I Never Owned Having Played A
Part, To Avoid Shocking His Prejudices; And Though He Must Have
Suspected Me,-For
The general report was, that an Englishman, disguised
as a Persian, had performed the pilgrimage, measured the country, and
sketched
The buildings,-he had the gentlemanly feeling never to allude
to the past. We parted, when I went to India, on the best of terms.
[FN#6] Munkati'a-one cut off (from the pleasures and comforts of life).
In Al-Hijaz, as in England, any allusion to poverty is highly offensive.
[FN#7] The Koran expressly forbids a Moslem to discredit the word of
any man who professes his belief in the Saving Faith. The greatest
offence of the Wahhabis is their habit of designating all Moslems that
belong to any but their own sect by the opprobrious name of Kafirs or
infidels. This, however, is only the Koranic precept; in practice a
much less trustful spirit prevails.
[FN#8] Towards the end of the season, poor pilgrims are forwarded
gratis, by order of government. But, to make such liberality as
inexpensive as possible, the Pasha compels ship-owners to carry one
pilgrim per 9 ardebs (about 5 bushels each), in small, and 1 per 11 in
large vessels.
[FN#9] I was informed by a Prussian gentleman, holding an official
appointment under His Highness the Pasha, at Cairo, that 300,000 ardebs
of grain were annually exported from Kusayr to Jeddah. The rest is
brought down the Nile for consumption in Lower Egypt, and export to
Europe.
[FN#10] The account here offered to the reader was kindly supplied to
me by Henry Levick, Esq.
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