Numbers Of Hadjys,
Already Ill From The Fatigues Of The Road, Or From Cold Caught While
Wearing The Ihram, Are Unable To Proceed On Their Journey Homewards;
They Remain In The Hope Of Recovering Strength, But Often Terminate
Their Existence Here.
If they have some companion or relative with them,
he carries off the dead man's property, on paying a fee to the Kadhy; if
he is alone, the Kadhy and Sherif are his heirs, and these inheritances
are no inconsiderable source of income.
When I quitted Mekka, there were
still remaining there perhaps a thousand hadjys, many of whom intended
to pass a whole year in the holy city, and to be present at another
Hadj; others to protract their residence only for a few months.
On the day of quitting Mekka, it is thought becoming to pay a parting
visit to the Kaaba, called Towaf el Wodaa, and to perform the Towaf and
Say. The hadjys generally do it when every thing is ready for departure,
and mount their camels the moment they have finished the ceremony.
[p.291]JOURNEY FROM MEKKA TO MEDINA.
ON the 15th of January, 1815, I left Mekka with a small caravan of
hadjys, who were going to visit the tomb of the prophet: it consisted of
about fifty camels, the property of some Bedouins of the Ryshye and
Zebeyde tribes, who either accompanied their beasts themselves, or had
sent slaves with them. I had hired two camels, to carry myself and my
slave and baggage; and, as is customary in the Hedjaz, I had paid the
money in advance, at the rate of one hundred and eighty piastres per
camel.
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