My Fever Thus
Increased, Accompanied By Daily And Repeated Vomiting, And Profuse
Sweats, Being For The Whole First Month Quotidian.
The emetics I took
proved of no service; and after having from want of bark gone through
the course of medicines I thought applicable to the case, and being very
seldom favoured with a visit from my friend Yahya Effendi, I left my
disease to nature.
After the first month, there was an interval of a
week's repose, of which had I been able to profit by taking bark, my
disorder would, no doubt, have been overcome; but it had abated only to
return with greater violence, and now became a tertian fever, while the
vomiting still continued, accompanied by occasional faintings, and ended
in a total prostration of strength. I was now unable to rise from my
carpet, without the assistance of my slave, a poor fellow, who by habit
[p.319] and nature was more fitted to take care of a camel, than to
nurse his drooping master.
I had by this time lost all hope of returning to Egypt, and had prepared
myself for dying here. Despondency had seized me, from an apprehension
that, if the news of my death should arrive in England, my whole Hedjaz
journey would, perhaps, be condemned as the unauthorised act of an
imprudent, or at least over-zealous missionary; and I had neither books,
nor any society, to divert my mind from such reflections: one book only
was in my possession, a pocket edition of Milton, which Captain Boag, at
Djidda, had kindly permitted me to take from his cabin-library, and this
I must admit was now worth a whole shelf full of others. The mistress of
my lodgings, an old infirm woman, by birth an Egyptian, who during my
stay took up her quarters in an upper story, from which she could speak
to me without being seen, as it opened into my own room below, used to
converse with me for half an hour every evening; and my cicerone, or
Mezowar, paid me occasional visits, in order, as I strongly suspected,
to seize upon part of my baggage in case of my death. Yahya Effendi left
the town in the month of March, with the army of Tousoun Pasha, which
marched against the Wababys.
About the beginning of April, the returning warmth of the spring put a
stop to my illness; but it was nearly a fortnight before I could venture
to walk out, and every breeze made me dread a return of the fever. The
bad climate of the town, its detestable water, and the great number of
diseases now prevalent, made me extremely desirous to leave Medina. My
original intention was, to remain here, at most, one month, then to take
some Bedouin guides, and with them to cross the Desert to Akaba, at the
extremity of the Red Sea, in a straight direction, from whence I might
easily have found my way to Cairo. In this route I wished to visit
Hedjer, on the Syrian Hadj road, where I expected to find some remains
of the remotest antiquity, that had not been described by any other
traveller, while the interior of the country might have offered many
other objects of research and curiosity. It was, however, utterly
impossible for me to perform this journey in my convalescent state; nor
had I any hopes of recovering, in
[p.320] two months, strength sufficient for a journey of such fatigue.
To wait so long, continually exposed to suffer again from the climate,
was highly unadvisable; and I panted for a change of air, being
convinced that, without it, my fever would soon return. With these
feelings I abandoned the long-projected design of my journey, and now
determined on going to Yembo, on the sea-coast, and from thence to
embark for Egypt; a decision in some degree rendered necessary by the
state of my purse, which a long stay at Medina had greatly reduced. When
I found myself strong enough to mount a camel, I looked out for some
conveyance to Yembo, and contracted with a Bedouin, who, together with
his companions, forming a small caravan, started for that place on the
1st of April, within six days of three months after my arrival at
Medina, eight weeks of which time I had been confined to my couch. My
remarks on Medina are but scanty; with good health, I should have added
to them: but as this town is totally unknown to Europeans, they may
contain some acceptable information. The plan of the town was made by me
during the first days of my stay; and I can vouch for the correctness of
its outlines; but I had not the same leisure to trace it in all its
details, as I had that of Mekka.
[p.321] DESCRIPTION OF MEDINA.[EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN OF MEDINA. [Not
included]]
MEDINA is situated on the edge of the great Arabian Desert, close to the
chain of mountains which traverses that country from north to south, and
is a continuation of Libanon. I have already stated in my Journal
through Arabia Petraea, that the chain on the east of the Dead Sea runs
down towards Akaba. From thence, it extends along the shore of the Red
Sea as far as Yemen, sometimes close to the sea,
[p.322] at others having an intervening plain called by the Arabs
Tahama, a name which, in Yemen, is also bestowed upon a particular part
of it. I have likewise mentioned in that Journal, that the eastern
descent of these mountains, all along the Jordan, the Dead Sea, and the
valley called Araba, down to Akaba, is much less than the western, and
that therefore the great plain of Arabia, which begins eastward of these
mountains, is considerably elevated above the level of the sea. I made
the same remark in going to Tayf, after having crossed the mountain
called Djebel Kura, which forms part of that chain; and the same is to
be observed at Medina.
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