These Stipends, Called Surra, (Of Which I
Have Already Given An Account,) Derive Their Origin Principally From The
Sultans Of Constantinople, Who, Upon Their Accession To The Throne,
Generally Fix A Certain Yearly Sum For The Maintenance Of The Poor, And
The Worthiest Individuals Of Mekka And Medina.
They are distributed in
both towns by the Kadhy, as he thinks proper; but if a person has been
once presented with a stipend, he enjoys it for life, and it descends to
his children.
He receives a ticket signed by the Kadhy, the Sherif, and
the Surra-writer, and his name is entered in a register at Mekka, of
which a duplicate is sent annually by the returning Hadj to
Constantinople, where the name is enrolled in the general Surra-book.
The Surra is made up at Constantinople in a great number of small
packets, each containing the stipulated sum, and indorsed with the name
of the individual to whom it is destined. If any fresh sum is sent to be
distributed, the Kadhy divides it, informs the inspector of the Surra at
Constantinople to whom the money has been given, and in the following
year the additional packages, addressed to the new pensioners, are added
to the former number. Some of the Surras are brought from Egypt, but the
far greater part from Constantinople, by way of Syria: this part is very
regularly received. Each caravan has its own Surra-writer, whose duty
also it is to distribute all the other money or tribute which the
caravan pays to Bedouins and Arabs, on its road to Mekka.
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