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

circum­stance 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 appre­hended 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 pre­ferable 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 inhabi­tants entertain for their temple; this

prevents them from construct­ing 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 rain­water 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 neighbour­ing 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 apart­ments, separated from each other, and each

consisting of a sitting­room 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 Sheri£ 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 ex­posed 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 en­trance 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

esta­blished among the Europeans at Cairo, between that city and

Alex­andria; 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, nor­therly, 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,

espe­cially 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 fre­quented 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 per­mission 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

trans­actions 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

above­mentioned 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 by­streets to

the right, in approaching the Mesaa, form the quarter of El Szafa, which

takes its name from the holy place Szafa, already de­scribed. 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 nume­rous

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 hun­dred 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 coffee­houses 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 indi­vidual 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 weal­thiest 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, dis­persed 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. direc­tion, 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 inha­bited 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, dif­fering

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 consi­derably, 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,

drug­gists, 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, whi­ther 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 tole­rable

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

Sul­tans 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 thirty­five 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 è

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 divi­sions, 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 gene­rality 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 pilgrim­age, 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 Poës. 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

termi­nation of the Mala, stands the tomb of Abou Taleb, an uncle of

Mo­hammed, 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 en­closed 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 garden­house 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

neigh­bourhood 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. ½ 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 Yemány, 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.