Such
Exhibitions Create Neither Horror Nor Disgust In The Breast Of An
Osmanly; Their Continual Recurrence Hardens His Feelings, And Renders
Him Insensible To The Emotions Of Pity.
I heard a Bedouin, probably a
friend of the slain, who stood near the bodies, exclaim, "God have mercy
upon them; but no mercy upon him who killed them!"
The street, which extends the whole length of Muna, was now converted
into a market and fair: every inch of ground not built upon,
[p.281] was occupied by sheds or booths, made of mats; or by small
tents, fitted up as shops. Provisions, and merchandize of every kind,
had been brought here from Mekka; and, contrary to the custom in other
Mohammedan countries, where all commerce is laid aside during the feast-
days, all the merchants, shopkeepers, and brokers, were busily employed
in traffic. The merchants who had arrived with the Syrian caravan, began
their bargains for Indian goods, and exhibited samples of the articles
which they had themselves brought, and which were lying in the
warehouses at Mekka. A number of poor hadjys were crying their small
adventures, which they carried along the street on their heads; and as
all business was confined to this single street, the mixture of nations,
costumes, and merchandize, was still more striking than at Mekka. [This
pilgrimage among the Pagan Arabs was, at all times, connected with a
large fair held at Mekka. In the month before the pilgrimage, they
visited some other neighbouring fairs, namely, those of Okath, the
market of the tribe of Kenane; of Medjna and Zou el Medjaz; the markets
of the tribe of Hodeyl; and of Hasha, that of the Beni Lazed.
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of 182297