I Have Already Remarked That All The
Rich Mekkawys Have Houses At Djidda, And That The Commercial Employments
Of The Two Cities Are Alike.
The inhabitants of Mekka may be all styled foreigners, or the offspring
of foreigners, except a few Hedjaz Bedouins, or their descendants, who
have settled here.
The ancient tribe of Koreysh, which was divided into
a wandering and a settled branch, is almost extinct. There are some
Bedouins of Koreysh still in the neighbourhood; but the settled Koreysh,
who were the inhabitants of Mekka in the time of Mohammed, have either
been destroyed, or have migrated, in consequence of the frequent
intestine wars. At this moment three Koreysh families only, descendants
of the ancient tribe of that name, are found at Mekka, the head of one
of which is the Nayb, or keeper of the mosque; and the two others are
poor people, also attached to its service. The neighbourhood of the
great mart of Djidda, the yearly arrival of immense caravans, and the
holy house, have attracted, however, a sufficient number of strangers to
supply the place of the Koreysh. In every hadj some of the pilgrims
remain behind: the Mohammedan, whenever resident for any time in a town,
takes a wife, and is thus often induced to settle permanently on the
spot. Hence most of the Mekkawys are descendants of foreigners from
distant parts of the
[p.181] globe, who have adopted Arabian manners, and, by intermarrying,
have produced a race which can no longer be distinguished from the
indigenous Arabians. On questioning shopkeepers, merchants, olemas,
metowafs, and indeed people of every description, they are found to be
the sons, grandsons, or descendants of foreigners. The most numerous are
those whose fathers came from Yemen and Hadramaut; next to them in
numbers are the descendants of Indians, Egyptians, Syrians, Mogrebyns,
and Turks. There are also Mekkawys of Persian origin; Tatars, Bokhars,
Kurds, Afghans; in short, of almost every Mohammedan country in the
world. The Mekkawy is careful in preserving, by tradition, the knowledge
of his original country. My metowaf or guide traced his descent to an
Usbek Tatar, from the neighbourhood of Bokhara, and whenever any hadjys
arrived from that quarter, he never failed to recommend himself as their
guide, though entirely ignorant of their language.
There is, however, one branch of the ancient Arabians remaining in
Mekka; these are the native Sherifs, (as distinguished from the
descendants of foreign Sherifs who have settled here:) they derive their
pedigree from Hassan and Hosseyn, the sons of Fatme, the daughter of
Mohammed; a descent claimed equally by the other Sherifs, but whose
genealogies are supposed to be less authentic. The Mekka Sherifs form a
large class, into which no foreigners are admitted, and it is spreading
over many other parts of Arabia. I am not thoroughly acquainted with
their history, or the period at which they began to branch out into
particular tribes; and I can only state that they acknowledge many, but
not all Sherifs of Yemen, and other parts of the Hedjaz, as their
distant relations: at present they are divided into several tribes, out
of one of which the reigning Sherif must be chosen, as I shall mention
below. At Mekka a difference is observed in the name given to the
Sherifs, according to their profession. Those who are employed in study
and the law, and occupied more or less about the temple and its
dependencies are called Seyd, while those who become soldiers, and mix
in state affairs, are known exclusively by the term Sherif. The Seyds
are followers of religion (say the Mekkawys), the Sherifs are soldiers.
The son usually follows the vocation of the
[p.182] father. These native Sherifs are the head men of the town, or
at least were so before their pride was broken by the Turkish conquest.
Though a mixed population, the inhabitants of Mekka wear the same sort
of dress, and have the same customs; and although of different origin,
they seem to be much less tenacious of their national costume and
manners in this holy city than any where else. In Syria and Egypt,
strangers from all parts of Asia retain with the greatest strictness the
dress and mode of living of their native countries, though established
for life in their new abodes; a circumstance which renders the view of
an eastern bazar infinitely more interesting than any large assemblage
of people in Europe. In the Hedjaz, on the contrary, most of the foreign
visitors change their native costume for that of the people of the
country; and their children born there are brought up and clothed in the
fashion of the Mekkawys. The Indians, as I have already remarked in
speaking of Djidda, offer an exception to this general rule; they form a
distinct colony, and retain their native language, which the children of
other strangers usually forget, their mothers being in many instances
Arabs, natives of Mekka.
The colour of the Mekkawy and Djiddawy is a yellowish sickly brown,
lighter or darker according to the origin of the mother, who is very
often an Abyssinian slave. Their features approach much nearer to those
of Bedouins than I have observed in any townsmen of the East; this is
particularly observable in the Sherifs, who are gifted with very
handsome countenances; they have the eye, face, and aquiline nose of the
Bedouin, but are more fleshy. The lower class of Mekkawys are generally
stout, with muscular limbs, while the higher orders are distinguishable
by their meagre emaciated forms, as are also all those inhabitants who
draw their origin from India or Yemen. The Bedouins who surround Mekka,
though poor, are much stronger-bodied than the wealthier Bedouins of the
interior of the Desert, probably because their habits are less roving,
and because they are less exposed to the hardships of long journies. The
Mekkawy, it may be generally said, is inferior in strength and size to
the Syrian or Egyptian, but far exceeds him in expressive features, and
especially in the vivacity and brilliancy of the eye.
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