I Asked The Hindi Why He Had Not Returned The Compliment, And The
Meccan Once More Overwhelmed The Miyan With Taunt And Jibe.
It is not easy to pass the time at Jeddah.
In the square opposite to us
was an unhappy idiot, who afforded us a melancholy spectacle. He
delighted to wander about in a primitive state of toilette, as all such
wretches do; but the people of Jeddah, far too civilised to retain
Moslem respect for madness, forced him, despite shrieks and struggles,
into a shirt, and when he tore it off they beat him. At other times the
open space before us was diversified by the arrival and the departure
of pilgrims, but it was a mere rechauffe of the feast, and had lost all
power to please. Whilst the boy Mohammed remained, he used to pass the
time in wrangling with some Indians, who were living next door to us,
men, women, and children, in a promiscuous way. After his departure I
used to spend my days at the Vice-Consulate; the proceeding was not
perhaps of the safest, but the temptation of meeting a
fellow-countryman, and of chatting “shop” about the service was too great
to be resisted. I met there the principal merchants of Jeddah; Khwajah
Sower, a Greek; M. Anton, a Christian from Baghdad, and
others.[FN#11]And I was introduced to Khalid Bey, brother of Abdullah
bin Sa’ud, the Wahhabi. This noble Arab once held the
[p.273] official position of Mukayyid al-Jawabat, or Secretary, at
Cairo, where he was brought up by Mohammed Ali. He is brave, frank, and
unprejudiced, fond of Europeans, and a lover of pleasure. Should it be
his fate to become chief of the tribe, a journey to Riyaz, and a visit
to Central Arabia, will offer no difficulties to our travellers.
I now proceed to the last of my visitations. Outside the town of Jeddah
lies no less a personage than Sittna Hawwa, the Mother of mankind. The
boy Mohammed and I, mounting asses one evening, issued through the
Meccan gate, and turned towards the North-East over a sandy plain.
After half an hour’s ride, amongst dirty huts and tattered coffee-hovels,
we reached the enceinte, and found the door closed. Presently a man
came running with might from the town; he was followed by two others;
and it struck me at the time they applied the key with peculiar
empressement, and made inordinately low conges as we entered the
enclosure of whitewashed walls.
“The Mother” is supposed to lie, like a Moslemah, fronting the Ka’abah, with
her feet northwards, her head southwards, and her right cheek propped
by her right hand. Whitewashed, and conspicuous to the voyager and
traveller from afar, is a diminutive dome with an opening to the West;
it is furnished as such places usually are in Al-Hijaz. Under it and in
the centre is a square stone, planted upright and fancifully carved, to
represent the omphalic region of the human frame.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 181 of 331
Words from 93679 to 94186
of 175520
