At The End Of Ten Hours, In
The Middle Of The Night, Just As The Weather Had Cleared Up, And A
Severe Frost Succeeded The Rain, We Arrived Before The Gate Of Medina.
It Was Shut, And We Had To Wait Till Day-Light Before It Could Be
Opened.
Being unable to light a fire on the wet ground with wet fuel,
and being all completely soaked with
The rain, the sharp frost of the
morning became distressing to us, and was probably the cause of the
fever which confined me so long in this town; for I had enjoyed perfect
health during the whole journey.
We entered Medina at sun-rise on the 28th of January, the thirteenth day
after our leaving Mekka, having halted two days on the road. The Hadj
caravan usually performs the journey in eleven days, and, if pressed for
time, in ten.
The Bedouins apply to the whole country between Mekka and Medina, west
of the mountains, the name of El Djohfe, which, however, is sometimes
understood to mean the country from Mekka to Beder only.
[p.317]MEDINA.
THE caravan alighted in a large court-yard in the suburb, where the
loads were deposited; and all the travellers who had come with it
immediately dispersed in quest of lodgings. With the help of a Mezowar,
a professional class of men, similar to the delyls at Mekka, I procured,
after some trouble, a good apartment in the principal market-street of
the town, about fifty yards from the great mosque. I transported my
baggage to those lodgings, where I was called upon by the Mezowar to
visit the mosque and the holy tomb of Mohammed; it being a law here, as
at Mekka, that a traveller arriving in the town must fulfil this duty,
before he undertakes the most trifling business.
The ceremonies are here much easier and shorter than at Mekka, as will
be presently seen. In a quarter of an hour I had gone through them, when
I was at liberty to return home to arrange my domestic affairs. My
Mezowar assisted me in the purchase of all necessary provisions, which
were not obtained without difficulty; Tousoun Pasha, the governor of the
town, having, by his inconsiderate measures, frightened away the
Bedouins and camel-drivers, who used to bring in provisions. Flour and
butter, however, those prime articles in an Eastern kitchen, were to be
had before sunset, though not found in the public market; but it was
three days before I could procure any coal, the want of which was
sensibly felt at this cold season of the year. Hearing that Yahya
Efendi, the physician of Tousoun Pasha, the same person who
[p.318] in July last had taken my bill upon Djidda, was here. I paid him
a visit next day, and showed him a letter received at Mekka, before I
had left that town, from my Cairo banker, mentioning the payment of the
bill, no news of which had yet reached Yahya himself.
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