Crowds of beggars instantly seized the pilgrims’
robes, and strove to prevent our entering a second enclosure. This
place, which resembles the former, except that it has but one
compartment and no boulders, is that whence Mohammed used to address
his followers; and here, to the present day, the Khatib, or preacher,
in imitation of the “Last of the Prophets,” sitting upon a dromedary,
recites the Arafat sermon. Here, also, we prayed a two-bow prayer, and
gave a small sum to the guardian.
Thence ascending with increased difficulty to the hill-top, we arrived
at a large stuccoed platform,[FN#2] with prayer-niche and a kind of
obelisk, mean and badly built of lime and granite stone, whitewashed,
and conspicuous from afar. It is called the Makam, or Mada’a Sayyidna
Adam.[FN#3] Here we performed the customary ceremonies amongst a crowd
of pilgrims, and then we walked down the little hill.
[p.194] Close to the plain we saw the place where the Egyptian and
Damascus Mahmils stand during the sermon; and, descending the wall that
surrounds Arafat by a steep and narrow flight of coarse stone steps, we
found on our right the fountain which supplies the place with water. It
bubbles from the rock, and is exceedingly pure, as such water generally
is in Al-Hijaz.
