Indeed, After The Canescent Heat Of The Day, And The Tossing
Of Our Ill-Conditioned Vessel, We Should Have Been Contented With
Lodgings Far Less Luxurious.
Fuel was readily collected, and while some
bathed, others
[P.198] erected a hearth-three large stones and a hole open to
leeward-lit the fire and put the pot on to boil. Shaykh Nur had
fortunately a line; we had been successful in fishing; a little rice
also had been bought; with this boiled, and rock-cod broiled upon the
charcoal, we made a dinner that caused every one to forget the sore
grievance of "Mare's skin" and stone-hard biscuit. A few Maghrabis had
ventured on shore, the Rais having terrified the others by threatening
them with those "bogies," the Badawin-and they offered us
Kuskusu[FN#15] in exchange for fish. As evening fell, we determined,
before sleeping, to work upon their "morale" as effectually as we had
attacked their physique. Shaykh Hamid stood up and indulged them with
the Azan, or call to prayers, pronounced after the fashion of
Al-Madinah.[FN#16] They performed their devotions in lines ranged
behind us as a token of respect, and when worship was over we were
questioned about the Holy City till we grew tired of answering. Again
our heads and shoulders, our hands and knees,[FN#17] were kissed, but
this time in devotion, not in penitence. My companions could scarcely
understand half the rugged words which the Maghrabis used,[FN#18] as
their dialect was fresh from the
[p.199] distant Desert. Still we succeeded in making ourselves
intelligible to them, vaunting our dignity as the Sons of the Prophet,
and the sanctity of our land which should protect its children from
every description of fraud and violence. We benignantly promised to be
their guides at Al-Madinah, and the boy Mohammed would conduct their
devotions at Meccah, always provided that they repented their past
misdeeds, avoided any repetition of the same, and promised to perform
the duties of good and faithful pilgrims. Presently the Rais joined our
party, and the usual story-telling began. The old man knew the name of
each hill, and had a legend for every nook and corner in sight. He
dwelt at length upon the life of Abu Zulaymah, the patron saint of
these seas, whose little tomb stands at no great distance from our
bivouac place, and told us how he sits watching over the safety of
pious mariners in a cave among the neighbouring rocks, and sipping his
coffee, which is brought in a raw state from Meccah by green birds, and
prepared in the usual way by the hands of ministering angels. He showed
us the spot where the terrible king of Egypt, when close upon the heels
of the children of Israel, was whelmed in the "hell of waters,[FN#19]"
and he warned us that next day our way would be through breakers, and
reefs, and dangerous currents, over whose troubled depths, since that
awful day, the Ifrit of the storm has never ceased to flap his sable
wing.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 138 of 302
Words from 72116 to 72635
of 157964
