This Character Of The Metowafs Is So Applicable To
The People Of Mekka In General, That At Cairo They Use The Following
Proverb, To Repress The Importunity Of An Insolent Beggar:
"Thou art
like the Mekkawy, thou sayest 'Give me,' and 'I am thy master.'"
As I was obliged to have a delyl, I next engaged an old man of Tatar
origin, with whom having made a sort of treaty at the outset, I had
reason to be tolerably satisfied. What I paid at Mekka to the delyls,
and at the places of holy visit, amounted, perhaps, altogether to three
hundred and fifty piastres, or thirty dollars; but I gave no presents,
either to the mosque, or to any of its officers, which is done only by
great hadjys, or by those who wish to be publicly noticed. Some of the
delyls are constantly stationed near the Kaaba, waiting to be hired for
the walks round it; and if they see a pilgrim walking alone, they often,
unasked, take hold of his hand, and begin to recite the prayers. The
charge for this service is about half a piastre; and I
[p.195] have observed them bargaining with the hadjy at the very gate of
the Kaaba, in the hearing of every body. The poorer delyls are contented
with the fourth of a piastre. Many shopkeepers, and people of the third
class, send their sons who know the prayers by heart, to this station,
to learn the profession of delyl. Those who understand the Turkish
language earn great wages. As the Turkish hadjys usually arrive by way
of Djidda, in parties of from eight to twelve, who have quitted their
homes in company, and live together at Mekka, one delyl generally takes
charge of the whole party, and expects a fee in proportion to their
number. It often happens that the hadjys, on returning home, recommend
him to some other party of their countrymen, who, on reaching Djidda,
send him orders to provide lodgings for them in Mekka, to meet them at
Djidda, to superintend their short journey to the holy city, and to
guide them in the prayers that must be recited on first entering it.
Some of these delyls are constantly found at Djidda during the three
months immediately preceding the Hadj: I have seen them on the road to
Mekka, riding at the head of their party, and treated by them with great
respect and politeness. A Turk from Europe, or Asia Minor, who knows not
a word of Arabic, is overjoyed to find a smooth-tongued Arab who speaks
his language, and who promises all kinds of comforts in Mekka, which he
had been taught to consider as a place where nothing awaited him but
danger and fatigue. A delyl who has twelve Turkish hadjys under his care
for a month, generally gains as much as suffices for the expenses of his
house during the whole year, besides new clothing for himself and all
his children.
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