Before The Power Of The Sherifs Was Broken By The Chief Sherif Serour,
The Former Extorted From Every Caravan That Came To Mekka Considerable
Sums, Besides The Surra To Which They Were Entitled.
As soon as they
heard of the near approach of a caravan, they issued from Mekka with all
their armed retinue and their Bedouin friends, and often disputed with
the leaders of the caravan for several days before the amount of the
tribute was settled.
To the regular caravans above mentioned, must be added large bodies of
Bedouins, which resort to Mekka, during peace, from every part of the
Desert; for even among the least religious Bedouins, the title of hadjy
is respected: Nedjed sends its pilgrims, as do also the Southern
Bedouins. When the Wahabys were in possession of Mekka, hosts of these
sectaries came to Arafat, as much, perhaps, for the purpose of paying
their court to the chief, who, it was known, liked to see his Arabs
collected there, as from religious motives. The last time the Wahabys
performed the Hadj was in 1811, shortly after the first defeat of
Tousoun Pasha at Djedeyde: they were accompanied by large bodies of
Bedouins of Kahtan, Asyr, with others from the most interior part of the
Desert. The plunder taken from the Turkish army was sold to the Mekkawys
in the market at Arafat. I shall here observe that Aly Bey el Abassy has
made a strange mistake with respect to the host of Wahabys, whom he saw
entering Mekka at the time of the pilgrimage; for he fancied that they
came to take possession of the town, and flattered himself that he was
present at the first conquest of Mekka by the Wahabys, while every child
in the place could have informed him that this event happened three
years before his arrival in the Hedjaz.
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