In Giving This General Character
Of The Medinans, I Do Not Found It Merely On The Short Experience I Had
Of them in their own town, but upon information acquired from many
individuals, natives of Medina, whom I met in
Every part of the Hedjaz.
They appear to be as expensive as the Mekkans. There were only two or
three people in Medina reputed to be worth ten or twelve thousand pounds
sterling, half of which might be invested in landed property, and the
other half in trade. The family of Abd el Shekour was reckoned the
richest. The other merchants have generally very small capitals, from
four to five hundred pounds only; and most of the people attached to the
mosque, or who derive their livelihood from stipends, and from pilgrims,
spend, to the last farthing, their yearly income. They outwardly appear
much richer than the Mekkans, because they dress better; but, not the
slightest comparison can be made between the mass of property in this
town and that in Mekka.
In their own houses, the people of Medina are said to live poorly, with
regard to food; but their houses are well furnished, and their
[p.385] expense in dress is very considerable. Slaves are not so
numerous here as at Mekka; many, however, from Abyssinia are found here,
and some females are settled, as married women. The women of the
cultivators, and of the inhabitants of the suburbs, serve in the
families of the town's-people, as domestics, principally to grind corn
in the hand-mills. The Medina women behave with great decency, and have
the general reputation of being much more virtuous than those of Mekka
and Djidda.
The families that possess gardens go to great expense in entertaining
their friends, by turns, at their country houses, where all the members,
men and women, of the families invited assemble together. It is said
that this fashion is carried to great excess in spring-time, and that
the Medinans vie with each other in this respect, so that it becomes a
matter of public notoriety, whether such a person has given more or less
country parties, during the season, than his neighbours. A few families
pass the whole year at their gardens; among these was the large family
of a saint, established in a delightful little garden to the south of
the town. This man is greatly renowned for his sanctity, so much so,
that Tousoun Pasha himself once kissed his hands. I paid him a visit,
like many other pilgrims, in the first days of my arrival, and found him
seated in an arched recess or large niche adjoining the house, from
whence he never moved. He was more polite than any saint I had ever
seen, and was not averse to talk of worldly matters. I had heard that he
possessed some historical books, which he would perhaps sell; but upon
inquiry, I learnt from him that he did not trouble himself with any
learning except that of the Law, the Koran, and his language. He gave me
a nargyle to smoke, and treated me with a dish of dates, the produce of
his own garden; and after I had put, on taking leave, a dollar under the
carpet upon which I sat, (an act usual, as it was said, on such an
occasion,) he accompanied me to the garden-gate, and begged me to repeat
my visit.
Smoking nargyles, or the Persian pipe, is as general here as at Mekka;
common pipes are more in use here than in other parts of the Hedjaz, the
climate being colder. The use of coffee is immoderate. In the gardens
fruit can be bought with coffee-beans as well as with
[p.386] money; and the fondness for tea in England and Holland is not
equal to that of the Arabians for coffee.
The people of Medina keep no horses. Except those of the Sheikh el
Haram, and a few of his suite, I believe there is not one horse kept in
this town. In general, these parts of Arabia are poor in horses, because
there is no fine pasture for them: the Bedouins to the N. and E. of the
town, in the Desert, have, on the contrary, large breeds. The gardens of
Medina might afford pasturage; and formerly, when there were warlike
individuals in the town, horses were kept by them, and expeditions
planned against Bedouins with whom they happened to be at war. At
present the spirit of the Medinans is more pacific; and the few horses
yet kept when the Wahabys captured the town, were immediately sold by
their owners, to escape the military conscription to which principally
the horsemen in the Wahaby dominions were subjected. Some of the richer
families kept mules, and also dromedaries. Asses are very common,
especially among the cultivators, who bring to town upon them the
produce of their fields. They are of a smaller breed than those of Mekka
and the Hedjaz. The wants of the Turkish army had caused a great
diminution in the number of camels formerly kept by the cultivators, who
sold them, under the apprehension of their being placed in requisition.
The Bedouins of the eastern Desert, at three or four days' journey from
the town, are rich in camels; a strolling party of the horsemen of
Tousoun Pasha sent in, during my stay, seven hundred of them, which they
had taken from a single encampment of the Beni Hetym tribe.
It is not unworthy of remark, that Medina, as far as I know, is the only
town in the East from which dogs are excluded: they are never permitted
to pass the gate into the interior, but must remain in the suburbs. I
was told that the watchmen of the different quarters assemble once a
year to drive out any of those animals that might have crept unperceived
into the town. The apprehension of a dog entering the mosque, and
polluting its sanctity, probably gave rise to their exclusion; they are,
however, tolerated at Mekka.
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