He Mode Of Building Is The Same As That Adopted At Djidda, With The
Addition Of Windows Looking Towards The Street; Of These Many Project
From The Wall, And Have Their Frame-Work Elaborately
[P.105] carved, or gaudily painted.
Before them hang blinds made of
slight reeds, which exclude flies and gnats while they admit fresh air.
Every house has its terrace, the floor of which (composed of a
preparation from lime-stone) is built with a slight inclination, so that
the rain-water runs off through gutters into the street; for the rains
here are so irregular that it is not worth while to collect the water of
them in cisterns, as is done in Syria. The terraces are concealed from
view by slight parapet walls; for throughout the east it is reckoned
discreditable that a man should appear upon the terrace, whence he might
be accused of looking at women in the neighbour-ing houses, as the
females pass much of their time on the terraces, employed in various
domestic occupations, such as drying corn, hanging up linen, &c. The
Europeans of Aleppo alone enjoy the privilege of frequenting their
terraces, which are often beautifully built of stone; here they resort
during the summer evenings, and often to sup and pass the night. All the
houses of the Mekkawys, except those of the principal and richest
inhabitants, are constructed for the accommodation of lodgers, being
divided into many apart-ments, separated from each other, and each
consisting of a sitting-room and a small kitchen. Since the pilgrimage,
which has begun to decline, (this happened before the Wahaby conquest,)
many of the Mekkawys, no longer deriving profit from the letting of
their lodgings, found themselves unable to afford the expense of
repairs; and thus numerous buildings in the out-skirts have fallen
completely into ruin, and the town itself exhibits in every street
houses rapidly decaying. I saw only one of recent construction; it was
in the quarter of El Shebeyka, belonged to a sherif, and cost, as report
said, one hundred and fifty purses; such a house might have been built
at Cairo for sixty purses.
The streets are all unpaved; and in summer time the sand and dust in
them are as great a nuisance as the mud is in the rainy season, during
which they are scarcely passable after a shower; for in the interior of
the town the water does not run off, but remains till it is dried up. It
may be ascribed to the destructive rains,
[p.106] which, though of shorter duration than in other tropical
countries, fall with considerable violence, that no ancient buildings
are found in Mekka. The mosque itself has undergone so many repairs
under different sultans, that it may be called a modern structure; and
of the houses, I do not think there exists one older than four
centuries; it is not, therefore, in this place, that the traveller must
look for interesting specimens of architecture or such beautiful remains
of Saracenic structures as are still admired in Syria, Egypt, Barbary,
and Spain. In this respect the ancient and far-famed Mekka is surpassed
by the smallest provincial towns of Syria or Egypt. The same may be said
with respect to Medina, and I suspect that the towns of Yemen are
generally poor in architectural remains.
Mekka is deficient in those regulations of police which are customary in
Eastern cities. The streets are totally dark at night, no lamps of any
kind being lighted; its different quarters are without gates, differing
in this respect also from most Eastern towns, where each quarter is
regularly shut up after the last evening prayers. The town may therefore
be crossed at any time of the night, and the same attention is not paid
here to the security of merchants, as well as of husbands, (on whose
account principally, the quarters are closed,) as in Syrian or Egyptian
towns of equal magnitude. The dirt and sweepings of the houses are cast
into the streets, where they soon become dust or mud according to the
season. The same custom seems to have prevailed equally in ancient
times; for I did not perceive in the skirts of the town any of those
heaps of rubbish which are usually found near the large towns of Turkey.
With respect to water, the most important of all supplies, and that
which always forms the first object of inquiry among Asiatics, Mekka is
not much better provided than Djidda; there are but few cisterns for
collecting rain, and the well-water is so brackish that it is used only
for culinary purposes, except during the time of the pilgrimage, when
the lowest class of hadjys drink it. The famous well of Zemzem, in the
great mosque, is indeed sufficiently copious to supply the whole town;
but, however holy, its water is heavy to
[p.107] the taste and impedes digestion; the poorer classes besides have
not permission to fill their water-skins with it at pleasure. The best
water in Mekka is brought by a conduit from the vicinity of Arafat, six
or seven hours distant. The present government, instead of constructing
similar works, neglects even the repairs and requisite cleansing of this
aqueduct. It is wholly built of stone; and all those parts of it which
appear above ground, are covered with a thick layer of stone and cement.
I heard that it had not been cleaned during the last fifty years; the
consequence of this negligence is, that the most of the water is lost in
its passage to the city through apertures, or slowly forces its way
through the obstructing sediment, though it flows in a full stream into
the head of the aqueduct at Arafat. The supply which it affords in
ordinary times is barely sufficient for the use of the inhabitants, and
during the pilgrimage sweet water becomes an absolute scarcity; a small
skin of water (two of which skins a person may carry) being then often
sold for one shilling - a very high price among Arabs.
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