The Astronomer Of The Mosque Learns To Know The Exact Time Of
The Sun's Passing The Meridian, And Occupies Himself Occasionally With
Astrology And Horoscopes.
A Persian doctor, the only avowed medical
professor I saw at Mekka, deals in nothing
[P.216] but miraculous balsams and infallible elixirs; his potions are
all sweet and agreeable; and the musk and aloe-wood which he burns,
diffuse through his shop a delicious odour, which has contributed to
establish his reputation. Music, in general so passionately loved among
the Arabs, is less practised at Mekka than in Syria and Egypt. Of
instruments they possess only the rababa, (a kind of guitar,) the nay,
(a species of clarinet,) and the tambour, or tambourine. Few songs are
heard in the evenings, except among the Bedouins in the skirts of the
town. The choral song called Djok, is sometimes sung by the young men at
night in the coffee-houses, its measure being accompanied with the
clapping of hands. In general, the voices of the Hedjazys are harsh, and
not clear: I heard none of those sonorous and harmonious voices which
are so remarkable in Egypt, and still more in Syria, whether giving
utterance to love songs, or chanting the praises of Mohammed from the
minarets, which in the depth of night has a peculiarly grand effect.
Even the Imams of the mosque, and those who chant the anthems, in
repeating the last words of the introductory prayers of the Imam, men
who in other places are chosen for their fine voices, can here be
distinguished only by their hoarseness and dissonance.
The Sherif has a band of martial music, similar to that kept by Pashas,
composed of kettle-drums, trumpets, fifes, &c.: it plays twice a day
before his door, and for about an hour on every evening of the new moon.
Weddings are attended by professional females, who sing and dance: they
have, it is said, good voices, and are not of that dissolute class to
which the public singers and dancers belong in Syria and Egypt. The
Mekkawys say, that before the Wahaby invasion, singers might be heard
during the evening in every street, but that the austerity of the
Wahabys, who, though passionately fond of their own Bedouin songs,
disapproved of the public singing of females, occasioned the ruin of all
musical pursuits: - this, however, may be only an idle notion, to be
ranked with that which is as prevalent in the East as it is in Europe,
that old times were always better in every respect than the present.
[p.217] The sakas or water-carriers of Mekka, many of whom are
foreigners, having a song which is very affecting from its simplicity
and the purpose for which it is used, the wealthier pilgrims frequently
purchase the whole contents of a saka's water-skin, on quitting the
mosque, especially at night, and order him to distribute it gratis among
the poor. While pouring out the water into the wooden bowls, with which
every beggar is provided, they exclaim "Sebyl Allah, ya atshan, Sebyl!"
"hasten, O thirsty, to the ways of God!" and then break out in the
following short song of three notes only, which I never heard without
emotion.
Ed-djene wa el moy fezata ly Saheb es-sabyl "Paradise and forgiveness be
the lot of him who gave you this water!"
I cannot describe the marriage-feasts as celebrated at Mekka, not having
attended any; but I have seen the bride carried to the house of her
husband, accompanied by all her female friends. No canopy is used on
this occasion, as in Egypt, nor any music; but rich clothes and
furniture are displayed, and the feasting is sumptuous, and often lasts
for three or four days. On settling a marriage, the money to be paid for
the bride is carried in procession from the house of the bridegroom to
that of the girl's father; it is borne through the streets upon two
tabourets, wrapped up in a rich handkerchief, and covered again with an
embroidered satin stuff. Before the two persons who hold these
tabourets, two others walk, with a flask of rose-water in one hand, and
a censer in the other, upon which all sorts of perfumes and odours are
burning. Behind them follow, in a long train, all the kindred and
friends of the bridegroom, dressed in their best clothes. The price paid
for virgins among the respectable classes, varies at Mekka from forty to
three hundred dollars, and from ten to twenty dollars among the poor
classes. Half the sum only is usually paid down; the other half is left
in possession of the husband, who pays it in case he should divorce his
wife.
[p.218] The circumcision feasts are similar to those at Cairo: the
child, after the operation, is dressed in the richest stuffs, set upon a
fine horse highly adorned, and is thus carried in procession through the
town with drums beating before him.
Funerals differ in nothing from those in Egypt and Syria.
The people of Mekka, in general, have very few horses; I believe that
there are not more than sixty kept by private individuals. The Sherif
has about twenty or thirty in his stables; but Sherif Ghaleb had a
larger stud. The military Sherifs keep mares, but the greater part of
these were absent with the army. The Bedouins, who are settled in the
suburb Moabede, and in some other parts of the town, as being concerned
with public affairs, have also their horses; but none of the merchants
or other classes keep any. They are afraid of being deprived by the
Sherif of any fine animal they might possess, and therefore content
themselves with mules or gedishes (geldings of a low breed). Asses are
very common, but no person of quality ever rides upon them. The few
horses kept at Mekka are of noble breed, and purchased from the
Bedouins: in the spring they are usually sent to some Bedouin
encampment, to feed upon the fine nutritious herbage of the Desert.
Sherif Yahya has a gray mare, from the stud of Ghaleb, which was valued
at twenty purses; she was as beautiful a creature as I ever saw, and the
only one perfectly fine that I met with in the Hedjaz.
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