Among The Sheep Of This Neighbourhood, A Small Species Is Noticed With A
White And Brown Spotted Skin; The Same Species Is Likewise
[P.387] known about Mekka.
It is of a diminutive size: they are bought
up by foreigners, and carried home with them as rarities from the Holy
Land. At Cairo they are kept in the houses of the grandees, who cause
them to be painted red, with henna, and hang a collar with little bells
round their necks, to amuse the children.
I believe the people of Medina have no other times of public rejoicing
than the regular feast-days, except the Mouled el Naby or Prophet's
birth-day, on the twelfth of the month of Rabya el Thany. This is
considered a national festival: all the shops are shut during the day,
and every one appears in his best dress. Early in the morning the olemas
and a number of well-dressed people assemble in the mosque, where one of
the Khatybs, after a short sermon, reads an account of Mohammed's
actions, from his birth to his death; after which the company, at least
the chief people present, are treated with lemonade, or liquorice-water.
The zealous Muselmans pass the night preceding this day in prayer. The
lady of Mohammed Aly Pasha, who, having performed the pilgrimage to
Mekka, came here to visit the tomb, and see her son Tousoun Pasha,
passed the greater part of the night in devotion at the mosque: when she
returned to a house she had taken for that purpose, close by the gate of
the mosque, her son paid her a short visit, and then left her to repose,
while he himself ordered a carpet to be spread in the middle of the
street, and there slept, at the threshold of his mother's dwelling;
offering a testimony of respect and humility which does as much honour
to the son, as to the character of the mother who could inspire him with
such sentiments. The wife of Mohammed Aly is a highly respectable woman,
and very charitable without ostentation. Her son Tousoun I believe to be
the only one of the family, whose breast harbours any noble feeling; the
rest are corrupted by the numerous vices inseparable from a Turkish
grandee: but he has given, in many instances, proofs of elevated
sentiment; and even his enemies cannot deny his valour, generosity,
filial love, and good-nature. We must regret, that he is as much
inferior in intellect to his father and his brother Ibrahim, as he is
superior to them in moral character. His mother had appeared here with
all the pomp of an eastern queen: from her donations to the temple, and
to
[p.388] the poor, she was regarded by the people as an angel sent from
heaven. She brought to her son presents to the value of about twenty-
five thousand pounds sterling, among which were remarked twelve complete
suits, including every article of dress, from the finest Cashmere shawl
down to the slippers; a diamond ring worth five thousand pounds; and two
beautiful Georgian slaves. In her retinue there was also a Georgian
slave of great beauty and rare accomplishments, whom Mohammed Aly had
lately married at Mekka; but as she had not yet borne any children, she
was considered much inferior in rank to Tousoun's mother, who counted
three Pashas as her own sons. [Ismayl Pasha is the younger brother of the
two mentioned above. It is reported that Ibrahim Pasha is not the son of
Mohammed Aly, but was adopted by him when he married his mother, then
the widow of an Aga of Karala, on the Hellespont, the native town of the
present Pasha of Egypt.] This slave had belonged to the Kadhy of Mekka,
who brought her from Constantinople. Mohammed Aly, who had heard his own
women praise her beauty and accomplishments, obliged the Kadhy, much
against his will, to part with her for the sum of fifty thousand
piastres, and soon after presented her with the marriage contract.
I can say little of any customs peculiar to the Medinans, having had so
few opportunities of mixing with them. I may, however, mention, that in
the honours they pay to the dead, they do not comply with the general
rules observed in the Fast. I believe this to be the only town where
women do not howl and cry on the death of a member of the family. The
contrary practice is too generally known to need repetition here; or
that, in other parts of the Levant, a particular class of women is
called in, on that occasion, whose sole profession is that of howling,
in the most heart-rending accents, for a small sum paid to them by the
hour. There is no such practice here, (though it is known in other parts
of the Hedjaz) and it is even considered disgraceful. The father of a
family died in a house next to that where I lived, and which
communicated with it. His death happened at midnight, and his only boy,
moved by natural feelings, burst into loud lamentations. I then heard
his mother exclaiming, "For God's sake,
[p.389] do not cry: what a shame to cry! You will expose us before the
whole neighbourhood;" and after some time she contrived to quiet her
child. There is also a national custom observed at funerals: the bier,
on issuing from the house of the deceased, is carried upon the shoulders
of some of his relations or friends, the rest of whom follow behind; but
when the procession advances into the street, every by-stander, or
passenger, hastens to relieve the bearers for a moment; some giving way
to others, who press forward to take in their turn the charge, which is
done without stopping. The bier, thus unceasingly passes from shoulders
to shoulders, till it is finally deposited near the tomb. If we could
suppose for a moment, that this simple and affecting custom was the
offspring of true feeling, it would prove much more sensibility than
what is displayed in the funeral pomp with which Europeans accompany
their dead to the grave.
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