The Canal Is Left Open Here For The
Convenience Of Pilgrims, And Is Conducted Round The Three Sides Of The
Mountains, Passing By Modaa Seydna Adam.
[At the close of the sixteenth
century, according to Kotobeddyn, the whole plain of Arafat was
cultivated.]
From the summit of Arafat, I counted about three thousand tents
dispersed over the plain, of which two thirds belonged to the two
[p.268] Hadj caravans, and to the suite and soldiers of Mohammed Aly;
the rest to the Arabs of the Sherif, the Bedouin hadjys, and the people
of Mekka and Djidda. These assembled multitudes were for the greater
number, like myself, without tents. The two caravans were encamped
without much order, each party of pilgrims or soldiers having pitched
its tents in large circles or dowars, in the midst of which many of
their camels were reposing. The plain contained, dispersed in different
parts, from twenty to twenty-five thousand camels, twelve thousand of
which belonged to the Syrian Hadj, and from five to six thousand to the
Egyptian; besides about three thousand, purchased by Mohammed Aly from
the Bedouins in the Syrian Deserts, and brought to Mekka with the Hadj,
to convey the pilgrims to this place, previously to being used for the
transport of army-provisions to Tayf.
The Syrian Hadj was encamped on the south and south-west side of the
mountain; the Egyptian on the south-east. Around the house of the
Sherif, Yahya himself was encamped with his Bedouin troops, and in its
neighbourhood were all the Hedjaz people.
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