This Gentleman Was A Hanoverian By Birth, And A Baron:
Misfortunes Of A Very Distressing Nature Had Driven Him From
His home,
and he had thought of practising his profession at Djidda, or of
proceeding to Mokha; but his mind
Was too unsettled to determine upon
any thing; and he was of too independent a character to receive either
counsel or assistance. I left him at Djidda when I returned to Mekka,
and learnt afterwards that he died there in the month of March, of the
plague, and that he was buried by the Greeks of Djidda upon an island in
the harbour.
When I returned to Mekka, about the 8th or 9th of December, I found no
longer the same multitudes of people; but the beggars had
[p.287] become so numerous and troublesome, that many of the hadjys
preferred staying all day at home, to escape at once the importunities,
the expense of acceding to them, or the scandal of wanting charity.
These beggars were soliciting alms to carry them home; and their numbers
were increased by many pilgrims of respectable appearance, whose money
had been spent during the Hadj. It was my intention, in returning to
Mekka, to join the Syrian caravan, and travel with it as far as Medina;
I therefore, in imitation of some other Syrian pilgrims who had arrived
at Mekka before the caravan, engaged with a Bedouin of the Harb tribe
for two of his camels; although most of the hadjys, who, after the
pilgrimage, visit Mohammed's tomb at Medina, accompany the Syrian
caravan, agreeing with some Mekowem to defray all expenses on the road;
but it is better, for many reasons, to travel with Bedouins than with
towns-people, especially on a route across the Bedouin territory.
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