Cotton-Stuffed Pillows, Covered With Chintz
For Summer, And Silk For Winter, Are Placed Against The Wall, And Can
Be Moved To Make A Luxurious Heap; Their Covers Are Generally All Of
The Same Colour, Except Those At The End.
The seat of honour is denoted
by a small square cotton-stuffed silk coverlet, placed in one of the
corners, which the position of the windows determines, the place of
distinction being on the left of the host.
Thus in Egypt you have a
neatly-furnished room for L5 or L6.
[FN#16] The Madinah Shisha is a large cocoa-nut, with a tall wooden
stem, both garnished with brass ornaments; some trifling differences in
the latter distinguish it from the Meccah pipe. Both are inconveniently
mounted upon small brass tripods, and are easily overturned, scattering
fire and water over the carpets. The "lay," or snakes, are the
substantial manufacture of Al-Yaman. Some grandees at Al-Madinah have
glass Turkish Shishas and Constantinople snakes, which are of admirable
elegance, compared with the clumsy and unsightly Arab inventions. (See
page 80, ante.)
[FN#17] From this window I sketched the walls and the Egyptian gate of
Al-Madinah.
[FN#18] "Five mosques."
[FN#19] This Mosque must not be confounded with the Harim. It is
described in Chapter XV.
[FN#20] Their voices are strangely soft and delicate, considering the
appearance of the organs from which they proceed. Possibly this may be
a characteristic of the African races; it is remarkable amongst the
Somali women.
[FN#21] After touching the skin of a strange woman, it is not lawful in
Al-Islam to pray without ablution. For this reason, when a fair dame
shakes hands with you, she wraps up her fingers in a kerchief, or in
the end of her veil.
[FN#22] Nafukku'r rik, literally, "Let us open the saliva," is most
idiomatic Hijazi for the first morsel eaten in the morning. Hence it is
called Fakkur' rik, also Gura and Tasbih: the Egyptians call it
"Al-Fatur."
[FN#23] Orientals invariably begin by eating an "akratisma" in the
morning before they will smoke a pipe, or drink a cup of coffee; they
have also an insuperable prejudice against the internal use of cold
water at this hour.
[FN#24] The tobacco generally smoked here is Syrian, which is brought
down in large quantities by the Damascus caravan. Latakia is more
expensive, and generally too dry to retain its flavour.
[FN#25] The interior of the water jar is here perfumed with the smoke
of mastich, exactly as described by Lane, (Mod. Egyptians, vol i. ch.
5). I found at Al-Madinah the prejudice alluded to by Sonnini, namely,
that the fumes of the gum are prejudicial, and sometimes fatal to
invalids.
[FN#26] Kaylulah is the half hour's siesta about noon. It is a Sunnat,
and the Prophet said of it, "Kilu, fa inna 'sh' Shayatina la
Takil,"-"Take the mid-day siesta, for, verily, the demons sleep not at
this hour." "Aylulah" is slumbering after morning prayers (our "beauty
sleep"), which causes heaviness and inability to work. Ghaylulah is the
sleeping about 9 A.M., the effect of which is poverty and wretchedness.
Kaylulah (with the guttural kaf) is sleeping before evening prayers, a
practice reprobated in every part of the East. And, finally, Faylulah
is sleeping immediately after sunset,-also considered highly
detrimental.
[FN#27] The Arabs, who suffer greatly from melancholia, are kind to
people afflicted with this complaint; it is supposed to cause a
distaste for society, and a longing for solitude, an unsettled habit of
mind, and a neglect of worldly affairs. Probably it is the effect of
overworking the brain, in a hot dry atmosphere. I have remarked, that
in Arabia students are subject to it, and that amongst their
philosophers and literary men, there is scarcely an individual who was
not spoken of as a "Saudawi." My friend Omar Effendi used to complain,
that at times his temperament drove him out of the house,-so much did
he dislike the sound of the human voice,-to pass the day seated upon
some eminence in the vicinity of the city.
[FN#28] This habit of going out at night in common clothes, with a
Nabbut upon one's shoulders, is, as far as I could discover, popular at
Al-Madinah, but confined to the lowest classes at Meccah. The boy
Mohammed always spoke of it with undisguised disapprobation. During my
stay at Meccah, I saw no such costume amongst respectable people there;
though oftentimes there was a suspicion of a disguise.
[FN#29] Burckhardt (Travels in Arabia, vol. ii., p. 268) remarks that
Al-Madinah is the only town in the East from which dogs are excluded.
This was probably as much a relic of Wahhabi-ism, (that sect hating
even to look at a dog), as arising from apprehension of the Mosque
being polluted by canine intrusion. I have seen one or two of these
animals in the town, but I was told, that when they enter it in any
numbers, the police-magistrate issues orders to have them ejected.
[FN#30] The "Mubariz" is the single combatant, the champion of the
Arabian classical and chivalrous times.
[p.304]CHAPTER XVI.
A VISIT TO THE PROPHET'S TOMB.
Having performed the greater ablution, and used the toothstick as
directed, and dressed ourselves in white clothes, which the Apostle
loved, we were ready to start upon our holy errand. As my foot still
gave me great pain, Shaykh Hamid sent for a donkey. A wretched animal
appeared, raw-backed, lame of one leg, and wanting an ear, with
accoutrements to match, a pack-saddle without stirrups, and a halter
instead of a bridle. Such as the brute was, however, I had to mount it,
and to ride through the Misri gate, to the wonder of certain Badawin,
who, like the Indians, despise the ass.
"Honourable is the riding of a horse to the rider,
But the mule is a dishonour, and the donkey a disgrace,"
says their song.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 107 of 154
Words from 108550 to 109564
of 157964
