CHAPTER XX.—Of diuers thynges which chaunced to me in Mecha; and of Zida,

a port of Mecha.

It may seeme good here to make mention of certayne thynges, in the

which is seene sharpenesse of witte in case of vrgent necessitie, which

hath no lawe as sayeth the prouerbe, for I was dryuen to the point howe

I myght prieuly escape from Mecha. Therefore whereas my Captayne gaue

me charge to buy certayne thynges, as I was in the market place, a

certayne Mamaluke knewe me to be a christian, and therefore in his owne

language spake vnto me these woordes, “Inte mename,” that is, whence art

thou?[FN#46] To whom I answered that I was a Mahumetan. But he sayde,

Thou sayest not truely. I sayde agayne, by the head of Mahumet I am a

Mahumetan. Then he sayde agayne, Come home to my house, I folowed hym

willingly. When we were there, he began to speake to me in the Italian

tongue, and asked me agayne from whence I was, affyrming that he knewe

me, and that I was no Mahumetan: also that he had been sometyme in

Genua and Venice. And that his woordes myght be better beleeued, he

rehearsed many thinges which testified that he sayed trueth. When I

vnderstoode this, I confessed freely, that I was a Romane, but

professed to the fayth of Mahumet in the citie of Babylon, and there

made one of the Mamalukes; whereof he seemed greatly to reioyce and

therefore vsed me honourably. But because my desyre was yet to goe

further, I asked the Mahumetan whether that citie of Mecha was so

famous as all the world spake of it: and inquired of him where was the

great aboundaunce of pearles, precious stones, spices, and other rich

merchandies that the bruite went of to be in that citie. And all my

talke was to the ende

[p.354] to grope the mynde of the Mahumetan, that I might know the

cause why such thinges were not brought thyther as in tyme paste. But

to auoyde all suspition, I durst here make no mention of the dominion

which the Kyng of Portugale had in the most parte of that ocean, and of

the gulfes of the Redde Sea and Persia. Then he began with more

attentyue mynde, in order to declare vnto me the cause why that marte

was not so greatly frequented as it had been before, and layde the only

faulte thereof in the Kyng of Portugale. But when he had made mention

of the kyng, I began of purpose to detracte his fame, lest the

Mahumetan might thinke that I reioyced that the Christians came thyther

for merchandies. When he perceyued that I was of profession an enemy to

the Christians, he had me yet in greater estimation, and proceeded to

tell me many thynges more. When I was well instructed in all thynges, I

spake vnto him friendly these woordes in the Mahumet’s language Menaba

Menalhabi, that is to say, “I pray you assist mee.[FN#47]” He asked mee

wherein. “To help me (sayed I) howe I may secretly departe hence.”

Confyrmyng by great othes, that I would goe to those kinges that were

most enemies to the Christians: affyrmyng furthermore, that I knewe

certain secretes greatly to be esteemed, which if they were knowen to

the sayde kynges, I doubted not but that in shorte tyme I should bee

sent for from Mecha. Astonyshed at these woordes, he sayde vnto mee, I

pray you what arte or secrete doe you know? I answered, that I would

giue place to no man in makyng of all manner of gunnes and artillerie.

Then sayde hee, “praysed be Mahumet who sent thee hyther, to do hym and

his saintes good seruice:” and willed me to remayne secretly in his

[p.355] house with his wyfe, and requyred me earnestly to obtayne leaue

of our Captayne that under his name he myght leade from Mecha fifteine

camelles laden with spices, without paying any custome: for they

ordinarily paye to the Soltan thirtie seraphes[FN#48] of golde, for

transportyng of such merchandies for the charge of so many camelles. I

put him in good hope of his request, he greatly reioyced, although he

would ask for a hundred, affyrmyng that might easily be obteyned by the

priuileges of the Mamalukes, and therefore desyred hym that I might

safely remayne in his house. Then nothyng doubtyng to obtayn his

request, he greatly reioyced, and talkyng with me yet more freely, gaue

me further instructions and counsayled me to repayre to a certayne kyng

of the greater India, in the kyngdome and realme of Decham[FN#49]

whereof we will speake hereafter. Therefore the day before the carauana

departed from Mecha, he willed me to lye hydde in the most secrete

parte of his house. The day folowyng, early in the mornyng the

trumpetter of the carauana gaue warning to all the Mamalukes to make

ready their horses, to directe their journey toward Syria, with

proclamation of death to all that should refuse so to doe. When I

hearde the sounde of the trumpet, and was aduertised of the streight

commaundement, I was marueylously troubled in minde, and with heauy

countenaunce desired the Mahumetan’s wife not to bewraye me, and with

earnest prayer committed myselfe to the mercie of God. On the Tuesday

folowyng, our carauana departed from Mecha, and I remayned in the

Mahumetans house with his wyfe, but he folowed the carauana. Yet before

he departed, he gaue commaundement to his wyfe to bryng me to the

carauana, which shoulde departe from Zida[FN#50] the porte of Mecha to

goe into India. This porte is distant from Mecha 40 miles. Whilest I

laye

[p.356] thus hyd in the Mahumetans house, I can not expresse how

friendly his wyfe vsed me. This also furthered my good enterteynement,

that there was in the house a fayre young mayde, the niese of the

Mahumetan, who was greatly in loue with me. But at that tyme, in the

myddest of those troubles and feare, the fyre of Venus was almost

extincte in mee: and therefore with daliaunce of fayre woordes and

promises, I styll kepte my selfe in her fauour. Therefore the Friday

folowyng, about noone tyde, I departed, folowyng the carauana of India.

And about myd nyght we came to a certayne village of the Arabians, and

there remayned the rest of that nyght, and the next day tyll noone.

From hence we went forwarde on our journey toward Zida, and

came thyther in the silence of the nyght. This citie hath no walles,

yet fayre houses, somewhat after the buyldyng of Italie. Here is great

aboundaunce of all kynd of merchandies, by reason of resorte in manner

of all nations thyther, except jewes and christians, to whom it is not

lawfull to come thyther. As soone as I entered into the citie, I went

to their temple or Meschita, where I sawe a great multitude of poore

people, as about the number of 25 thousande, attendyng a certayne pilot

who should bryng them into their countrey. Heere I suffered muche

trouble and affliction, beyng enforced to hyde myselfe among these

poore folkes, fayning myselfe very sicke, to the ende that none should

be inquisityue what I was, whence I came, or whyther I would. The lord

of this citie is the Soltan of Babylon, brother to the Soltan of Mecha,

who is his subiecte. The inhabitauntes are Mahumetans. The soyle is

vnfruitfull, and lacketh freshe water. The sea beateth agaynst the

towne. There is neuerthelesse aboundance of all thinges: but brought

thyther from other places, as from Babylon of Nilus, Arabia F[æ]lix, and

dyuers other places. The heate is here so great, that men are in maner

dryed up therewith.

[p.357] And therefore there is euer a great number of sicke folkes. The

citie conteyneth about fyue hundred houses.

After fyftiene dayes were past, I couenaunted with a pilot, who was

ready to departe from thence into Persia, and agreed of the price, to

goe with him. There lay at anker in the hauen almost a hundred

brigantines and foistes,[FN#51] with diuers boates and barkes of sundry

sortes, both with ores and without ores. Therefore after three days,

gyuyng wynde to our sayles, we entered into the Redde Sea, otherwise

named Mare Erythræum.

[FN#1] I have consulted the “Navigation and Voyages of Lewes Wertomannus

to the Regions of Arabia, Egypt, Persia, Syria, Ethiopia, and East

India, both within and without the River of Ganges, &c., conteyning

many notable and straunge things both Historicall and Natural.

Translated out of Latine into Englyshe by Richarde Eden. In the year of

our Lord, 1576.”—(Hakluyt’s Voyages, vol. iv.) The curious reader will also

find the work in Purchas (Pilgrimmes and Pilgrimage, vol. ii.) and

Ramusio (Raccolta delle Navigasioni e Viaggi, tom. i.). The Travels of

Bartema were first published at Milan, A.D. 1511, and the first English

translation appeared in Willes and Eden’s Decades, 4to. A.D. 1555.

[FN#2] The number of pilgrims in this Caravan is still grossly

exaggerated. I cannot believe that it contains more than 7000 of both

sexes, and all ages.

[FN#3] This may confirm Strabo’s account of [Æ]lius Gallus’ loss, after a

conflict with a host of Arabs—two Roman soldiers. Mons. Jomard, noticing

the case, pleasantly remarks, that the two individuals in question are

to be pitied for their extreme ill-luck.

[FN#4] This venerable form of abuse still survives the lapse of time.

One of the first salutations reaching the ears of the “Overlands” at

Alexandria is some little boys—

Ya Nasrani

Kalb awani, &c., &c.—

O Nazarene,

O dog obscene, &c., &c.

In Percy’s Reliques we read of the Knight calling his Moslem opponent

“unchristen hounde,”—a retort courteous to the “Christen hounde,” previously

applied to him by the “Pagan.”

[FN#5] For a full account of the mania fit I must refer the curious

reader to the original (Book ii. chap. v.) The only mistake the

traveller seems to have committed, was that, by his ignorance of the

rules of ablution, he made men agree that he was “no sainct, but a madman.”

[FN#6] He proceeds, however, to say that “the head is lyke a hart’s,” the

“legges thynne and slender, lyke a fawne or hyde, the hoofs divided much

like the feet of a goat”; that they were sent from Ethiopia (the Somali

country), and were “shewed to the people for a myracle.” They might,

therefore, possibly have been African antelopes, which a lusus naturæ had

deprived of their second horn. But the suspicion of fable remains.

[FN#7] This is a tale not unfamiliar to the Western World. Louis XI. of

France was supposed to drink the blood of babes,—“pour rajeunir sa veine

epuisee.” The reasons in favour of such unnatural diet have been fully

explained by the infamous M. de Sade.

[FN#8] This is, to the present day, a food confined to the Badawin.

[FN#9] This alludes to the gardens of Kuba. The number of date-trees is

now greatly increased. (See chap. xix.)

[FN#10] The Ayn al-Zarka, flowing from the direction of Kuba. (Chap.

xviii).

[FN#11] Masjid, a Mosque.

[FN#12] Nothing can to more correct than this part of Bartema’s

description.

[FN#13] Nabi (the Prophet), Abu Bakr, Osman, Omar, and Fatimah. It was

never believed that Osman was buried in the Prophet’s Mosque. This part

of the description is utterly incorrect. The tombs are within the “tower”

above-mentioned; and Bartema, in his 13th chapter, quoted below, seems

to be aware of the fact.

[FN#14] The request was an unconscionable one; and the “chief priest” knew

that the body, being enclosed within four walls, could not be seen.

[FN#15] This is incorrect. “Hazrat Isa,” after his second coming, will be

buried in the Prophet’s “Hujrah.” But no Moslem ever believed that the

founder of Christianity left his corpse in this world. (See chap. xvi.)

[FN#16] Most probably, in the Barr al-Manakhah, where the Damascus

caravan still pitches tents.

[FN#17] This passage shows the antiquity of the still popular

superstition which makes a light to proceed from the Prophet’s tomb.

[FN#18] It is unnecessary to suppose any deception of the kind. If only

the “illuminati” could see this light, the sight would necessarily be

confined to a very small number.

[FN#19] This account is correct. Kusayr (Cosseir), Suez, and Jeddah

still supply Al-Madinah.

[FN#20] It is impossible to distinguish from this description the route

taken by the Damascus Caravan in A.D. 1503. Of one thing only we may be

certain, namely, that between Al-Madinah and Meccah there are no “Seas of

Sand.”

[FN#21] The name of St. Mark is utterly unknown in Al-Hijaz. Probably

the origin of the fountain described in the text was a theory that

sprang from the brains of the Christian Mamluks.

[FN#22] A fair description of the still favourite vehicles, the

Shugduf, Takht-rawan, and the Shibriyah. It is almost needless to say

that the use of the mariner’s compass is unknown to the guides in

Al-Hijaz.

[FN#23] Wonderful tales are still told about this same Momiya (mummy).

I was assured by an Arab physician, that he had broken a fowl’s leg, and

bound it tightly with a cloth containing man’s dried flesh, which caused

the bird to walk about, with a sound shank, on the second day.

[FN#24] This is probably Jabal Warkan, on the Darb al-Sultani, or Sea

road to Meccah. For the Moslem tradition about its Sinaitic origin, see

Chapter xx.

[FN#25] The Saniyah Kuda, a pass opening upon the Meccah plain. Here

two towers are now erected.

[FN#26] This is the open ground leading to the Muna Pass.

[FN#27] An error. The sacrifice is performed at Muna, not on Arafat,

the mountain here alluded to.

[FN#28] The material is a close grey granite.

[FN#29] The form of the building has now been changed.

[FN#30] The Meccans have a tradition concerning it, that it is derived

from Baghdad.

[FN#31] Moslems who are disposed to be facetious on serious subjects,

often remark that it is a mystery why Allah should have built his house

in a spot so barren and desolate.

[FN#32] This is still correct. Suez supplies Jeddah with corn and other

provisions.

[FN#33] A prodigious exaggeration. Burckhardt enumerates twenty. The

principal gates are seventeen in number. In the old building they were

more numerous. Jos. Pitt says, “it hath about forty-two doors to enter

into it;—not so much, I think, for necessity, as figure; for in some

places they are close by one another.”

[FN#34] Bartema alludes, probably, to the Bab al-Ziyadah, in the

northern enceinte.

[FN#35] I saw nothing of the kind, though constantly in the Harim at

Meccah.

[FN#36] “The Ka’abah is an oblong massive structure, 18 paces in length, 14

in breadth, and from 35 to 40 feet in height.” (Burckhardt, vol. i. p.

248.) My measurements, concerning which more hereafter, gave 18 paces

in breadth, and 22 in length.

[FN#37] In ancient times possibly it was silk: now, it is of silk and

cotton mixed.

[FN#38] These are the brazen rings which serve to fasten the lower edge

of the Kiswah, or covering.

[FN#39] A true description of the water of the well Zemzem.

[FN#40] There is great confusion in this part of Bartema’s narrative. On

the 9th of Zu’l Hijjah, the pilgrims leave Mount Arafat. On the 10th,

many hasten into Meccah, and enter the Ka’abah. They then return to the

valley of Muna, where their tents are pitched and they sacrifice the

victims. On the 12th, the tents are struck, and the pilgrims re-enter

Meccah.

[FN#41] This well describes the wretched state of the poor “Takruri,” and

other Africans, but it attributes to them an unworthy motive. I once

asked a learned Arab what induced the wretches to rush upon

destruction, as they do, when the Faith renders pilgrimage obligatory

only upon those who can afford necessaries for the way. “By Allah,” he

replied, “there is fire within their hearts, which can be quenched only

at God’s House, and at His Prophet’s Tomb.”

[FN#42] Bartema alludes to the “Day of Arafat,” 9th of Zu’l Hijjah, which

precedes, not follows, the “Day of Sacrifice.”

[FN#43] Bartema alludes to the “Shaytan al-Kabir,” the “great devil,” as the

buttress at Al-Muna is called. His account of Satan’s appearance is not

strictly correct. Most Moslems believe that Abraham threw the stone at

the “Rajim,”—the lapidated one; but there are various traditions upon the

subject.

[FN#44] A Christian version of an obscure Moslem legend about a white

dove alighting on the Prophet’s shoulder, and appearing to whisper in his

ear whilst he was addressing a congregation. Butler alludes to it :—

“Th’ apostles of this fierce religion,

Like Mahomet’s, were ass and widgeon;”

the latter word being probably a clerical error for pigeon. When

describing the Ka’abah, I shall have occasion to allude to the “blue-rocks”

of Meccah.

[FN#45] No one would eat the pigeons of the Ka’abah; but in other places,

Al-Madinah, for instance, they are sometimes used as articles of food.

[FN#46] In the vulgar dialect, “Ant min ayn?”

[FN#47] I confess inability to explain these words: the printer has

probably done more than the author to make them unintelligible.

“Atamannik minalnabi,” in vulgar and rather corrupt Arabic, would mean “I beg

you (to aid me) for the sake of the Prophet.”

[FN#48] Ashrafi, ducats.

[FN#49] The Deccan.

[FN#50] Jeddah

[FN#51] A foist, foyst or buss, was a kind of felucca, partially decked.

[p.358]APPENDIX V.

THE PILGRIMAGE OF JOSEPH PITTS TO MECCAH AND AL-MADINAH.—A.D. 1680

OUR second pilgrim was Jos. Pitts, of Exon,[FN#1] a youth fifteen or

sixteen years old, when in A.D. 1678, his genius “leading him to be a

sailor and to see foreign countries,” caused him to be captured by an

Algerine pirate. After living in slavery for some years, he was taken

by his “patroon” to Meccah and Al-Madinah via Alexandria, Rosetta, Cairo,

and Suez. His description of these places is accurate in the main

points, and though tainted with prejudice and bigotry, he is free from

superstition and credulity. Conversant with Turkish and Arabic, he has

acquired more knowledge of the tenets and practice of Al-Islam than his

predecessor, and the term of his residence at Algier, fifteen years,

sufficed, despite the defects of his education, to give fulness and

finish to his observations. His chief patroon, captain of a troop of

[p.359] horse, was a profligate and debauched man in his time, and a

murderer, “who determined to proselyte a Christian slave as an atonement

for past impieties.” He began by large offers and failed; he succeeded by

dint of a great cudgel repeatedly applied to Joseph Pitts’ bare feet. “I

roared out,” says the relator, “to feel the pain of his cruel strokes, but

the more I cried, the more furiously he laid on, and to stop the noise

of my crying, would stamp with his feet on my mouth.” “At last,” through

terror, he “turned and spake the words (la ilaha, &c.), as usual holding

up the forefinger of the right hand”; he was then circumcised in due

form. Of course, such conversion was not a sincere one—“there was yet

swines-flesh in his teeth.” He boasts of saying his prayers in a state of

impurity, hates his fellow religionists, was truly pleased to hear

Mahomet called sabbatero, i.e., shoemaker, reads his bible, talks of

the horrid evil of apostacy, calls the Prophet a “bloody imposter,” eats

heartily in private of hog, and is very much concerned for one of his

countrymen who went home to his own country, but came again to Algier,

and voluntarily, without the least force used towards him, became a

Mahometan. His first letter from his father reached him some days after

he had been compelled by his patroon’s barbarity to abjure his faith. One

sentence appears particularly to have afflicted him: it was this, “to

have a care and keep close to God, and to be sure never, by any methods

of cruelty that could be used towards me, be prevailed to deny my

blessed Saviour, and that he (the father) would rather hear of my death

than of my being a Mahometan.” Indeed, throughout the work, it appears

that his repentance was sincere.

“God be merciful to me a

Sinner!”

is the deprecation that precedes the account of his “turning Turk,” and the

book concludes with,

“To him, therefore, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Three

[p.360] Persons and one God, be all Honour, Glory, and Praise, world

without end. Amen.”

Having received from his patroon, whom he acknowledges to have been a

second parent to him, a letter of freedom at Meccah and having entered

into pay, still living with his master, Pitts began to think of escape.

The Grand Turk had sent to Algier for ships, and the renegade was

allowed to embark on board one of them provided with a diplomatic

letter[FN#2] from Mr. Baker, Consul of Algier, to Mr. Raye, Consul at

Smyrna. The devil, we are told, was very busy with him in the Levant,

tempting him to lay aside all thoughts of escaping, to return to

Algier, and to continue a Mussulman, and the loss of eight months’ pay

and certain other monies seems to have weighed heavily upon his soul.

Still he prepared for the desperate enterprise, in which failure would

have exposed him to be dragged about the streets on the stones till

half dead, and then be burned to ashes in the Jews’ burial-place. A

generous friend, Mr. Eliot, a Cornish merchant who had served some part

of his apprenticeship in Exon and had settled at Smyrna, paid £4 for his

passage in a French ship to Leghorn. Therefrom, in the evening before

sailing, he went on board “apparel’d as an Englishman with his beard

shaven, a campaign periwig, and a cane in his hand, accompanied with

three or four of his friends. At Leghorn he prostrated himself, and

kissed the earth, blessing Almighty God, for his mercy and goodness to

him, that he once more set footing on the

[p.361] European Christian[FN#3] part of the world.” He travelled through

Italy, Germany, and Holland, where he received many and great

kindnesses. But his patriotism was damped as he entered “England, his own

native country, and the civilised land must have made him for a time

regret having left Algier. The very first night he lay ashore, he was

“imprest into the kings service” (we having at that time war with France);

despite arguments and tears he spent some days in Colchester jail, and

finally he was put on board a smack to be carried to the Dreadnought

man-of-war. But happily for himself he had written to Sir William

Falkener, one of the Smyrna or Turkey company in London; that gentleman

used his interest to procure a protection from the Admiralty office,

upon the receipt of which good news, Joseph Pitts did “rejoice

exceedingly and could not forbear leaping upon the deck.” He went to

London, thanked Sir William, and hurried down to Exeter, where he ends

his fifteen years’ tale with a homely, heartful and affecting description

of his first meeting with his father. His mother died about a year

before his return.

The following passages are parts of the 7th and 8th chapters of Pitts’

little-known work.

“Next we came to Gidda, the nearest sea-port town to Mecca, not quite one

day’s journey from it,[FN#4] where the ships are unloaded. Here we are

met by Dilleels,[FN#5] i.e. certain persons who came from Mecca on

purpose to instruct the Hagges, or pilgrims, in the ceremonies (most

[p.362] of them being ignorant of them) which are to be used in their

worship at the temple there; in the middle of which is a place which

they call Beat Allah, i.e. the House of God. They say that Abraham

built it; to which I give no credit.

“As soon as we come to the town of Mecca, the Dilleel, or guide, carries

us into the great street, which is in the midst of the town, and to

which the temple joins.[FN#6] After the camels are laid down, he first

directs us to the Fountains, there to take Abdes[FN#7]; which being

done, he brings us to the temple, into which (having left our shoes

with one who constantly attends to receive them) we enter at the door

called Bab-al-salem, i.e. the Welcome Gate, or Gate of Peace. After a

few paces entrance, the Dilleel makes a stand, and holds up his hands

towards the Beat-Allah (it being in the middle of the Mosque), the

Hagges imitating him, and saying after him the same words which he

speaks. At the very first sight of the Beat-Allah, the Hagges melt into

tears, then we are led up to it, still speaking after the Dilleel; then

we are led round it seven times, and then make two Erkaets.[FN#8] This

being done, we are led into the street again, where we are sometimes to

run and sometimes to walk very quick with the Dilleel from one place of

the street to the other, about a bowshot.[FN#9] And I profess I could

not chuse but admire to see those poor creatures so extraordinary

devout, and affectionate, when they were about these superstitions, and

with what awe and trembling they

[p.363] were possessed; in so much that I could scarce forbear shedding

of tears, to see their zeal, though blind and idolatrous. After all

this is done, we returned to the place in the street where we left our

camels, with our provisions, and necessaries, and then look out for

lodgings; where when we come, we disrobe and take of our

Hirrawems,[FN#10] and put on our ordinary clothes again.

“All the pilgrims hold it to be their great duty well to improve their

time whilst they are at Mecca, not to do their accustomed duty and

devotion in the temple, but to spend all their leisure time there, and

as far as strength will permit to continue at Towoaf, i.e. to walk

round the Beat-Allah, which is about four and twenty paces square. At

one corner of the Beat, there is a black stone fastened and framed in

with silver plate,[FN#11] and every time they come to that corner, they

kiss the stone; and having gone round seven times they perform two

Erkaets-nomas, or prayers. This stone, they say, was formerly white,

and then it was called Haggar Essaed, i.e. the White Stone.[FN#12] But

by reason of the sins of the multitudes of people who kiss it, it is

become black, and is now called Haggar Esswaed, or the Black Stone.

“This place is so much frequented by people going round it, that the

place of the Towoaf, i.e. the circuit which they take in going round

it, is seldom void of people at any time of the day or night.[FN#13]

Many have waited several weeks, nay months, for the opportunity of

finding it so. For they say, that if any person is blessed with such an

opportunity, that for his or her zeal in keeping up the honour of

Towoaf, let they petition what they will at the Beat-Allah, they shall

be answered. Many will walk round

[p.364] till they are quite weary, then rest, and at it again;

carefully remembering at the end of every seventh time to perform two

Erkaets. This Beat is in effect the object of their devotion, the idol

which they adore: for, let them be never so far distant from it, East,

West, North, or South of it, they will be sure to bow down towards it;

but when they are at the Beat, they may go on which side they please

and pay their Sallah towards it.[FN#14] Sometimes there are several

hundreds at Towoaf at once, especially after Acshamnomas, or fourth

time of service, which is after candle-lighting (as you heard before),

and these both men and women, but the women walk on the outside the

men, and the men nearest to the Beat. In so great a resort as this, it

is not to be supposed that every individual person can come to kiss the

stone afore-mentioned; therefore, in such a case, the lifting up the

hands towards it, smoothing down their faces, and using a short

expression of devotion, as Allah-waick barick, i.e. Blessed God, or

Allah cabor, i.e. Great God, some such like; and so passing by it till

opportunity of kissing it offers, is thought sufficient.[FN#15] But

when there are but few men at Towoaf, then the women get opportunity to

kiss the said stone, and when they have gotten it, they close in with

it as they come round, and walk round as quick as they can to come to

it again, and keep possession of it for a considerable time. The men,

when they see that the women have got the place, will be so civil as to

pass by and give them leave to take their fill, as I may say in their

Towoaf or walking round, during which they are using some formal

expressions. When the women are at the stone, then it is esteemed a

very rude and abominable thing to go near them, respecting the time and

place.

[p.365]“I shall now give you a more particular description of Mecca and

the temple there.

“First, as to Mecca. It is a town situated in a barren place (about one

day’s journey from the Red Sea) in a valley, or rather in the midst of

many little hills. It is a place of no force, wanting both walls and

gates. Its buildings are (as I said before) very ordinary, insomuch

that it would be a place of no tolerable entertainment, were it not for

the anniversary resort of so many thousand Hagges, or pilgrims, on

whose coming the whole dependance of the town (in a manner) is; for

many shops are scarcely open all the year besides.

The people here, I observed, are a poor sort of people, very thin,

lean, and swarthy. The town is surrounded for several miles with many

thousands of little hills, which are very near one to the other. I have

been on the top of some of them near Mecca, where I could see some

miles about, yet was not able to see the farthest of the hills. They

are all stony-rock and blackish, and pretty near of a bigness,

appearing at a distance like cocks of hay, but all pointing towards

Mecca. Some of them are half a mile in circumference, but all near of

one height. The people here have an odd and foolish sort of tradition

concerning them, viz.: That when Abraham went about building the

Beat-Allah, God by his wonderful providence did so order it, that every

mountain in the world should contribute something to the building

thereof; and accordingly every one did send its proportion; though

there is a mountain near Algier, which is called Corradog, i.e. Black

Mountain; and the reason of its blackness, they say, is because it did

not send any part of itself towards building the temple at

Mecca.[FN#16] Between

[p.366] these hills is good and plain travelling, though they stand one

to another.

“There is upon the top of one of them a cave, which they term

Hira,[FN#17] i.e. Blessing; into which (they say) Mahomet did usually

retire for his solitary devotions, meditations, and fastings; and here

they believe he had a great part of the Alcoran brought him by the

Angel Gabriel. I have been in this cave, and observed that it is not at

all beautified; at which I admired.

“About half a mile out of Mecca is a very steep hill, and there are

stairs made to go to the top of it, where is a cupola, under which is a

cloven rock; into this, they say, Mahomet, when very young, viz. about

four years of age, was carried by the Angel Gabriel, who opened his

breast, and took out his heart, from which he picked some black

blood-specks, which was his original corruption; then put it into its

place again, and afterwards closed up the part; and that during this

operation Mahomet felt no pain.

“Into this very place I myself went, because the rest of my company did

so, and performed some Erkaets, as they did.

“The town hath plenty of water, and yet but few herbs, unless in some

particular places. Here are several sorts of good fruits to be had,

viz. grapes, melons, watermelons, cucumbers, pumkins, and the like; but

these are brought two or three days’ journey off, where there is a place

of very great plenty, called, if I mistake not, Habbash.[FN#18]

[p.367] Likewise sheep are brought hither and sold. So that as to Mecca

itself, it affords little or nothing of comfortable provisions. It

lieth in a very hot country, insomuch that people run from one side of

the streets to the other to get into the shadow, as the motion of the

sun causes it. The inhabitants, especially men, do usually sleep on the

tops of the houses for the air, or in the streets before their doors.

Some lay the small bedding they have on a thin mat on the ground;

others have a slight frame, made much like drink-stalls on which we

place barrels, standing on four legs, corded with palm cordage, on

which they put their bedding. Before they bring out their bedding, they

sweep the streets and water them. As for my own part, I usually lay

open, without any bed-covering, on the top of the house: only I took a

linen cloth, dipt in water, and after I had wrung it, covered myself

with it in the night; and when I awoke I should find it dry; then I

would wet it again: and thus I did two or three times in a night.

“Secondly, I shall next give you some account of the temple of Mecca.

“It hath about forty-two doors to enter into it, not so much, I think,

for necessity, as figure; for in some places they are close by one

another. The form of it is much resembling that of the Royal Exchange

in London, but I believe it is near ten times bigger. It is all open

and gravelled in the midst, except some paths that come from certain

doors which lead to the Beat-Allah, and are paved with broad stones.

The walks, or cloisters, all round are arched over-head, and paved

beneath with fine broad stone; and all round are little rooms or cells,

where such dwell and give themselves up to reading, studying, and a

devout life, who are much akin to their dervises, or hermits.

“The Beat-Allah, which stands in the middle of the temple, is

four-square, about twenty-four paces each

[p.368] square, and near twenty-four foot[FN#19] in height. It is built

with great stone, all smooth, and plain, without the least bit of

carved work on it. It is covered all over from top to bottom with a

thick sort of silk. Above the middle part of the covering are

embroidered all round letters of gold, the meaning of which I cannot

well call to mind, but I think they were some devout expressions. Each

letter is near two foot in length and two inches broad. Near the lower

end of this Beat are large brass rings fastened into it, through which

passeth a great cotton rope; and to this the lower end of the covering

is tacked. The threshold of the door that belongs to the Beat is as

high as a man can reach; and therefore when any person enter into it, a

sort of ladder-stairs are brought for that purpose. The door is plated

all over with silver[FN#20] and there is a covering hangs over it and

reaches to the ground, which is kept turned up all the week, except

Thursday night, and Friday, which is their Sabbath. The said covering

of the door is very thick imbroidered with gold, insomuch that it

weighs several score pounds. The top of the Beat is flat, beaten with

lime and sand; and there is a long gutter, or spout, to carry off the

water when it rains; at which time the people will run, throng, and

struggle, to get under the said gutter, that so the water that comes

off the Beat may fall upon them, accounting it as the dew of Heaven,

and looking on it as a great happiness to have it drop upon them. But

if they can recover some of this water to drink, they esteem it to be

yet a much greater happiness.

[p.369] Many poor people make it their endeavour to get some of it; and

present it to the Hagges, for which they are well rewarded. My Patroon

had a present made him of this water, with which he was not a little

pleased, and gave him that brought it a good reward.

“This Beat-Allah is opened but two days in the space of six weeks, viz.

one day for the men, and the next day for the women.[FN#21] As I was at

Mecca about four months, I had the opportunity of entering into it

twice; a reputed advantage, which many thousands of the Hagges have not

met with, for those that come by land make no longer stay at Mecca than

sixteen or seventeen days.

“When any enter into the Beat, all that they have to do is to perform two

Erkaets on each side,[FN#22] with the holding up their two hands, and

petitioning at the conclusion of each two Erkaets. And they are so very

reverent and devout in doing this, that they will not suffer their eyes

to wander and gaze about; for they account it very sinful so to do.

Nay, they say that one was smitten blind for gazing about when in the

Beat, as the reward of his vain and unlawful curiosity.[FN#23] I could

not, for my part, give any credit to this story, but looked on it as a

legendary relation, and, therefore, was resolved, if I could, to take

my view of it; I mean not to continue gazing about it, but now and then

to cast an observing eye. And I profess I found nothing worth seeing in

it, only two wooden pillars in the midst, to keep up the roof,[FN#24]

and a bar of iron fastened to them, on which hanged three or four

silver lamps, which are, I suppose, but seldom,

[p.370] if ever, lighted. In one corner of the Beat is an iron or brass

chain, I cannot tell which (for I made no use of it): the pilgrims just

clap it about their necks in token of repentance. The floor of the Beat

is marble, and so is the inside of the walls, on which there is written

something in Arabick, which I had no time to read. The walls, though of

marble on the inside, are hung over with silk, which is pulled

off[FN#25] before the Hagges enter. Those that go into the Beat tarry

there but a very little while, viz. scarce so much as half a quarter of

an hour, because others wait for the same privilege; and while some go

in, others are going out. After all is over, and all that will have

done this, the Sultan of Mecca, who is Shirreef, i.e. one of the race

of Mahomet, accounts himself not too good to cleanse the Beat; and,

therefore, with some of his favourites, doth wash and cleanse it. And

first of all, they wash it with the holy water, Zem Zem, and after that

with sweet water. The stairs which were brought to enter in at the door

of the Beat being removed, the people crowd under the door to receive

on them the sweepings of the said water. And the besoms wherewith the

Beat is cleansed are broken in pieces, and thrown out amongst the mob;

and he that gets a small stick or twig of it, keeps it as a sacred

relique.

“But to speak something further of the temple of Mecca (for I am willing

to be very particular in matters about it, though in so being, I

should, it may be, speak of things which by some people may be thought

trivial). The compass of ground round the Beat (where the people

exercise themselves in the duty of Towoaf) is paved with marble[FN#26]

about 50 foot in breadth, and round this marble pavement stand pillars

of brass about 15 foot high[FN#27] and

[p.371] 20 foot distant from each other; above the middle part of which

iron bars are fastened, reaching from one to the other, and several

lamps made of glass are hanged to each of the said bars, with

brasswires in the form of a triangle, to give light in the night

season, for they pay their devotions at the Beat-Allah as much by night

as by day, during the Hagges’ stay at Mecca. These glasses are

half-filled with water, and a third part with oil, on which a round

wire of brass buoyed up with three little corks; in the midst of this

wire is made a place to put in the wick or cotton, which burns till the

oil is spent. Every day they are washed clean, and replenished with

fresh water, oil, and cotton.

“On each of the four squares of the Beat is a little room built, and over

every one of them is a little chamber with windows all round it, in

which chambers the Emaums (together with the Mezzins) perform Sallah,

in the audience of all the people which are below. These four chambers

are built one at each square of the Beat, by reason that there are four

sorts of Mahometans. The first are called Hanifee; most of them are

Turks. The second Schafee[FN#28]; whose manners and ways the Arabians

follow. The third Hanbelee; of which there are but few. The fourth

Malakee; of which there are those that live westward of Egypt, even to

the Emperor of Morocco’s country. These all agree in fundamentals, only

there is some small difference between them in the ceremonial part.

“About twelve paces from the Beat is (as they say) the sepulchre of

Abraham,[FN#29] who by God’s immediate command, they tell you, built this

Beat-Allah; which

[p.372] sepulchre is enclosed within iron gates. It is made somewhat

like the tombstones which people of fashion have among us, but with a

very handsome imbroidered covering. Into this persons are apt to gaze.

A small distance from it, on the left-hand, is a well, which they call

Beer el Zem Zem, the water whereof they call holy water ; and as

superstitiously esteem it as the Papists do theirs. In the month of

Ramadan they will be sure to break their fast with it. They report that

it is as sweet as milk; but for my part I could perceive no other taste

in it than in common water, except that it was somewhat brackish. The

Hagges, when they come first to Mecca, drink of it unreasonably; by

which means they are not only much purged, but their flesh breaks out

all in pimples; and this they call the purging of their spiritual

corruptions. There are hundreds of pitchers belonging to the temple,

which in the month of Ramadan are filled with the said water and placed

all along before the people (with cups to drink) as they are kneeling

and waiting for Acsham-nomas, or evening service; and as soon as the

Mezzins or clerks on the tops of the minarets began their bawling to

call them to nomas, they fall a drinking thereof before they begin

their devotions. This Beer or well of Zem Zem is in the midst of one of

the little rooms before mentioned, at each square of the Beat, distant

about twelve or fourteen paces from it, out of which four men are

employed to draw water, without any pay or reward, for any that shall

desire it. Each of these men have two leather buckets tied to a rope on

a small wheel, one of which comes up full, while the other goes down

empty. They do not only drink this water, but oftentimes bathe

themselves with it, at which time they take off their clothes, only

covering their lower parts with thin wrapper, and one of the drawers

pours on each person’s head five or six buckets of water.[FN#30] The

[p.373] person bathing may lawfully wash himself therewith above the

middle, but not his lower parts, because they account they are not

worthy, only letting the water take its way downwards. In short, they

make use of this water only to drink, take Abdes, and for bathing:

neither may they take Abdes with it, unless they first cleanse their

secret parts with other common water. Yea, such an high esteem they

have for it, that many Hagges carry it home to their respective

countries in little latten or tin pots; and present it to their

friends, half a spoonful, may be, to each, who receive it in the hollow

of their hand with great care and abundance of thanks, sipping a little

of it, and bestowing the rest on their faces and naked heads; at the

same time holding up their hands, and desiring of God that they also

may be so happy and prosperous as to go on pilgrimage to Mecca. The

reason of their putting such an high value upon the water of this well,

is because (as they say) it is the place where Ishmael was laid by his

mother Hagar. I have heard them tell the story exactly as it is

recorded in the 21st chapter of Genesis; and they say, that in the very

place where the child paddled with his feet, the water flowed out.

“I shall now inform you how, when, and where, they receive the honourable

title of Hagges, for which they are at all this pains and expence.

“The Curbaen Byram, or the Feast of Sacrifice, follows two months and ten

days after the Ramadan fast. The eighth day after the said two months

they all enter into Hirrawem, i.e.} put on their mortifying habit

again, and in that manner go to a certain hill called Gibbel el Orphat

(El Arafat), i.e. the Mountain of Knowledge; for [p.374] there, they

say, Adam first found and knew his wife Eve. And they likewise say,

that she was buried at Gidda near the Red Sea; at whose sepulchre all

the Hagges who come to Mecca by way of the Red Sea, perform two

Erkaets-nomas, and, I think, no more. I could not but smile to hear

this their ridiculous tradition (for so I must pronounce it), when

observing the marks which were set, the one at the head, and the other

at the foot of the grave: I guessed them to be a bow-shot distant from

each other. On the middle of her supposed grave is a little Mosque

built, where the Hagges pay their religious respect.

“This Gibbel or hill is not so big as to contain the vast multitudes

which resort thither; for it is said by them, that there meet no less

than 70,000 souls every year, in the ninth day after the two months

after Ramadan; and if it happen that in any year there be wanting some

of that number, God, they say, will supply the deficiency by so many

angels.[FN#31]

“I do confess the number of Hagges I saw at this mountain was very great;

nevertheless, I cannot think they could amount to so many as 70,000.

There are certain bound-stones placed round the Gibbel, in the plain,

to shew how far the sacred ground (as they esteem it) extends; and many

are so zealous as to come and pitch their tents within these bounds,

some time before the hour of paying their devotion here comes, waiting

for it. But why they so solemnly approach this mountain beyond any

other place, and receive from hence the title of Hagges, I confess I do

not more fully understand than what I have already said, giving but

little heed to these delusions. I observed nothing worth seeing on this

hill, for there was only a small cupola on the top of it[FN#32];

[p.375] neither are there any inhabitants nearer to it than Mecca.

About one or two of the clock, which is the time of Eulea-nomas, having

washed and made themselves ready for it, they perform that, and at the

same time perform Ekinde-nomas, which they never do at one time, but

upon this occasion; because at the time when Ekinde-nomas should be

performed in the accustomed order, viz. about four of the clock in the

afternoon, they are imploring pardon for their sins, and receiving the

Emaum’s benediction.[FN#33]

“It was a sight indeed, able to pierce one’s heart, to behold so many

thousands in their garments of humility and mortification, with their

naked heads, and cheeks watered with tears; and to hear their grievous

sighs and sobs, begging earnestly for the remission of their sins,

promising newness of life, using a form of penitential expressions, and

thus continuing for the space of four or five hours, viz. until the

time of Acsham-nomas, which is to be performed about half an hour after

sunset. (It is matter of sorrowful reflection, to compare the

indifference of many Christians with this zeal of these poor blind

Mahometans, who will, it is to be feared, rise up in judgment against

them and condemn them.) After their solemn performance of their

devotions thus at the Gibbel, they all at once receive that honourable

title of Hagge from the Emaum, and are so stiled to their dying day.

Immediately upon their receiving this name, the trumpet is sounded, and

they all leave the hill and return for Mecca, and being gone two or

three miles on their way[,] they then rest for that night[FN#34]; but

after nomas, before

[p.376] they go to rest, each person gathers nine-and-forty small

stones about the bigness of an hazle nut; the meaning of which I shall

acquaint you with presently.

“The next morning they move to a place called Mina, or Muna; the place,

as they say, where Abraham went to offer up his son Isaac,[FN#35] and

therefore in this place they sacrifice their sheep. It is about two or

three miles from Mecca. I was here shown a stone, or little rock, which

was parted in the middle. They told me, that when Abraham was going to

sacrifice his son, instead of striking him, Providence directed his

hand to this stone, which he clave in two. It must be a good stroke

indeed!

“Here they all pitch their tents (it being in a spacious plain), and

spend the time of Curbaen Byram, viz. three days. As soon as their

tents are pitched, and all things orderly disposed, every individual

Hagge, the first day, goes and throws seven of the small stones, which

they had gathered, against a small pillar, or little square stone

building.[FN#36] Which action of theirs is intended to testify their

defiance of the devil and his deeds; for they at the same time

pronounce the following words, viz. Erzum le Shetane wazbehe[FN#37];

i.e. stone the devil, and them that please him.[FN#38] And there are

two other of the like pillars, which are situated near one another; at

each of which

[p.377] (I mean all three), the second day, they throw seven stones;

and the same they do the third day. As I was going to perform this

ceremony of throwing the stones, a facetious Hagge met me; saith he, ‘You

may save your labour at present, if you please, for I have hit out the

devil’s eyes already.’ You must observe, that after they have thrown the

seven stones on the first day (the country people having brought great

flocks of sheep to be sold), every one buys a sheep and sacrifices it;

some of which they give to their friends, some to the poor which come

out of Mecca and the country adjacent, very ragged poor, and the rest

they eat themselves; after which they shave their heads, throw off

Hirrawem, and put on other clothes, and then salute one another with a

kiss, saying, ‘Byram Mabarick Ela,’ i.e. the feast be a blessing to you.

“These three days of Byram they spend festivally, rejoicing with

abundance of illuminations all night, shooting of guns, and fireworks

flying in the air; for they reckon that all their sins are now done

away, and they shall, when they die, go directly to heaven, if they don’t

apostatize; and that for the future, if they keep their vow and do

well, God will set down for every good action ten; but if they do ill,

God will likewise reckon every evil action ten: and any person, who,

after having received the title of Hagge, shall fall back to a vicious

course of life, is esteemed to be very vile and infamous by them.[FN#39]

“Some have written, that many of the Hagges, after they have returned

home, have been so austere to themselves as to pore a long time over

red-hot bricks, or ingots of iron, and by that means willingly lose

their sight, desiring to see nothing evil or profane, after so sacred a

sight as the temple at Mecca; but I never knew any such thing done.

[p.378] “During their three days’ stay at Mina, scarce any Hagge (unless

impotent) but thinks it his duty to pay his visit, once at least, to

the temple at Mecca. They scarce cease running all the way thitherward,

shewing their vehement desire to have a fresh sight of the Beat-Allah;

which as soon as ever they come in sight of, they burst into tears for

joy; and after having performed Towoaf for a while, and a few Erkaets,

they return again to Mina. And when the three days of Byram are

expired, they all, with their tents, &c., come back again to Mecca.

“They say, that after the Hagges are gone from Mina to Mecca, God doth

usually send a good shower of rain to wash away the filth and dung of

the sacrifices there slain; and also that those vast numbers of little

stones, which I told you the Hagges throw in defiance of the devil, are

all carried away by the angels before the year comes about again. But I

am sure I saw vast numbers of them that were thrown the year before,

lie upon the ground. After they are returned to Mecca, they can tarry

there no longer than the stated time, which is about ten or twelve

days; during which time there is a great fair held, where are sold all

manner of East India goods, and abundance of fine stones for rings and

bracelets, &c., brought from Yeamane[FN#40]; also of China-ware and

musk, and variety of other curiosities. Now is the time in which the

Hagges are busily employed in buying, for they do not think it lawful

to buy any thing till they have received the title of Hagge. Every one

almost now buys a caffin, or shroud of fine linen, to be buried in (for

they never use coffins for that purpose), which might have been

procured at Algier, or their other respective homes, at a much cheaper

rate; but they choose to buy it here, because they have the advantage

of dipping it in the holy water, Zem Zem. They are very careful to

carry the said

[p.379] caffin with them wherever they travel, whether by sea or land,

that they may be sure to be buried therein.

“The evening before they leave Mecca, every one must go to take their

solemn leave of the Beat, entering at the gate called Babe el Salem,

i.e. Welcome Gate, and having continued at Towoaf as long as they

please, which many do till they are quite tired, and it being the last

time of their paying their devotions to it, they do it with floods of

tears, as being extremely unwilling to part and bid farewell; and

having drank their fill of the water Zem Zem, they go to one side of

the Beat, their backs being towards the door called by the name of Babe

el Weedoh i.e., the Farewell Door, which is opposite to the welcome

door; where, having performed two or three Erkaets, they get upon their

legs and hold up their hands towards the Beat, making earnest

petitions; and then keep going backward till they come to the above

said farewell gate, being guided by some other, for they account it a

very irreverent thing to turn their backs towards the Beat when they

take leave of it. All the way as they retreat they continue

petitioning, holding up their hands, with their eyes fixed upon the

Beat, till they are out of sight of it; and so go to their lodgings

weeping.

“Ere I leave Mecca, I shall acquaint you with a passage of a Turk to me

in the temple cloyster, in the night time, between Acsham-nomas, and

Gega-nomas, i.e., between the evening and the night services. The

Hagges do usually spend that time, or good part of it (which is about

an hour and half), at Towoaf, and then sit down on the mats and rest

themselves. This I did, and after I had sat a while, and for my more

ease at last was lying on my back, with my feet towards the Beat, but

at a distance as many others did, a Turk which sat by me, asked me what

countryman I was; ‘A Mogrebee’ (said I), i.e. one of the West. ‘Pray,’ quoth

he, ‘how far west did you come?’ I told him from Gazair, i.e. Algier. ‘Ah!’

replied he, ‘have you taken so much

[p.380] pains, and been at so much cost, and now be guilty of this

irreverent posture before the Beat Allah?’

“Here are many Moors, who get a beggarly livelihood by selling models of

the temple unto strangers, and in being serviceable to the Pilgrims.

Here are also several Effendies, or masters of learning, who daily

expound out of the Alcoran, sitting in high chairs, and some of the

learned Pilgrims, whilst they are here, do undertake the same.

“Under the room of the Hanifees (which I mentioned before), people do

usually gather together (between the hours of devotion), and sitting

round cross-legged, it may be, twenty or thirty of them, they have a

very large pair of Tessbeehs, or beads, each bead near as big as a man’s

fist, which they keep passing round, bead after bead, one to the other,

all the time, using some devout expressions. I myself was once got in

amongst them, and methought it was a pretty play enough for

children,—however, I was to appearance very devout.

“There are likewise some dervises that get money here, as well as at

other places, by burning of incense, swinging their censers as they go

along before the people that are sitting; as this they do commonly on

Friday, their Sabbath. In all other Gamiler or Mosques, when the Hattib

is preaching, and the people all sitting still at their devotion, they

are all in ranks, so that the dervise, without the least disturbance to

any, walks between every rank, with his censer in one hand, and with

the other takes his powdered incense out of a little pouch that hangs

by his side.[FN#41]

“But though this place, Mecca, is esteemed so very holy, yet it comes

short of none for lewdness and debauchery. As for uncleanness, it is

equal to Grand Cairo; and they will steal even in the temple itself.

[p.381] “CHAPTER VIII.— Of the Pilgrims’ return from Mecca: their visit made

at Medina to Mahomet’s tomb there.

“Having thus given you an account of the Turks’ pilgrimage to Mecca, and of

their worship there (the manner and circumstances of which I have

faithfully and punctually related, and may challenge the world to

convict me of a known falsehood), I now come to take leave of the

temple and town of Mecca.

“Having hired camels of the carriers, we set out, but we give as much

for the hire of one from Mecca to Egypt, which is about forty days’

journey, as the real worth of it is, (viz.) about five or six pounds

sterling. If it happen that the camel dies by the way, the carrier is

to supply us with another; and therefore, those carriers[FN#42] who

come from Egypt to Mecca with the Caravan, bring with them several

spare camels; for there is hardly a night passeth but many die upon the

road, for if a camel should chance to fall, it is seldom known that it

is able to rise again; and if it should, they despair of its being

capable of performing the journey, or ever being useful more. It is a

common thing, therefore, when a camel once falls, to take off its

burden and put it on another, and then kill it; which the poorer sort

of the company eat. I myself have eaten of camel’s flesh, and it is very

sweet and nourishing. If a camel tires, they even leave him upon the

place.

“The first day we set out from Mecca, it was without any order at all,

all hurly burly; but the next day every one laboured to get forward;

and in order to it, there was many time much quarrelling and fighting.

But after every one had taken his place in the Caravan, they orderly

and peaceably kept the same place till they came to Grand Cairo. They

travel four camels in a breast,

[p.382] which are all tied one after the other, like as in

teams.[FN#43] The whole body is called a Caravan, which is divided into

several cottors, or companies, each of which hath its name, and

consists, it may be, of several thousand camels; and they move one

cottor after another, like distinct troops. In the head of each cottor

is some great gentleman or officer, who is carried in a thing like a

horse-litter, borne by two camels, one before and the other behind,

which is covered all over with sear-cloth, and over that again with

green broad cloth, and set forth very handsomely. If the said great

person hath a wife with him, she is carried in another of the

same.[FN#44] In the head of every cottor there goes, likewise, a

sumpter camel which carries his treasures, &c. This camel hath two

bells, about the bigness of our market-bells, having one on each side,

the sound of which may be heard a great way off. Some other of the

camels have round bells about their necks, some about their legs, like

those which our carriers put about their fore-horses’ necks; which

together with the servants (who belong to the camels, and travel on

foot) singing all night, make a pleasant noise, and the journey passes

away delightfully. They say this musick make the camels brisk and

lively. Thus they travel, in good order every day, till they come to

Grand Cairo; and were it not for this order, you may guess what

confusion would be amongst such a vast multitude.

“They have lights by night (which is the chief time of travelling,

because of the exceeding heat of the sun by day), which are carried on

the tops of high poles, to direct the Hagges on their march.[FN#45]

They are somewhat like

[p.382] iron stoves, into which they put short dry wood, which some of

the camels are loaded with; it is carried in great sacks, which have an

hole near the bottom, where the servants take it out, as they see the

fires need a recruit. Every cottor hath one of these poles belonging to

it, some of which have ten, some twelve, of these lights on their tops,

or more or less; and they are likewise of different figures as well as

numbers; one, perhaps, oval way, like a gate; another triangular, or

like an N or M, &c., so that every one knows by them his respective

cottor. They are carried in the front, and set up in the place where

the Caravan is to pitch, before that comes up, at some distance from

one another. They are also carried by day, not lighted, but yet by the

figure and number of them, the Hagges are directed to what cottor they

belong, as soldiers are, by their colours, where to rendezvous; and

without such directions it would be impossible to avoid confusion in

such a vast number of people.

“Every day, viz. in the morning, they pitch their tents, and rest several

hours. When the camels are unloaded the owners drive them to water, and

give them their provender, &c. So that we had nothing to do with them,

besides helping to load them.

“As soon as our tents were pitched, my business was to make a little fire

and get a pot of coffee. When we had ate some small matter and drank

the coffee, we lay down to sleep. Between eleven and twelve we boiled

something for dinner, and having dined, lay down again, till about four

in the afternoon; when the trumpet was sounded which gave notice to

every one to take down their tents, pack up their things, and load

their camels in order to proceed on their journey. It takes up about

two hours time ere they are in all their places again. At the time of

Acsham-nomas, and also Gega-nomas, they make a halt, and perform their

Sallah (so punctual

[p.384] are they in their worship), and then they travel till next

morning. If water be scarce, what I call an imaginary Abdes[FN#46] will

do. As for ancient men, it being very troublesome for such to alight

off the camels, and get up again, it is lawful for them to defer these

two times of nomas till the next day; but they will be sure to perform

it then.

“As for provisions, we bring enough out of Egypt to suffice us till we

return thither again. At Mecca we compute how much will serve us for

one day, and consequently, for the forty days’ journey to Egypt, and if

we find we have more than we may well guess will suffice us for a long

time, we sell the overplus at Mecca. There is a charity maintained by

the Grand Seignior, for water to refresh the poor who travel on foot

all the way; for there are many such undertake this journey (or

pilgrimage) without any money, relying on the charity of the Hagges for

subsistence, knowing that they largely extend it at such a time.

“Every Hagge carries his provisions, water, bedding, &c., with him, and

usually three or four diet together, and sometimes discharge a poor man’s

expenses the whole journey for his attendance on them. There was an

Irish renegade, who was taken very young, insomuch that he had not only

lost his Christian religion, but his native language also. This man had

endured thirty years slavery in Spain, and in the French gallies, but

was afterwards redeemed and came home to Algier. He was looked upon as

a very pious man, and a great Zealot, by the Turks, for his not turning

from the Mahommedan faith, notwithstanding the great temptations he had

so to do. Some of my neighbours who intended for Mecca, the same year I

went with my patroon thither, offered

[p.385] this renegado that if he would serve them on this journey they

would defray his charges throughout. He gladly embraced the offer, and

I remember when we arrived at Mecca he passionately told me, that God

had delivered him out of hell upon earth (meaning his former slavery in

France and Spain), and had brought him into a heaven upon earth, viz.

Mecca. I admired much his zeal, but pitied his condition.

“Their water they carry in goats’ skins, which they fasten to one side of

their camels. It sometimes happens that no water is to be met with for

two, three, or more days; but yet it is well known that a camel is a

creature that can live long without drinking (God in his wise

providence so ordering it: for otherwise it would be very difficult, if

not impossible to travel through the parched deserts of Arabia).

“In this journey many times the skulking, thievish, Arabs do much

mischief to some of the Hagges; for in the night time they will steal

upon them (especially such as are on the outside of the Caravan), and

being taken to be some of the servants that belong to the carriers, or

owners of the camels, they are not suspected. When they see an Hagge

fast asleep (for it is usual for them to sleep on the road), they loose

a camel before and behind, and one of the thieves leads it away with

the Hagge upon its back asleep. Another of them in the meanwhile, pulls

on the next camel to tie it to the camel from whence the halter of the

other was cut; for if that camel be not fastened again to the leading

camel, it will stop, and all that are behind will then stop of course,

which might be the means of discovering the robbers. When they have

gotten the stolen camel, with his rider, at a convenient distance from

the Caravan, and think themselves out of danger, they awake the Hagge,

and sometimes destroy him immediately; but at other times, being a

little more

[p.386] inclined to mercy, they strip him naked, and let him return to

the Caravan.[FN#47]

“About the tenth easy day’s journey, after we come out of Mecca, we enter

into Medina, the place where Mahomet lies entombed. Although it be (as

I take it) two or three days’ journey out of the direct way from Mecca to

Egypt, yet the Hagges pay their visit there for the space of two days,

and come away the third.

“Those Mahometans which live to the southward of Mecca, at the East

Indies, and thereaway, are not bound to make a visit to Medina, but to

Mecca only, because it would be so much out of their way. But such as

come from Turkey, Tartary, Egypt, and Africa, think themselves obliged

to do so.

“Medina is but a little town, and poor, yet it is walled round,[FN#48]

and hath in it a great Mosque, but nothing near so big as the temple at

Mecca. In one corner of the Mosque is a place, built about fourteen or

fifteen paces square. About this place are great windows,[FN#49] fenced

with brass grates. In the inside it is decked with some lamps, and

ornaments. It is arched all over head. (I find some relate, that there

are no less than 3000 lamps about Mahomet’s tomb; but it is a mistake,

for there are not, as I verily believe, an hundred; and I speak what I

know, and have been an eye-witness of). In the middle of this place is

the tomb of Mahomet, where the corpse of that bloody impostor is laid,

which hath silk curtains all around it like a bed; which curtains are

not costly nor beautiful. There is nothing of his tomb to be seen by

any, by reason

[p.387] of the curtains round it, nor are any of the Hagges permitted

to enter there.[FN#50] None go in but the Eunuchs, who keep watch over

it, and they only light the lamps, which burn there by night, and to

sweep and cleanse the place. All the privilege the Hagges have, is only

to thrust in their hands at the windows,[FN#51] between the brass

grates, and to petition the dead juggler, which they do with a

wonderful deal of reverence, affection, and zeal. My patroon had his

silk handkerchief stole out of his bosom, while he stood at his

devotion here.

“It is storied by some, that the coffin of Mahomet hangs up by the

attractive virtue of a loadstone to the roof of the Mosque; but believe

me it is a false story. When I looked through the brass gate, I saw as

much as any of the Hagges; and the top of the curtains, which covered

the tomb, were not half so high as the roof or arch, so that it is

impossible his coffin should be hanging there. I never heard the

Mahometans say anything like it. On the outside of this place, where

Mahomet’s tomb is, are some sepulchres of their reputed saints; among

which is one prepared for Jesus Christ, when he shall come again

personally into the world; for they hold that Christ will come again in

the flesh, forty years before the end of the world, to confirm the

Mahometan faith, and say likewise, that our Saviour was not crucified

in person, but in effigy, or one like him.

“Medina is much supplied by the opposite Abyssine country, which is on

the other side of the Red Sea: from thence they have corn and

necessaries brought in ships: an odd sort of vessels as ever I saw,

their sails being made of matting, such as they use in the houses and

Mosques to tread upon.

[p.388] “When we had taken our leave of Medina, the third day, and

travelled about ten days more, we were met by a great many Arabians,

who brought abundance of fruit to us, particularly raisins; but from

whence I cannot tell.[FN#52] When we came within fifteen days’ journey of

Grand Cairo, we were met by many people who came from thence, with

their camels laden with presents for the Hagges, sent from their

friends and relations, as sweetmeats, &c. But some of them came rather

for profit, to sell fresh provisions to the Hagges, and trade with them.

“About ten days before we got to Cairo, we came to a very long steep

hill, called Ackaba, which the Hagges are usually much afraid how they

shall be able to get up. Those who can will walk it. The poor camels,

having no hoofs, find it very hard work, and many drop here. They were

all untied, and we dealt gently with them, moving very slowly, and

often halting. Before we came to this hill, I observed no descent, and

when we were at the top there was none, but all plain as before.

“We past by Mount Sinai by night, and, perhaps, when I was asleep; so

that I had no prospect of it.

“When we came within seven days’ journey of Cairo, we were met by abundance

of people more, some hundreds, who came to welcome their friends and

relations; but it being night, it was difficult to find those they

wanted, and, therefore, as the Caravans past along they kept calling

them aloud by their names, and by this means found them out. And when

we were in three days’ journey of it, we had many camel-loads of the

water of the Nile brought us to drink. But the day and night before we

came to Cairo, thousands came out to meet us with extraordinary

rejoicing. It is thirty-seven days’ journey from Mecca to Cairo, and

three days we tarry by [p.389] the way, which together make us (as I

said) forty days’ journey; and in all this way there is scarce any green

thing to be met with, nor beast nor fowl to be seen or heard; nothing

but sand and stones, excepting one place which we passed through by

night; I suppose it was a village, where were some trees, and, we

thought, gardens.”

[FN#1] It is curious, as Crichton (Arabia, vol. ii. p. 208) observes,

that Gibbon seems not to have seen or known anything of the little work

published by Pitts on his return home. It is entitled “A faithful Account

of the Religion and the Manners of the Mahometans, in which is a

particular Relation of their Pilgrimage to Mecca, the Place of Mahomet’s

Birth, and Description of Medina, and of his Tomb there,” &c., &c. My

copy is the 4th edition, printed for T. Longman and R. Hett, London,

A.D. 1708. The only remarkable feature in the “getting up” of the little

octavo is, that the engraving headed “the most sacred and antient Temple

of the Mahometans at Mecca,” is the reverse of the impression[.]

[FN#2] Some years afterwards, Mr. Consul Baker, when waited upon by

Pitts, in London, gave him a copy of the letter, with the following

memorandum upon the back of it—“Copy of my letter to Consul Raye at Smyrna,

to favour the escape of Joseph Pitts, an English renegade, from a

squadron of Algier men-of-war. Had my kindness to him been discovered

by the government of Algiers, my legs and arms had first been broken,

and my carcass burnt—a danger hitherto not courted by any.”

[FN#3] The italics in the text are the author’s. This is admirably

characteristic of the man. Asiatic Christendom would not satisfy him.

He seems to hate the “damnable doctrines” of the “Papists,” almost as much as

those of the Moslems.

[FN#4] He must have been accustomed to long days’ journeys. Al-Idrisi

makes Jeddah forty miles from Meccah; I calculated about forty-four.

[FN#5] Dalil, a guide, generally called at Meccah “Muttawwif.”

[FN#6] Pitts’ Note,—that before they’ll provide for themselves, they serve

God in their way.

[FN#7] Abdast is the Turkish word, borrowed from the Persian, for “Wuzu,”

the minor ablution.

[FN#8] Ruka’at, a bending. This two-bow prayer is in honour of the Mosque.

[FN#9] This is the ceremony technically called Al-Sai, or running

between Safa and Marwah. Burckhardt describes it accurately, vol. i.

pp. 174, 175.

[FN#10] Ihram, the pilgrim-garb.

[FN#11] Now gold or gilt.

[FN#12] This is an error. The stone is called Hajar Aswad, the Black

Stone, or Hajar As’ad, the Blessed Stone. Moreover, it did not change its

colour on account of the sins of the people who kissed it.

[FN#13] The Meccans, in effect, still make this a boast.

[FN#14] Nothing more blindly prejudiced than this statement. Moslems

turn towards Meccah, as Christians towards Jerusalem.

[FN#15] As will afterwards be explained, all the four orthodox schools

do not think it necessary to kiss the stone after each circumambulation.

[FN#16] These are mere local traditions. The original Ka’abah was

composed of materials gathered from the six mountains of Paradise

(chap. xx.) The present building is of grey granite quarried in a hill

near Meccah.

[FN#17] Now Jabal Nur.

[FN#18] They come from the well-known Taif, which the country people

call Hijaz, but never Habbash. The word Taif literally means the

“circumambulator.” It is said that when Adam settled at Meccah, finding the

country barren, he prayed to Allah to supply him with a bit of fertile

land. Immediately appeared a mountain, which having performed Tawaf

round the Ka’abah, settled itself down eastward of Meccah. Hence, to the

present day, Taif is called Kita min al-Sham, a piece of Syria, its

fatherland.

[FN#19] This is an error of printing for “paces.”

[FN#20] (Pitts’ Note.) Not of massy gold, as a late French author (who, I

am sure, was never there) says. The door is of wood, only plated over

with silver; much less is the inside of the Beat ceiled with massy

gold, as the same Frenchman asserts. I can assure the world it is no

such thing.

The door is of wood, thickly plated over with silver, in many parts

gilt. And whatever hereabouts is gilt, the Meccans always call gold.

(R.F.B.)

[FN#21] This is no longer the case. Few women ever enter the Ka’abah, on

account of the personal danger they run there.

[FN#22] More correctly, at three of the corners, and the fourth

opposite the southern third of the western wall.

[FN#23] It is deemed disrespectful to look at the ceiling, but pilgrims

may turn their eyes in any other direction they please.

[FN#24] There are now three.

[FN#25] It is tucked up about six feet high.

[FN#26] It is a close kind of grey granite, which takes a high polish

from the pilgrims’ feet.

[FN#27] Now iron posts.

[FN#28] The Shafe’i school have not, and never had, a peculiar oratory

like the other three schools. They pray near the well Zemzem.

[FN#29] This place contains the stone which served Abraham for a

scaffold when he was erecting the Ka’abah. Some of our popular writers

confound this stone with the Hajar al-Aswad.

[FN#30] (Pitts’ Note.) The worthy Mons. Thevenot saith, that the waters

of Meccah are bitter; but I never found them so, but as sweet and as

good as any others, for aught as I could perceive.

Pitts has just remarked that he found the waters of Zemzem brackish. To

my taste it was a salt-bitter, which was exceedingly disagreeable.

(R.F.B.)

[FN#31] They are not so modest. 600,000 is the mystical number; others

declare it to be incalculable. Oftentimes 70,000 have met at Arafat.

[FN#32] The cupola has now disappeared; there is a tall pillar of

masonry-work, whitewashed, rising from a plastered floor, for praying.

[FN#33] On the 9th Zu’l Hijjah, or the Day of Arafat, the pilgrims,

having taken their stations within the sacred limits, perform ablution

about noon, and pray as directed at that hour. At three P.M., after

again performing the usual devotions, or more frequently after

neglecting them, they repair to the hill, and hear the sermon.

[FN#34] At Muzdalifah.

[FN#35] This, I need scarcely say, is speaking as a Christian. All

Moslems believe that Ishmael, and not Isaac, was ordered to be

sacrificed. The place to which Pitts alludes is still shown to pilgrims.

[FN#36] (Pitts’ Note.) Monsieur de Thevenot saith, that they throw these

stones at the Gibbel or Mount; but, indeed, it is otherwise; though I

must needs say, he is very exact in almost every thing of Turkish

matters; and I pay much deference to that great author.

[FN#37] The Rami or Jaculator now usually says, as he casts each stone,

“In the name of Allah, and Allah is omnipotent (Raghman li’sh’ Shaytani wa

Khizyatih), in token of abhorrence to Satan, and for his ignominy (I do

this).”

[FN#38] The Arabic would mean stone the devil and slay him, unless

“wazbehe” be an error for “wa ashabih,”—“and his companions.”

[FN#39] Even in the present day, men who have led “wild” lives in their

youth, often date their reformation from the first pilgrimage.

[FN#40] Al-Yaman, Southern Arabia, whose “Akik,” or cornelians were

celebrated.

[FN#41] This is still practised in Moslem countries, being considered a

decent way of begging during public prayers, without interrupting them.

[FN#42] These people will contract to board the pilgrim, and to provide

him with a tent, as well as to convey his luggage.

[FN#43] The usual way now is in “Kitar,” or in Indian file, each camel’s

halter being tied to the tail of the beast that precedes him. Pitts’ “cottor”

must be a kitar, but he uses the word in another of its numerous senses.

[FN#44] This vehicle is the “Takht-rawan” of Arabia.

[FN#45] He describes the Mashals still in use. Lane has sketched them,

Mod. Egypt. chap. vi.

[FN#46] Pitts means by “imaginary Abdes,” the sand ablution,—lawful when

water is wanted for sustaining life.

[FN#47] As I shall explain at a future time, there are still some

Hijazi Badawin whose young men, before entering life, risk everything

in order to plunder a Haji. They care little for the value of the

article stolen, the exploit consists in stealing it.

[FN#48] The walls, therefore, were built between A.D. 1503 and A.D.

1680.

[FN#49] These are not windows, but simply the inter-columnar spaces

filled with grating.

[FN#50] This account is perfectly correct. The Eunuchs, however, do not

go into the tomb; they only light the lamps in, and sweep the passage

round, the Sepulchre.

[FN#51] These are the small apertures in the Southern grating. See

Chap. xvi.

[FN#52] The Caravan must have been near the harbour of Muwaylah, where

supplies are abundant.

[p.390]APPENDIX VI.

GIOVANNI FINATI.

THE third pilgrim on our list is Giovanni Finati, who, under the Moslem

name of “Haji Mohammed,” made the campaign against the Wahhabis for the

recovery of Meccah and Al-Madinah. A native of Ferrara, the eldest of

the four scions of a small landed proprietor, “tenderly attached to his

mother,” and brought up most unwillingly for a holy vocation,—to use his

own words, “instructed in all that course of frivolous and empty

ceremonials and mysteries, which form a principal feature in the

training of a priest for the Romish Church,” in A.D. 1805, Giovanni

Finati’s name appeared in the list of Italian conscripts. After a few

vain struggles with fate, he was marched to Milan, drilled and trained;

the next year his division was ordered to the Tyrol, where the young

man, “brought up for the church,” instantly deserted. Discovered in his

native town, he was sent under circumstances of suitable indignity to

join his regiment at Venice, where a general act of grace, promulgated

on occasion of Napoleon’s short visit, preserved him from a platoon of

infantry. His next move was to Spalato, in Dalmatia, where he marched

under General Marmont to Cattaro, the last retreat of the hardy and

warlike Montenegrins. At Budoa, a sea-port S.E. of Ragusa, having

consulted an Albanian “captain-merchant,” Giovanni Finati, and fifteen

other Italians—

[p.391] “including the sergeant’s wife,” swore fidelity to one another, and

deserted with all their arms and accoutrements. They passed into the

Albanese territory, and were hospitably treated as “soldiers, who had

deserted from the infidel army in Dalmatia,” by the Pasha, posted at

Antivari to keep check upon the French operations. At first they were

lodged in the Mosque, and the sergeant’s wife had been set apart from the

rest; but as they refused to apostatize they were made common slaves,

and worked at the quarries till their “backs were sore.” Under these

circumstances, the sergeant discovering and promulgating his discovery

that “the Mahometans believe as we do in a god; and upon examination that

we might find the differences from our mother church to be less than we

had imagined,”—all at once came the determination of professing to be

Mohammedans. Our Italian Candide took the name of Mahomet, and became

pipe-bearer to a Turkish general officer in the garrison. This young

man trusted the deserter to such an extent that the doors of the Harim

were open to him[FN#1], and Giovanni Finati repaid his kindness by

seducing Fatimah, a Georgian girl, his master’s favourite wife. The

garrison then removed to Scutari. Being of course hated by his fellow

servants, the renegade at last fell into disgrace, and exchanging the

pipe-stick for the hatchet, he became a hewer of wood. This degradation

did not diminish poor Fatimah’s affection: she continued to visit him,

and to leave little presents and tokens for him in his room. But

presently the girl proved likely to become a mother,—their intercourse

was more than suspected,—Giovanni Finati had a dread of

circumcision,[FN#2]

[p.392] so he came to the felon resolution of flying alone from

Scutari. He happened to meet his “original friend the captain-merchant,”

and in March, 1809, obtained from him a passage to Egypt, the Al-Dorado

to which all poverty-struck Albanian adventurers were then flocking. At

Alexandr[i]a the new Mahomet, after twice deserting from a Christian

service, at the risk of life and honour, voluntarily enlisted as an

Albanian private soldier in a Moslem land; the naïvete with which he

admires and comments upon his conduct is a curious moral phenomenon.

Thence he proceeded to Cairo, and became a “Balik bash” (corporal), in

charge of six Albanian privates, of Mohammed Ali’s body-guard. Ensued a

campaign against the Mamluks in Upper Egypt, and his being present at

the massacre of those miscreants in the citadel of Cairo,—he confined his

part in the affair to plundering from the Beys a “saddle richly mounted

in silver gilt,” and a slave girl with trinkets and money. He married the

captive, and was stationed for six months at Matariyah (Heliopolis),

with the force preparing to march upon Meccah, under Tussun Pasha. Here

he suffered from thieves, and shot by mistake his Bim Bashi or

sergeant, who was engaged in the unwonted and dangerous exercise of

prayer in the dark. The affair was compromised by the amiable young

commander-in-chief, who paid the blood money amounting to some thousand

piastres. On the 6th October, 1811, the army started for Suez, where

eighteen vessels waited to convey them to Yambu’. Mahomet assisted at the

capture of that port, and was fortunate enough to escape alive from the

desperate action of Jadaydah.[FN#3] Rheumatism obliged him

[p.393] to return to Cairo, where he began by divorcing his wife for

great levity of conduct. In the early part of 1814, Mahomet, inspired

by the news of Mohammed Ali Pasha’s success in Al-Hijaz, joined a

reinforcement of Albanians, travelled to Suez, touched at Yambu’ and at

Jeddah, assisted at the siege and capture of Kunfudah, and was present

at its recapture by the Wahhabis. Wounded, sick, harassed by the

Badawin, and disgusted by his commanding officer, he determined to

desert again, adding, as an excuse, “not that the step, on my part at

least, had the character of a complete desertion, since I intended to

join the main body of the army;” and to his mania for desertion we owe

the following particulars concerning the city of Meccah.

“Exulting in my escape, my mind was in a state to receive very strong

impressions, and I was much struck with all I saw upon entering the

city; for though it is neither large nor beautiful in itself, there is

something in it that is calculated to impress a sort of awe, and it was

the hour of noon when everything is very silent, except the Muezzins

calling from the minarets.

“The principal feature of the city is that celebrated sacred enclosure

which is placed about the centre of it; it is a vast paved court with

doorways opening into it from every side, and with a covered colonnade

carried all round like a cloister, while in the midst of the open space

stands the edifice called the Caaba, whose walls are entirely covered

over on the outside with hangings of rich velvet,[FN#4] on which there

are Arabic inscriptions embroidered in gold.

“Facing one of its angles (for this little edifice is of

[p.394] a square form),[FN#5] there is a well which is called the well

Zemzem, of which the water is considered so peculiarly holy that some

of it is even sent annually to the Sultan at Constantinople; and no

person who comes to Meccah, whether on pilgrimage or for mere worldly

considerations, ever fails both to drink of it and to use it in his

ablutions, since it is supposed to wipe out the stain of all past

transgressions.

“There is a stone also near the bottom of the building itself which all

the visitants kiss as they pass round it, and the multitude of them has

been so prodigious as to have worn the surface quite away.

“Quite detached, but fronting to the Caaba, stand four pavilions

(corresponding to the four sects of the Mahometan religion), adapted

for the pilgrims; and though the concourse had of late years been from

time to time much interrupted, there arrived just when I came to Meccah

two Caravans of them, one Asiatic and one from the African side,

amounting to not less than about 40,000 persons, who all seemed to be

full of reverence towards the holy place.[FN#6]”

After commenting on the crowded state of the city, the lodging of

pilgrims in tents and huts, or on the bare ground outside the

walls,[FN#7] and the extravagant prices of provisions, Haji Mahomet

proceeds with his description.

“Over and above the general ceremonies of the purification at the well,

and of the kissing of the corner-stone,[FN#8]

[p.395]and of the walking round the Caaba a certain number of times in

a devout manner, every one has also his own separate prayers to put up,

and so to fulfil the conditions of his vow and the objects of his

particular pilgrimage.”

We have then an account of the Mosque-pigeons, for whom it is said, “some

pilgrims bring with them even from the most remote countries a small

quantity of grain, with which they may take the opportunity of feeding

these birds.” This may have occurred in times of scarcity; the grain is

now sold in the Mosque.

“The superstitions and ceremonies of the place,” we are told, “are by no

means completed within the city, for the pilgrims, after having

performed their devotions for a certain time at the Caaba, at last in a

sort of procession go to a place called Arafat, an eminence which

stands detached in the centre of a valley; and in the way thither there

is a part of the road for about the space of a mile where it is

customary to run.[FN#9] The road also passes near a spot where was

formerly a well which is superstitiously supposed to be something

unholy and cursed by the Prophet himself. And for this reason, every

pilgrim as he goes by it throws a stone; and the custom is so universal

and has prevailed so long that none can be picked up in the

neighbourhood, and it is necessary therefore to provide them from a

distance, and some persons even bring them out of their own remote

countries, thinking thereby to gain the greater favour in the sight of

Heaven.[FN#10]

[p.396]“Beyond this point stands a column,[FN#11] which is set up as the

extreme limit of the pilgrimage, and this every pilgrim must have

passed before sunrise; while all such as have not gone beyond it by

that time must wait till the next year, if they wish to be entitled to

the consideration and privileges of complete Hajis, since, without this

circumstance, all the rest remains imperfect.

“The hill of Arafat lying at a distance of seven hours from Meccah, it is

necessary to set out very early in order to be there in time; many of

the pilgrims, and especially the more devout amongst them, performing

all the way on foot.

“When they have reached the place[FN#12] all who have any money according

to their means sacrifice a sheep, and the rich often furnish those who

are poor and destitute with the means of buying one.

“Such a quantity of sacrifices quite fills the whole open space with

victims, and the poor flock from all the country round to have meat

distributed to them.

“After which, at the conclusion of the whole ceremony, all the names are

registered by a scribe appointed for the purpose[FN#13]: and when this

is finished the African

[p.397] and Asiatic Caravans part company and return to their own

several countries, many detachments of the pilgrims visiting Medinah in

the way.”

Being desirous of enrolment in some new division of Mohammed Ali’s army,

Finati overcame the difficulty of personal access to him by getting a

memorial written in Turkish and standing at the window of a house

joined on to the enclosure of the great temple. After the sixth day the

Pasha observed him, and in the “greatest rage imaginable” desired a

detailed account of the defeat at Kunfudah. Finati then received five

hundred piastres and an order to join a corps at Taif, together with a

strict charge of secre[c]y, “since it was of importance that no reverse

or check should be generally talked of.” Before starting our author adds

some “singular particulars” which escaped him in his account of Meccah.

“Many of the pilgrims go through the ceremony of walking the entire

circuit of the city upon the outside; and the order in which this is

performed is as follows. The devoted first goes without the gates, and,

after presenting himself there to the religious officer who presides,

throws off all his clothes, and takes a sort of large wrapping garment

in lieu of them to cover himself; upon which he sets off walking at a

very quick pace, or rather running, to reach the nearest of the four

corners of the city, a sort of guide going with him at the same rate

all the way, who prompts certain ejaculations or prayers, which he

ought to mention at particular spots as he passes; at every angle he

finds a barber, who with wonderful quickness wets and shaves one

quarter of his head, and so on; till he has reached the barber at the

fourth angle, who completes the work. After which the

[p.398] pilgrim takes his clothes again, and has finished that act of

devotion.[FN#14]

“There is also near the holy city an eminence called the hill of

light,[FN#15] as I imagine from its remarkable whiteness. Upon this the

pilgrims have a custom of leaping while they repeat at the same time

prayers and verses of the Koran. Many also resort to a lesser hill,

about a mile distant from the city, on which there is a small Mosque,

which is reputed as a place of great sanctity.

“An annual ceremony takes place in the great temple itself which is worth

mentioning before I quit the subject altogether.

“I have already spoken of the little square building whose walls are

covered with hangings of black and gold, and which is called the Caaba.

Once in the year,[FN#16] and once only, this holy of holies is opened,

and as there is nothing to prevent admission it appears surprising at

first to see so few who are willing to go into the interior, and

especially since this act is supposed to have great efficacy in the

remission of all past sins. But the reason must be sought for in the

conditions which are annexed, since he who enters is, in the first

place, bound to exercise no gainful pursuit, or trade, or to work for

his livelihood

[p.399] in any way whatever; and, next, he must submit patiently to all

offences and injuries, and must never again touch anything that is

impure or unholy.[FN#17]”

“One more remark with reference to the great scene of sacrifice at

Arafat. Though the Pasha’s power in Arabia had been now for some time

established, yet it was not complete or universal by any means—the

Wahhabees still retaining upon many sides a very considerable footing,

so that open and unprotected places, even within half a day’s journey of

Meccah, might be liable to surprise and violence.”

For these reasons, our author informs us, a sufficient force was

disposed round Arafat, and the prodigious multitude went and returned

without molestation or insult.[FN#18]

[p.400] After the pilgrimage Haji Mahomet repaired to Taif. On the

road he remarked a phenomenon observable in Al-Hijaz—the lightness of the

nights there. Finati attributes it to the southern position of the

place. But, observing a perceptible twilight there, I was forced to

seek further cause. May not the absence of vegetation, and the

heat-absorbing nature of the soil,—granite, quartz, and basalt,—account for

the phenomenon[FN#19]? The natives as usual, observing it, have

invested its origin with the garb of fable.

It is not my intention to accompany Mahomet to the shameful defeat of

Taraba, where Tussun Pasha lost three quarters of his army, or to the

glorious victory of Bissel, where Mohammed Ali on the 10th January,

1815, broke 24,000 Wahhabis commanded by Faysal bin Sa’ud. His account of

this interesting campaign is not full or accurate like Mengin’s; still,

being the tale of an eye-witness, it attracts attention. Nothing can be

more graphic than his picture of the old conqueror sitting with

exulting countenance upon the carpet where he had vowed to await death

or victory, and surrounded by heaps of enemies’ heads.[FN#20]

Still less would it be to the purpose to describe the latter details of

Haji Mahomet’s career, his return to Cairo, his accompanying Mr. Bankes

to upper Egypt and Syria, and his various trips to Aleppo, Kurdistan,

the

[p.401] Sa’id, the great Oasis, Nabathaea, Senna’ar, and Dongola. We

concede to him the praise claimed by his translator, that he was a

traveller to no ordinary extent; but beyond this we cannot go. He was

so ignorant that he had forgotten to write[FN#21]; his curiosity and

his powers of observation keep pace with his knowledge[FN#22]; his

moral character as it appears in print is of that description which

knows no sense of shame: it is not candour but sheer insensibility

which makes him relate circumstantially his repeated desertions, his

betrayal of Fatimah, and his various plunderings.

[FN#1] He describes the Harim as containing “the females of different

countries, all of them young, and all more or less attractive, and the

merriest creatures I ever saw.” His narration proves that affection and

fidelity were not wanting there.

[FN#2] Mr. Bankes, Finati’s employer and translator, here comments upon

Ali Bey’s assertion, “Even to travellers in Mahometan countries, I look

upon the safety of their journey as almost impossible, unless they have

previously submitted to the rite.” Ali Bey is correct; the danger is

doubled by non-compliance with the custom. Mr. Bankes apprehends that

“very few renegadoes do submit to it.” In bigoted Moslem countries, it is

considered a sine qua non.

[FN#3] See Chap. xiii. of this work.

[FN#4] “Black cloth, according to Ali Bey; and I believe he is correct.” So

Mr. Bankes. If Ali Bey meant broad-cloth, both are in error, as the

specimen in my possession—a mixture of silk and cotton—proves.

[FN#5] Ali Bey showed by his measurements that no two sides correspond

exactly. To all appearance the sides are equal, though it is certain

they are not; the height exceeds the length and the breadth.

[FN#6] Ali Bey (A.D. 1807) computes 80,000 men, 2,000 women, and 1,000

children at Arafat. Burckhardt (A.D. 1814) calculated it at 70,000. I

do not think that in all there were more than 50,000 souls assembled

together in 1853.

[FN#7] Rich pilgrims always secure lodgings; the poorer class cannot

afford them; therefore, the great Caravans from Egypt, Damascus,

Baghdad, and other places, pitch on certain spots outside the city.

[FN#8] An incorrect expression; the stone is fixed in a massive gold or

silver gilt circle to the S.E. angle, but it is not part of the

building.

[FN#9] Ali Bey is correct in stating that the running is on the return

from Arafat, directly after sunset.

[FN#10] This sentence abounds in blunders. Sale, Ali Bey, and

Burckhardt, all give correct accounts of the little pillar of masonry—it

has nothing to do with the well—which denotes the place where Satan

appeared to Abraham. The pilgrims do not throw one stone, but many. The

pebbles are partly brought from Muzdalifah, partly from the valley of

Muna, in which stands the pillar.

[FN#11] Mr. Bankes confounds this column with the Devil’s Pillar at Muna.

Finati alludes to the landmarks of the Arafat plain, now called

Al-Alamayn (the two marks). The pilgrims must stand within these

boundaries on a certain day (the 9th of Zu’l Hijjah), otherwise he has

failed to observe a rital ordinance.

[FN#12] He appears to confound the proper place with Arafat. The

sacrifice is performed in the valley of Muna, after leaving the

mountain. But Finati, we are told by his translator, wrote from memory—a

pernicious practice for a traveller.

[FN#13] This custom is now obsolete, as regards the grand body of

pilgrims. Anciently, a certificate from the Sharif was given to all who

could afford money for a proof of having performed the pilgrimage, but

no such practice at present exists. My friends have frequently asked

me, what proof there is of a Moslem’s having become a Haji. None

whatever; consequently impostors abound. Sa’adi, in the Gulistan, notices

a case. But the ceremonies of the Hajj are so complicated and

unintelligible by mere description, that a little cross-questioning

applied to the false Haji would easily detect him.

[FN#14] No wonder Mr. Bankes is somewhat puzzled by this passage.

Certainly none but a pilgrim could guess that the author refers to the

rites called Al-Umrah and Al-Sai, or the running between Mounts Safa

and Marwah. The curious reader may compare the above with Burckhardt’s

correct description of the ceremonies. As regards the shaving, Finati

possibly was right in his day; in Ali Bey’s, as in my time, the head was

only shaved once, and a few strokes of the razor sufficed for the

purpose of religious tonsure.

[FN#15] Jabal Nur, anciently Hira, is a dull grey as of granite; it

derives its modern name from the spiritual light of religion.

Circumstances prevented my ascending it, so I cannot comment upon

Finati’s “custom of leaping.”

[FN#16] Open three days in the year, according to Ali Bey, the same in

Burckhardt’s, and in my time. Besides these public occasions, private

largesses can always turn the key.

[FN#17] I heard from good authority, that the Ka’abah is never opened

without several pilgrims being crushed to death. Ali Bey (remarks Mr.

Bankes) says nothing of the supposed conditions annexed. In my next

volume [Part iii. (“Meccah”) of this work] I shall give them, as I received

them from the lips of learned and respectable Moslems. They differ

considerably from Finati’s, and no wonder; his account is completely

opposed to the strong good sense which pervades the customs of

Al-Islam. As regards his sneer at the monastic orders in Italy—that the

conditions of entering are stricter and more binding than those of the

Ka’abah, yet that numbers are ready to profess in them—it must not be

imagined that Arab human nature differs very materially from Italian.

Many unworthy feet pass the threshold of the Ka’abah; but there are many

Moslems, my friend, Omar Effendi, for instance, who have performed the

pilgrimage a dozen times, and would never, from conscientious motives,

enter the holy edifice.

[FN#18] In 1807, according to Ali Bey, the Wahhabis took the same

precaution, says Mr. Bankes. The fact is, some such precautions must

always be taken. The pilgrims are forbidden to quarrel, to fight, or to

destroy life, except under circumstances duly provided for. Moreover,

as I shall explain in another part of this work, it was of old, and

still is, the custom of the fiercer kind of Badawin to flock to

Arafat—where the victim is sure to be found—for the purpose of revenging

their blood-losses. As our authorities at Aden well know, there cannot

be a congregation of different Arab tribes without a little murder.

After fighting with the common foe, or if unable to fight with him, the

wild men invariably turn their swords against their private enemies.

[FN#19] So, on the wild and tree-clad heights of the Neilgherry hills,

despite the brilliance of the stars, every traveller remarks the

darkness of the atmosphere at night.

[FN#20] Mohammed Ali gave six dollars for every Arab head, which fact

accounts for the heaps that surrounded him. One would suppose that when

acting against an ene[m]y, so quick and agile as the Arabs, such an

order would be an unwise one. Experience, however, proves the contrary.

[FN#21] “Finati’s long disuse of European writing,” says Mr. Bankes, “made him

very slow with his pen.” Fortunately, he found in London some person who

took down the story in easy, unaffected, and not inelegant Italian. In

1828, Mr. Bankes translated it into English, securing accuracy by

consulting the author, when necessary.

[FN#22] His translator and editor is obliged to explain that he means

Cufic, by “characters that are not now in use,” and the statue of Memnon by

“one of two enormous sitting figures in the plain, from which, according

to an old story or superstition, a sound proceeds when the sun rises.”

When the crew of his Nile-boat “form in circle upon the bank, and perform

a sort of religious mummery, shaking their heads and shoulders

violently, and uttering a hoarse sobbing or barking noise, till some of

them would drop or fall into convulsions,”—a sight likely to excite the

curiosity of most men—he “takes his gun in pursuit of wild geese.” He allowed

Mr. Bankes’ mare to eat Oleander leaves, and thus to die of the commonest

poison. Briefly, he seems to have been a man who, under favourable

circumstances, learned as little as possible.

[p.402]APPENDIX VII.

NOTES ON MY JOURNEY.

BY A. SPRENGER.

IN the map to a former edition of the Pilgrimage, Captain Burton’s route

from Madina to Meccah is wrongly laid down, owing to a typographical

error of the text, “From Wady Laymun to Meccah S.E. 45°;” (see vol. ii. p.

155, ante), whereas the road runs S.W. 45°, or, as Hamdany expresses

himself in the commentary on the Qacyda Rod., “Between west and south;

and therefore the setting sun shines at the evening prayer (your face

being turned towards Meccah) on your right temple.” The account of the

eastern route from Madina to Meccah by so experienced a traveller as

Captain Burton is an important contribution to our geographical

knowledge of Arabia. It leads over the lower terrace of Nejd, the

country which Muslim writers consider as the home of the genuine Arabs

and the scene of Arabic chivalry. As by this mistake the results of my

friend’s pilgrimage, which, though pious as he unquestionably is, he did

not undertake from purely religious motives, have been in a great

measure marred, I called in 1871 his attention to it. At the same time

I submitted to him a sketch of a map in which his own and Burckhardt’s

routes are protracted, and a few notes culled from Arabic geographers,

with the intention of showing how much light his investigations throw

on early

[p.403] geography if illustrated by a corrected map; and how they fail

to fulfil this object if the mistake is not cleared up. The

enterprising traveller approved of both the notes and the map, and

expressed it as his opinion that it might be useful to append them to

the new edition. I therefore thought proper to recast them, and to

present them herewith to the reader.