From Al-Birkat to Al-Zaribah, S.E. 56° - 23 Miles
10.From Al-Zaribah to Wady Laymun, S.W. 50° - 24 Miles
11.From Wady Laymun to Meccah, S.E. 45° - 23 Miles
Total English miles 248
[p.157]PART III.
MECCAH.
[p.159]CHAPTER XXVII.
THE FIRST VISIT TO THE HOUSE OF ALLAH.
THE boy Mohammed left me in the street, and having at last persuaded
the sleepy and tired Indian porter, by violent kicks and testy answers
to twenty cautious queries, to swing open the huge gate of his
fortress, he rushed up stairs to embrace his mother. After a minute I
heard the Zaghritah,[FN#1] Lululu, or shrill cry which in these lands
welcomes the wanderer home; the sound so gladdening to the returner
sent a chill to the stranger’s heart.
Presently the youth returned. His manner had changed from a boisterous
and jaunty demeanour to one of grave and attentive courtesy—I had become
his guest. He led me into the gloomy hall, seated me upon a large
carpeted Mastabah, or platform, and told his bara Miyan[FN#2] (great
Sir), the Hindustani porter, to bring a light.
[p.160] Meanwhile a certain shuffling of slippered feet above informed
my ears that the Kabirah,[FN#3] the mistress of the house, was intent
on hospitable thoughts. When the camels were unloaded, appeared a dish
of fine vermicelli, browned and powdered with loaf sugar.
