No Badawi Could Tell Me Of This Feature, Which, Had It Existed, Would Have Changed The Whole Conditions And History Of The [P.155] Country; We Know The Greek’S River To Be A Fiumara, And The Lake Probably Owes Its Existence To A Similar Cause, A Heavy Fall Of Rain.

Beginning at Al-Zaribah is a decided fall, which continues to the sea.

The Arafat torrent sweeps from East to West with great force, sometimes carrying away the habitations, and even injuring the sanctuary.[FN#34]

[FN#1] There are certain officers called Zemzemi, who distribute the holy water. In the case of a respectable pilgrim they have a large jar of the shape described in Chap. iv., marked with his names and titles, and sent every morning to his lodgings. If he be generous, one or more will be placed in the Harim, that men may drink in his honour. The Zemzemi expects a present varying from five to eleven dollars. [FN#2] The shishah, smoked on the camel, is a tin canister divided into two compartments, the lower half for the water, the upper one for the tobacco. The cover is pierced with holes to feed the fire, and a short hookah-snake projects from one side. [FN#3] The Hindustani “sir.” Badawin address it slightingly to Indians, Chapter xii. [FN#4] When Indians would say “he was killed upon the spot,” they use the picturesque phrase, “he asked not for water.” [FN#5] The Arabs are curious in and fond of honey: Meccah alone affords eight or nine different varieties. The best, and in Arab parlance the “coldest,” is the green kind, produced by bees that feed upon a thorny plant called “sihhah.” The white and red honeys rank next. The worst is the Asal Asmar (brown honey), which sells for something under a piastre per pound. The Abyssinian mead is unknown in Al-Hijaz, but honey enters into a variety of dishes. [FN#6] “La Siwa Hu,” i.e., where there is none but Allah. [FN#7] This article, an iron cylinder with bands, mounted on a long pole, corresponds with the European cresset of the fifteenth century. The Pasha’s cressets are known by their smell, a little incense being mingled with the wood. By this means the Badawin discover the dignitary’s place. [FN#8] “Abu Sham,” a familiar address in Al-Hijaz to Syrians. They are called “abusers of the salt,” from their treachery, and “offspring of Shimr” (the execrated murderer of the Imam Hosayn), because he was a native of that country. Such is the detestation in which the Shi’ah sect, especially the Persians, hold Syria and the Syrians, that I hardly ever met with a truly religious man who did not desire a general massacre of the polluted race. And history informs us that the plains of Syria have repeatedly been drenched with innocent blood shed by sectarian animosity. Yet Jalal al-Din (History of Jerusalem) says, “As to Damascus, all learned men fully agree that it is the most eminent of cities after Meccah and Al-Madinah.” Hence its many titles, “the Smile of the Prophet,” the “Great Gate of Pilgrimage,” “Sham Sharif,” the “Right Hand of the Cities of Syria,” &c., &c. And many sayings of Mohammed in honour of Syria are recorded.

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