I frequented only
such society as pleased me, and, mixing with a crowd of foreign pilgrims
from all parts of the world, I was not liable to impertinent remarks or
disagreeable inquiries. If any question arose about my origin (a
circum-stance that rarely happened in a place which always abounds with
strangers), I stated myself to be a reduced member of the Mamelouk corps
of Egypt, and found it easy to avoid those persons whose intimate
knowledge of that country might perhaps have enabled them to detect the
falsehood. But there was little to be appre-hended even from the
consequences of such detection; for the assumption of a false character
is frequent among all eastern travellers, and especially at Mekka, where
every one affects poverty in order to escape imposition, or being led
into great expenses. During all my journies in the East, I never enjoyed
such perfect ease as at Mekka; and I shall always retain a pleasing
recollection of my residence there, although the state of my health did
not permit me to benefit by all the advantages that my situation
offered. I shall now proceed to describe the town, its inhabitants, and
the pilgrimage, and then resume the narrative of my travels.
[p.102] DESCRIPTION OF MEKKA. [EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN. [not included]]
MEKKA is dignified among the Arabs with many lofty-sounding titles. The
most common are Om el Kora (the mother of towns);
[p.103] El Mosherefe (the noble); Beled al Ameyn (the region of the
faithful). Firuzabadi, the celebrated author of the Kamus, has composed
a whole treatise on the different names of Mekka. This town is situated
in a valley, narrow and sandy, the main direction of which is from north
to south; but it inclines towards the north-west near the southern
extremity of the town. In breadth this valley varies from one hundred to
seven hundred paces, the chief part of the city being placed where the
valley is most broad. In the narrower part are single rows of houses
only, or detached shops. The town itself covers a space of about fifteen
hundred paces in length, from the quarter called El Shebeyka to the
extremity of the Mala; but the whole extent of ground comprehended under
the denomination of Mekka, from the suburb called Djerouel (where is the
entrance from Djidda) to the suburb called Moabede (on the Tayf road),
amounts to three thousand five hundred paces. The mountains inclosing
this valley (which, before the town was built, the Arabs had named Wady
Mekka or Bekka) are from two to five hundred feet in height, completely
barren and destitute of trees. The principal chain lies on the eastern
side of the town: the valley slopes gently towards the south, where
stands the quarter called El Mesfale (the low place). The rain-water
from the town is lost towards the south of Mesfale in the open valley
named Wady el Tarafeyn. Most of the town is situated in the valley
itself; but there are also parts built on the sides of the mountains,
principally of the eastern chain, where the primitive habitations of the
Koreysh, and the ancient town appear to have been placed.
Mekka may be styled a handsome town: its streets are in general broader
than those of eastern cities; the houses lofty, and built of stone; and
the numerous windows that face the streets give them a more lively and
European aspect than those of Egypt or Syria, where the houses present
but few windows towards the exterior. Mekka (like Djidda) contains many
houses three stories high; few at Mekka are white-washed; but the dark
grey colour of the stone is much pre-ferable to the glaring white that
offends the eye in Djidda. In most
[p.104] towns of the Levant the narrowness of a street contributes to
its coolness; and in countries where wheel-carriages are not used, a
space that allows two loaded camels to pass each other is deemed
sufficient. At Mekka, however, it was necessary to leave the passages
wide, for the innumerable visitors who here crowd together; and it is in
the houses adapted for the reception of pilgrims and other sojourners,
that the windows are so contrived as to command a view of the streets.
The city is open on every side; but the neighbouring mountains, if
properly defended, would form a barrier of considerable strength against
an enemy. In former times it had three walls to protect its extremities;
one was built across the valley, at the street of Mala; another at the
quarter of Shebeyka; and the third at the valley opening into the
Mesfale. These walls were repaired in A.H. 816 and 828, and in a century
after some traces of them still remained. [See Azraky, Fasy, and
Kotobeddyn.]
The only public place in the body of the town is the ample square of the
great mosque; no trees or gardens cheer the eye; and the scene is
enlivened only during the Hadj by the great number of well-stored shops
which are found in every quarter. Except four or five large houses
belonging to the Sherif, two medreses or colleges (now converted into
corn magazines), and the mosque, with some buildings and schools
attached to it, Mekka cannot boast of any public edifices, and in this
respect is, perhaps, more deficient than any other eastern city of the
same size. Neither khans, for the accommodation of travellers, or for
the deposit of merchandize, nor palaces of grandees, nor mosques, which
adorn every quarter of other towns in the East, are here to be seen; and
we may perhaps attribute this want of splendid buildings to the
veneration which its inhabi-tants entertain for their temple; this
prevents them from construct-ing any edifice which might possibly
pretend to rival it.
