The Sun Had Nearly Risen (July 25th) Before I Shook Off The Lethargic
Effects Of Such A Night.
All around me were hurrying their camels,
regardless of rough ground, and not a soul spoke a word to his
neighbour.
"Are there robbers in sight?" was the natural question.
"No!" replied Mohammed; "they are walking with their eyes,[FN#17] they
will presently see their homes!" Rapidly we passed the Wady
al-Akik,[FN#18] of which,
"O my friend, this is Akik, then stand by it,
Endeavouring to be distracted by love, if not really a lover,"[FN#19]
[p.279] and a thousand other such pretty things, have been said by the
Arab poets. It was as "dry as summer's dust," and its "beautiful trees"
appeared in the shape of vegetable mummies. Half an hour after leaving
the "Blessed Valley" we came to a huge flight of steps roughly cut in a
long broad line of black scoriaceous basalt. This is termed the
Mudarraj or flight of steps over the western ridge of the so-called
Al-Harratayn.[FN#20] It is holy ground; for the Apostle spoke well of
it. Arrived at the top, we passed through a lane of dark lava, with
steep banks on both sides, and after a few minutes a full view of the
city suddenly opened upon us.[FN#21]
We halted our beasts as if by word of command. All of us descended, in
imitation of the pious of old, and sat down, jaded and hungry as we
were, to feast our eyes with a view of the Holy City.
"O Allah! this is the Harim (sanctuary) of Thy Apostle; make it to us a
Protection from Hell Fire, and a Refuge from Eternal Punishment! O open
the Gates of Thy Mercy, and let us pass through them to the Land of
Joy!" and "O Allah, bless the last of Prophets, the Seal of Prophecy,
with Blessings in number
[p.280] as the Stars of Heaven, and the Waves of the Sea, and the Sands
of the Waste-bless him, O Lord of Might and Majesty, as long as the
Corn-field and the Date-grove continue to feed Mankind[FN#22]!" And
again, "Live for ever, O Most Excellent of Prophets!-live in the Shadow
of Happiness during the Hours of Night and the Times of Day, whilst the
Bird of the Tamarisk (the dove) moaneth like the childless Mother,
whilst the West-wind bloweth gently over the Hills of Nijd, and the
Lightning flasheth bright in the Firmament of Al-Hijaz!"
Such were the poetical exclamations that rose all around me, showing
how deeply tinged with imagination becomes the language of the Arab
under the influence of strong passion or religious enthusiasm. I now
understood the full value of a phrase in the Moslem ritual, "And when
his" (the pilgrim's) "eyes shall fall upon the Trees of Al-Madinah, let
him raise his Voice and bless the Apostle with the choicest of
Blessings." In al[l] the fair view before us nothing was more striking,
after the desolation through which we had passed, than the gardens and
orchards about the town. It was impossible not to enter into the spirit
of my companions, and truly I believe that for some minutes my
enthusiasm rose as high as theirs. But presently when we
remounted,[FN#23] the traveller returned strong upon me: I made a rough
sketch of the town, put questions about the principal buildings, and in
fact collected materials for the next chapter.
[p.281] The distance traversed that night was about twenty-two miles in
a direction varying from easterly to north-easterly. We reached
Al-Madinah on the 25th July, thus taking nearly eight days to travel
over little more than 130 miles. This journey is performed with camels
in four days, and a good dromedary will do it without difficulty in
half that time.[FN#24]
[FN#1] The natives of Al-Hijaz assured me that in their Allah-favoured
land, the Samum never kills a man. I "doubt the fact." This Arnaut's
body was swollen and decomposing rapidly, the true diagnostic of death
by the poison-wind. (See Ibn Batuta's voyage, "Kabul.") However, as
troopers drink hard, the Arabs may still be right, the Samum doing half
the work, arrack the rest. I travelled during the months of July,
August, and September, and yet never found myself inconvenienced by the
"poison-wind" sufficiently to make me tie my Kufiyah, Badawi-fashion,
across my mouth. At the same time I can believe that to an invalid it
would be trying, and that a man almost worn out by hunger and fatigue
would receive from it a coup de grace. Niebuhr attributes the
extraordinary mortality of his companions, amongst other causes, to a
want of stimulants. Though these might doubtless be useful in the cold
weather, or in the mountains of Al-Yaman, for men habituated to them
from early youth, yet nothing, I believe, would be more fatal than
strong drink when travelling through the Desert in summer heat. The
common beverage should be water or lemonade; the strongest stimulants
coffee or tea. It is what the natives of the country do, and doubtless
it is wise to take their example. The Duke of Wellington's dictum about
the healthiness of India to an abstemious man does not require to be
quoted. Were it more generally followed, we should have less of
sun-stroke and sudden death in our Indian armies, when soldiers, fed
with beef and brandy, are called out to face the violent heat. At the
same time it must be remembered, that foul and stagnant water,
abounding in organic matter, is the cause of half the diarrhoea and
dysentry which prove so fatal to travellers in these regions. To the
water-drinker, therefore, a pocket-filter is indispensable.
[FN#2] Al-Shark, "the East," is the popular name in the Hijaz for the
Western region as far as Baghdad and Bassorah, especially Nijd.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 99 of 154
Words from 100381 to 101389
of 157964
