In The
Afternoon Some Of The Turkish Soldiers Who Were Here Put On This
Garment, With The Prescribed Ceremonies, Which
Consist in an ablution,
or, if the pilgrim choose, an entire purification, an audible avowal of
the act of investment,
A prayer of two rikats, and the recital of pious
exclamations called telbye. This being a time of war, the soldiers
continued to wear their arms over the cloak.
In the afternoon, the coffee-house keeper dressed the provisions I had
brought, as well as those belonging to many others of the company. There
was great disorder in the place, and nobody could attempt to sleep. Soon
after our arrival, a troop of soldiers passed, and pitched their tents a
little farther on the plain; they then entered the coffee-huts, and took
away all the sweet water, which had been procured from a well about
half-an-hour distant, and kept at Hadda in large jars. The huts of the
few miserable
[p.56] inhabitants, thus exposed to all the casualties attending the
continual passage of troops, are formed with brushwood, in the shape of
a flattened cone, and they receive light only through the entrance; here
the whole family lives huddled together in one apartment. The numerous
coffee-huts are spacious sheds, supported by poles, with the coffee-
waiter's hearth placed in one corner. They are infested by great numbers
of rats, bolder than any I ever saw.
We left Hadda about five o'clock in the evening. The road continuing
over the plain, the soil is sandy, in some parts mixed with clay, and
might, I think, be easily cultivated by digging wells. At one hour from
Hadda, we saw on our left, in the plain, some date-trees: here, as I
understood, flows a small rivulet, which in former times irrigated some
fields. The trees are at present neglected. We now left the plain, and
diverging a little south-ward from our easterly course, again entered a
hilly country, and reached, at two hours from Hadda, another coffee-hut,
called Shemeysa. Behind it is the Djebel Shemeysa, or mountain of
Shemeysa, from which, according to the historians of Mekka, was
extracted the marble of many columns in the mosque of that holy city. In
the mountain, near the hut, is a well. From Shemeysa we rode in a broad
valley overspread with deep sands, and containing some thorny trees. At
four hours from Hadda, we passed Kahwet Salem, or Salem's coffee-shop,
and a well; there we met a caravan coming from Mekka. The mountains
nearly close at this place, leaving only a narrow straight valley,
crossed at intervals by several other valleys. We then proceeded as far
as Hadjalye, a coffee-house, seven hours distant from Hadda, with a
large well near it, which supplies the camel-drivers of the Syrian
pilgrim caravan, on the way to and from Mekka.
Not having enjoyed a moment's sleep since we quitted Djidda, I lay down
on the sands, and slept till day-break, while my companions pursued
their road to Mekka. My guide only remained with me;
[p.57] but his fears for the safety of his camels would not allow him to
close his eyes. The route from Djidda to Mekka is always frequented by
suspicious characters; and as every body travels by night, stragglers
are easily plundered. Near Hadjalye, are the ruins of an ancient
village, built with stone; and in the Wady are traces of former
cultivation.
August 26th. - At half an hour from Hadjalye, we came to a small date
plantation, surrounded by a wall. From hence the road to Mekka lies to
the right, and enters the town by the quarter called Djerouel. My guide
had orders to conduct me by a by-road to Tayf, which passes in the north
of Mekka; it branches off at Hadda, crosses the road from Mekka to Wady
Fatme, and joins the great road from Mekka to Tayf, beyond Wady Muna.
Just before we left Hadda, my guide, who knew nothing further respecting
me than that I had business with the Pasha at Tayf, that I performed all
the outward observances of a Moslem pilgrim, and that I had been liberal
to him before our departure, asked me the reason of his having been
ordered to take me by the northern road. I replied, that it was probably
thought shorter than the other. "That is a mistake," he replied; "the
Mekka road is quite as short, and much safer; and if you have no
objection, we will proceed by it." This was just what I wished, though I
had taken care not to betray any anxiety on the subject; and we
accordingly followed the great road, in company with the other
travellers. Instead, however, of taking me the usual way, which would
have carried me through the whole length of the town, he, having no
curiosity to gratify, conducted me, without my being aware of it, by a
short cut, and thus deprived me of an opportunity of seeing Mekka fully
at this time.
From the date plantation beyond Hadjalye, we reached in half an hour the
plain where the Syrian pilgrim-caravan usually encamps, and which has
taken the name of Sheikh Mahmoud, from the tomb of a saint so called,
built in the midst of it. It is encompassed
[p.58] by low mountains; is from two to three miles in length, and one
in breadth; and is separated from the valley of Mekka by a narrow chain
of hills, over which a road has been cut through the rocks, with much
labour. By this road we ascended, and on the summit of the hill passed
two watch-towers, built on each side of the road by the Sherif Ghaleb.
As we descended on the other side, where the road is paved, the view of
Mekka opened upon us; and at an hour and a half from Hadjalye, we
entered the eastern quarter of the town, near the Sherif's palace
(marked 50 in the plan). The great body of the town lay on our right,
hidden, in part, by the windings of the valley.
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