43. Sanaa. From Mekka to Sanaa, forty-three days very slow travelling:
for most of the pilgrims perform the whole journey on foot.
No. II.
Of the country through which the Kebsy pilgrims travel, and the
extraordinary customs of some Arabian tribes.
THE route of this pilgrimage lies wholly along the mountains of the
Hedjaz and Yemen, having the Eastern plain on one side, and Tehama, or
the sea-coast, on the other. The road often leads through difficult
passes on the very summit of the mountains. Water abounds, in wells,
springs, and rivulets: the entire tract of country is well peopled,
although not every where cultivated, enclosed fields and trees being
only found in the vicinity of water. There is a village at every station
of the Hadj: most of these villages are built of stone, and inhabited by
Arab tribes, originally of these mountains, and now spread over the
adjoining plains. Some are very considerable tribes, such as Zohran,
Ghamed, Shomran, Asyr, and Abyda, of whom each can muster from six to
eight thousand firelocks: their principal strength consists in
matchlocks. Horses are but few in these mountains; yet the Kahtan,
Refeydha, and Abyda tribes, who likewise spread over the plain, possess
the good Koheyl breed. This country produces not only enough for the
inhabitants, but enables them to export great quantities of coffee-
beans, corn, beans, raisins, almonds, dried apricots, &c.
It is said that the coffee-tree does not grow northward beyond Meshnye,
in the Zohran country; the tree improves in quality southward: the best
coffee is produced in the neighbourhood of Sanaa. Grapes abound in these
mountains. Raisins constitute a common article of food with the Arabs,
and are exported to the towns on the sea-coast, and to Djidda and Mekka,
where a kind of wine is made from them, as follows:--The raisins are put
into
[p.448] earthen jars, which are then filled with water, buried in the
ground, and left there for a whole month, during which the fermentation
takes place. Most other fruits are cultivated in these mountains, where
water is at all times abundant, and the climate temperate. Snow has
sometimes fallen, and water been frozen as far as Sada. The Arabs
purchase their cotton dresses in the market-places of Tehama, or on the
coast: the passing pilgrims sell to them a few drugs, spices, and
needles, and proceed on their way in perfect security, at least since
the Wahabys have subjugated the whole country, by overpowering, after
many sanguinary battles, the hostile Sheikhs, who were forced to pay an
annual tribute.
Most of the Arab tribes south of Zohran belong to the sect of Zeyd: they
live in villages, and are chiefly what the Arabs call Hadhar, or
settlers, not Bedouins; but as they keep large herds of cattle, they
descend, in time of rain, into the Eastern plain, which affords rich
pasturage for cows, camels, and sheep. They procure clothes, drugs,
utensils, &c. from the sea-ports of Yemen, where they sell dried fruits,
dates, honey, butter, coffee-beans, &c. With the Bedouins of the Eastern
plain they exchange durra for cattle. The Spanish dollar is current
among them; but in their markets all things are valued by measures of
corn. The dress of these Bedouins generally consists in cotton stuffs
and leather.
Before the Wahabys taught them the true Mohammedan doctrines, they knew
nothing more of their religion than the creed, La Illaha ill Allah, wa
Mohammed rasoul Allah, (There is no God but God, and Mohammed is the
prophet of God); nor did they ever perform the prescribed rites. The El
Merekede, a branch of the great Asyr tribe, indulged in an ancient
custom of their forefathers by assigning to the stranger, who alighted
at their tents or houses, some female of the family to be his companion
during the night, most commonly the hosts own wife; but to this
barbarous system of hospitality young virgins were never sacrificed. If
the stranger rendered himself agreeable to his fair partner, he was
treated next morning with the utmost attention by his host, and
furnished, on parting, with provisions sufficient for the remainder of
his journey: but if, unfortunately, he did not please the lady, his
cloak was found next day to want a piece, cut off by her as a signal of
contempt. This circumstance being known, the unlucky traveller was
driven away with disgrace by all the women and children of the village
or encampment. It was not without much difficulty that the Wahabys
forced them to renounce this custom; and as there was a scarcity of rain
for two years after, the Merekedes regarded this misfortune as a
punishment for having abandoned the laudable rites of hospitality,
practised during so many centuries by their ancestors.
That this extraordinary custom prevailed in the Merekede tribe, I had
often heard during my travels among the Syrian Bedouins, but could not
readily believe a report so inconsistent with our established notions of
the respect in which female honour is held by the Arabs; but I can no
longer entertain a doubt on the subject, having received, both at Mekka
and Tayf, from various persons who had actually witnessed the fact, most
unequivocal evidence in confirmation of the statement.
Before the Wahaby conquest it was a custom among the Asyr Arabs, to take
their marriageable daughters, attired in their best clothes, to the
public market, and there, walking before them, to cry out, Man yshtery
el Aadera? Who will buy the virgin? The match,
[p.449] sometimes previously settled, was always concluded in the
market-place; and no girl was permitted to marry in any other manner.
I heard that tigers and wolves abound in these mountains, but that there
are not any lions. The Arabs have here a fine breed of mules and asses.
No. III.
Route from Tayf to Sanaa.
This itinerary was communicated to me by a poor man who had travelled
with his wife, in 1814, from Sada to Mekka. He was a native of some
place near Sanaa; and as the pilgrimage or Hadj el Kebsy had been for
some years interrupted, and he could not afford a passage by sea to
Djidda, he undertook this route, which is practicable even in these
critical times to those who can pass unsuspected in the character of
pilgrims. He was every where treated with hospitality. On his arrival at
a village he proceeded to the Mesdjed or mosque, and recited some
chapter of the Koran: the Arab inhabitants then inquired who he was, and
supplied him with plenty of flour, milk, raisins, meat, &c. He was never
stopped by robbers until he reached the advanced posts of Mohammed Alys
Turkish army; there he was plundered by some soldiers of all his
provisions. He could not mark exactly each days journey, because he
loitered about from one settlement to another, waiting often several
days that he might have companions on the road. The journey occupied him
altogether three months. He supported himself at Mekka by singing,
during the night, before the houses of wealthy pilgrims, some verses in
honour of the propbet and of the pilgrimage. His route was as follows:--
El Tayf--Beni Sad, Arabs--Naszera, Arabs--Begyle (or Bedjele), a market-
place--Rebah, a market-place--El Mandak, in the Zohran country--El Bekaa,
in the Zohran country--Raghdan, in the district of the Ghamed Arabs--
Ghamed, Arabs--Sollebat, inhabited by Ghamed Arabs and those called
Khotham, a very ancient tribe that flourished in the beginning of Islám--
Shomran, Arabs--Bel Korn--Ibn Dohman, an Arab tribe so called--Ibn el
Ahmar, another Arab tribe--Ibn el Asmar, an Arab tribe--The country here
is called after the inhabitants, which my informer had not forgotten,
although he did not always recollect the names of the villages through
which he passed in the districts of each tribe--Asyr; this tribe is now
united with the three former under one head--The Asyr chief, El Tamy,
proved the steadiest antagonist of Mohammed Aly: his principal residence
was the strong castle of El Tor, situated upon a high level surrounded
by mountains; he
[p.450] had also a smaller castle, called El Tobab, with a town, from
four to five days journey distant from Gonfode on the sea-coast.
In the Asyr district, the pilgrim passed the villages called Shekrateyn,
Ed-dahye, Shohata, and Ed-djof. So far the road had always been on the
very summit of the mountain: the traveller henceforward continuing along
the valleys composing the lower chain of hills that intersect the
Eastern plain.
Refeydha, Arabs--Abyda, Arabs--Harradja, a town in the district of the
Senhán Arabs; which also contains the fertile wady called Ráha--Homra, a
place inhabited by the Senhan Arabs: at one days journey eastward is
Wady Nedjran, belonging to the tribe of Yam-Thohran, inhabited by the
Wadaa tribe: this place is high in the mountain, but the Wadaa occupy
also the low valleys--Bágem, a tribe of Arabs: eastward of them resides
the powerful tribe of Kholán Arabs--Dohhyán, of the Sahhar tribe-Sada:
from Sada the most usual stages to Sanaa are Beit Medjáhed--Djorf--Kheywan
and Houth, two places in the district of the Háshed tribe--Zybein,--Omrán-
Sanaa-Seven days from Sada to Sanaa.
No. IV.
Notices respecting the Country south of Mekka.
I HAVE already described the road from Mekka to Tayf. Four hours distant
from Tayf, in a S.E. direction, is Lye, a wady with a rivulet, fine
gardens, and many houses on the borders of the stream. About two hours
S. of Lye, in the mountain, stands the celebrated castle of Byssel,
built by the late chief of all the Hedjaz Arabs, Othman el Medhayfe, who
was taken prisoner near it in autumn 1812. Here Mohammed Aly Pasha, in
January 1815, fought his decisive battle with the united Wababy forces.
From Lye the road leads over mountains for about two hours, and then
descends into the great Eastern plain, where, at a distance of seven or
eight hours from Lye, and twelve from Tayf, lies the small town of
Kolákh: here were the head-quarters of the Turkish army for several
months in 1814. It is an open place, without trees or enclosures, with
many water-pits. It lies from Tayf in the direction of E.S.E. About Lye
and Kolákh, live the Arabs of the Ossama tribe, who form part of the
great Ateybe tribe. Between Kolákh and Taraba, off the straight road,
lies Abyla, once the residence of the great chief Medhayfe. By Kolákh
passes the most frequented road from Nedjed to Zohran, and from thence
to the sea-ports of Yemen. Continuing over the plain from Kolákh in a
more southern direction for about eighteen hours, we come to the town of
Taraba, as the people of Tayf and Mekka call it, or Toroba according
[p.451] to the Bedouin pronunciation. A soldier who possessed a watch
told me that he had counted three hours on the march between Tayf and
Taraba. This is a considerable town, as large as Tayf, and remarkable
for its plantations, that furnish all the surrounding country with
dates; and famous for its resistance against the Turkish forces of
Mohammed Aly, until January 1815, when its inhabitants were compelled to
submit. Taraba is environed with palm-groves and gardens, watered by
numerous rivulets; near it are some inconsiderable hills, at the foot of
which the Arabs cultivate durra and barley: the inhabitants are of the
Begoum tribe, and their Sheikh is Ibn Korshán. One Ghálye, the widow of
a deceased Sheikh, had immortalised her name by devoting her property to
the defence of the town, and taking an active part in the council of the
chiefs. The country about Taraba, and thence to Kolákh, is inhabited by
the Ateybe Arabs, the most numerous of the Hedjaz tribes. The Begoums
had enclosed Taraba with a wall, and constructed some towers: at present
a Turkish garrison is stationed here, this being a principal position
and the grand thoroughfare between Nedjed and Yemen.
Pursuing the road from Taraba southwards to the east of the great chain
of mountains, over an uneven ground intersected by many wadys, we come,
at two days from Taraba, to the town of Ranye, inhabited by the Arab
tribe of Sabya, whose Sheikh is Ibn Katnán, a personage distinguished
for his bravery in the campaign against the Pashas Turkish troops.
Three or four days from Ranye is the town of Beishe, the intermediate
space being peopled by the Beni Oklob tribe. Beishe, the most important
position between Tayf and Sanaa, is a very fertile district, extremely
rich in date-trees. The Turkish army of Mohammed Aly, with its followers
and allied Bedouins, amounting in all to ten or twelve thousand men,
found here sufficient provisions for a fortnights halt, and for a
supply on their march of several days towards the south. The Arabs
entitle Beishe the key of Yemen: it lies on one of the great roads from
Nedjed to Yemen; and it was said that heavy-laden camels from Mekka to
Yemen could not come by any other way, and that on the sea-shore beyond
Beishe is an easy passage westward through the great chain of mountains.
At Beishe many battles were fought between Sherif Ghaleb and Saoud the
Wahaby general, who being victorious erected two castles in the
neighbourhood, and gave them in charge to Ibn Shokbán, whom he also made
chief of the Beni Salem tribe, the inhabitants of Beishe, who could
furnish from eight to ten thousand matchlocks. Ibn Shokbán afterwards
gallantly opposed the Turkish army. I believe that in former times the
Sherifs of Mekka possessed at least a nominal authority over all the
country, from Tayf to Beishe. In Asamys history we find many instances
of the Sherifs residing occasionally at Beishe, and having in their army
auxiliaries of the Beni Salem tribe.
Beishe is a broad valley, from six to eight hours in length, abounding
with rivulets, wells, and gardens. The houses here are better than those
of Tayf, and irregularly scattered over the whole tract. The principal
castle is very strong, with substantial and lofty walls, and surrounded
by a ditch. About three or four days journey to the E. and S.E. of
Beishe, the plain is covered with numerous encampments of the Kahtan
Arabs, one of the most ancient tribes, that flourished long before
Mohammed, in the idolatrous ages. Some of these Beni Kahtan emigrated to
Egypt, where the historian Mesoudi knew them as inhabitants of Assouan.
The Wahabys found great difficulty in subduing this tribe, which,
however,
[p.452] subsequently became attached to the conquerors, and still
continues so. The Beni Kahtan possess excellent pasturage, and breed
many fine horses: the vast number of their camels have become proverbial
in Arabia. The tribe is divided into two main branches, Es Saháma, and
El Aasy. In December 1814 the Kahans made an incursion towards Djidda,
and carried off the whole baggage of some Turkish cavalry, stationed to
protect the road between Djidda and Mekka: large parties of them
sometimes pasture their cattle in the province of Nedjed.
From Beishe to Aryn, in the country of the Abyda Arabs, is a journey of
five days, according to the Bedouin mode of travelling, but six or seven
days as the Kebsy pilgrims march. Beishe itself is about two days
distant from the western mountain. It is a journey of at least four days
from Beishe to the district of Zohran: all the Arabs from Taraba to
Beishe, and from thence westward, are cultivators or agriculturists;
those due south and east, are Bedouins, or wandering Nomades.
South-east of Beishe, four or five days, live the Dowáser Arabs during
the winter; but in summer they remove to the more fertile pasture-lands
of Nedjed, the nearest frontiers of which are only eight days distant.
They have no horses, but furnish to the Wahabys in their wars about
three thousand camel-riders. The Dowáser are said to be very tall men,
and almost black. In former times they used to sell at Mekka ostrich
feathers to the northern pilgrims, and many pedlars of Mekka came here
in winter to exchange cotton stuffs for those feathers.
Adjoining the Dowáser, but I cannot exactly ascertain in what direction,
are the Beni Kelb, Bedouins of whom many absurd fables are related in
the Hedjaz: thus it is said, the men never speak Arabic, but bark like
dogs; a notion, perhaps, arising from the name Kelb, which signifies a
dog. Their women, however, it is allowed, can speak Arabic; but the
truth is, that the stranger who alights at their tents is entertained by
the women, and not by the men.
Half way between Wady Dowáser, or the winter pasture-land of the Dowáser
tribe, and Sanaa the capital of Yemen, a short days journey east of
Thohrán, (the territory of the Wadaa Arabs,) and four or five days from
the town of Sada, lies the Wady Nedjrán, on the first of the great chain
of mountains. It is a fertile valley between inaccessible mountains, in
which the passes are so narrow that two camels cannot go abreast. The
valley is watered by rivulets, and abounds with date-trees. Here reside
the Beni Yam, an ancient tribe, distinguished lately by their opposition
to the Wahabys: they consist of settlers and Bedouins; the former being
Shyas, or heretics of the Persian sect, followers of Aly, while the
Bedouins are mostly Sunne or orthodox Muselmans. The latter are
subdivided into the tribes of Okmán and El Marra, weaker than the
disciples of Aly, and often at variance with them, although both parties
unite whenever Nedjrán is attacked by a foreign enemy. The settlers can
muster about fifteen hundred firelocks. They twice repulsed the Wahaby
chief Saoud, who had subdued all the other Arab tribes except the Beni
Sobh, of the Harb race, in the northern parts of the Hedjaz. The Beni
Yam made a kind of treaty with the Wahabys, and were allowed to perform
the pilgrimage annually. Some of them visit the tomb of Aly, at Meshehed
Aly, but under circumstances of great difficulty; for their lives would
pay the forfeit of their religious zeal, should they be detected on the
road; and this frequently happens,
[p.453] as they are betrayed by their peculiar accent or dialect: one
who has performed his devotions at Alys tomb is regarded as a saint at
Nedjrán.
When a man of this Beni Yam tribe undertakes a journey, he sends his
wife to the house of a friend, who, it is understood, must in all
respects supply the husbands place during his absence, and restore the
lady to him at his return. It may be here remarked, that the name of
Nedjran el Yemen is mentioned in the Catechism of the Druses; one of the
questions being, Is Nedjran of Yemen in ruins or not? The tanneries of
Nedjran are famous throughout Arabia.
The less mountainous districts mentioned here, south of Mekka, are even
in time of peace accessible only to Bedouins, or Bedouin merchants, and
have not any regular communication with Mekka by caravans--Taraba
excepted, the inhabitants of which carry their dates in monthly caravans
to Mekka and Djidda. The people of Nedjed pass continually through this
district in search of coffee-beans, and during the Wahaby dominion there
was no other intercourse between Yemen and the northern provinces of
Arabia. This country seldom enjoys peace, the mountaineers being hostile
to the pastoral inhabitants of the low districts, and often at variance
among themselves. They are all very warlike, but the Wahabys have
succeeded in checking their private feuds.
The country from Mekka southwards near the sea-shore, to the west of the
chain of mountains, is flat, intersected with hills that gradually
disappear as we approach the sea, of which the shore presents a level
plain in almost every direction at the distance of several hours. In
time of peace the land road is most frequented by caravans, which either
proceed along the coast close to the barbour, or by the foot of the
mountains. The former way affords but little water. The first inhabited
place south of Djidda is Leyth, four days distant, a small harbour,
which the people were now deserting through dread of the mountaineers.
The inhabitants of Leyth are mostly of the Beni Harb tribe, numerous and
powerful in the country between Mekka and Medina. On this coast are many
encampments of the Heteym Arabs. From Leyth up the mountains to the
district of Zohrán, is a journey of three days and a half: from Leyth to
Shagga, a small town, is one days journey: from thence to Doga, the
same distance. Doga lies near the mountainous region, and is a
considerable market-place; but its houses, or rather huts, are
constructed only of brush-wood and reeds, not of stone. The inhabitants
are mostly Sherifs, connected in kindred with the Sherif families of
Mekka, to whom they often granted an asylum in the late civil wars. It
is a journey of one day from Doga to Gonfode, the well-known harbour.
One day and a half south of Gonfode, is the small harbour of Haly: this
was the southern limit of the territory belonging to the Sherif of
Mekka, who kept custom-house officers at Gonfode and Haly. The Wahaby
chieftain, Othman el Medhayfe, in 1805 (or 1806), took Gonfode from the
Sherif, and the whole coast from thence to Djidda fell under the Wahaby
dominion. In 1814 the Turkish troops of Mohammed Aly Pasha endeavoured
to establish themselves there, but were soon dislodged with considerable
loss by Tamy. Gonfode, however, was retaken in 1815 by Mohammed Aly
himself, after his return from the expedition against Tamy, the Sheikh
of Asyr.
The caravan distance from Djidda to Gonfode along the coast is seven
days, easy travelling. From Djidda to Leyth, another more eastern road,
somewhat mountainous, five
[p.454] days journey, yielding plenty of water: while on the coast
road, but one well is found between the two towns.
The other road from Mekka to Yemen, close along the western foot of the
great mountains, is much frequented in time of peace: there are weekly
arrivals of caravans, chiefly from Mokhowa, which is distant fifteen
hours from Doga, and one day from the district of Zohrán in the
mountains. Mokhowa is a large town, nine days journey from Mekka, for
caravans travelling slowly: it has stone buildings, and is the market
where the husbandmen of Zohrán and the neighbouring districts sell the
produce of their labour to the merchants of Mokhowa, who send it to
Mekka and Djidda. The country about Mokhowa is very fertile, and
inhabited by the three tribes of Beni Selym, Beni Seydán, and Beni Aly:
the two latter had submitted to the Wahabys, and were commanded by Tamy,
the Sheikh of Asyr. There are likewise at Mokhowa many of the Beni
Ghamed tribe. In time of peace the intercourse between this town and
Mekka is very considerable; perhaps one third of the supplies of Mekka
in grain of different kinds come from this place. Between these towns
the road lies chiefly through valleys, and crosses but few hills: on it
are some villages, of which the huts are inhabited by Bedouins as well
as agriculturists. I must here repeat that Mokhowa is not to be
confounded with Mokha.
The two first days journeys lie in the territory of the Djebádele
tribe, whose boundary on the S. is Wady Lemlem, a fertile valley with
springs. Beyond that live the Beni Fahem, an ancient tribe, now much
reduced in numbers: they are celebrated throughout the Hedjaz for having
retained the purity of their language in a higher degree than other
tribes; and those who hear one of their boys speak, will be convinced
that they deserve thin praise.
The country west of the great mountainous chain down to the sea is
called Tehama; an appellation not given, at least in this part of
Arabia, to any particular province, but assigned generally to the
comparatively low grounds towards the coast; and the Bedouins extend
this appellation northwards as far as Yembo. The people of Tehama are
poor, those excepted who engage in trade; for the country has few
fertile spots, and less pasturage than the mountains, where rain falls
more abundantly. In the lower Tehama there are sometimes, during a whole
year, but three or four days of rain. The Tehama Bedouins south of Mekka
had mostly retired up into the mountains, when Mohammed Aly invaded the
Hedjaz, not from dread of the Turks, but because, in such an unsettled
state of affairs, weak tribes were not secure, in the open country, from
being surprised by straggling Bedouins from the more powerful hostile
tribes, who during the power of the Wahabys did not venture to show
their enmity, and now impatiently broke loose. Among the Bedouins of
Tehama are many tribes of the Beni Heteym, a tribe more widely spread
than any other in Arabia.
The Great Desert, east of Beishe and Wady Dowáser, and south of the
province of Nedjed, extending eastwards to the frontiers of Oman, is
called by the Bedouins Roba el Khaly, the empty or deserted abode. In
summer it is wholly deserted, being without any wells. In winter, after
rains, when the sands produce herbage, all the great tribes of the
Nedjed, Hedjaz and Yemen pasture their flocks in the parts of this
desert bordering respectively on their own countries. The sandy soil is
much frequented by ostriches, which
[p.455] are killed by the Dowáser Arabs. Several Bedouins assured me,
that in the Robá el Khály there are many parts which have never yet been
explored; because towards the east it does not, even in winter time,
afford the slightest vegetation. The only habitable spot on this dreary
expanse of sand is the Wady Djebryn. There the road passes, by which, in
winter, the Arabs of Nedjed travel to Hadramaut: it is a low ground with
date-trees and wells; but the pestilential climate deters people from
residing there. The dates are gathered by the passing travellers.
No. V.
Stations of the Hadj or Pilgrim Caravan from Cairo to Mekka.
THE following account refers to the route of the caravan in 1816; but
formerly, as I learn from Arabian authors, the stations differed in many
instances.
The caravan assembles for several days at a place eastward of the
Gardens near Cairo, about one hour distant, called El Hassoua, and then
proceeds to Birket el Hadj, four hours distant, where they remain two
days. From this place the caravan starts on the 27th of the month Showál:
it travels only by night, generally setting out at four oclock in the
afternoon, and alighting soon after sun-rise at the station where they
encamp, until evening.