If any question arose about my origin (a
circum-stance that rarely happened in a place which always abounds with
strangers), I stated myself to be a reduced member of the Mamelouk corps
of Egypt, and found it easy to avoid those persons whose intimate
knowledge of that country might perhaps have enabled them to detect the
falsehood. But there was little to be appre-hended even from the
consequences of such detection; for the assumption of a false character
is frequent among all eastern travellers, and especially at Mekka, where
every one affects poverty in order to escape imposition, or being led
into great expenses. During all my journies in the East, I never enjoyed
such perfect ease as at Mekka; and I shall always retain a pleasing
recollection of my residence there, although the state of my health did
not permit me to benefit by all the advantages that my situation
offered. I shall now proceed to describe the town, its inhabitants, and
the pilgrimage, and then resume the narrative of my travels.
[p.102] DESCRIPTION OF MEKKA. [EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN. [not included]]
MEKKA is dignified among the Arabs with many lofty-sounding titles. The
most common are Om el Kora (the mother of towns);
[p.103] El Mosherefe (the noble); Beled al Ameyn (the region of the
faithful). Firuzabadi, the celebrated author of the Kamus, has composed
a whole treatise on the different names of Mekka.
