Embroidered on it were certain verselets of the Koran, the
formula of the Moslem faith, and the names of the Prophet’s Companions.
[FN#34] Burckhardt says “Bysous” and “Sandabeir.”
[FN#35] From the “Family of Amran” (chap. 3). “Bekkah” is “a place of crowding”;
hence applied to Meccah generally. Some writers, however, limit it to
the part of the city round the Harim.
[FN#36] It is larger than the suls. Admirers of Eastern calligraphy may
see a “Bismillah,” beautifully written in Tumar, on the wall of Sultan
Mu’ayyad’s Mosque at Cairo.
[FN#37] Mr. Lane (Mod. Egypt. vol. iii. chap. 25) has given an ample
and accurate description of the Kiswah. I have added a few details,
derived from “Khalil Effendi” of Cairo, a professor of Arabic, and an
excellent French scholar.
[FN#38] Those who omit the rite fast ten days; three during the
pilgrimage season, and the remaining seven at some other time.
[FN#39] The camel is sacrificed by thrusting a pointed instrument into
the interval between the sternum and the neck. This anomaly may be
accounted for by the thickness and hardness of the muscles of the
throat.
[FN#40] It is strange that the accurate Burckhardt should make the
Moslem say, when slaughtering or sacrificing, “In the name of the most
Merciful God!” As Mr. Lane justly observes, the attribute of mercy is
omitted on these occasions.
[p.219] CHAPTER XXXI.
THE THREE DAYS OF DRYING FLESH.
ALL was dull after the excitement of the Great Festival. The heat of
the succeeding night rendered every effort to sleep abortive; and as
our little camp required a guard in a place so celebrated for
plunderers, I spent the greater part of the time sitting in the clear
pure moon-light.[FN#1]
After midnight we again repaired to the Devils, and, beginning with the
Ula, or first pillar, at the Eastern extremity of Muna, threw at each,
seven stones (making a total of twenty-one), with the ceremonies before
described.
On Thursday (Sept. 15th, 1853), we arose before dawn, and prepared with
a light breakfast for the fatigues of a climbing walk. After half an
hour spent in hopping from boulder to boulder, we arrived at a place
situated on the lower declivity of the Jabal Sabir, the northern wall
of the Muna basin. Here is the Majarr al-Kabsh, “the Dragging-place of
the Ram,” a small, whitewashed square, divided
[p.220] into two compartments. The first is entered by a few ragged
steps in the south-east angle, which lead to an enclosure thirty feet
by fifteen. In the north-east corner is a block of granite (A), in
which a huge gash, several inches broad, some feet deep, and completely
splitting the stone in knife-shape, notes the spot where Ibrahim’s blade
fell when the archangel Gabriel forbade him to slay Ismail his son.
