The Azhar At Cairo Is On A
Very Different Footing.
To each of the Rowak, or private establishments
for the different Mohammedan nations, which it contains, (and which are
now twenty-six in number,) a large library is annexed, and all the
members of the Rowak are at liberty to take books from it to assist them
in their studies.
Mekka is equally destitute of private libraries, with
the exception of those of the rich merchants, who exhibit a few books to
distinguish them from the vulgar; or of the olemas, of whom some possess
such as are necessary for their daily reference in matters of law.
The Wahabys, according to report, carried off many loads of books; but
they were also said to have paid for every thing they took: it is not
likely that they carried away all the libraries of Mekka, and I
endeavoured in vain to discover even a single collection of books. Not a
book-shop or a book-binder is found in Mekka. After the return of the
Hadj from Arafat, a few of the poorer olemas expose some books for sale
in the mosque, near Bab-es'-Salam: all those which I saw were on the
law, korans with commentaries, and similar works, together with a few on
grammar. No work on history, or on any other branch
[p.213] of knowledge, could be found; and, notwithstanding all my pains,
I could never obtain a sight of any history of Mekka, although the names
of the authors were not unknown to the Mekkawys. They told me that book-
dealers used formerly to come here with the Hadj from Yemen, and sell
valuable books, brought principally from Szanaa and Loheya. The only
good work I saw at Mekka was a fine copy of the Arabic Dictionary called
Kamous; it was purchased by a Malay for six hundred and twenty piastres;
at Cairo it might be worth half that sum. Many pilgrims inquired for
books, and were inclined to pay good prices for them; and it was matter
of surprise to me that the speculating Mekkawys did not avail themselves
of this branch of trade, not so lucrative certainly as that of coffee
and India goods. I much regretted my total want of books, and especially
the copies of the historians of Mekka, which I had left at Cairo; they
would have led me to many inquiries on topography, which by Azraky in
particular is treated with great industry.
The Persian hadjys and the Malays are those who chiefly search for
books: the Wahabys, it is said, were particularly inquisitive after
historical works; a remark I heard repeated at Medina. During my stay at
Damascus, which is the richest book-market in the East, and the
cheapest, from being very little frequented by Europeans, I heard that
several Arabs of Baghdad, secretly commissioned for that purpose by
Saoud, the Wahaby chief, had purchased there many historical works. When
Abou Nokta plundered the harbours of Yemen, he carried off a great
number of books, and sent them to Derayeh.
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