Of butter ........................ 5
1 lb. of fresh unsalted cheese ......... 3
A fowl ................................. 6
An egg ................................. 0 8
1 lb. of milk .......................... 2
1 lb. of vegetables, viz. leek, spinach,
turnips, radishes, calabashes, egg-
plants, green onions, petrosiles, &c.... 0 30
[p.244]
Piastres. Paras.
A small, round, flat loaf of bread ..... 0 20
1 lb. of dry biscuits .................. 0 32
1 lb. of raisins from Tayf ............. 1 20
1 lb. of dates ......................... 0 25
1 lb. of sugar (Indian) ................ 2 10
1 lb. of coffee ........................ 2 20
A pomegranate .......................... 0 15
An orange .............................. 0 15
A lemon, (the size of a walnut, the
Same species as the Egyptian lemon) 0 10
1 lb. of good Syrian tobacco ........... 6
1 lb. of common tobacco ................ 1 30
1 lb. of tombac, or tobacco for the
Persian pipe ........................ 3
1 keyle of wheat ....................... 3
1 do. of flour ......................... 3 20
1 do. of Indian rice ................... 3
1 do. Of lentils from Egypt ............ 2 30
1 do. Of dried locusts ................. 1
A skin of water ........................ 1 20
As much wood as will cook two dishes ... 0 20
A labourer for the day ................. 3
A porter for going in town the distance
Of half a mile ...................... 1
Common wages of servants,[FN#1] besides
Clothes and food, per month ........ 30
Wages of craftsmen, as smiths, carpen-
ters, &c. per day, besides food ..........5
N.B. The Spanish dollar was worth from nine to twelve piastres during my
residence at Mekka, changing its value almost daily.
[p.245] One piastre equal to forty paras or diwanys, as they are called
in the Hedjaz. The pound, or rotolo, of Mekka, has a hundred and forty-
four drams. The Egyptian erdeb, equivalent to about fifteen English
bushels, is divided here into fifty keyles or measures. At Medina the
erdeb is divided into ninety-six keyles. The pound of Djidda is nearly
double that of Mekka.
[The Mekkawys have only slaves; but many Egyptians are ready to
enter into the service of hadjys. The most common servants in the
families of Mekka are the younger sons or some poor relations.]
[p.246] THE HADJ, OR PILGRIMAGE.
THE time has passed (and, probably for ever,) when hadjys or pilgrims,
from all regions of the Muselman world, came every year in multitudes,
that they might visit devotionally the sacred places of the Hedjaz. An
increasing indifference to their religion, and an increase of expense
attending the journey, now deter the greater part of the Mohammedans
from complying with that law of the Koran, which enjoins to every Moslim
who can afford it, the performance of a pilgrimage to Mekka, once at
least in his life. To those whom indispensable occupations confine to
their homes, the law permits a substitution of prayers; but even with
this injunction few people now comply, or it is evaded by giving a few
dollars to some hadjy, who, taking from several persons commissions of
the same kind, includes all their names in the addition consequently
made to the prayers recited by him at the places of holy visit.
