
freely about them with their sticks. Many of the lower classes of Mekka
kiss their hands on approaching them. Their chief, or Aga, whom they
elect among themselves, is a great personage, and is entitled to sit in
the presence of the Pasha and the Sherif. The eunuchs have a large
income from the revenues of the mosque, and from private donations of
the hadjys; they also receive regular stipends from Constantinople, and
derive profit from trade; for, like almost all the people of Mekka, and
even the first clergy, they are more or less engaged in traffic; and
their ardour in the pursuit of commercial gain is much greater than that
which they evince in the execution of their official duties, being
equalled only by the eagerness with which they court the friendship of
wealthy hadjys.

Most of the eunuchs, or Towashye, are negroes; a few were copper-
coloured Indians. One of the former is sometimes sent to the Soudan
countries, to collect presents for the Kaaba. The fate of a eunuch of
this description is mentioned by Bruce. Some years since a Towashye
obtained permission to return to Soudan, on presenting another person to
the mosque in his stead. He then repaired to Borgo, west of Darfour, and
is now the powerful governor of a province.

Whenever negro hadjys come to Mekka, they never fail to pay assiduous
court to the Towashyes. A Towashye, after having been once attached to
the service of the Kaaba, which confers on him the appellation of
Towashye el Neby (the Prophet's eunuch), can never enter into any other
service.

In the time of Ramadhan, (the last days of which month, in 1814, I
passed at Mekka,) the mosque is particularly brilliant. The hadjys, at
that period, (which happened to be in the hottest time of the year,)
generally performed the three first daily prayers at home, but assembled

[p.160] in large crowds in the mosque, for their evening devotions.
Every one then carried in his handkerchief a few dates, a little bread
and cheese, or some grapes, which he placed before him, waiting for the
moment of the call to evening prayers, to be allowed to break the fast.
During this period of suspense, they would politely offer to their
neighbours a part of their meal, and receive as much in return. Some
hadjys, to gain the reputation of peculiar charitableness, were going
from man to man, and placing before each a few morsels of viands,
followed by beggars, who, in their turn, received these morsels from
those hadjys before whom they had been placed. As soon as the Imam on
the top of Zemzem began his cry of "Allahou Akbar," (God is most great!)
every one hastened to drink of the jar of Zemzem water placed before
him, and to eat something, previous to joining in the prayer; after
which they all returned home to supper, and again revisited the mosque,
for the celebration of the last evening orisons. At this time, the whole
square and colonnades were illuminated by thousands of lamps; and, in
addition to these, most of the hadjys had each his own lantern standing
on the ground before him. The brilliancy of this spectacle, and the cool
breeze pervading the square, caused multitudes to linger here till
midnight. This square, the only wide and open place in the whole town,
admits through all its gates the cooling breeze; but this the Mekkawys
ascribe to the waving wings of those angels who guard the mosque. I
witnessed the enthusiasm of a Darfour pilgrim, who arrived at Mekka on
the last night of Ramadhan. After a long journey across barren and
solitary deserts, on his entering the illuminated temple, he was so much
struck with its appearance, and overawed by the black Kaaba, that he
fell prostrate close by the place where I was sitting, and remained long
in that posture of adoration. He then rose, burst into a flood of tears,
and in the height of his emotion, instead of reciting the usual prayers
of the visitor, only exclaimed, "O God, now take my soul, for this is
Paradise!"

The termination of the Hadj gives a very different appearance to the
temple. Disease and mortality, which succeed to the fatigues endured on
the journey, or are caused by the light covering of the

[p.161] ihram, the unhealthy lodgings at Mekka, the bad fare, and
sometimes absolute want, fill the mosque with dead bodies, carried
thither to receive the Imam's prayer, or with sick persons, many of
whom, when their dissolution approaches, are brought to the colonnades,
that they may either be cured by a sight of the Kaaba, or at least have
the satisfaction of expiring within the sacred enclosure. Poor hadjys,
worn out with disease and hunger, are seen dragging their emaciated
bodies along the columns; and when no longer able to stretch forth their
hand to ask the passenger for charity, they place a bowl to receive alms
near the mat on which they lay themselves. When they feel their last
moments approaching, they cover themselves with their tattered garments;
and often a whole day passes before it is discovered that they are dead.
For a month subsequent to the conclusion of the Hadj, I found, almost
every morning, corpses of pilgrims lying in the mosque; myself and a
Greek hadjy, whom accident had brought to the spot, once closed the eyes
of a poor Mogrebyn pilgrim, who had crawled into the neighbourhood of
the Kaaba, to breathe his last, as the Moslems say, "in the arms of the
prophet and of the guardian angels." He intimated by signs his wish that
we should sprinkle Zemzem water over him; and while we were doing so, he
expired: half an hour afterwards he was buried. There are several
persons in the service of the mosque employed to wash carefully the spot
on which those who expire in the mosque have lain, and to bury all the
poor and friendless strangers who die at Mekka.

[p.162] SOME HISTORICAL NOTICES CONCERNING THE KAABA,

AND THE TEMPLE OF MEKKA;

EXTRACTED FROM THE WORKS OF EL AZRAKY, EL FASY, KOTOBEDDYN, AND
ASAMY,
WRITERS MORE PARTICULARLY MENTIONED IN THE INTRODUCTION.

MOHAMMEDAN mythology affirms that the Kaaba was constructed in heaven,
two thousand years before the creation of this world, and that it was
there adored by the angels, whom the Almighty commanded to perform the
Towaf, or walk round it. Adam, who was the first true believer, erected
the Kaaba upon earth, on its present site, which is directly below the
spot that it occupied in heaven. He collected the stones for the
building from the five holy mountains: Lebanon, Tor Syna (Mount Sinai),
El Djoudy (the name given by Muselmans to the mountain on which the ark
of Noah rested after the deluge), Hirra, or Djebel Nour, and Tor Zeyt
(the mountain to which, as I believe, an allusion is made in the ninety-
fifth chapter of the Koran). Ten thousand angels were appointed to guard
the structure from accidents: but they seem, from the history of the
holy building, to have been often remiss in their duty. The sons of Adam
repaired the Kaaba; and after the deluge, Ibrahim (Abraham), when he had
abandoned the idolatry of his forefathers, was ordered by the Almighty
to reconstruct it. His son Ismayl, who from his infancy resided with his
mother Hadjer (Hagar) near the site of Mekka, assisted his father, who
had come from Syria to obey the commands of Allah: on digging, they
found the foundations which

[p.163] had been laid by Adam. Being in want of a stone to fix into the
corner of the building as a mark from whence the Towaf, or holy walk
round it, was to commence, Ismayl went in search of one. On his way
towards Djebel Kobeys, he met the angel Gabriel, holding in his hand the
famous black stone. It was then of a refulgent bright colour, but became
black, says El Azraky, in consequence of its having suffered repeatedly
by fire, before and after the introduction of Islam. Others say its
colour was changed by the sins of those who touched it. At the day of
judgment, it will bear witness in favour of all those who have touched
it with sincere hearts, and will be endowed with sight and speech.

After the well of Zemzem was miraculously created, and before Ibrahim
began to build the Kaaba, the Arab tribe of Beni Djorham, a branch of
the Amalekites, settled here, with the permission of Ismayl and his
mother, with whom they lived. Ismayl considered the well as his
property; but having intermarried with the Djorham tribe, they usurped,
after his death, the possession both of the well and the Kaaba. During
their abode in this valley, they rebuilt or thoroughly repaired the
Kaaba; but the well was choked up by the violence of torrents, and
remained so for nearly one thousand years. The tribe of Khozaa
afterwards kept possession of the Kaaba for three hundred years; and
their successors, of the tribe of Kossay Ibn Kelab, again rebuilt it;
for being constantly exposed to the devastations of torrents, it was
often in need of repair. It had hitherto been open at the top: they
roofed it; and from this period its history becomes less involved in
fable and uncertainty.

An Arab of Kossay, named Ammer Ibn Lahay, first introduced idolatry
among his countrymen; he brought the idol, called Hobal, from Hyt, in
Mesopotamia, [See El Azraky.] and set it up at the Kaaba. Idolatry then
spread rapidly; and it seems that almost every Arab tribe chose its own
god or tutelar divinity; and that, considering the Kaaba as a Pantheon
common to them all, they frequented it in pilgrimage. The date-tree,
called Ozza, says Azraky, was worshipped by the tribe of

[p.164] Khozaa; and the Beni Thekyf adored the rock called El Lat; a
large tree, called Zat Arowat, was revered by the Koreysh; the holy
places, Muna, Szafa, Meroua, had their respective saints or demi-gods;
and the historians give a long list of other deities. The number of
idols increased so much, that one was to be found in every house and
tent of this valley; and the Kaaba was adorned with three hundred and
sixty of them, corresponding probably to the days of the year.

The tribe of Kossay were the first who built houses round the Kaaba; in
these they lived during the day, but in the evening they always returned
to their tents, pitched upon the neighbouring mountains. The successors
of the Beni Kossay at Mekka, or Bekka, (the name then applied to the
town,) were the Beni Koreysh. About their time the Kaaba was destroyed
by fire; they rebuilt it of wood, of a smaller size than it had been in
the time of the Kossay, but indicating by the wall Hedjer (already
described) its former limits. The roof was supported within by six
pillars; and the statue of Hobal, the Arabian Jupiter, was placed over a
well, then existing within the Kaaba. This happened during the youth of
Mohammed. All the idols were replaced in the new building; and El Azraky
adduces the ocular testimony of several respectable witnesses, to prove
a remarkable fact, (hitherto, I believe, unnoticed,) that the figure of
the Virgin Mary, with the young Aysa (Jesus) in her lap, was likewise
sculptured as a deity upon one of the six pillars nearest to the gate.

The grandfather of Mohammed, Abd el Motalleb Ibn Hesham, had restored
the well of Zemzem by an excavation some time before the burning of the
Kaaba.

When the victorious Mohammed entered the town of his fathers, he
destroyed the images in the temple, and abolished the idolatrous worship
of his countrymen; and his Mueddin, the negro Belal, called the Moslems
to prayers from the top of the Kaaba.

The Koreysh had built a small town round the Kaaba, which they venerated
so much that no person was permitted to raise the roof of his house
higher than that of the sacred structure. The pilgrimage to this holy
shrine, which the pagan Arabs had instituted, was confirmed by Islam.

[p.165] Omar Ibn Khatab first built a mosque round the Kaaba. In the
year of the Hedjra 17, having purchased from the Koreysh the small
houses which enclosed it, and carried a wall round the area, Othman Ibn
Affan, in A.H. 27, enlarged the square; and in A.H. 63, when the heretic
and rebel Yezyd was besieged at Mekka by Abdallah Ibn Zebeyr, the nephew
of Aysha, the Kaaba was destroyed by fire, some say accidentally, while
others affirm it to have been done by the slinging machines directed
against it by Yezyd from the top of Djebel Kobeys, where he had taken
post. After his expulsion, Ibn Zebeyr enlarged the enclosure of the wall
by purchasing some more houses of the Mekkawys, and by including their
site, after having levelled them, within the wall. He also rebuilt the
Kaaba upon an enlarged scale, raising it from eighteen pikes (its height
under the Koreysh) to twenty-seven pikes, or nearly equal to what it was
in the time of the Beni Kossay. He opened two doors into it, level with
the surface of the area, and constructed a double roof, supported by
three instead of six pillars, the former number. This new building was
twenty-five pikes in length, twenty in breadth on one side, and twenty-
one on the other. In the interior, the dry well, called Byr Ahsef, still
remained, wherein the treasures were deposited, particularly the golden
vessels that had been presented to the Kaaba. It was at this period
that the structure took the name of Kaaba, which is said to be derived
from kaab, a die or cube, the form which the building now assumed. Its
former title was the House of God, (Beitullah) or the Old House, a name
still often applied to it.

Twenty years after the last-mentioned date, El Hadjadj Ibn Yousef el
Thakafy, then governor of Mekka, disliking the enlarged size of the
Kaaba, reduced it to the proportions it had in the time of the Koreysh,
cutting off six pikes from its length; he also restored the wall called
Hedjer, which Ibn Zebeyr had included within the building. The size then
given to the edifice is the same as that of the present structure, it
having been scrupulously adhered to in all the repairs or re-erections
which subsequently took place.

Towards the end of the first century of the Hedjra, Wolyd Ibn Abd el
Melek was the first who reared columns in the mosque. He

[p.166] caused their capitals to be covered with thin plates of gold,
and incurred a great expense for decorations: it is related that all the
golden ornaments which he gave to the building were sent from Toledo in
Spain, and carried upon mules through Africa and Arabia.

Abou Djafar el Mansour, one of the Abassides, in A.H. 139, enlarged the
north and south sides of the mosque, and made it twice as large as it
had been before, so that it now occupied a space of forty-seven pikes
and a half in length. He also paved the ground adjoining the well of
Zemzem with marble.

The Khalife El Mohdy added to the size of the mosque at two different
periods; the last time, in A.H. 163, he bought the ground required for
these additions from the Mekkawys, paying to them twenty-five dinars for
every square pike. It was this Khalife who brought the columns from
Egypt, as I have already observed. The improvements which he had begun,
were completed by his son El Hady. The roof of the colonnade was then
built of sadj, a precious Indian wood. The columns brought from Egypt by
El Mohdy, were landed at one day's journey north of Djidda; but some
obstacles arising, they were not all transported to Mekka, some of them
having been abandoned on the sands near the shore. I mention this for
the sake of future travellers, who, on discovering them, might perhaps
consider them as the vestiges of some powerful Greek or Egyptian colony.

The historians of Mekka remark, and not without astonishment, that the
munificent Khalife Haroun er Rasheid, although he repeatedly visited the
Kaaba, added nothing to the mosque, except a new pulpit, or mambar.

A.H. 226. During the Khalifat of Motasem b'illah, the well of Zemzem was
covered above: it had before been enclosed all round, but not roofed.

A.H. 241. The space between the Hedjer and the Kaaba was laid out with
fine marbles. At that time there was a gate leading into the space
enclosed within the Hedjer.

The Khalife El Motaded, in A.H. 281, put the whole mosque into a
complete state of repair: he rebuilt its walls; made new gates,
assigning to them new names; and enlarged the building on the west

[p.167] side, by adding to it the space formerly occupied by the
celebrated Dar el Nedowa; an ancient building of Mekka, well known in
the history of the Pagan Arabs, which had always been the common
council-house of the chiefs of Mekka. It is said to have stood near the
spot where the Makam el Hanefy is now placed.

In A.H. 314, or, according to others, 301, Mekka and its temple
experienced great disasters. The army of the heretic sect of the
Carmates, headed by their chief, Abou Dhaher, invaded the Hedjaz, and
seized upon Mekka: fifty thousand of its inhabitants were slain during
the sack of the city, and the temple and the Kaaba were stripped of all
their valuable ornaments. After remaining twenty-one days, the enemy
departed, carrying with them the great jewel of Mekka, the black stone
of the Kaaba. During the fire which injured the Kaaba, in the time of
Ibn Zebeyr, the violent heat had split the stone into three pieces,
which were afterwards joined together again, and replaced in the former
situation, surrounded with a rim of silver; this rim was renewed and
strengthened by Haroun er Rasheid.

The Carmates carried the stone to Hedjer, [Asamy says that the stone was
carried to El Hassa, near the Persian Gulf, a town which had been
recently built by Abou Dhaher. I find, in the Travels of Ibn Batouta, a
town in the province of El Hassa, called Hedjer.] a fertile spot in the
Desert, on the route of the Syrian caravan, north of Medina, which they
had chosen as one of their abodes. They hoped that all the moslems would
come to visit the stone, and that they should thus succeed to the riches
which the pilgrims from every part of the world had brought to Mekka.
Under this impression, Abou Dhaher refused an offer of fifty thousand
dinars as a ransom for the stone; but after his death, the Carmates, in
A.H. 339, voluntarily sent it back, having been convinced by experience
that their expectations of wealth, from the possession of it, were ill
founded, and that very few moslems came to Hedjer for the purpose of
kissing it. At this time it was in two pieces, having been split by a
blow from a Carmate during the plunder of Mekka.

Seventy years after its restoration to its ancient seat, the stone

[p.168] suffered another indignity: Hakem b'amr Illah, the mad king of
Egypt, who had some intentions of claiming divine honours for himself,
sent in A.H. 413, an Egyptian with the pilgrim caravan to Mekka, to
destroy the stone. With an iron club concealed beneath his clothes, the
man approached it, and exclaimed, "How long shall this stone be adored
and kissed? There is neither Mohammed nor Aly to prevent me from doing
this, and to-day I shall destroy this building!" He then struck it three
times with his club. A party of horsemen, belonging to the caravan in
which he had travelled from Egypt, were ready at the gates of the mosque
to assist the lithoclast, as soon as he should have executed his task;
but they were not able to protect him from the fury of the populace. He
was slain by the dagger of a native of Yemen; the horsemen were pursued;
and the whole Egyptian caravan was plundered on the occasion.

Upon inspection, it was found that three small pieces, of the size of a
man's nail, had been knocked off by the blows; these were pulverised,
and their dust kneaded into a cement, with which the fractures were
filled up. Since that time, the stone has sustained no further
misfortune, except in the year 1674, when it was found, one morning,
besmeared with dirt, together with the door of the Kaaba; so that every
one who kissed it, retired with a sullied face. The author of this
sacrilegious joke was sought in vain; suspicion fell upon some Persians,
but the fact could not be proved against them. [See Asamy for these
details.]

The sanctity of the stone appears to have been greatly questioned by one
of the very pillars of Islam. El Azraky gives the testimony of several
witnesses, who heard Omar Ibn Khatab exclaim, while standing before it:--
"I know thou art a mere stone, that can neither hurt nor help me; nor
should I kiss thee, had I not seen Mohammed do the same."

In A.H. 354, the Khalife El Mokteder built the vestibule near the gate
of the mosque, called Bab Ibrahim, which projects beyond the straight
line of the columns, and united in it two ancient gates, called

[p.169] Bab Beni Djomah and Bab el Khayatein. From that time no further
improvements were made for several centuries.

In A.H. 802, a fire completely destroyed the north and west sides of the
mosque: two years after, it was rebuilt at the expense of El Naszer
Feradj Ibn Dhaher Berkouk, Sultan of Egypt. The wood necessary for that
purpose was transported partly from Egypt and partly from Tayf, where
the tree Arar, a species of cypress or juniper, furnished good timber.

In A.H. 906, Kansour el Ghoury, Sultan of Egypt, rebuilt the greater
part of the side of Bab Ibrahim; and to him the Hedjaz owes several
other public edifices.

In A.H. 959, in the reign of Solyman Ibn Selim I., Sultan of
Constantinople, the roof of the Kaaba was renewed.

In A.H. 980, the same Sultan rebuilt the side of the mosque towards the
street Mosaa, and caused all the domes to be raised which cover the roof
of the colonnades. He also placed the fine pavement, which is now round
the Kaaba, and a new pavement all around the colonnades.

In A.H. 984, his son Murad repaired and partly rebuilt the three other
sides, that had not been touched by him.

In the year 1039, (or 1626 of our era,) a torrent from Djebel Nour
rushed into the town, and filled the mosque so rapidly, that all the
persons then within it were drowned; whatever books, fine copies of the
Koran, &c. &c. were left in the apartments round the walls of the
building, were destroyed; and a part of the wall before the Kaaba,
called Hedjer, and three sides of the Kaaba itself, were carried away.
Five hundred souls perished in the town. In the following year the
damage was repaired, and the Kaaba rebuilt, after the side which had
escaped the fury of the torrent had been pulled down.

In 1072, the building over the well Zemzem was erected, as it now
stands; and in 1079, the four Makams were built anew.

After this time, the historians mention no other material repairs or
changes in the mosque; and I believe none took place in the eighteenth
century. We may, therefore, ascribe the building, as it now appears,
almost wholly to the munificence of the last Sultans of Egypt, and

[p.170] their successors, the Osmanly Sultans of Constantinople, since
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

In the autumn of 1816, several artists and workmen, sent from
Constantinople, were employed in the Hedjaz to repair all the damage
caused by the Wahabys in the chapels of the saints of that country, as
well as to make all the repairs necessary in the mosques at Mekka and
Medina.

[p.171] DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL OTHER HOLY PLACES,

VISITED BY PILGRIMS AT MEKKA, AND IN ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

DURING the time of the Wahabys, no person dared to visit these places
without exposing himself to their hostility; and all the buildings which
had been erected on these spots were ruined by them, or their domes
were, at least, destroyed.

In the town are shown:--

Mouled el Neby, the birth-place of Mohammed, in the quarter named from
it. In the time of Fasy a mosque stood near it, called Mesdjed el
Mokhtaba. During my stay, workmen were busily employed in re-
constructing the building over the Mouled upon its former plan. It
consists of a rotunda, the floor of which is about twenty-five feet
below the level of the street, with a staircase leading down to it. A
small hole is shown in the floor, in which Mohammed's mother sat when
she was delivered of him. This is said to have been the house of
Abdillah, Mohammed's father.

Mouled Setna Fatme, or the birth-place of Fatme, the daughter of
Mohammed, is shown in a good stone building, said to have been the house
of her mother Khadidje, in the street called Zogag el Hadjar. A
staircase leads down to the floor of this building, which, like that of
the former, is considerably below the street. This small edifice
includes two holy places: in one is a hole, similar to that in the
Mouled el Neby, to mark the place where Fatme was born; and just by is
another,

[p.172] of smaller depth, where she is said to have turned her hand-
mill, or rahha, after she was grown up. In an apartment near this, a
narrow cell is shown, where Mohammed used to sit, and receive from the
angel Gabriel the leaves of the Koran brought from heaven. This place is
called Kobbet el Wahy.

Mouled el Imam Aly, in the quarter called Shab Aly. This is a small
chapel, in the floor of which a hole marks the spot where Aly, the
cousin of Mohammed, is said to have been born.

Mouled Seydna Abou Beker, a small chapel, just opposite to the stone
which gave a salutation, "Salam Aleykum," to Mohammed whenever he passed
it. No sacred spot is here shown; but its floor is covered with very
fine Persian carpets.

All these Mouleds had undergone complete repair since the retreat of the
Wahabys, except that of Mohammed, on which the workmen were still
employed. The guardianship of these places is shared by several
families, principally Sherifs, who attend by turns, with a train of
servants. At every corner of the buildings are spread white handker-
chiefs, or small carpets, upon which visitors are expected to throw some
money; and the gates are lined with women, who occupy their seats by
right, and expect a contribution from the pilgrim's purse. The value of
a shilling, distributed in paras at each of the Mouleds, fully answers
the expectation of the greedy and the indigent.

Mouled Abou Taleb, in the Mala, is completely destroyed, as I have
already said; and will, probably, not be rebuilt.

Kaber Setna Khadidje: the tomb of Khadidje, the wife of Mohammed, the
dome of which was broken down by the Wahabys, and is not yet rebuilt; it
is regularly visited by hadjys, especially on Friday mornings. It lies
in the large burial-ground of the Mala, at the declivity of the western
chain; is enclosed by a square wall, and presents no objects of
curiosity except the tomb-stone, which has a fine inscription in Cufic
characters, containing a passage of the Koran from the chapter entitled,
Souret el Kursy. As the character is not the ancient Cufic, I suspect
that the stone was not intended originally to cover this grave: there is
no date in the inscription. The Sherif Serour, predecessor of Ghaleb,
had the vanity, on his death-bed, to order his family

[p.173] to bury his body close to the tomb of Khadidje, in the same
enclosure where it still remains. At a short distance from hence, the
tomb of Umna, the mother of Mohammed, is shown. It was covered with a
slab of fine marble, bearing a Cufic inscription, in an older character
than the former. The Wahabys broke it, and removed the two pieces, to
show their indignation at the visits paid to the receptacles of the
bones of mortals, which was, in their estimation, a species of idolatry.
Even at these tombs I found women, to whom permission was granted to
spread their handkerchiefs, and ask alms of every visitor.

In walking about these extensive cemeteries, I found many other tomb-
stones with Cufic inscriptions, but not in a very ancient character. I
could decipher no date prior to the sixth century of the Hedjra (the
twelfth of our era); but the greater part of them contain mere prayers,
without either the name of the deceased, or a date. The tombs, in
general, are formed of four large stones placed in an oblong square,
with a broad stone set upright at one end, bearing the inscription. I
saw no massive tomb or turban cut in stone, or any such ornament as is
used in other parts of Asia. A few small buildings have been raised by
the first families of Mekka, to enclose the tombs of their relations;
they are paved inside, but have no roof, and are of the most simple
construction. In two or three of them I found trees planted, which are
irrigated from cisterns built within the enclosure for the reception of
rain-water: here, the families to whom they belong sometimes pass the
day. Of several buildings, surmounted with domes, in which men
celebrated for their learning had been interred, the domes were
invariably broken down by the Wahabys: these fanatics, however, never
touched the tombs themselves, and every where respected the remains of
the dead. Among the tombs are those of several Pashas of Syria and of
Egypt, constructed with little ornament.

At the extremity of almost every tomb, opposite to the epitaph, I found
the low shrub saber, a species of aloe, planted in the ground: it is an
evergreen, and requires very little water, as its Arabic name, saber,
(patience) implies: it is chosen for this purpose from an allusion to
the patience necessary in waiting for the resurrection. On the whole,
this burial-ground is in a state of ruin, caused, it is said, by the
devastations

[p.174] of the Wahabys; but, I believe, still more by the little care
which the Mekkawys take of the graves containing the bodies of their
relations and friends.

The places visited out of the town are:--

Djebel Abou Kobeys. This mountain is one of the highest in the immediate
neighbourhood of the town, and commands it from the east. Muselman
tradition says that it was the first mountain created upon earth; its
name is found in almost every Arabic historian and poet. Two different
spots upon its summit are visited by the pilgrims. The one is called
Mekan el Hedjar (the spot of the stone), where Omar, who afterwards
succeeded to the Khalifat, used to call the people to prayers, in the
first years of Islam, when the Koreysh or inhabitants of Mekka were, for
the greater part, idolaters. Here is shown a cavity cut in the rock,
resembling a small tomb, in which it is said that God, at the deluge,
ordered the guardian angels to place the black stone, revered by them
long before Abraham built the Kaaba, and to make the rock unite over it,
that the waters might not touch it; and that, after the deluge, the
angel Gabriel split the rock, and conveyed the stone back to the site of
the Kaaba. The other place of visit, or Zyara, is across a narrow
valley, at a short distance from the former, on the summit of the
mountain; it is called Mekan Shak el Kamr, or place where the moon was
split-one of Mohammed's greatest miracles. The story, however, is now
differently related by the Mekkawys, who say that, when he was praying
here at mid-day, the first people among the incredulous Koreysh came and
desired him to convince them at once, by some miracles, [It is recorded
by historians, that at the desire of some unbelieving Koreysh, he caused
the full moon to appear as if cleft asunder, so that one half was
visible behind Djebel Abou Kobeys, and the other at the opposite side of
the hemisphere, above Djebel Kaykaan.] that he was really the prophet of
the Almighty. "What shall I do," he replied, "to make you true
believers?" "Let the sun retire," said they, "and the moon and stars
appear; let the moon descend upon earth, come to this mountain, enter
into one of the sleeves of your gown, issue by the other, return to the
firmament, and then let day-light shine again upon us." Mohammed
retired, addressed a short prayer to the Deity, and the whole miracle
was forthwith

[p.175] performed; after which the Koreysh were converted. These and
similar tales, applied to different places by the Mekkawys, for the
purpose of extorting money from the pilgrims, are quite unsupported by
the authenticated traditions of the prophet. To this spot the people of
Mekka resort, that they may enjoy a view of the new moon of Ramadhan,
and of the month following it. Between these two places, and a little to
the east of them, are the ruins of a solid building, some walls only
remaining. It is said to have formerly been a state prison of the
sherifs of Mekka. In it are several dungeon-like towers, and it was
probably a castle built upon Djebel Kobeys by Mekether el Hashemy, a
chief of Mekka, about the year 530 or 540 of the Hedjra; or it may have
been a mosque called Mesdjid Ibrahim, which, according to Azraky, stood
here in the seventh century of our era. It is vulgarly believed at
Mekka that whoever eats a roasted sheep's head upon Djebel Kobeys, will
be for ever cured of all head-aches.

Djebel Nour, the mountain of light. This lies to the north of the town.
Passing the Sherif's garden-house on the road towards Arafat, a little
further on, we enter a valley, which extends in a direction N.E. by N.
and is terminated by the mountain, which is conical. Steps were formerly
cut in the steep ascent, but they are now ruined; and it required three
quarters of an hour, and much fatiguing exertion, to reach the top. In
the rocky floor of a small building, ruined by the Wahabys, a cleft is
shown, about the size of a man in length and breadth. It is said that
Mohammed, wearied, and grieved at the assertions of his enemies and
dubious adherents at Mekka, who had given out that God had entirely
abandoned him, retired to this mountain, and stretched himself out in
the cleft, imploring help from above. The angel Gabriel was despatched
to him with that short chapter of the Koran, which we call the ninety-
fourth, beginning with the words "Have we not gladdened thy breast?"--the
previous chapter alludes also to his state of grief. A little below this
place is a small cavern in the red granite rock, which forms the upper
stratum of this mountain; it is called Mogharat el Hira. [In the time of
the Pagan Arabs this mountain was called Djebel Hira. I may here add,
that a great many mountains and valleys in the Hedjaz have lost their
ancient names. This is amply proved by the topographical notices of
Azraky, of the historians of Medina, and of Zamakhshary, in his valuable
work entitled El Myat o' el djebal.] Here several other passages

[p.176] of the Koran are said to have been revealed to the prophet, who
often repaired to this elevated spot; but none of those present could
tell me what those passages were. The guardians of these two places are
Bedouins of the tribe of Lahyan (or Laha-yn).

I had left Mekka on foot, at night, with a large party of hadjys, to
visit this place, which is usually done on Saturdays. We were on the
summit before dawn; and when the sun rose, a very extensive view
presented itself to the north and west, the other points being bounded
by mountains. The country before us had a dreary aspect, not a single
green spot being visible: barren black and grey hills, and white sandy
valleys, were the only objects in sight. On the declivity of the
mountain, a little way from the top, is a small stone reservoir, built
to supply the visitors with water. It was dry when I saw it, and in bad
repair.

Djebel Thor. About an hour and a half south of Mekka, to the left of the
road to the village of Hosseynye, is a lofty mountain of this name,
higher, it is said, than Djebel Nour. On the summit of it is a cavern in
which Mohammed and his friend Abou Beker took refuge from the Mekkawys
before he fled to Medina. A spider had spun its web before the entrance,
and his pursuers seeing this, supposed, of course, that the fugitives
could not be within. To this circumstance an allusion is made in the
Koran (chap. ix.) I did not visit the spot.

El Omra. Of this building I have already spoken: it is a small chapel
with a single row of columns, on the road to Wady Fatme. Every pilgrim
is required to visit it; but he is left to his own discretion respecting
the places before mentioned. The Omra is surrounded by ruins of several
habitations: there is a copious well near it, and traces of cultivation
are seen in the valley. I believe the well to be that called by the
historians of Mekka "Bir Tenaym." According to Fasy, a mosque, called
Mesdjed Ahlyledje, stood here in the earliest times of Islam. I shall
conclude my description of Mekka with that of

[p.177] the opening of the Kaaba, which I deferred, that the description
of the mosque might not be interrupted.

The Kaaba is opened only three times in the year: on the 20th of the
month of Ramadhan, on the 15th of Zulkade, and on the 10th of Moharram
(or Ashour, as the Arabs call it). The opening takes place one hour
after sun-rise, when the steps are wheeled up to the gate of the
building: as soon as they touch the wall, immense crowds rush upon them,
and in a moment fill the whole interior of the Kaaba. The steps are
lined by the eunuchs of the mosque, who endeavour in vain to keep order,
and whose sticks fall heavy upon those who do not drop a fee into their
hands; many of the crowd, however, are often unmercifully crushed. In
the interior every visitor is to pray eight rikats, or make sixteen
prostrations; in every corner of it two rikats: but it may easily be
conceived how these prayers are performed, and that while one is bowing
down, another walks over him. After the prayers are finished, the
visitor is to lean with extended arms against any part of the wall, with
his face pressed against it, and thus to recite two pious ejaculations.
Sobbing and moaning fill the room; and I thought I perceived most
heartfelt emotions and sincere repentance in many of the visitors: the
following, and other similar ejaculations, are heard, and many faces are
bedewed with tears: "O God of the house, O God forgive me, and forgive
my parents, and my children! O God, admit me into paradise! O God,
deliver our necks from hell-fire, O thou God of the old house!" I could
not stay longer than five minutes; the heat was so great that I almost
fainted, and several persons were carried out with great difficulty,
quite senseless.

At the entrance sits a Sherif, holding the silver key of the Kaaba in
his hand, which he presents to be kissed by the pilgrim, who for this
pays a fee, on coming out; money is also given to a eunuch, who sits by
that Sherif. Some eunuchs on the steps, and several menial officers and
servants on the pavement below, which surrounds the Kaaba, expect also
to be paid. I heard many hadjys animadvert severely upon this shameful
practice, saying that the most holy spot upon earth should not be made
the scene of human avarice and greediness; but the Mekkawys are
invulnerable to such reproaches.

[p.178] The Kaaba remains open till about eleven o'clock. On the
following day it is opened exclusively for women. After visiting the
Kaaba it is thought necessary to perform the towaf round it.

The interior of the Kaaba consists of a single room, the roof of which
is supported by two columns, and it has no other light than what is
received by the door. The ceiling, the upper half of the two columns,
and the side walls, to within about five feet of the floor, are hung
with a thick stuff of red silk, richly interwoven with flowers and
inscriptions in large characters of silver; the lower part of each
column is lined with carved aloe-wood; and that part of the walls below
the silk hangings is lined with fine white marble, ornamented with
inscriptions cut in relief, and with elegant arabesques; the whole being
of exquisite workmanship. The floor, which is upon a level with the
door, and therefore about seven feet above the level of the area of the
mosque, is laid with marble of different colours. Between the pillars
numerous lamps are suspended, donations of the faithful, and said to be
of solid gold; they were not touched by the Wahabys. [Kotobeddyn relates,
that the Sheikhs of Mekka stole the golden lamps suspended in the Kaaba,
and conveyed them away in the wide sleeves of their gowns. Many golden
lamps were sent here by Sultan Soleyman.] In the north-west corner of
the chamber is a small gate, which leads up to the flat roof of the
building. I observed nothing else worthy of remark; but the room is so
dark, that it requires some time before any thing can be seen in it. The
interior ornaments are coeval with the restoration of the Kaaba, which
took place A.D. 1627. I am unacquainted with any holy ceremony observed
in washing the floor of the Kaaba, as mentioned in the Travels of Aly
Bey el Abasy: I have seen the Towasheys perform that duty, in the same
manner as on the pavement around it; although it appears from the
history of Asamy, that the floor of the Kaaba is sometimes washed by
great personages.

The visit to the interior of the Kaaba forms no part of the religious
duty of the pilgrim, and many of them quit Mekka without seeing it. I
saw it twice; on the 15th of Zulkade, and the 10th of Moharram. At the
latter period the new hangings, brought from Cairo by Mohammed Aly, had
been put up: they were of very rich stuff, much finer and

[p.179] closer in texture than the black exterior cover. The old
hangings, which had been up for more than twenty years, were now
publicly sold to devotees at the rate of about one dollar for a
piece of six inches square. The right of offering these hangings
was in the person who gave the exterior kessoua, though exceptions
sometimes occurred, as in A.H. 865, when Shah Rokh, king of Persia,
sent a magnificent covering for the interior. [See Kotobeddyn.]

Before the gate called Bab-es-Salam is a shop where pieces both of the
exterior and interior coverings are constantly for sale: those of the
latter are most esteemed. I have seen waistcoats made of them, which, of
course, are reckoned the safest coat of mail that one of the faithful
can wear. In the same shop are sold drawings of Mekka and Medina, done
in a coarse and most gaudy style upon paper or linen, and small
impressions of prayers, &c. from engravings on wood. I bought some of
these, for the same purpose as the Zemzem bottles which I took front
hence.

[p.180] REMARKS ON THE INHABITANTS OF MEKKA AND DJIDDA.

MEKKA and Djidda are inhabited by the same class of people; and their
character and customs are the same. I have already remarked that all the
rich Mekkawys have houses at Djidda, and that the commercial employments
of the two cities are alike.

The inhabitants of Mekka may be all styled foreigners, or the offspring
of foreigners, except a few Hedjaz Bedouins, or their descendants, who
have settled here. The ancient tribe of Koreysh, which was divided into
a wandering and a settled branch, is almost extinct. There are some
Bedouins of Koreysh still in the neighbourhood; but the settled Koreysh,
who were the inhabitants of Mekka in the time of Mohammed, have either
been destroyed, or have migrated, in consequence of the frequent
intestine wars. At this moment three Koreysh families only, descendants
of the ancient tribe of that name, are found at Mekka, the head of one
of which is the Nayb, or keeper of the mosque; and the two others are
poor people, also attached to its service. The neighbourhood of the
great mart of Djidda, the yearly arrival of immense caravans, and the
holy house, have attracted, however, a sufficient number of strangers to
supply the place of the Koreysh. In every hadj some of the pilgrims
remain behind: the Mohammedan, whenever resident for any time in a town,
takes a wife, and is thus often induced to settle permanently on the
spot. Hence most of the Mekkawys are descendants of foreigners from
distant parts of the

[p.181] globe, who have adopted Arabian manners, and, by intermarrying,
have produced a race which can no longer be distinguished from the
indigenous Arabians. On questioning shopkeepers, merchants, olemas,
metowafs, and indeed people of every description, they are found to be
the sons, grandsons, or descendants of foreigners. The most numerous are
those whose fathers came from Yemen and Hadramaut; next to them in
numbers are the descendants of Indians, Egyptians, Syrians, Mogrebyns,
and Turks. There are also Mekkawys of Persian origin; Tatars, Bokhars,
Kurds, Afghans; in short, of almost every Mohammedan country in the
world. The Mekkawy is careful in preserving, by tradition, the knowledge
of his original country. My metowaf or guide traced his descent to an
Usbek Tatar, from the neighbourhood of Bokhara, and whenever any hadjys
arrived from that quarter, he never failed to recommend himself as their
guide, though entirely ignorant of their language.

There is, however, one branch of the ancient Arabians remaining in
Mekka; these are the native Sherifs, (as distinguished from the
descendants of foreign Sherifs who have settled here:) they derive their
pedigree from Hassan and Hosseyn, the sons of Fatme, the daughter of
Mohammed; a descent claimed equally by the other Sherifs, but whose
genealogies are supposed to be less authentic. The Mekka Sherifs form a
large class, into which no foreigners are admitted, and it is spreading
over many other parts of Arabia. I am not thoroughly acquainted with
their history, or the period at which they began to branch out into
particular tribes; and I can only state that they acknowledge many, but
not all Sherifs of Yemen, and other parts of the Hedjaz, as their
distant relations: at present they are divided into several tribes, out
of one of which the reigning Sherif must be chosen, as I shall mention
below. At Mekka a difference is observed in the name given to the
Sherifs, according to their profession. Those who are employed in study
and the law, and occupied more or less about the temple and its
dependencies are called Seyd, while those who become soldiers, and mix
in state affairs, are known exclusively by the term Sherif. The Seyds
are followers of religion (say the Mekkawys), the Sherifs are soldiers.
The son usually follows the vocation of the

[p.182] father. These native Sherifs are the head men of the town, or
at least were so before their pride was broken by the Turkish conquest.

Though a mixed population, the inhabitants of Mekka wear the same sort
of dress, and have the same customs; and although of different origin,
they seem to be much less tenacious of their national costume and
manners in this holy city than any where else. In Syria and Egypt,
strangers from all parts of Asia retain with the greatest strictness the
dress and mode of living of their native countries, though established
for life in their new abodes; a circumstance which renders the view of
an eastern bazar infinitely more interesting than any large assemblage
of people in Europe. In the Hedjaz, on the contrary, most of the foreign
visitors change their native costume for that of the people of the
country; and their children born there are brought up and clothed in the
fashion of the Mekkawys. The Indians, as I have already remarked in
speaking of Djidda, offer an exception to this general rule; they form a
distinct colony, and retain their native language, which the children of
other strangers usually forget, their mothers being in many instances
Arabs, natives of Mekka.

The colour of the Mekkawy and Djiddawy is a yellowish sickly brown,
lighter or darker according to the origin of the mother, who is very
often an Abyssinian slave. Their features approach much nearer to those
of Bedouins than I have observed in any townsmen of the East; this is
particularly observable in the Sherifs, who are gifted with very
handsome countenances; they have the eye, face, and aquiline nose of the
Bedouin, but are more fleshy. The lower class of Mekkawys are generally
stout, with muscular limbs, while the higher orders are distinguishable
by their meagre emaciated forms, as are also all those inhabitants who
draw their origin from India or Yemen. The Bedouins who surround Mekka,
though poor, are much stronger-bodied than the wealthier Bedouins of the
interior of the Desert, probably because their habits are less roving,
and because they are less exposed to the hardships of long journies. The
Mekkawy, it may be generally said, is inferior in strength and size to
the Syrian or Egyptian, but far exceeds him in expressive features, and
especially in the vivacity and brilliancy of the eye.

[p.183] All the male natives of Mekka and Djidda are tattooed with a
particular mark, which is performed by their parents when they are forty
days of age. It consists of three long cuts down both cheeks; and two on
the right temple, the scars of which, sometimes three or four lines in
breadth, remain through life. It is called Meshale. The Bedouins do not
follow this practice; but the Mekkawys pride themselves in the
distinction, which precludes the other inhabitants of the Hedjaz from
claiming, in foreign countries, the honour of being born in the holy
cities. This tattooing is sometimes, though very seldom, applied to
female children. The people of Bornou, in the interior of Africa, have a
similar, though much slighter, mark on both cheeks.

The dress of the higher classes, in winter, is a cloth benish, or upper
cloak; and a djubbe, or under cloak, likewise of cloth, and such as is
worn in all parts of Turkey. A showy silk gown, tied with a thin
cashmere sash, a white muslin turban, and yellow slippers, constitute
the rest of the dress. In summer, instead of the cloth benish, they wear
one of very slight silk stuff, of Indian manufacture, called Moktar
khana.

The highest classes, who affect the Turkish fashion in their dress, wear
red Barbary caps under the turban; those of the other classes are of
linen richly embroidered with silk, the work of the women of Mekka, and
a common present from a woman to her lover: on the top sometimes are
embroidered in large characters sentences of the Koran.

The gowns of well-dressed people of the middle class are generally of
white India muslin, without any lining; they are called beden, and
differ from the common Levantine antery, in being very short, and
without sleeves, and in being of course much cooler: over the beden a
djubbe of light cloth, or Indian silk stuff, is worn, which, in time of
great heat, a man throws over his shoulders; the gown and under-shirt
are then his only covering. The shirts are of Indian silk or Egyptian or
Anatolian linen, and as fine as the wearer can afford to purchase.

The lower classes usually wear, at least in summer, nothing but a shirt,
and instead of trowsers a piece of yellow Indian nankin, or

[p.184] striped Egyptian linen round their loins; over this, in winter,
they have a beden of striped Indian calico, but without a belt to tie it
round the body.

The lower and middle classes wear sandals instead of shoes, a custom
very agreeable in this hot climate, as it contributes to the coolness of
the feet. The best sandals come from Yemen, where all kinds of leather
manufacture seem to flourish.

In summer, many people, and all the lower Indians, wear the cap only,
without the turban. The usual turban is of Indian cambric, or muslin,
which each class ties round the head in a particular kind of fold. Those
who style themselves Olemas, or learned doctors, allow the extremity to
fall down in a narrow stripe to the middle of their back. The Mekkawys
are cleaner in their dress than any Eastern people I have seen. As white
muslin, or white cambric, forms the principal part of their clothing, it
requires frequent washing; and this is regularly done, so that even the
poorest orders endeavour to change their linen at least once a week.
With the higher and middle classes, the change is, of course, more
frequent. The rich wear every day a different dress; and it is no
uncommon thing with many to possess thirty or forty suits. The people of
the Hedjaz delight in dress much more than the northern Mohammedans; and
the earnings of the lower classes are mostly spent in clothes. When a
Mekkawy returns home from his shop, or even after a short walk into the
town, he immediately undresses, hangs up his clothes over a cord tied
across his sitting-room, takes off his turban, changes his shirt, and
then seats himself upon his carpet, with a thin under-cap upon his head.
In this dishabille they receive visitors; and to delineate a Mekkawy, he
should be represented sitting in his undress, near a projecting latticed
window, having in one hand a sort of fan, generally of this form, [not
included] made of chippings of date-leaves, with which he drives away
the flies; and in the other, the long snake of his Persian pipe.

[p.185] On feast-days they display their love of dress in a still higher
degree; from the richest to the poorest, every one must then be dressed
in a new suit of clothes; and if he cannot afford to buy, he hires one
from the dealers for two or three days. On these occasions, as much as
one hundred piastres are sometimes given for the hire of a dress, worth
altogether, perhaps, fifteen hundred or two thousand piastres. No one is
then content with a dress suited to his station in life, but assumes
that of the class above him. The common shopkeeper, who walks about the
whole year in his short gown, with a napkin round his loins, appears in
a pink-coloured benish, lined with satin, a gold-embroidered turban, a
rich silk sash, worked with silver thread, and a djombye, or crooked
knife, stuck in his sash, the scabbard of which is covered with coins of
silver and gold. The children are dressed out in the same expensive
manner; and a person would submit to be called a thief, rather than
allow those of equal rank to exceed him in finery. In general, the most
gaudy colours are preferred; and the upper cloak must always be a
contrast in colour to the garment worn beneath it. During festivals,
cashmere shawls are also worn, though seldom seen at other times, except
on women, and the warlike Sherifs; but every Mekkawy in easy
circumstances has an assortment of them in his wardrobe. After the
feast, the fine suit is laid aside, and every one returns to his wonted
station. Every grown-up Mekkawy carries a long stick; among the lower
orders, they may rather be called bludgeons. An olema is never seen
without his stick. Few persons go armed, except among the lower classes,
or the Sherifs, who carry crooked knives in their belts.

The women of Mekka and Djidda dress in Indian silk gowns, and very large
blue striped trowsers, reaching down to the ankles, and embroidered
below with silver thread; over these they wear the wide gown called
habra, of black silk stuff, used in Egypt and Syria; or a blue and white
striped silk mellaye of Indian manufacture. The face is concealed by a
white, or light blue borko; on the head, covered by the mellaye, they
wear a cap like the men's, around which a piece of coloured muslin is
tightly twisted in folds. The head-dress is said to

[p.186] be less ornamented with gold coins, pearls, and jewels, than
that of the ladies of Egypt and Syria; but they have, at least, one
string of sequins tied round it: many have gold necklaces, bracelets,
and silver ankle-rings. The poorer women wear the blue Egyptian shirt,
and large trowsers, like those already mentioned; and bracelets of horn,
glass, or amber.

The children of Mekka are not so spoiled by their parents as they are in
other countries of the East; as soon as they can walk freely, they are
allowed to play in the street before the house, clad in very light
clothes, or rather half-naked. On this account, probably, they are
stouter and healthier than the bandaged children of Syria and Egypt; of
whom it may be truly said that they are often nursed to death.

There are few families at Mekka, in moderate circumstances, that do not
keep slaves. Mohammed found the African slave-trade so firmly
established in Arabia, that he made no effort to abolish it; and thus he
has confirmed, and extended throughout Northern Africa, this traffic,
with all its attendant cruelties, besides those which have followed the
propagation of Islam. The male and female servants are negroes, or
noubas, usually brought from Sowakin: the concubines are always
Abyssinian slaves. No wealthy Mekkawy prefers domestic peace to the
gratification of his passions; they all keep mistresses in common with
their lawful wives: but if a slave gives birth to a child, the master
generally marries her, or, if he fails to do so, is censured by the
community. The keeping of Abyssinian concubines is still more prevalent
at Djidda. Many Mekkawys have no other than Abyssinian wives, finding
the Arabians more expensive, and less disposed to yield to the will of
the husband. The same practice is adopted by many foreigners, who reside
in the Hedjaz for a short time. Upon their arrival, they buy a female
companion, with the design of selling her at their departure; but
sometimes their stay is protracted; the slave bears a child; they marry
her, and become stationary in the town. There are very few men
unmarried, or without a slave. This, indeed, is general in the East, and
no where more so than at Mekka. The

[p.187] mixture of Abyssinian blood has, no doubt, given to the Mekkawys
that yellow tinge of the skin which distinguishes them from the natives
of the Desert.

Among the richer classes, it is considered shameful to sell a concubine
slave. If she bears a child, and the master has not already four legally
married wives, he takes her in matrimony; if not, she remains in his
house for life; and in some instances the number of concubines is
increased to several dozen, old and young. The middling and lower
classes in Mekka are not so scrupulous as their superiors: they buy up
young Abyssinians on speculation; educate them in the family; teach them
cooking, sewing, &c.; and then sell them at a profit to foreigners, at
least such as prove barren. I have been informed by physicians, barbers,
and druggists, that the practice of causing abortion is frequent here.
The seed of the tree which produces the balsam of Mekka, is the drug
commonly used for this purpose. The Mekkawys make no distinction
whatever between sons born of Abyssinian slaves and those of free
Arabian women.

The inhabitants of Mekka have but two kinds of employment,--trade, and
the service of the Beitullah, or Temple; but the former has the
preference, and there are very few olemas, or persons employed in the
mosque, who are not engaged in some commercial affairs, though they are
too proud to pursue them openly. The reader has probably remarked, in
the foregoing description of Mekka, how few artisans inhabit its
streets; such as masons, carpenters, tailors, shoemakers, smiths, &c.,
and these are far inferior, in skill, to the same class in Egypt. With
the exception of a few potteries and dying-houses, the Mekkawys have not
a single manufactory; but, like the people of Djidda, are dependent upon
other countries for a supply of their wants. Mekka, therefore, has
necessarily a considerable degree of foreign commerce, which is chiefly
carried on, during the pilgrimage, and some months preceding it, by the
wealthy hadjys, who bring from every Muselman country its native
productions to Djidda, either by sea or across the Desert from Damascus,
exchanging them amongst each other; or receiving from the merchants of
Mekka the goods of India and Arabia, which the latter have accumulated
the whole year in

[p.188] their warehouses. At this period, Mekka becomes one of the
largest fairs of the East, and certainly the most interesting, from the
variety of nations which frequent it. The value of the exports from
Mekka is, however, greatly superior to that of the imports, and a
considerable sum of money, in dollars and sequins, required to balance
them. Of these, some part finds its way to Yemen and India; and about
one-fourth remains in the hands of the Mekkawys. So profitable is this
trade, that the goods bought at Djidda from the merchants, who purchase
them out of the ships which arrive there from India, yield, when sold
wholesale at Mekka, during the Hadj, a clear gain of twenty to thirty
per cent., and of fifty per cent. when sold in retail. It is not
surprising, therefore, that all the people of Mekka are merchants.
Whoever can make up a sum of a few hundred dollars, repairs to Djidda,
and lays it out on goods, which he exposes for sale during the
pilgrimage. Much profit is also fraudulently made: great numbers of
hadjys are ignorant of the Arabic language, and are consequently placed
in the hands of brokers or interpreters, who never fail to make them pay
dearly for their services; indeed, all Mekka seems united in the design
of cheating the pilgrims.

Formerly, when the caravans enjoyed perfect security on the road, goods
were chiefly transported by land to. Mekka: at present, few merchants
trust their property to the hazards of a passage across the Desert; they
rather forego the advantage of importing them into Mekka duty-free, the
great privilege possessed by the caravans, and carry them by sea to
Djidda, on which road all the hadjys of Africa and Turkey pay a double
duty; once in Egypt, and again at Djidda both duties are received by
Mohammed Aly. At present, therefore, the smaller traffic only is carried
on by the caravans, which remain but a few days at Mekka. The
shopkeepers and retail dealers of the city derive greater profits from
them than the wholesale merchants. The principal business of the latter
occurs during the months previous to the pilgrimage, when foreign
merchants arrive by the way of Djidda, and have full leisure to settle
their affairs before the Hadj takes place.

In time of peace with the interior, there is a considerable trade

[p.189] with the Bedouins, and especially with the inhabitants of the
towns of Nedjed, who are in want of India goods, drugs, and articles of
dress, which they procure either from Medina, or at a cheaper rate from
Mekka. Coffee, so much used in the Desert, is imported by the people of
Nedjed themselves, who send their own caravans to the coffee country of
Yemen.

The Mekkawys, especially those who are not sufficiently opulent to trade
in India goods, (which require a good deal of ready cash, and lie
sometimes long on hand,) employ their capital during the interval of the
Hadj, in the traffic of corn and provisions. This was much more
profitable formerly than it is at present; for Mohammed Aly having made
these articles a monopoly, the people are now obliged to purchase the
grain in Djidda, at the Pasha's own price, and to be contented with a
moderate gain on re-selling it at Mekka. After paying freight, however,
it still leaves a profit of fifteen or twenty per cent.; and it is a
species of traffic peculiarly attractive to the smaller capitals, as,
the prices being very variable, it is a lottery by which money may
sometimes be doubled in a short time.

At the approach of the pilgrimage, every kind of provision rises in
value; and, in a smaller proportion, every other article of trade. Those
who have warehouses filled with corn, rice, and biscuits, are sure to
obtain considerable profits. To provide food, during their stay, for an
influx of population amounting to sixty thousand human beings, and for
twenty thousand camels, together with provisions for their return
homewards, is a matter of no small moment, and Mohammed Aly has not yet
ventured to take the whole of it into his hands. Every Mekkawy
possessing a few dollars, lays them out in the purchase of some kind of
provision, which, when the Hadj approaches, he transports upon his ass
from Djidda to Mekka.

Whenever the interior of Arabia is open to caravans, Bedouins from all
the surrounding parts purchase their yearly provision of corn at Mekka;
which itself also, in time of peace, receives a considerable quantity of
corn from Yemen, especially Mokhowa, a town which is ten days' journey
distant, at the western foot of the great chain, and the mart of the
Arabs who cultivate those mountains. I heard that

[p.190] the imports from Mokhowa amounted to half the demand of Mekka;
but this seems doubtful, though I have no means of forming a correct
estimate, as the route is at present unfrequented, and Mekka receives
its provisions wholly from Djidda. The consumption of grain, it may be
observed, is much greater in Arabia than in any of the surrounding
countries; the great mass of the population living almost entirely upon
wheat, barley, lentils, or rice; using no vegetables, but a great deal
of butter.

Unless a person is himself engaged in commercial concerns, or has an
intelligent friend among the wholesale merchants, it is difficult, if
not impossible, for him to obtain any accurate details of so extensive a
trade as that carried on by Mekka. I shall, therefore, abstain from
making any partial, and, on that account, probably erroneous remarks, on
its different branches, with which I am not well acquainted, and which I
could find no one at Mekka to explain to me.

It will naturally be supposed that Mekka is a rich town: it would be
still more so, if the lower classes did not so rapidly spend their gains
in personal indulgences. The wholesale merchants are rich; and as the
whole of their business is carried on with ready money, they are less
exposed to losses than other Eastern merchants. Most of them have an
establishment at Djidda, and the trade of both towns is closely
connected. During the time of the Wahabys, the interior of Arabia was
opened to Mekka; but the foreign imports, by sea and land, were reduced
to what was wanted for the use of the inhabitants. The great fair of the
pilgrimage no longer took place; and although some foreign hadjys still
visited the holy city, they did not trust their goods to the chance of
being seized by the Wahabys. Under these circumstances, the principal
inducement with the Mekkawys to remain in the town, namely, their
unceasing gains, no longer existed. The rich waited for a renewal of the
Hadj caravans; but many of the poor, unable longer to find subsistence,
retired from Mekka, and settled at Djidda, or other harbours on the Red
Sea; whither they have been followed by many of the more respectable
traders.

Trade is carried on by means of brokers, many of whom are Indians: in
general, the community of Indians is the wealthiest in

[p.191] Mekka. They are in direct intercourse with all the harbours of
Hindostan, and can often afford to undersell their competitors.

Many of them, as has been already observed, are stationary here, while
others are constantly travelling backward and forward between India and
the Hedjaz. They all retain their native language, which they teach
their children, and also many merchants of Mekka superficially, so that
most of the latter understand, at least, the Hindostanee numerals, and
the most ordinary phrases employed in buying and selling. The Indians
labour under great difficulties in learning Arabic; I never heard any of
them, however long resident in the Hedjaz, speak it with a tolerable
accent: in this respect they are inferior to the Turks, whose
pronunciation of Arabic so often affords subject of ridicule to the
Arabian mob. The children of Indians, born at Mekka, of course speak
Arabic as their native language. The Indians have the custom of writing
Arabic with Hindostanee characters.

They are said to be extremely parsimonious; and, from what I saw of them
in the houses of some of their first merchants, they seem to deserve the
character. They are shrewd traders, and an overmatch, sometimes, even
for the Arabians. They are despicable, from their want of charity; but
they display among themselves a spirited manner, which makes them
respected, and even sometimes dreaded, at Mekka. Many of them have
partners in India; consequently they receive their goods cheaper than
they can be bought from the Indian ships at Djidda: hence the inferior
dealers and shopkeepers at Mekka often find it more convenient to
purchase from them at short credit, than to go to Djidda, where every
thing must be paid for in ready money. With the exception of one or two
houses, no Arabian merchants of Mekka receive their goods direct from
India, but purchase them from the India fleet. Of all the people at
Mekka none are more strict in the performance of their religious rites
than the Indians.

Dealers, when bargaining in the presence of others from whom they wish
to conceal their business, join their right hands under the corner of
the gown or sleeve of one of the parties; by touching the different
joints of the fingers they note the numerals, and thus silently conclude
their bargain.

[p.192] The Mekkawys who do not ostensibly follow commerce, are attached
to the government, or to the establishment of the mosque; but as I have
already said, they all engage, more or less, in some branch of traffic,
and the whole population looks forward to the period of the Hadj as the
source of their income.

The persons attached to the mosque have regular salaries, partake in the
general presents made to it, expect many private donations from
charitable devotees, and share in the stipends which are brought by the
Syrian and Egyptian caravans. These stipends, called Surra, (of which I
have already given an account,) derive their origin principally from the
Sultans of Constantinople, who, upon their accession to the throne,
generally fix a certain yearly sum for the maintenance of the poor, and
the worthiest individuals of Mekka and Medina. They are distributed in
both towns by the Kadhy, as he thinks proper; but if a person has been
once presented with a stipend, he enjoys it for life, and it descends to
his children. He receives a ticket signed by the Kadhy, the Sherif, and
the Surra-writer, and his name is entered in a register at Mekka, of
which a duplicate is sent annually by the returning Hadj to
Constantinople, where the name is enrolled in the general Surra-book.
The Surra is made up at Constantinople in a great number of small
packets, each containing the stipulated sum, and indorsed with the name
of the individual to whom it is destined. If any fresh sum is sent to be
distributed, the Kadhy divides it, informs the inspector of the Surra at
Constantinople to whom the money has been given, and in the following
year the additional packages, addressed to the new pensioners, are added
to the former number. Some of the Surras are brought from Egypt, but the
far greater part from Constantinople, by way of Syria: this part is very
regularly received. Each caravan has its own Surra-writer, whose duty
also it is to distribute all the other money or tribute which the
caravan pays to Bedouins and Arabs, on its road to Mekka.

The Surra for Mekka is distributed in the mosque, under the windows of
the Kadhy's house, after the departure of the Hadj. There are persons
who receive so small a sum as one piastre; the greater number from ten
to twenty piastres; but there are a few

[p.193] families who receive as much as two thousand piastres annually.
Although not always given to the most worthy, many poor families derive
support from this allowance. The tickets are transferable; the Kadhy and
the Sherif must sign the transfer; and the new name, a small compliment
being given to the Kadhy's scribe, is registered and sent to
Constantinople. In former times a Mekkawy could scarcely be induced to
sell his Surra, which he considered an honour as well as the most
certain provision for his family. The value, however, of the Surra has
much changed. During the time of the Wahabys the tickets had almost
entirely lost their value, as for eight years their holders had received
no pay. They have now recovered a little; but some were lately sold at
two years and a half purchase, which may afford an idea of the opinion
current at Mekka as to the stability of the Turkish government, or the
probability of the return of the Wahabys.

The idlest, most impudent, and vilest individuals of Mekka adopt the
profession of guides (metowaf or delyl); and as there is no want of
those qualities, and a sufficient demand for guides during the Hadj,
they are very numerous. Besides the places which I have described in the
town, the metowafs accompany the hadjys to all the other places of
resort in the sacred district, and are ready to perform every kind of
service in the city. But their utility is more than counterbalanced by
their importunity and knavery. They besiege the room of the hadjy from
sun-rise to sun-set; and will not allow him to do any thing without
obtruding their advice: they sit down with him to breakfast, dinner, and
supper; lead him into all possible expenses, that they may pocket a
share of them; suffer no opportunity to pass of asking him for money;
and woe to the poor ignorant Turk who employs them as his interpreter in
any mercantile concern. My first delyl was the man of Medina at whose
house I lodged during the last days of Ramadhan. On returning to Mekka a
second time, I unfortunately met him in the street; and though I was far
from giving him a hearty welcome, having sufficient reason to suspect
his honesty, he eagerly embraced me, and forthwith made my new lodgings
his home. At first he accompanied me every day in my walks round the
Kaaba, to recite the prayers used on that occasion: these, however, I
soon learned

[p.194] by heart, and therefore dispensed with his services on the
occasion. He sat down regularly at dinner with me, and often brought a
small basket, which he ordered my slave to fill with biscuits, meat
vegetables or fruit, and carried away with him. Every third or fourth
day he asked for money: "It is not you who give it," he said; "it is God
who sends it to me." Finding there was no polite mode of getting rid of
him, I told him plainly, that I no longer wanted his services; language
to which a Mekka delyl is not accustomed. After three days, however, he
returned, as if nothing had happened, and asked me for a dollar. "God
does not move me to give you any thing," I replied; "if he judged it
right, he would soften my heart, and cause me to give you my whole
purse." "Pull my beard," he exclaimed, "if God does not send you ten
times more hereafter than what I beg at present." "Pull out every hair
of mine," I replied, "if I give you one para, until I am convinced that
God will consider it a meritorious act." On hearing this he jumped up,
and walked away, saying, "We fly for refuge to God, from the hearts of
the proud and the hands of the avaricious." These people never speak ten
words without pronouncing the name of God or Mohammed; they are
constantly seen with the rosary in their hands, and mumble prayers even
during conversation. This character of the metowafs is so applicable to
the people of Mekka in general, that at Cairo they use the following
proverb, to repress the importunity of an insolent beggar: "Thou art
like the Mekkawy, thou sayest 'Give me,' and 'I am thy master.'"

As I was obliged to have a delyl, I next engaged an old man of Tatar
origin, with whom having made a sort of treaty at the outset, I had
reason to be tolerably satisfied. What I paid at Mekka to the delyls,
and at the places of holy visit, amounted, perhaps, altogether to three
hundred and fifty piastres, or thirty dollars; but I gave no presents,
either to the mosque, or to any of its officers, which is done only by
great hadjys, or by those who wish to be publicly noticed. Some of the
delyls are constantly stationed near the Kaaba, waiting to be hired for
the walks round it; and if they see a pilgrim walking alone, they often,
unasked, take hold of his hand, and begin to recite the prayers. The
charge for this service is about half a piastre; and I

[p.195] have observed them bargaining with the hadjy at the very gate of
the Kaaba, in the hearing of every body. The poorer delyls are contented
with the fourth of a piastre. Many shopkeepers, and people of the third
class, send their sons who know the prayers by heart, to this station,
to learn the profession of delyl. Those who understand the Turkish
language earn great wages. As the Turkish hadjys usually arrive by way
of Djidda, in parties of from eight to twelve, who have quitted their
homes in company, and live together at Mekka, one delyl generally takes
charge of the whole party, and expects a fee in proportion to their
number. It often happens that the hadjys, on returning home, recommend
him to some other party of their countrymen, who, on reaching Djidda,
send him orders to provide lodgings for them in Mekka, to meet them at
Djidda, to superintend their short journey to the holy city, and to
guide them in the prayers that must be recited on first entering it.
Some of these delyls are constantly found at Djidda during the three
months immediately preceding the Hadj: I have seen them on the road to
Mekka, riding at the head of their party, and treated by them with great
respect and politeness. A Turk from Europe, or Asia Minor, who knows not
a word of Arabic, is overjoyed to find a smooth-tongued Arab who speaks
his language, and who promises all kinds of comforts in Mekka, which he
had been taught to consider as a place where nothing awaited him but
danger and fatigue. A delyl who has twelve Turkish hadjys under his care
for a month, generally gains as much as suffices for the expenses of his
house during the whole year, besides new clothing for himself and all
his children.

Some of these delyls have a very singular office. The Mohammedan law
prescribes that no unmarried woman shall perform the pilgrimage; and
that even every married woman must be accompanied by her husband, or at
least a very near relation (the Shafay sect does not even allow the
latter). Female hadjys sometimes arrive from Turkey for the Hadj; rich
old widows, who wish to see Mekka before they die; or women who set out
with their husbands, and lose them on the road by disease. In such
cases, the female finds at Djidda, delyls (or, as this class is called,
Muhallil) ready to facilitate their progress through the sacred
territory in the character of husbands.

[p.196] The marriage contract is written out before the Kadhy; and the
ladt, accompanied by her delyl, performs the pilgrimage to Mekka,
Arafat, and all the sacred places. This, however, is understood to be
merely a nominal marriage; and the delyl must divorce the woman on his
return to Djidda: if he were to refuse a divorce, the law cannot compel
him to it, and the marriage would be considered binding; but he could no
longer exercise the lucrative profession of delyl; and my informant
could only recollect two examples of the delyl continuing to be the
woman's husband. I believe there is not any exaggeration of the number,
in stating that there are eight hundred full-grown delyls, besides boys
who are learning the profession. Whenever a shopkeeper loses his
customers, or a poor man of letters wishes to gain as much money as will
purchase an Abyssinian slave, he turns delyl. The profession is one of
little repute; but many a prosperous Mekkawy has, at some period of his
life, been a member of it.

From trade, stipends, and the profits afforded by hadjys, the riches
which annually flow into Mekka are very considerable, and might have
rendered it one of the richest cities in the East, were it not for the
dissolute habits of its inhabitants. With the exception of the first
class of merchants, who, though they keep splendid establishments,
generally live below their income, and a great part of the second class,
who hoard up money with the view of attaining the first rank, the
generality of Mekkawys, of all descriptions and professions, are loose
and disorderly spendthrifts. The great gains which they make during
three or four months, are squandered in good living, dress, and the
grossest gratifications; and in proportion as they feel assured of the
profits of the following year, they care little about saving any part of
those of the present. In the month of Moharram, as soon as the Hadj is
over, and the greater part of the pilgrims have departed, it is
customary to celebrate marriage and circumcision feasts. These are
celebrated at Mekka in a very splendid style; and a man that has not
more than three hundred dollars to spend in the year, will then throw
away half that sum in the marriage or the circumcision of his child.
Neither the sanctity of the holy city, nor the solemn injunctions of the
Koran, are able to deter the inhabitants of Mekka from the using of

[p.197] spirituous liquors, and indulging in all the excesses which are
the usual consequences of drunkenness. The Indian fleet imports large
quantities of raky in barrels. This spirit, mixed with sugar, and an
extract of cinnamon, is sold under the name of cinnamon-water. The
Sherifs in Mekka and Djidda, great merchants, olemas, and all the chief
people are in the habit of drinking this liquor, which they persuade
themselves is neither wine nor brandy, and therefore not prohibited by
the law. The less wealthy inhabitants cannot purchase so dear a
commodity; but they use a fermented liquor made from raisins, and
imported from Tayf, while the lower classes drink bouza. During my stay
at Tayf, a Turk belonging to the suite of Mohammed Aly Pasha distilled
brandy from grapes, and publicly sold it at forty piastres the bottle.

The Mekkawys are very expensive in their houses: the rooms are
embellished with fine carpets, and an abundance of cushions and sofas
covered with brocade: amidst the furniture is seen much beautiful china-
ware, and several nargiles adorned with silver. A petty shopkeeper would
be ashamed to receive his acquaintances in a house less splendidly
fitted up. Their tables also are better supplied than in any other
country of the East, where even respectable families live economically
in this respect. A Mekkawy, even of the lower class, must have daily on
his table meat which costs from one and a half to two piastres the
pound; his coffee-pot is never removed from the fire; and himself, his
women and children are almost constantly using the nargile, and the
tobacco which supplies it cannot be a very trifling expense.

The women have introduced the fashion, not uncommon in Turkey, of
visiting each other at least once a week with all their children; the
visit lasts the whole day, and an abundant entertainment is provided on
the occasion: the vanity of each mistress of a house makes her endeavour
to surpass her acquaintances in show and magnificence; thus a continual
expense is entailed on every family. Among the sources of expenditure
must be enumerated the purchasing of Abyssinian female slaves who are
kept by the men, or money bestowed on the public women whom several of
them frequent. Considerable sums are also lavished in sensual
gratification still more vicious and degrading, but

[p.198] unfortunately as prevalent in the towns of the Hedjaz as in some
other parts of Asia, or in Egypt under the Mamelouks. It has been
already observed that the temple of Mekka itself, the very sanctuary of
the Mohammedan religion, is almost publicly and daily contaminated by
practices of the grossest depravity: to these no disgrace is here
attached; the young of all classes are encouraged in them by the old,
and even parents have been so base as to connive at them for the sake of
money. From such pollution, however, the encampments of the Arabian
Bedouins are exempt; although their ancestors were not, in this respect,
immaculate, if we may credit some scandalous anecdotes recorded by
Eastern historians.

But my account of the public women (who are very numerous) must here be
resumed. I have already observed that the quarter called Shab Aamer was
the residence of the poorer class; those of the higher order are
dispersed over the town. Their outward behaviour is more decent than
that of any public women in the East, and it requires the experienced
eye of a Mekkawy to ascertain by a particular movement in her gait, that
the veiled female passing before him belongs to the venal tribe. I shall
not venture to speak of the married women of the Hedjaz: I have heard
anecdotes related, little to their credit; but in the East, as in other
countries, the young men sometimes boast of favours which they never
have enjoyed. The exterior demeanour of the women of Djidda and Mekka is
very decorous: few of them are ever seen walking or riding in the
street; a practice so common at Cairo, though contrary to Oriental ideas
of propriety: and I lived in three different houses at Mekka without
having seen the unveiled faces of the female inmates.

The great merchants of Mekka live very splendidly: in the houses of
Djeylany, Sakkat, Ageyl, and El Nour, are establishments of fifty or
sixty persons. These merchants obtained their riches principally during
the reign of Ghaleb, to whom Djeylany and Sakkat served as spies upon
the other merchants. Their tables are furnished daily in abundance with
every native delicacy, as well as with those which India and Egypt
afford. About twenty persons sit down to dinner with them; the favourite
Abyssinian slaves, who serve often as writers or

[p.199] cashiers, are admitted to the table of their master; but the
inferior slaves and the servants are fed only upon flour and butter. The
china and glass ware, in which the dishes are served up, is of the best
quality; rose-water is sprinkled on the beards of the guests after
dinner, and the room is filled with the odours of aloe-wood, burnt upon
the nargiles. There is great politeness without formality; and no men
appear in a more amiable light, than the great Mekkawys dispensing
hospitality to their guests. Whoever happens to be sitting in the outer
hall, when dinner is served up, is requested to join at table, which he
does without conceiving himself at all obliged by the invitation, while
the host, on his part, appears to think compliance a favour conferred
upon him.

The rich Mekkawys make two meals daily, one before mid-day, the other
after sun-set; the lower classes breakfast at sun-rise, and eat nothing
more till near sun-set. As in the negro countries, it is very indecorous
for a man to be seen eating in the streets: the Turkish soldiers, who
retain their native manners, are daily reprehended by the people of
Mekka for their ill-breeding in this respect.

Before the Turkish conquest, and the wars of the Sherif with the Wahabys
which preceded it, the merchants of Mekka led a very happy life. During
the months of May and June they went to attend the sale of India goods
at Djidda. In July and August (unless the Hadj happened in these months)
they retired to their houses at Tayf, where they passed the hottest
season, leaving their acting partners or writers at Djidda and Mekka.
During the months of the pilgrimage, they were of course always at
Mekka; and every wealthy Mekkawy family followed the Hadj to Arafat as a
tour of pleasure, and encamped for three days at Wady Muna.

In the month of Radjeb, which is the seventh after the month of the
Hadj, a caravan used always to set out from Mekka for Medina, composed
of several hundred merchants, mounted upon dromedaries. At that time a
large fair was held at Medina, and frequented by many of the surrounding
Bedouins, and people of the Hedjaz and Nedjed.

The merchandize for its supply was sent from Mekka by a heavy caravan of
camels, which set out immediately after the merchants, and

[p.200] was called Rukub el Medina. [In general, the Arabs of the Hedjaz
call the caravans Rukub; speaking of the Baghdad caravan, they say Rukub
es' Sham, or Rukub el Erak.] They remained about twenty days at Medina,
and then returned to Mekka. This frequent, yet regular change of abode,
must have been very agreeable to the merchants, particularly in those
times, when they could calculate with certainty that the next pilgrimage
would be a source of new riches to them. Tayf and Medina being now half-
ruined, the merchants of Mekka resort to Djidda, as their only place of
recreation: but even those who have wives and houses there, talk of
their establishments at Mekka as their only real homes, and in it they
spend the greater part of the year.

The inhabitants of Mekka, Djidda, and (in a less degree) of Medina, are
generally of a more lively disposition than either the Syrians or
Egyptians. None of those silent, grave automatons are seen here, so
common in other parts of the Levant, whose insensibility, or stupidity
is commonly regarded among themselves as a proof of feeling, shrewdness,
and wisdom.

The character of the Mekkawy resembles, in this respect, that of the
Bedouin; and did not greediness of gain often distort their features,
the smile of mirth would always be on their lips. In the streets and
bazars, in the house, and even in the mosque, the Mekkawy loves to laugh
and joke. In dealing with each other, or in talking on grave subjects, a
proverb, a pun, or some witty allusion, is often introduced, and
produces laughter. As the Mekkawys possess, with this vivacity of
temper, much intellect, sagacity, and great suavity of manners, which
they well know how to reconcile with their innate pride, their
conversation is very agreeable; and whoever cultivates a mere
superficial acquaintance with them, seldom fails to be delighted with
their character. They are more polite towards each other, as well as
towards strangers, than the inhabitants of Syria and Egypt, and retain
something of the good-natured disposition of the Bedouins, from whom
they derive their origin. When they accost each other in

[p.201] the streets for the first time in the course of the day, the
young man kisses the elder's hand, or the inferior that of his superior
in rank, while the latter returns the salute by a kiss upon the
forehead. Individuals of equal rank and age, not of the first class,
mutually kiss each other's hands. [In shaking hands, the people of the
Hedjaz lay hold of each other's thumbs with the whole hand, pressing it,
and again opening the hand three or four times. This is called Mesafeha,
and is said to have been a habit of Mohammed.] They say to a stranger,
"O faithful," or "brother;" and the saying of the prophet, "that all
faithful are brethren," is constantly upon their lips. "Welcome, a
thousand times welcome," says a shopkeeper to his foreign customer; "you
are the stranger of God, the guest of the holy city; my whole property
is at your disposal." When the service of any one is wanted, the
applicant says, "Our whole subsistence, after God, is owing to you
pilgrims; can we do less than be grateful?" If in the mosque a foreigner
is exposed to the sun, the Mekkawy will make room for him in a shady
place; if he passes a coffee-shop, he will hear voices calling him to
enter and take a cup of coffee; if a Mekkawy takes a jar to drink from
any public water-seller, he will offer it, before he sets it to his
mouth, to any passenger; and upon the slightest acquaintance, he will
say to his new friend, "When will you honour me at home, and take your
supper with me?" When they quarrel among themselves, none of those
scurrilous names or vile language is heard, so frequently used in Egypt
and Syria; blows are only given on very extraordinary occasions, and the
arrival of a respectable person puts an immediate stop to any dispute,
on his recommending peace: "God has made us great sinners," they will
then say, "but he has bestowed upon us, likewise, the virtue of easy
repentance."

To these amiable qualities the Mekkawys add another, for which they must
also be commended: they are a proud race, and though their pride is not
founded upon innate worth, it is infinitely preferable to the cringing
servility of the other Levantines, who redeem their slavish deference to
superiors by the most overbearing haughtiness towards those below them.
The Mekkawys are proud of being

[p.202] natives of the holy city, of being the countrymen of their
prophet; of having preserved, in some degree, his manners; of speaking
his pure language; of enjoying, in expectation, all the honours in the
next world, which are promised to the neighbours of the Kaaba; and of
being much freer men than any of the foreigners whom they see crowding
to their city. They exhibit this pride to their own superiors, whom they
have taught to treat them with great forbearance and circumspection; and
they look upon all other Mohammedan nations as people of an inferior
order, to whom their kindness and politeness are the effect of their
condescension. Many good consequences might result from this pride,
without which a people cannot expect to sustain its rank among nations.
It has prevented the people of Mekka from sinking so deep into slavery
as some of their neighbours; but it excites them to nothing laudable,
while its more immediate effects are seen in the contempt which they
entertain for foreigners. This contempt, as I have already remarked, in
speaking of Djidda, is chiefly displayed towards the Turks, whose
ignorance of the Arabic language, whose dress and manners, the meanness
of their conduct whenever they cannot talk as masters; their cowardice
exhibited whenever the Hadj has been assailed in its route across the
Desert, and the little respect that was shown to them by the Governors
of Mekka, as long as the Sherif's power was unbroken, have lowered them
so much in the estimation of the Arabians, that they are held in the
Hedjaz as little better than infidels; and although many of the Mekkawys
are of Turkish origin, they heartily join the rest of their townsmen in
vilifying the stock from which they sprang. The word Turky has become a
term of insult towards each other among the children. Noszrany
(Christians), or Yahoudy (Jews), are often applied to the Turks by the
people of Mekka; and their manners and language afford a perpetual
source of ridicule or reproach. The Syrians and Egyptians experience
similar effects from the pride of the people of the Hedjaz, but
especially the former, as the Egyptians, of all foreigners, approach
nearest to the people of Arabia in customs and language, and keep up the
most intimate intercourse with them. But the haughty Syrian Moslim, who
calls Aleppo or Damascus "Om el Donia," (the mother of the

[p.203] world,) and believes no race of men equal to his own, nor any
language so pure as the Syrian, though it is undoubtedly the worst
dialect of the Arabic next to the Moggrebyn, is obliged to behave here
with great modesty and circumspection, and at least to affect
politeness. Although an Arab, he is reproached with dressing and living
like a Turk; and to the epithet Shamy (Syrian) the idea is attached of a
heavy, untutored clown. If the Arabians were to see the Turks in the
countries where they are masters, their dislike towards them would be
still greater; for it must be said, that their behaviour in the holy
city is, in general, much more decent and conformable to the precepts of
their religion, than in the countries from which they come.

The Mekkawys believe that their city, with all the inhabitants, is under
the especial care of Providence, and that they are so far favoured above
all other nations. "This is Mekka! this is the city of God!" they
exclaim, when any surprise is expressed at the greater part of them
having remained in the town during the stagnation of trade and the
absence of pilgrims: "None ever wants his daily bread [h]ere; none fears
here the incursion of enemies." That Saoud saved the town from pillage;
that no plundering took place when the Turkish cavalry, under Mostafa
Bey, recaptured it from the Wahabys; that the capture of Sherif Ghaleb
led to no massacres within the precincts of Mekka, are to them so many
visible miracles of the Almighty, to prove the truth of that passage of
the Koran, (chap. 106.) in which it is said, "Let them adore the God of
the house (the Kaaba), who feeds them in hunger, and secures them from
all fear." But they forget to look back to their own history, which
mentions many terrible famines and sanguinary battles, that have
happened in this sacred asylum. Indeed, the Hedjaz has suffered more
from famine than, perhaps, any other Eastern country. The historians
abound with descriptions of such lamentable events: I shall only mention
one that happened in 1664, when, as Asamy relates, many people sold
their own children at Mekka for a single measure of corn; and when, at
Djidda, the populace fed publicly on human flesh.

A Mekkawy related to me, that having once resolved to abandon the city,
in consequence of the non-arrival of Turkish hadjys, who supplied

[p.204] his means of subsistence, an angel appeared to him in his sleep
on the night previous to his intended departure. The angel had a flaming
sword in his hand, and stood upon the gate of Mekka, through which the
dreamer was about to leave the town, and exclaimed, "Unbeliever, remain!
the Mekkawys shall eat honey, while all the other people of the earth
shall be content with barley bread!" In consequence of this vision he
abandoned his project, and continued to live in the town.

The exterior politeness of the people of Mekka is in the same proportion
to their sincerity, as are their professions of zealous faith and
adherence to their religion, with the observance of its precepts. Many
of them, especially those who have no particular interest in imposing
upon the hadjys by an appearance of extreme strictness, are very relaxed
in observing the forms of their religion, thinking it quite sufficient
to be Mekkawys and to utter pious ejaculations in public, or supposing
that the rigid practice of its precepts is more particularly incumbent
upon foreign visitors, who see Mekka only once in their life. Like the
Bedouins, many of them are either very irregular in their prayers, or do
not pray at all. During the Friday's prayers, which every Moslim
resident in a town is bound to attend, the mosque is filled chiefly with
strangers, while many of the people of Mekka are seen smoking in their
shops. After the pilgrims have left the town, the service in the mosque
is very thinly attended. They never distribute alms, excusing themselves
by saying that they were placed by Providence in this town to receive
charity, and not to bestow it. They ape the manners recorded of
Mohammed, but in his most trifling habits only: their mustachios are cut
short, and their beard kept regularly under the scissors, because it was
the prophet's custom to do so. In like manner they allow the end of the
turban to fall loosely over the cap; every other day they put kohhel or
antimony on their eye-lids, and have always in their hands a messouak or
tooth-brush made of a thin branch of the shrub Arak, or one imported by
the Persian hadjys. They know by heart many passages of the Koran and
Hadyth, (or sacred traditions,) and allude to, or quote them every
moment; but they forget that these precepts were given for rules of
conduct, and not for mere repetition. Intoxicating liquors are sold at

[p.205] the very gates of the mosque: the delyls themselves act in
direct contradiction of the law by loudly reciting prayers in the mosque
to their pupils the hadjys, in order to allure by their sonorous voices
other pilgrims to their guidance, carrying at the same time the common
large stick of the Mekkawys. It is also a transgression against the law,
when the intoxicating hashysh is openly smoked: cards are played in
almost every Arab coffee-house, (they use small Chinese cards,) though
the Koran directly forbids games of hazard. The open protection afforded
by the government to persons both male and female of the most profligate
character, is a further encouragement to daily transgressions against
the rigid principles of the Mohammedan law. Cheating and false swearing
have ceased to be crimes among them. They are fully conscious of the
scandal of these vices: every delyl exclaims against the corruption of
manners, but none set an example of reformation; and while acting
constantly on principles quite opposite to those which they profess,
they unanimously declare that times are such, as to justify the saying,
"In el Haram fi belad el Harameyn," "that the cities forbidden to
infidels abound with forbidden things."

In a place where there is no variety of creeds, persecution cannot show
itself; but it is probable that the Mekkawys might easily be incited to
excesses against those whom they call infidels: for I have always
remarked in the East, that the Muselmans most negligent in performing
the duties of their religion are the most violent in urging its precepts
against unbelievers; and that the grossest superstition is generally
found among those who trifle with their duties, or who, like many
Osmanlys, even deride them, and lay claim to free-thinking. There is no
class of Turks more inveterate in their hatred against Christians than
those who, coming frequently into intercourse with them, find it
convenient to throw off for a while the appearance of their prejudices.
In all the European harbours of the Mediterranean, the Moggrebyns live
like unbelievers; but when at home, nothing but fear can induce them to
set bounds to their fanaticism. It is the same with the Turks in the
Archipelago, and I might adduce many examples from Syria and Egypt in
corroboration of this assertion. If fanaticism has somewhat decreased
within the last twenty years throughout the

[p.206] Turkish empire, the circumstance, I think, may be ascribed
solely to the decreasing energy of the inhabitants, and the growing
indifference for their own religion, and certainly not to a diffusion of
more philanthropic or charitable principles. The text of the Mohammedan
law is precise in inciting its followers to unceasing hatred and
contempt of all those who profess a different creed. This contempt has
not decreased; but animosity gives way to an exterior politeness,
whenever the interest of the Mohammedan is concerned. The degree of
toleration enjoyed by the Christians, depends upon the interest of the
provincial government under which they live: and if they happen to be
favoured by it, the Turkish subject bows to the Christian. In all the
eastern countries which I have visited, more privileges are allowed to
Christians in general than the Moslim code prescribes; but their
condition depends upon the fiat of the governor of the town or district;
as they experienced about seven years since at Damascus, under Yousef
Pasha, when they were suddenly reduced to their former abject state.
Twenty years ago, a Copt of Egypt was in much the same situation as a
Jew is now in Barbary; but at present, when the free-thinking, though
certainly not liberal, Mohammed Aly finds it his interest to conciliate
the Christians, a Greek beats a Turk without much fear of consequences
from the mob; and I know an instance of an Armenian having murdered his
own Muselman servant, and escaped punishment, on paying a fine to
government, although the fact was publicly known. Convinced as the Turks
must now be, in many parts of the East, of the superiority of these
Europeans, whom they cannot but consider as the brethren of their
Christian subjects, their behaviour towards the latter will,
nevertheless, be strictly regulated by the avowed sentiments of their
governors; and it would be as easy for Mohammed Aly by a single word to
degrade the Christians in Egypt, as he found it to raise them to their
present consideration, superior, I believe, to what they enjoy in any
other part of Turkey.

The hatred against Christians is nearly equal in every part of the
Ottoman empire; and if the Moslims sacrifice that feeling, it is not to
the principles of charity or humanity, but to the frown of those who
happen to be in power; and their baseness is such, that they will kiss

[p.207] to-day the hands of him whom they have trodden under foot
yesterday. In examining into the fanatical riots, many of which are
recorded in the chanceries of the European consuls in the Levant, it
will generally be found that government had a share in the affrays, and
easily succeeded in quelling them. The late Sultan Selim, in his
regenerating system, which led him to favour the Christians, found no
opposition from the mass of his people, but from the jealous
Janissaries; and when the latter had prevailed, the demi-Gallicized
grandees of Constantinople easily sunk again into Sunnys. Sometimes,
indeed, a rash devotee, or mad Sheikh or Dervish at the head of a few
partisans, affords an exception to these general statements; and will
insult a Christian placed in the highest favour with the public
authorities, as happened at Damascus in 1811, to the Greek Patriarch,
after Yousef Pasha had been repulsed: but his countrymen, although
cherishing the same principles, and full of the same uncharitableness,
seldom have the courage to give vent to their feelings, and to follow
the example of the Saint. None of those genuine popular commotions,
which were once so frequent in Europe, when the members of the reigning
church saw individuals of a rival persuasion extending their influence,
are now witnessed in the East. Whatever may be thought of it in a moral
point of view, we must respect the energy of a man who enters headlong
into a contention, of at least uncertain issue, and generally
detrimental to his own worldly interests, merely because he fancies or
believes that his religious duty commands his exertions. The Moslim of
the Turkish empire, as far as I have had an opportunity of remarking,
easily suppresses his feelings, his passions, the dictates of his
conscience, and what he supposes agreeable to the will of the Almighty,
at the dictates of his interest, or according to the wish or example of
the ruling power.

In the time of the Sherif, Christians were often ill treated at Djidda;
they could not wear the European dress, or approach the quarter of the
town situated towards the gate of Mekka. But since the arrival of
Mohammed Aly's army, they walk about, and dress as they like. In
December 1814, when two Englishmen passed the gate of Mekka on a walk
round the town, (the first persons, probably, in a

[p.208] European dress, who had ever passed the holy boundary,) a woman
was heard to exclaim, "Truly the world must be near its end, if Kafirs
(or infidels) dare to tread upon this ground!" Even now, if a Christian
dies there, it is not permitted that he should be interred on shore; the
body is carried to a small desert island in the harbour. When, in 1815,
the plague raged in the Hedjaz, an event which had never before been
known, the Kadhy of Djidda, with the whole body of olemas, waited upon
the Turkish governor of the city, to desire him to demolish a windmill
which some Greek Christians from Cairo had built withoutside one of the
gates, by order of Mohammed Aly. They were certain, they said, that the
hand of God had visited them on account of this violation of the sacred
territory by Christians. Some years ago an English ship was wrecked near
Djidda, and among various spoils obtained from the wreck by Sherif
Ghaleb was a large hog, an animal probably never before seen at Djidda:
this hog, turned loose in the town with two ostriches, became the terror
of all the sellers of bread and vegetables; for the mere touching of so
unclean an animal as the hog, even with the edge of the gown, renders
the Moslim impure, and unable to perform his prayers without previous
ablution. The animal was kept for six months, when it was offered by the
Sherif to an American captain for fifty dollars; but such a price being
of course refused, it soon after died of a surfeit, to the great
satisfaction of the inhabitants.

The Mekkawys, however, tolerate within their walls notorious heretics. I
have already mentioned the Ismaylys, an idolatrous sect from India, who
appear here in the garb of Moslims. The Persian hadjys, well known as
sectaries of Aly, and revilers of Mohammed and his immediate followers,
are not subjected to any particular inconveniences. The Sherif tolerated
them, but levied a capitation-tax on each. The Sherifs, however,
themselves, as I shall presently explain, are mostly of the sect of
Zyoud, Muselmans who dispute with the orthodox Sunnyes (the great
opponents of the Persian sectaries,) several of their principal dogmas.

Whenever the word Christian or European is mentioned by the

[p.209] Mekkawys, it is coupled with the most opprobrious and
contemptuous epithets. They include them all in the appellation of
Kafer, without having any clear ideas of the different nations of which
they are composed. The English, however, being more in contact with
them, from their Indian possessions, are often called exclusively "El
Kafer," or "the Infidels;" and whenever this appellation is so used, the
English are to be understood. Thus, they say "El Kafer fy'l Hind," the
Kafer in India; or "Merkeb el Kafer fy Djidda," the Kafer's ship at
Djidda, always meaning the English.

When the French invaded Egypt, a Moggrebyn saint at Mekka, called Sheikh
el Djeylany, a distant relation of a wealthy merchant at Mekka, and who
had for some time been in the habit of delivering lectures in the great
mosque, mounted the pulpit, and preached a crusade against the infidels,
who had seized upon the gate of the Kaaba, as Egypt is styled. Being a
very eloquent speaker, and held in much veneration, many Arabs flocked
to his standard, others gave him money; and it is said that even many
women brought him their gold and silver trinkets, to assist him in his
holy enterprise. He embarked at Djidda with his zealous followers, on
board a small fleet, and landed at Cosseir. The governments of Mekka and
Djidda seem to have had little share in the enterprise, though they
threw no obstacles in its way. The fate of these Arabs (many of whom
were of the same Wahaby tribes who afterwards offered so much resistance
to Mohammed Aly), and the fury with which they encountered the French in
Upper Egypt, are already known to the reader by Denon's animated
description. Sheikh Djeylany was killed, and very few of his followers
returned. I believe their number is rather over-rated by Denon; for I
never heard it stated at more than fifteen hundred.

The Mekkawys, like the inhabitants of Turkey, are in general free from
the vices of pilfering and thieving; and robberies are seldom heard of,
although, during the Hadj, and in the months which precede and follow
it, Mekka abounds with rogues, who are tempted by the facility of
opening the locks of this country.

Formerly the slaves of the Sherif were noted for their disorderly
behaviour; Ghaleb, however, established good order among them; and

[p.210] during his reign, a burglary was never committed without the
discovery and punishment of the perpetrator.

The streets of Mekka abound with beggars and poor hadjys, who are
supported by the charity of strangers; for the Mekkawys think themselves
privileged to dispense with this duty. Of them, however, many adopt
mendicity as a profession, especially during the Hadj, when the pilgrims
are bound to exercise that virtue which is so particularly enjoined by
the precepts of Mohammed. The greater part of the beggars are Indians,
others Syrians, Moggrebyns, and Egyptians: the Negroes are but few, as
these generally prefer labour to begging; but a large proportion comes
from Yemen. It is generally said in the East, that Mekka is the paradise
of beggars: some perhaps may save a little money, but the wretched
aspect of others plainly shows how much their expectations must have
been disappointed. The Indians are the most modest among them; they
accost the passenger with the words "Ya allah'ya kerim!" "O God, O
bounteous God!" and if alms are refused, they walk away, without a word
except the repetition of "Ya allah, ya kerim." Not so the Yemeny or
Mekkawy; "Think of your duty as a pilgrim," he cries; "God does not like
the cold-hearted; will you reject the blessings of the faithful? Give,
and it shall be given unto thee; and with these and many other pious
sentences they address the passenger, and when they have the alms safe
in their hand, they often say, as my delyl did, "It is God, and not you,
who gives it to me." Some of these beggars are extremely importunate,
and seem to ask for alms as if they were legally entitled to it. While I
was at Djidda, a Yemen beggar mounted the minaret daily, after mid-day
prayer, and exclaimed loud enough to be heard through the whole bazar,
"I ask from God fifty dollars, a suit of clothes, and a copy of the
Koran; O faithful, hear me, I ask of you fifty dollars," &c. &c. This he
repeated for several weeks, when at last a Turkish pilgrim, struck by
the singularity of the beggar's appeal, desired him to take thirty
dollars, and discontinue his cries, which reflected shame upon the
charity of all the hadjys present. "No," said the beggar, "I will not
take them, because I am convinced that God will send me the whole of
what I beg of him so earnestly." After repeating his public

[p.211] supplication for some days more, the same hadjy gave him the
whole sum that he asked for; but without being thanked. I have heard
people exclaim in the mosques at Mekka, immediately after prayers, "O
brethren, O faithful, hear me! I ask twenty dollars from God, to pay for
my passage home; twenty dollars only. You know that God is all-
bountiful, and may send me a hundred dollars; but it is twenty dollars
only that I ask. Remember that charity is the sure road to paradise."
There can be no doubt that this practice is sometimes attended with
success.

But learning and science cannot be expected to flourish in a place where
every mind is occupied in the search of gain, or of paradise; and I
think I have sufficient reason for affirming that Mekka is at present
much inferior even in Mohammedan learning to any town of equal
population in Syria or Egypt. It probably was not so when the many
public schools or Medreses were built, which are now converted into
private lodgings for pilgrims. El Fasy says, that in his time there were
eleven medreses in Mekka, besides a number of rebats, or less richly
endowed schools, which contained also lodgings for poor hadjys; many of
the Rebats in the vicinity of the mosque still remain, but are used only
as lodging-houses. There is not a single public school in the town where
lectures are given, as in other parts of Turkey; and the great mosque is
the only place where teachers of Eastern learning are found. The schools
in which boys are taught to read and write, are, as I have already
mentioned, held in the mosque, where, after prayers, chiefly in the
afternoon, some learned olemas explain a few religious books to a very
thin audience, consisting principally of Indians, Malays, Negroes, and a
few natives of Hadramaut and Yemen, who, attracted by the great name of
Mekka, remain here a few years, until they think themselves sufficiently
instructed to pass at home for learned men. The Mekkawys themselves, who
wish to improve in science, go to Damascus or to Cairo. At the latter
many of them are constantly found, studying in the mosque El Azhar.

The lectures delivered in the mosque at Mekka resemble those of other
Eastern towns. They are delivered gratis; each lecture occupies one hour
or two; and any person may lecture who thinks himself competent

[p.212] to the task, whether he belongs to the mosque or not. This
happens also in the Azhar at Cairo, where I have seen more than forty
different persons occupied at the same time in delivering their
lectures. The subjects of the lectures in the Beitullah of Mokka, are,
as usual, dissertations on the law, commentaries on the Koran, and
traditions of the Prophet. There were none, during my residence, on
grammar, logic, rhetoric, or the sciences, nor even on the Towhyd, or
explanation of the essence or unity of God, which forms a principal
branch of the learning of Moslim divines. I understood, however, that
sometimes the Arabic syntax is explained, and the Elfye Ibn Malek on
grammar. But the Mekkawys who have acquired an intimate knowledge of the
whole structure of their language, owe it to their residence at Cairo.

There is no public library attached to the mosque; the ancient
libraries, of which I have already spoken, have all disappeared. The
Nayb el Haram has a small collection of books which belonged originally
to the mosque; but it is now considered as his private property, and the
books cannot be hired without difficulty. The Azhar at Cairo is on a
very different footing. To each of the Rowak, or private establishments
for the different Mohammedan nations, which it contains, (and which are
now twenty-six in number,) a large library is annexed, and all the
members of the Rowak are at liberty to take books from it to assist them
in their studies. Mekka is equally destitute of private libraries, with
the exception of those of the rich merchants, who exhibit a few books to
distinguish them from the vulgar; or of the olemas, of whom some possess
such as are necessary for their daily reference in matters of law.

The Wahabys, according to report, carried off many loads of books; but
they were also said to have paid for every thing they took: it is not
likely that they carried away all the libraries of Mekka, and I
endeavoured in vain to discover even a single collection of books. Not a
book-shop or a book-binder is found in Mekka. After the return of the
Hadj from Arafat, a few of the poorer olemas expose some books for sale
in the mosque, near Bab-es'-Salam: all those which I saw were on the
law, korans with commentaries, and similar works, together with a few on
grammar. No work on history, or on any other branch

[p.213] of knowledge, could be found; and, notwithstanding all my pains,
I could never obtain a sight of any history of Mekka, although the names
of the authors were not unknown to the Mekkawys. They told me that book-
dealers used formerly to come here with the Hadj from Yemen, and sell
valuable books, brought principally from Szanaa and Loheya. The only
good work I saw at Mekka was a fine copy of the Arabic Dictionary called
Kamous; it was purchased by a Malay for six hundred and twenty piastres;
at Cairo it might be worth half that sum. Many pilgrims inquired for
books, and were inclined to pay good prices for them; and it was matter
of surprise to me that the speculating Mekkawys did not avail themselves
of this branch of trade, not so lucrative certainly as that of coffee
and India goods. I much regretted my total want of books, and especially
the copies of the historians of Mekka, which I had left at Cairo; they
would have led me to many inquiries on topography, which by Azraky in
particular is treated with great industry.

The Persian hadjys and the Malays are those who chiefly search for
books: the Wahabys, it is said, were particularly inquisitive after
historical works; a remark I heard repeated at Medina. During my stay at
Damascus, which is the richest book-market in the East, and the
cheapest, from being very little frequented by Europeans, I heard that
several Arabs of Baghdad, secretly commissioned for that purpose by
Saoud, the Wahaby chief, had purchased there many historical works. When
Abou Nokta plundered the harbours of Yemen, he carried off a great
number of books, and sent them to Derayeh.

The scarcity of valuable books at Mekka may, perhaps, be ascribed to the
continual purchases made by pilgrims; for there are no copyists at Mekka
to replace the books which have been exported. [At Cairo, I saw many
books in the Hedjaz character, some of which I purchased.] The want of
copyists is, indeed, a general complaint also in Syria and Egypt, and
must, in the end, lead to a total deficiency of books in those
countries, if the exportation to Europe continues. There are at Cairo,
at this time, not more than three professed copyists, who write a good
hand, or who possess sufficient knowledge to enable them to avoid the
grossest

[p.214] errors. At Mekka, there was a man of Lahor, who wrote Arabic
most beautifully, though he spoke it very indifferently. He sat in a
shop near Bab-es'-Salam, and copied for the hadjys such prayers as it
was necessary to recite during the pilgrimage. The hand-writing of the
Hedjaz is different from that used in Egypt or Syria; but a little
practice makes it easily read. In general, not only every country, but
every province, even, of the East, has its peculiar mode of writing,
which practice alone can enable one to distinguish. There are shades of
difference in the writing of the Aleppines, of the people of Damascus,
and of Acre; and, in Egypt, the writing of a Cahirein is easily
distinguished from that of a native of Upper Egypt. That of the Moslims
is different every where from that of the Christians, who are taught to
write by their priests, and not by Turkish schoolmasters. The Copts of
Egypt have also a character differing from that of the other Christians
established in the country. An experienced person knows, from the
address of a letter, the province and the race to which the writer
belongs. The dialects, and the style of letter-writing are not less
distinguishable than the hand-writing; and this remark is particularly
applicable to the complimentary expressions with which the letters
always abound. The style of Syria is the most flowery; yet even in
letters of mere business we find it used. That of Egypt is less
complimentary; that of the Hedjaz is simple and manly, and approaches to
Bedouin frankness, containing, before the immediate purport of the
letter, only a few words of inquiry after the health and welfare of the
person addressed. Each country has also its peculiar manner of folding a
letter. In the Hedjaz, letters are sealed with gum-Aabic; and a small
vessel full of the diluted gum is suspended near the gate of every large
house or khan.

Whatever may be the indifference of the Mekkawys for learning, [I may
mention, as a strong proof of the neglect of learning at Mekka, that of
a dozen persons, respectable from their situations in life, of whom I
inquired respecting the place Okath, not one of them knew where it was,
or if it still existed. The Okath was the place where the ancient
Arabian poets, as late even as the time of Mohammed, used to recite
their works to crowds assembled there at a great fair. The prize poems
were afterwards suspended at the Kaaba. It is to this custom that we owe
the celebrated poems called the Seba Moallakat. A Bedouin of Hodheyl
told me that the Okath was now a ruined place in the country of Beni
Naszera, between two and three days' journey south of Tayf. But in El
Fasy's history, I find it stated to be one day's journey from Tayf; and
that it ceased to be frequented as a fair in A.H. 1229. El Azraky says
that it was at that distance from Tayf, on the road to Szanaa in Yemen,
and belonged to the tribe of Beni Kanane.]

[p.215] the language of their city is still more pure and elegant, both
in phraseology and pronunciation, than that of any other town where
Arabic is spoken. It approaches more nearly than any other dialect to
the old written Arabic, and is free from those affectations and
perversions of the original sense, which abound in other provinces. I do
not consider the Arabic language as on the decline: it is true, there
are no longer any poets who write like Motanebbi, Abol' Ola, or Ibn el
Faredh; and a fine flowing prose the Arabs never possessed. The modern
poets content themselves with imitating their ancient masters, humbly
borrowing the sublime metaphors and exalted sentiments produced from
nobler and freer breasts than those of the olemas of the present day.
But even now, the language is deeply studied by all the learned men; it
is the only science with which the orthodox Moslim can beguile his
leisure hours, after he has explored the labyrinth of the law; and every
where in the East it is thought an indispensable requisite of a good
education, not only to write the language with purity, but to have read
and studied the classic poets, and to know their finest passages by
heart. The admiration with which Arabic scholars regard their best
writers, is the same as that esteem in which Europeans hold their own
classics. The far greater part of the Eastern population, it is true,
neither write nor read; but of those who have been instructed in
letters, a much larger proportion write elegantly, and are well read in
the native authors, than among the same class in Europe.

The Mekkawys study little besides the language and the law. Some boys
learn at least as much Turkish as will enable them to cheat the Osmanly
pilgrims to whom their knowledge of that tongue may recommend them as
guides. The astronomer of the mosque learns to know the exact time of
the Sun's passing the meridian, and occupies himself occasionally with
astrology and horoscopes. A Persian doctor, the only avowed medical
professor I saw at Mekka, deals in nothing

[p.216] but miraculous balsams and infallible elixirs; his potions are
all sweet and agreeable; and the musk and aloe-wood which he burns,
diffuse through his shop a delicious odour, which has contributed to
establish his reputation. Music, in general so passionately loved among
the Arabs, is less practised at Mekka than in Syria and Egypt. Of
instruments they possess only the rababa, (a kind of guitar,) the nay,
(a species of clarinet,) and the tambour, or tambourine. Few songs are
heard in the evenings, except among the Bedouins in the skirts of the
town. The choral song called Djok, is sometimes sung by the young men at
night in the coffee-houses, its measure being accompanied with the
clapping of hands. In general, the voices of the Hedjazys are harsh, and
not clear: I heard none of those sonorous and harmonious voices which
are so remarkable in Egypt, and still more in Syria, whether giving
utterance to love songs, or chanting the praises of Mohammed from the
minarets, which in the depth of night has a peculiarly grand effect.
Even the Imams of the mosque, and those who chant the anthems, in
repeating the last words of the introductory prayers of the Imam, men
who in other places are chosen for their fine voices, can here be
distinguished only by their hoarseness and dissonance.

The Sherif has a band of martial music, similar to that kept by Pashas,
composed of kettle-drums, trumpets, fifes, &c.: it plays twice a day
before his door, and for about an hour on every evening of the new moon.

Weddings are attended by professional females, who sing and dance: they
have, it is said, good voices, and are not of that dissolute class to
which the public singers and dancers belong in Syria and Egypt. The
Mekkawys say, that before the Wahaby invasion, singers might be heard
during the evening in every street, but that the austerity of the
Wahabys, who, though passionately fond of their own Bedouin songs,
disapproved of the public singing of females, occasioned the ruin of all
musical pursuits:--this, however, may be only an idle notion, to be
ranked with that which is as prevalent in the East as it is in Europe,
that old times were always better in every respect than the present.

[p.217] The sakas or water-carriers of Mekka, many of whom are
foreigners, having a song which is very affecting from its simplicity
and the purpose for which it is used, the wealthier pilgrims frequently
purchase the whole contents of a saka's water-skin, on quitting the
mosque, especially at night, and order him to distribute it gratis among
the poor. While pouring out the water into the wooden bowls, with which
every beggar is provided, they exclaim "Sebyl Allah, ya atshan, Sebyl!"
"hasten, O thirsty, to the ways of God!" and then break out in the
following short song of three notes only, which I never heard without
emotion.

Ed-djene wa el moy fezata ly Saheb es-sabyl "Paradise and forgiveness be
the lot of him who gave you this water!"

I cannot describe the marriage-feasts as celebrated at Mekka, not having
attended any; but I have seen the bride carried to the house of her
husband, accompanied by all her female friends. No canopy is used on
this occasion, as in Egypt, nor any music; but rich clothes and
furniture are displayed, and the feasting is sumptuous, and often lasts
for three or four days. On settling a marriage, the money to be paid for
the bride is carried in procession from the house of the bridegroom to
that of the girl's father; it is borne through the streets upon two
tabourets, wrapped up in a rich handkerchief, and covered again with an
embroidered satin stuff. Before the two persons who hold these
tabourets, two others walk, with a flask of rose-water in one hand, and
a censer in the other, upon which all sorts of perfumes and odours are
burning. Behind them follow, in a long train, all the kindred and
friends of the bridegroom, dressed in their best clothes. The price paid
for virgins among the respectable classes, varies at Mekka from forty to
three hundred dollars, and from ten to twenty dollars among the poor
classes. Half the sum only is usually paid down; the other half is left
in possession of the husband, who pays it in case he should divorce his
wife.

[p.218] The circumcision feasts are similar to those at Cairo: the
child, after the operation, is dressed in the richest stuffs, set upon a
fine horse highly adorned, and is thus carried in procession through the
town with drums beating before him.

Funerals differ in nothing from those in Egypt and Syria.

The people of Mekka, in general, have very few horses; I believe that
there are not more than sixty kept by private individuals. The Sherif
has about twenty or thirty in his stables; but Sherif Ghaleb had a
larger stud. The military Sherifs keep mares, but the greater part of
these were absent with the army. The Bedouins, who are settled in the
suburb Moabede, and in some other parts of the town, as being concerned
with public affairs, have also their horses; but none of the merchants
or other classes keep any. They are afraid of being deprived by the
Sherif of any fine animal they might possess, and therefore content
themselves with mules or gedishes (geldings of a low breed). Asses are
very common, but no person of quality ever rides upon them. The few
horses kept at Mekka are of noble breed, and purchased from the
Bedouins: in the spring they are usually sent to some Bedouin
encampment, to feed upon the fine nutritious herbage of the Desert.
Sherif Yahya has a gray mare, from the stud of Ghaleb, which was valued
at twenty purses; she was as beautiful a creature as I ever saw, and the
only one perfectly fine that I met with in the Hedjaz. The Bedouins of
that country, and those especially around Mekka, are very poor in
horses; a few Sheikhs only having any, pasture being scarce, and the
expense of a horse's keep being three piastres a day.

In the Eastern plain, behind Tayf, horses are more numerous, although
much less so than in Nedjed and the deserts of Syria, in consequence of
the comparative scarcity of corn, and the uncertainty of the rain; a
deficiency of which often leaves the Bedouin a whole year without
vegetation; a circumstance that rarely happens in the more northern
deserts, where the rains seldom fail in the proper seasons.

[p.219] GOVERNMENT OF MEKKA.

The territories of Mekka, Tayf, Gonfade, (which stretches southwards as
far as Haly, on the coast,) and of Yembo, were, previous to the Wahaby
and Egyptian conquests, under the command of the Sherif of Mekka, who
had extended his authority over Djidda also, though this town was
nominally separated from his dominions, and governed by a Pasha, sent
thither by the Porte, to be sole master of the town, and to divide its
revenue with the Sherif. The Sherif, raised to his station by force or
by personal influence, and the consent of the powerful Sherif families
of Mekka, held his authority from the Grand Signor, who invariably
confirmed the individual that had possessed himself of it. [The
government of the Hedjaz has often been a subject of dispute between the
Khalifes of Baghdad, the Sultans of Egypt, and the Imams of Yemen. The
honour attached, even to a nominal authority over the holy cities, was
the only object they had in view, although that authority, instead of
increasing their income, obliged them to incur great expenses. The right
of clothing the Kaaba, and of having their name inserted in the Friday's
prayers in the mosque, was the sole benefit they derived. The supremacy
of Egypt over Mekka, so firmly established from the beginning of the
fifteenth century, was transferred, after the conquest of that country
by Selim I., to the Sultans of Constantinople.] He was invested annually
with a pelisse, brought from Constantinople by the Kaftandji Bashy; and,
in the Turkish ceremonial, he was ranked among the first Pashas of the
empire. When the power of the Pashas of Djidda became merely nominal,
and the Porte was no longer able to send large armies with the Hadj
caravans of the Hedjaz, to secure its command over that country, the
Sherifs of Mekka became independent, and disregarded all the orders of
the Porte, although

[p.220] they still called themselves the servants of the Sultan,
received the annual investiture of the pelisse, acknowledged the Kadhi
sent from Constantinople, and prayed for the Sultan in the great mosque.
Mohammed Aly has restored the authority of the Osmanlys in the Hedjaz,
and usurps all the power of the Sherif; allowing to the present Sherif
Yahya a merely nominal sway.

The Sherif of Mekka was chosen from one of the many tribes of Sherifs,
or descendants of the Prophet, who settled in the Hedjaz; these were
once numerous, but are now reduced to a few families of Mekka. Till the
last century, the right of succession was in the Dwy [Dwy means Ahl, or
family.] Barakat, so called after Barakat, the son of Seyd Hassan
Adjelan, who succeeded his father in A.H. 829; he belonged to the sherif
tribe of Katade, which was originally settled in the valley of Alkamye,
forming part of Yembo el Nakhel, and was related, by the female side, to
the Beni Hashem, whom they had dispossessed of the government of Mekka
in A.H. 600, after the death of the last Hashemy, called Mekether.
During the last century, the Dwy Barakat had to sustain many wars with
their rival tribes, and finally yielded to the most numerous, that of
Dwy Zeyd, to whom the present Sherifs belong, and which, together with
all the Ketade, form part of the great tribe of Abou Nema. Most of the
Barakat emigrated; many of them settling in the fertile valleys of the
Hedjaz, and others in Yemen. Of the Sherifs still existing in and about
Mekka, besides the tribes above mentioned, the following five were named
to me: Abadele, Ahl Serour, Herazy, Dwy Hamoud, Sowamele. [In addition to
these, I find several others mentioned by Asamy, as Dwy Masoud, Dwy
Shambar, Dwy el Hareth, Dwy Thokaba, Dwy Djazan, Dwy Baz. It would
demand more leisure than I enjoy, to compile a history of Mekka from the
above-mentioned sources. D'Ohsson has given an historical notice on the
Sherifs of Mekka, in which are several errors. The long pedigrees that
must be traced, to acquire a clear notion of the rulers of any part of
Arabia, render the history of that country extremely intricate.]

The succession to the government of Mekka, like that of the Bedouin
Sheikhs, was not hereditary; though it remained in the same tribe as
long as the power of that tribe preponderated. After the

[p.221] death of a Sherif, his relative, whether son, brother, or
cousin, &c. who had the strongest party, or the public voice in his
favour, became the successor. There were no ceremonies of installation
or oaths of allegiance. The new Sherif received the complimentary visits
of the Mekkawys; his band played before the door, which seems to be the
sign of royalty here, as it is in the black country; and his name was
henceforth inserted in the public prayers. Though a succession seldom
took place without some contest, there was little bloodshed in general;
and tho[u]gh instances of cruelty sometimes occurred, the principles of
honour and good faith which distinguish the wars of the Desert tribes,
were generally observed. The rivals submitted, and usually remained in
the town, neither attending the levees of their victorious relative, nor
dreading his resentment, after peace had once been settled. During the
war, the rights of hospitality were held as sacred as they are in the
Desert; the dakhyl, or refugee, was always respected: for the blood shed
on both sides, atonement was made by fines paid to the relations of the
slain, and the same laws of retaliation were observed, which prevail
among the Bedouins. There was always a strong party in opposition to the
reigning power; but this opposition was evinced more in the protection
afforded to individuals persecuted by the chief, than in open attempts
against his authority. Wars, however, frequently happened; each party
had its adherents among the neighbouring Bedouins; but these were
carried on according to the system in Bedouin feuds, and were seldom of
long duration.

Though such customs might have a tendency to crush the power of the
reigning Sherif, they were attended with bad consequences to the
community: every individual was obliged to attach himself to one or
other of the parties, and to some protector, who treated his adherents
with the same tyranny and injustice that he experienced from his
superior; laws were little respected; every thing was decided by
personal influence. The power of the Sherifs was considerably diminished
by Serour, who reigned from 1773 to 1786; but even, in later times,
Ghaleb, although possessed of more authority than any of his
predecessors, had often to fight with his own relations.

This continued prevalence of intestine broils, the wars and contentions
[p.222] of the prevailing parties, the vicissitudes of fortune which
attended them, and the arts of popularity which the chiefs were obliged
to employ, gave to the government of the Hedjaz a character different
from that of most of the other governments in the East, and which it
retained, in outward appearance, even after Ghaleb had almost succeeded
in reigning as a despot. None of that ceremony was observed, which draws
a line of distinction between the Eastern sovereigns, or their
vicegerents, and the people. The court of the Sherif was small, and
almost entirely devoid of pomp. His title is neither Sultan, nor Sultan
Sherif, nor "Sire," as Aly Bey Abbas asserts. "Sydna," "our Lord," was
the title which his subjects used in conversing with him; or that of
"Sadetkum," or "your Highness," which is given to all Pashas. The
distance between the subject and the chief was not thought so great as
to prevent the latter, in cases of need, from representing his griefs
personally, and respectfully but boldly demanding redress.
	The reigning Sherif did not keep a large body of regular troops;
but he summoned his partisans among the Sherifs, with their adherents,
whenever war was determined upon. These Sherifs he attached to his
person by respecting their rank and influence, and they were accustomed
to consider him in no other light than as the first among equals.
	To give a history of the events which have occurred at Mekka since
the period at which the Arabian historians conclude, (about the middle,
I believe, of the seventeenth century,) would be a work of some labour,
as it must be drawn from verbal communications; for nobody, in this
country, thinks of committing to paper the events of his own times. The
circumstances under which I visited the place would have prevented me
from obtaining any very extensive and accurate information on the
political state of the country, even if I had had leisure, as such
inquiries would have obliged me to mix with people of rank, and those
holding offices; a class of society which, for obvious reasons, it was
my constant endeavour to shun. The following is the amount of what
information I was able to collect concerning the recent history of
Mekka.

[p.223] 1750. Sherif Mesaad was appointed to the government of Mekka,
which he held for twenty years. The power of the Sherifs involved him in
frequent wars with them; as he seldom succeeded, their influence
remained undiminished. Having betrayed symptoms of enmity towards Aly
Beg, then governor of Egypt, the latter sent his favourite slave, Abou
Dahab, whom he had made Beg, with a strong body of soldiers, as chief of
the Hadj caravan, to Mekka, in order to expel Mesaad; but the Sherif
died a few days before his arrival.

1769, or 1770. After Mesaad's death, Hosseyn, who, although of the same
tribe, had been his opponent on every occasion, was raised by his own
party to the government, and confirmed therein by the assistance of Abou
Dahab. He continued to rule till the year

1773 or 4, when he was slain in a war with Serour, the son of Mesaad.
The name of Serour, who reigned thirteen or fourteen years, is still
venerated by the Mekkawys: he was the first who humbled the pride and
power of the Sherifs, and established rigid justice in the town.
Previous to his reign, every Sherif had in his house at Mekka an
establishment of thirty or forty armed slaves, servants, and relations,
besides having powerful friends among the Bedouins. Ignorant of every
occupation but that of arms, they lived upon the cattle which they kept
among the Bedouins, and in different parts of the Hedjaz; the surra
which they were entitled to receive from the Hadj; and the presents
which they exacted from the pilgrims, and from their dependents in the
town. Some of them, in addition to these general sources of income, had
extorted from former chief Sherifs lucrative sinecures, such as duties
on ships, or on certain articles of merchandize; tolls collected at one
of the gates of Djidda; the capitation-tax levied upon the Persian
pilgrims, &c. &c. Their behaviour in the town was wild and disorderly;
the orders of the chief Sherif were disregarded; every one made use of
his personal authority to increase his wealth; family quarrels
frequently occurred; and, in the time of the Hadj, they often waylaid
small parties of pilgrims in their route from Medina or Djidda to Mekka,
plundering those who made no defence, and killing those who resisted.

After a long struggle, Serour succeeded at length in reducing

[p.224] the Sherifs to obedience, chiefly by cultivating the goodwill of
the common class of Mekkawys, and of the Bedouins, by his great
simplicity of manners, personal frugality, and generosity towards his
friends, together with a reputation for excessive bravery and sagacity.
He had often made peace with his enemies; but fresh wars as repeatedly
broke forth. It is said that he once discovered a conspiracy to murder
him in one of his nightly walks round the Kaaba; and that he generously
spared the lives of the conspirators, and only banished them. He
strengthened the great castle of Mekka; kept a large body of armed
slaves and Bedouins constantly in his service, the expenses of which he
defrayed by his commercial profits, being an active trader with Yemen;
and, finally, he obliged the most powerful Sherif families to expatriate
themselves, and seek for refuge in Yemen, while many Sherifs were killed
in battle, and others fell by the hands of the executioner. After this,
Serour applied himself to re-establish the administration of justice;
and numerous acts are related of him, which reflect equal honour upon
his love of equity and his sagacity. He drove the Jews from Djidda,
where they had acquired considerable riches by their brokerage and
fraudulent dealings; protected the pilgrims in their progress through
the Hedjaz; and regulated the receipt of customs and taxes, which had
previously been levied in a very arbitrary manner. When he died, the
whole population of Mekka followed his remains to the grave. He is still
considered by the Mekkawys as a kind of saint, and his name is venerated
even by the Wahabys.

1785, or 86. After the death of Serour, Abd el Mayn, one of his
brothers, succeeded for four or five days, when his younger brother
Ghaleb, by his superior skill in intrigue, and by the great popularity
which his valour, understanding, and engaging address had acquired for
him in the time of Serour, dispossessed Abd el Mayn, and suffered him
quietly to retire. During the first years of his reign, Ghaleb was the
tool of Serour's powerful slaves and eunuchs, who were completely
masters of the town, and indulged in the same disorderly behaviour,
injustice, and oppression which had formerly characterized the Sherifs.
Ghaleb, however, soon freed himself from their influence, and acquired
at length a firmer authority over the Hedjaz than any of his
predecessors

[p.225] had possessed, and which he retained till the wars of the
Wahabys, and the treachery of Mohammed Aly put an end to his reign.
Ghaleb's government was milder than that of Serour, though far from
being so just. Very few individuals were put to death by his orders; but
he became avaricious, and culprits were often permitted to purchase
their lives by large fines. To accomplish this extortion, he filled his
prisons with the refractory; but blood only flowed in his transactions
with the Wahabys. During his wars with these invaders, the younger sons
of Serour Abdulla ibn Serour, and Seyd ibn Serour, attempted to wrest
the government from their uncle, but without success; when reconciled
with Ghaleb, they were permitted to return quietly to Mekka, and here
they resided when Mohammed Aly arrived. He sent Abdulla to Cairo
together with Ghaleb, but was ordered by the Porte to set the former at
liberty. Abdulla had been once at Constantinople to obtain the Sultan's
assistance against Ghaleb. The great temerity of Abdulla has gained him
more admirers than friends at Mekka; but it seems probable that, should
the Turks be again obliged to abandon the Hedjaz, he would replace his
brother Yahia, the present chief, who received the appointment from
Mohammed Aly in 1813, and whose reputation and influence at Mekka are
only suited to this honorary situation. The Pasha having seized the
revenues of the government of Mekka, has assigned to the Sherif a
monthly allowance of only fifty purses, or about eight hundred pounds,
to support both his troops and his household. The latter is nominally
the same it was before the Turkish conquest, and consists of a few
Sherifs, some Mekkawys, and Abyssinian or black slaves, who are
indiscriminately appointed to the several employments about his person,
the pompous titles of which are borrowed from the red book of the
Turkish court. At Yembo, Tayf, Mekka, and Djidda, Ghaleb kept his
vizier, who was called El Hakem at Mekka and Tayf. He had, besides, his
khasnadar, or treasurer; his selahdar, or sword-bearer; moherdar, or
keeper of the seal; and a few other officers, who, however, were far
from keeping up so strict an etiquette, or being persons of as much
consequence, as those officers are in the Turkish court. The whole of
the private establishment of Ghaleb consisted of fifty or sixty servants
and officers,

[p.226] and as many slaves and eunuchs. Besides his wives, he kept about
two dozen of Abyssinian slaves, and double that number of females to
attend upon them and to nurse his children. In his stables were from
thirty to forty horses of the best Arabian breed; half a dozen mules,
upon which he sometimes rode; and as many dromedaries. I learned from
one of his old servants, that an erdeb (about fifteen bushels) was
issued daily from the store for the use of the household; this, with
perhaps half a hundred weight of butter, and two sheep, formed the
principal expenditure of provision. It was partly consumed by the
Bedouins, who came to Mekka upon business, and who were in the habit of
repairing to the Sherif's house, to claim his hospitality, just as they
would alight at the tent of a Sheikh in an encampment in the Desert.
When they departed, their sacks were filled with provisions for the
road, such being the Arab custom, and the Sherifs of Mekka having always
shown an anxious desire to treat the Bedouins with kindness and
liberality.

The dress of the Sherif is the same as that of all the heads of Sherif
families at Mekka; consisting, usually, of an Indian silk gown, over
which is thrown a white abba, of the finest manufacture of El Ahsa, in
the Persian Gulf; a Cashmere shawl, for the head; and yellow slippers,
or sometimes sandals, for the feet. I saw no Mekkawy Sherifs with green
turbans. Such of them as enter into the service of government, or are
brought up to arms, and who are called by the Mekkawys exclusively
"Sherifs," generally wear coloured Cashmere shawls; the others, who lead
a private life, or are employed in the law and the mosque, tie a small
white muslin shawl round their caps. The Sherifs, however, possess one
distinguishing mark of dress--a high woollen cap of a green colour, round
which they tie the white muslin or the Cashmere shawl; beyond which the
cap projects, so as to screen the wearer's face from the rays of the
sun: for its convenience in this respect, it is sometimes used also by
elderly persons; but this is far from being a common fashion.

When the Sherif rides out, he carries in his hand a short, slender
stick, called metrek, such as the Bedouins sometimes use in driving
their camels; a horseman, who rides close by him, carries in his hand

[p.227] an umbrella or canopy, of Chinese design, adorned with silk
tassels, which he holds over the Sherif's head when the sun incommodes
him. This is the only sign of royalty by which the Sherif is
distinguished when he appears in public; and even this is not used when
he walks in the street. The Wahabys compelled him to lay aside the
canopy, and to go on foot to the mosque, alleging as a reason, that it
was inconsistent with the requisite humility, to come into the presence
of the Kaaba on horseback. But when Ghaleb was in full power al Mekka,
he obliged the Pashas who accompanied the pilgrim caravan, to
acknowledge his right of precedency on all occasions; and he
disseminated throughout the Hedjaz a belief that his rank was superior
to that of any officer of the Porte; and that even at Constantinople the
Sultan himself ought, in strictness of etiquette, to rise and salute
him. I have already mentioned the annual investiture of the Sherif by
the Kaftandjy Bashy. According to the ceremonial practised on the
arrival of the caravan, the Sherif pays the first visit to the Pasha, or
Emir el Hadj. The latter, on returning the visit, receives a horse,
richly caparisoned, from the Sherif. After the return of the Hadj from
Wady Muna, the Pasha presents him, on the first day, with a similar
horse; and they both exchange visits in their tents at Muna. When the
caravan is ready to leave Mekka, on its return home, the Sherif visits
the Pasha a second time, in his camp outside the town, and is there
presented with another horse.

The Sherif is supposed to have under his jurisdiction all the Bedouin
tribes of the Hedjaz; at least they are named in his own and the Porte's
registers, as the dutiful subjects of the Sultan and of the Sherif. When
in the full enjoyment of his power, Ghaleb possessed a considerable
influence over these tribes, but without any direct authority. They
looked upon the Sherif, with his soldiers and friends, in the same light
as one of their own Sheikhs, with his adherents; and all the laws of war
current in the Desert, were strictly observed by the Sherif. In his late
expeditions against the Wahabys, he was accompanied by six or eight
thousand Bedouins, who joined him, as they would have joined another
Sheikh, without receiving any regular pay

[p.228] for their services, but following their own chiefs, whose
interest and attachment Ghaleb purchased by presents.

To those who are unacquainted with the politics of the Desert, the
government of Mekka will present some singularities; but every thing is
easily explained, if the Sherif be considered as a Bedouin chief, whom
wealth and power have led to assume arbitrary sway; who has adopted the
exterior form of an Osmanly governor, but who strictly adheres to all
the ancient usages of his nation. In former times, the heads of the
Sherif families at Mekka exercised the same influence as the fathers of
families in the Bedouin encampments; the authority of the great chief
afterwards prevailed, and the others were obliged to submit; but they
still retain, in many cases, the rights of their forefathers. The rest
of the Mekkawys were considered by the contending parties, not as their
equals, but as settlers under their domination; in the same way as
Bedouin tribes fight for villages which pay to them certain assessments,
and whose inhabitants are considered to be on a much lower level than
themselves. The Mekkawys, however, were not to be dealt with like
inhabitants of the towns in the northern provinces of Turkey; they took
a part in the feuds of the Sherifs, and shared in the influence and
power obtained by their respective patrons. When Serour and Ghaleb
successively possessed themselves of a more uncontrolled authority than
any of their predecessors had enjoyed, the remaining Sherifs united more
closely with the Mekkawys, and, till the most recent period, formed with
them a body respectable for its warlike character, as was evinced in
frequent quarrels among themselves; and a resistance against the
government, when its measures affected their lives, although they were
so far reduced as never to revolt when their purses only were assailed.

The government of Ghaleb, notwithstanding his pecuniary extortion, was
lenient and cautious: he respected the pride of the Mekkawys, and seldom
made any attempts against the personal safety or even fortunes of
individuals, although they smarted under those regulations which
affected them collectively. He permitted his avowed enemies to live
peaceably in the bosom of their families, and the people

[p.229] to indulge in bloody affrays among themselves, which frequently
happened either in consequence of blood-revenge, or the jealousies which
the inhabitants of different quarters of the town entertained against
each other; sometimes fighting for weeks together, but generally with
sticks, lances, and daggers, and not with fire-arms.

The Sherifs, or descendants of Mohammed, resident at Mekka and in the
neighbourhood, who delight in arms, and are so often engaged in civil
broils, have a practice of sending every male child, eight days after
its birth, to some tent of the neighbouring Bedouins, where it is
brought up with the children of the tent, and educated like a true
Bedouin for eight or ten years, or till the boy is able to mount a mare,
when his father takes him back to his home. During the whole of the
above period, the boy never visits his parents, nor enters the town,
except when in his sixth month; his foster-mother then carries him on a
short visit to his family, and immediately returns with him to her
tribe. The child is, in no instance, left longer than thirty days after
his birth in the hands of his mother; and his stay among the Bedouins is
sometimes protracted till his thirteenth or fifteenth year. By this
means, he becomes familiar with all the perils and vicissitudes of a
Bedouin life; his body is inured to fatigue and privation; and he
acquires a knowledge of the pure language of the Bedouins, and an
influence among them that becomes afterwards of much importance to him.
There is no sherif, from the chief down to the poorest among them, who
has not been brought up among the Bedouins; and many of them are also
married to Bedouin girls. The sons of the reigning Sherif family were
usually educated among the tribe of Adouan, celebrated for the prowess
and hospitality of its members; but it has been so much reduced by the
intestine wars of the Sherifs, in which they always took part, and by
the late invasion of Mohammed Aly, that they found it expedient to
abandon the territory of the Hedjaz, and seek refuge in the encampments
of the tribes of the Eastern plain. Othman el Medhayfe, the famous
Wahaby chief, a principal instrument employed by Saoud in the
subjugation of the Hedjaz, was himself a Sheikh of Adouan; and Sherif
Ghaleb had married his sister. The other Sherifs

[p.230] sent their children to the encampments of Hodheyl, Thekyf, Beni
Sad, and others; some few to the Koreysh, or Harb.

The Bedouins in whose tent a Sherif has been educated, were ever after
treated by him with the same respect as his own parents and brethren; he
called them respectively, father, mother, brother; and received from
them corresponding appellations. Whenever they came to Mekka, they
lodged at the house of their pupil, and never left it without receiving
presents. During his pupilage, the Sherif gave the name of Erham to the
more distant relatives of the Bedouin family, who were also entitled to
his friendship and attention; and he considered himself, during his
life, as belonging to the encampment in which he had passed his early
years: he termed its inhabitants "our people," or, "our family;" took
the liveliest interest in their various fortunes; and, when at leisure,
often paid them a visit during the spring months, and sometimes
accompanied them in their wanderings and their wars.

Sherif Ghaleb always showed himself extremely attentive to his Bedouin
foster-parents; whenever they visited him, he used to rise from his
seat, and embrace them, though in no way distinguished from any meanly-
dressed inhabitant of the Desert. Of course, it often happened that
Sherif boys could not easily be induced to acknowledge their real
parents at home; and they sometimes escaped, and rejoined the friends of
their infancy, the Bedouins in the Desert.

The custom which I have just described is very ancient in Arabia.
Mohammed was educated among foreigners, in the tribe of Beni Sad; and
his example is continually quoted by the Mekkawys, when speaking of the
practice still usual among the Sherifs. But they are almost the only
people in Arabia by whom it is now followed. The Bedouins called
Mowalys, [This tribe is originally from the Hedjaz: it lived in the
neighbourhood of Medina, and is often mentioned by the historians of
that town, during the first century after Mohammed.] once a potent
tribe, but now reduced to a small number, and pasturing their flocks in
the vicinity of Aleppo, are the only Arabs among whom I met with any
thing similar. With them it is an established

[p.231] usage, that the son of the chief of that tribe should be
educated in the family of another individual of the same tribe, but
generally of a different encampment, until he is sufficiently old to be
able to shift for himself. The pupil calls his tutor Morabby, and
displays the greatest regard for him during the rest of his life.

The Sherifs derive considerable advantages from their Bedouin education;
acquiring not only strength and activity of body, but some part of that
energy, freedom of manners, and boldness, which characterize the
inhabitant of the Desert; together with a greater regard to the virtues
of good faith and hospitality, than if they had been brought up in
Mekka.

I did not see many Sherifs. Of the small number now remaining, some were
employed, during my residence at Mekka, either as guides with the army
of Mohammed Aly, or were incorporated by him in a small corps of
Bedouins, commanded by Sherif Radjeh, one of their most distinguished
members; or in the service of Sherif Yahya, who sent them on duty to the
advanced posts towards Yemen. Some of them had retired, after Ghaleb was
taken, to the Wahabys, or to Yemen, where a few of them still remained.
Those whom I had an opportunity of seeing, were distinguished by fine
manly countenances, strongly expressive of noble extraction; and they
had all the exterior manners of Bedouins; free, bold, frank, warm
friends; bitter enemies; seeking for popularity, and endowed with an
innate pride, which, in their own estimation, sets them far above the
Sultan of Constantinople. I never beheld a handsomer man than Sherif
Radjeh, whose heroism I have mentioned in my history of Mohammed Aly's
campaign, and the dignity of whose deportment would make him remarked
among thousands; nor can a more spirited and intelligent face be easily
imagined, than was that of Sherif Ghaleb. Yahya, the present Sherif, is
of a very dark complexion, like that of his father; his mother was a
dark brown Abyssinian slave.

The Mekkawys give the Sherifs little credit for honesty, and they have
constantly shown great versatility of character and conduct; but this
could hardly be otherwise, considering the sphere and the times in which
they moved: their Bedouin education has certainly

[p.232] made them preferable, in many respects, to the common class of
Mekkawys.

It is a rule among the Sherifs, that the daughters of the reigning chief
can never marry; and while their brothers are often playing in the
streets with their comrades, from whom they are in no way distinguished,
either in dress or dignity of appearance, the unfortunate girls remain
shut up in the father's house. I have seen a son of Sherif Ghaleb, whose
father was then in exile at Salonica, play before the door of his house.
But I have heard that, when the boys of the reigning Sherif return from
the Desert, and are not yet sufficiently grown up to appear with a manly
air in public, they are kept within their father's house or court-yard,
and seen only by the inmates of the family, appearing for the first time
in public, on horseback, by the side of their father; from which period
they are considered to be of age, soon after marry, and take a share in
public affairs.

The greater part of the Sherifs of Mekka, and those especially of the
reigning tribe of Dwy Zeyd, are strongly suspected to be Muselman
sectaries, belonging to the Zyoud, or followers of Zeyd, a sect which
has numerous proselytes in Yemen, and especially in the mountains about
Sada. This, however, the Sherifs do not acknowledge, but comply with the
doctrines of the orthodox sect of Shafeys, to which most of the Mekkawys
belong; but the Sherifs residing abroad do not deny it; and whenever
points of law are discussing upon which the Zyoud are at variance with
the Sunnys, the Sherifs always decline taking an active part in the
discussion.

I believe that the Zeyds are divided into different sects. Those of
Yemen and Mekka acknowledge as the founder of their creed El Imam el
Hady ill el Hak Yahyn ibn el Hosseyn, who traces his pedigree to
Hassan, the son of Aly. He was born at Rass, in the province of Kasym,
in A.H. 245, and first rose as a sectary at Sada, in Yemen, in 280. He
fought with the Abassides, took Sana, out of which he was driven,
afterwards attacked the Karmates, and died of poison at Sada in A.H.
298. Others trace the origin of this sect higher, to Zeyd ibn Aly Zeyn
el Aabedyn ibn el Hosseyn ibn Aly ibn Aby Taleb, who was killed at Koufa
in A.H. 121, by the party of the Khalif Hesham. The

[p.233] Zeydites appear, generally, to entertain a great veneration for
Aly; at the same time that they do not, as the Persians, curse Abou
Beker and Omar. They entertain notions different from those of the
Sunnys respecting the succession of the twelve Imams, but agree, in
other respects, much more with them than with the Persians. The Zeydites
of Yemen, to whom the Imam of Sana himself belongs, designate their
creeds as the fifth of the orthodox Mohammedan creeds, next to the
Hanefys, Shafeys, Malekys, and Hanbalys, and for that reason they are
called Ahl el Khams Mezaheb. In Yemen they publicly avow their
doctrines; at Mekka they conceal them. I heard that one of their
principal tenets is, that in praying, whether in the mosque, or at home,
no other expressions should be used than those contained in the Koran,
or such as are formed from passages of that book.

The Mekkawys regard the Zyoud as heretics; and assert that, like
Persians, they hold in disrespect the immediate successors of Mohammed.
Stories are related of the Zyoud in Yemen writing the name of Mawya over
the most unclean part of their houses, to show their contempt of him;
but such tenets are not avowed, and the Sherifs agree outwardly in every
point with the Sunnys, whatever may be their private opinions.

I have already stated that the Kadhy of Mekka is sent annually from
Constantinople, according to the usual practice of the Turkish
government with respect to the great cities of the empire. This system
began with the early emperors, who thought that, by depriving the
provincial governors of the administration of justice, and placing it in
the hands of a learned man sent periodically from Constantinople, and
quite independent of the governors, they might prevent the latter from
exercising any undue influence over the courts of law, at the same time
that the consequences likely to result from the same judge remaining in
office for any length of time were avoided. But manners are very
different throughout the empire from what they were three hundred years
ago. In every town the Kadhy is now under the immediate influence of the
governor, who is left to tyrannize at pleasure, provided he sends his
regular subsidies to the Porte. No person can gain a suit at law unless
he enjoys credit with the government, or

[p.234] gives a bribe to the judge, which the governor shares or
connives at, in return for the Kadhy's compliance with his interests in
other cases. The fees of court are enormous, and generally swallow up
one fourth of the sum in litigation; while the court is deaf to the
clearest right, if not supported by largesses to the Kadhy and the swarm
of officers and servants who surround his seat. These disorders are
countenanced by the Porte: the office of Kadhy is there publicly sold to
the best bidder, with the understanding that he is to remunerate himself
by the perquisites of his administration.

In those countries where Arabs flock to his court, the Kadhy, who
generally knows but little of the Arabic language, is in the hands of
his interpreter, whose office is usually permanent, and who instructs
every new Kadhy in the modes of bribery current in the place, and takes
a full share of the harvest. The barefaced acts of injustice and
shameless briberies daily occurring in the Mehkames, or halls of
justice, would seem almost incredible to an European, and especially an
Englishman.

The Kadhy of Mekka has shared the fate of his brother judges in other
parts of the empire, and has been for many years so completely under the
influence of the Sherif, that all suits were carried directly before his
tribunal, and the Kadhy was thus reduced to spend his time in
unprofitable leisure. I was informed by the Kadhy himself, that the
Grand Signior, in consideration of the trifling emoluments of the
situation, had, for some time back, been in the habit of paying to the
Kadhy of Mekka one hundred purses per annum out of his treasury. Since
the conquest of Mohammed Aly, the Kadhy has recovered his importance, in
the same proportion as the influence of the Sherif has been diminished.
When I was at Mekka, all law-suits were decided in the Mehkame. Mohammed
Aly seldom interposed his authority, as he wished to conciliate the
good-will of the Arabs, and the Kadhy himself seems to have received
from him very strict orders to act with circumspection; for justice was,
at this time, tolerably well administered, at least in comparison with
other tribunals; and the inhabitants were not averse to the new order of
things. The Kadhy of Mekka appoints to the law-offices of Djidda and
Tayf, which are filled

[p.235] by Arabs, not Turks. In law-suits of importance, the Muftis of
the four orthodox sects have considerable influence on the decision.

The income of the Sherif is derived principally from the customs paid at
Djidda, which, as I have already mentioned, instead of being, according
to the intention of the Turkish government, divided between himself and
the Pasha of Djidda, were seized wholly by the late Sherifs, and are now
in the hands of Mohammed Aly. The customs of Djidda, properly the same
as those levied in every other part of the Turkish empire, were much
increased by Ghaleb, which was the principal reason why the whole body
of merchants opposes him. He had also engrossed too large a share of the
commerce to himself. Eight dows belonging to him were constantly
employed in the coffee-trade between Yemen, Djidda, and Egypt; and when
the sale of that article was slow, he obliged the merchants to purchase
his cargoes for ready money at the market-price, in order to send off
the sooner his returns of dollars to Yemen. Two of the largest of his
vessels (one an English-built ship of three or four hundred tons,
purchased at Bombay,) made a voyage annually to the East Indies, and the
cargoes which they brought home were either sold to the Hadj at Mekka,
or were divided among the merchants of Djidda, who were forced to
purchase them.

Besides the port of Djidda, that of Yembo, where the Sherif kept a
governor, was subjected to similar duties. He also levied a tax as well
upon all cattle and provision