I have not
seen the grave of Moses (south-east of the Red Sea), which is becoming
known by the bitumen cups there sold to pilgrims. But Aaron’s sepulchre
in the Sinaitic peninsula is of moderate dimensions.
On leaving the graveyard I offered the guardian a dollar, which he
received with a remonstrance that a man of my dignity should give so
paltry a fee. Nor was he at all contented with the assurance that
nothing more could be expected from an Afghan Darwaysh, however pious.
Next day the boy Mohammed explained the
[p.276] Man’s empressement and disappointment,—I had been mistaken for the
Pasha of Al-Madinah.
For a time my peregrinations ended. Worn out with fatigue, and the
fatal fiery heat, I embarked (Sept. 26) on board the “Dwarka”; experienced
the greatest kindness from the commander and chief officer (Messrs.
Wolley and Taylor); and, wondering the while how the Turkish pilgrims
who crowded the vessel did not take the trouble to throw me overboard,
in due time I arrived at Suez.
And here, reader, we part. Bear with me while I conclude, in the words
of a brother traveller, long gone, but not forgotten—Fa-hian—this Personal
Narrative of my Journey to Al-Hijaz: “I have been exposed to perils, and
I have escaped from them; I have traversed the sea, and have not
succumbed under the severest fatigues; and my heart is moved with
emotions of gratitude, that I have been permitted to effect the objects
I had in view.”[FN#12]
[FN#1] This second plan was defeated by bad health, which detained me
in Egypt till a return to India became imperative.
[FN#2] The usual hire is thirty piastres, but in the pilgrimage season
a dollar is often paid. The hire of an ass varies from one to three
riyals.
[FN#3] Besides the remains of those in ruins, there are on this road
eight coffee-houses and stations for travellers, private buildings,
belonging to men who supply water and other necessaries.
[FN#4] In Ibn Jubayr’s time the Ihram was assumed at Al-Furayn, now a
decayed station, about two hours’ journey from Al-Haddah, towards Jeddah.
[FN#5] The favourite Egyptian “kitchen”; held to be contemptible food by
the Arabs.
[FN#6] In 1817 Abdullah bin Sa’ud attacked Jeddah with 50,000 men,
determining to overthrow its “Kafir-works”; namely, its walls and towers.
The assault is described as ludicrous. All the inhabitants aided to
garrison: they waited till the wild men flocked about the place,
crying, “Come, and let us look at the labours of the infidel,” they then
let fly, and raked them with matchlock balls and old nails acting
grape. The Wahhabi host at last departed, unable to take a place which
a single battery of our smallest siege-guns would breach in an hour.
And since that day the Meccans have never ceased to boast of their
Gibraltar, and to taunt the Madinites with their wall-less port, Yambu’.
[FN#7] Al-Idrisi places Meccah forty (Arab) miles from Jeddah.
Burckhardt gives fifty-five miles, and Ali Bey has not computed the
total distance.
[FN#8] Abulfeda writes the word “Juddah,” and Mr. Lane, as well as MM.
