Mekka abounds with the frail sisterhood,
whose numbers are increased during the Hadj by adventurers from foreign
countries. They are somewhat more decorous than the public women in
Egypt, and never appear in the streets without veils. Among them are
many Abyssinian slaves, whose former masters, according to report, share
the profits of their vocation. Some are slaves belonging to Mekkawys.
The Arabian poets make frequent allusions to Shab Aamer; thus Ibn el
Faredh says: -
"Is Shab Aamer, since we left it, still inhabited?
Is it to this day the place of meeting for lovers?" [See Sir William
Jones's Comment de Poes. Asiat., on the subject of a poem by Ibn Faredh,
which abounds with local allusions to Mekka.]
[p.129] Proceeding from the birkets northward over the plain, we come to
an insulated house, of good size and construction, belonging to the
Sherif, in which some of Ghaleb's favourites once resided. Opposite to
this building, a paved causeway leads towards the western hills, through
which is an opening that seems artificial. El Azraky applies the name
Djebel el Hazna to this part of the mountain; and says that the road was
cut through the rock by Yahia Ibn Khold Ibn Barmak. On the other side of
the opening, the road descends into the plain of Sheikh Mahmoud, so
named from the tomb of a saint, round which the Syrian pilgrims
generally encamp.
