I
Conjure Thee By This That Thou Art Allah, Besides Whom Is None (Thou
Only), The Merciful, The Compassionate.
And have Mercy upon our Lord
Mohammed, and upon the Progeny of our Lord Mohammed, and upon his
Followers, One and All!” This was concluded with the “Talbiyat,” and with an
especial prayer for myself.
We again mounted, and night completed our disappointment. About one
A.M. I was aroused by general excitement. “Meccah! Meccah!” cried some
voices; “The Sanctuary! O the Sanctuary!” exclaimed others; and all burst
into loud “Labbayk,” not unfrequently broken by sobs. I looked out from my
litter, and saw by the light of the Southern stars the dim outlines of
a large city, a shade darker than the surrounding plain. We were
passing over the last ridge by a cutting called the Saniyat Kuda’a, the
winding-place of the cut.[FN#31] The “winding path” is flanked on both
sides by watch-towers, which command the Darb al-Ma’ala or road leading
from the North into Meccah. Thence we passed into the Ma’abidah (Northern
suburb), where the Sharif’s Palace is built.[FN#32] After this, on the
left hand, came
[p.153] the deserted abode of the Sharif bin Aun, now said to be a
“haunted house.[FN#33]” Opposite to it lies the Jannat al-Ma’ala, the holy
cemetery of Meccah. Thence, turning to the right, we entered the
Sulaymaniyah or Afghan quarter. Here the boy Mohammed, being an
inhabitant of the Shamiyah or Syrian ward, thought proper to display
some apprehension. The two are on bad terms; children never meet
without exchanging volleys of stones, and men fight furiously with
quarterstaves. Sometimes, despite the terrors of religion, the knife
and sabre are drawn. But their hostilities have their code. If a
citizen be killed, there is a subscription for blood-money. An
inhabitant of one quarter, passing singly through another, becomes a
guest; once beyond the walls, he is likely to be beaten to
insensibility by his hospitable foes.
At the Sulaymaniyah we turned off the main road into a byway, and
ascended by narrow lanes the rough heights of Jabal Hindi, upon which
stands a small whitewashed and crenellated building called a fort.
Thence descending, we threaded dark streets, in places crowded with
rude cots and dusky figures, and finally at two A.M. we found ourselves
at the door of the boy Mohammed’s house.
[p.154]From Wady Laymun to Meccah the distance, according to my
calculation, was about twenty-three miles, the direction South-East
forty-five degrees. We arrived on the morning of Sunday, the 7th Zu’l
Hijjah (11th September, 1853), and had one day before the beginning of
the pilgrimage to repose and visit the Harim.
I conclude this chapter with a few remarks upon the watershed of
Al-Hijaz. The country, in my humble opinion, has a compound slope,
Southwards and Westwards. I have, however, little but the conviction of
the modern Arabs to support the assertion that this part of Arabia
declines from the North. All declare the course of water to be
Southerly, and believe the fountain of Arafat to pass underground from
Baghdad. The slope, as geographers know, is still a disputed point.
Ritter, Jomard, and some old Arab authors, make the country rise
towards the south, whilst Wallin and others express an opposite
opinion. From the sea to Al-Musahhal is a gentle rise. The water-marks
of the Fiumaras show that Al-Madinah is considerably above the coast,
though geographers may not be correct in claiming for Jabal Radhwa a
height of six thousand feet; yet that elevation is not perhaps too
great for the plateau upon which stands the Apostle’s burial-place. From
Al-Madinah to Al-Suwayrkiyah is another gentle rise, and from the
latter to Al-Zaribah stagnating water denotes a level. I believe the
report of a perennial lake on the eastern boundary of Al-Hijaz, as
little as the river placed by Ptolemy between Yambu’ and Meccah. No
Badawi could tell me of this feature, which, had it existed, would have
changed the whole conditions and history of the [p.155] country; we
know the Greek’s river to be a Fiumara, and the lake probably owes its
existence to a similar cause, a heavy fall of rain. Beginning at
Al-Zaribah is a decided fall, which continues to the sea. The Arafat
torrent sweeps from East to West with great force, sometimes carrying
away the habitations, and even injuring the sanctuary.[FN#34]
[FN#1] There are certain officers called Zemzemi, who distribute the
holy water. In the case of a respectable pilgrim they have a large jar
of the shape described in Chap. iv., marked with his names and titles,
and sent every morning to his lodgings. If he be generous, one or more
will be placed in the Harim, that men may drink in his honour. The
Zemzemi expects a present varying from five to eleven dollars.
[FN#2] The shishah, smoked on the camel, is a tin canister divided into
two compartments, the lower half for the water, the upper one for the
tobacco. The cover is pierced with holes to feed the fire, and a short
hookah-snake projects from one side.
[FN#3] The Hindustani “sir.” Badawin address it slightingly to Indians,
Chapter xii.
[FN#4] When Indians would say “he was killed upon the spot,” they use the
picturesque phrase, “he asked not for water.”
[FN#5] The Arabs are curious in and fond of honey: Meccah alone affords
eight or nine different varieties. The best, and in Arab parlance the
“coldest,” is the green kind, produced by bees that feed upon a thorny
plant called “sihhah.” The white and red honeys rank next. The worst is the
Asal Asmar (brown honey), which sells for something under a piastre per
pound. The Abyssinian mead is unknown in Al-Hijaz, but honey enters
into a variety of dishes.
[FN#6] “La Siwa Hu,” i.e., where there is none but Allah.
[FN#7] This article, an iron cylinder with bands, mounted on a long
pole, corresponds with the European cresset of the fifteenth century.
The Pasha’s cressets are known by their smell, a little incense being
mingled with the wood.
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