Transgression Of These And Other
Ceremonial Enactments Is Expiated Either By Animal Sacrifice, Or Gifts
Of Fruit Or Cereals To The Poor.
After a complete ablution and assuming the ihram, we performed two
prayer-flections, and recited the meritorious sentences beginning with
the words “Labbaik Allah huma labbaik!” “Here I am, O God, here I am!
Here I
am, O Unassociated One, here I am, for unto Thee belong praise, grace,
and empire, O Unassociated One!”
This prayer was repeated so often, people not unfrequently rushing up
to their friends and shrieking the sacred sentence into their ears,
that at last it became a signal for merriment rather than an indication
of piety.
[p.410]On the 26th we reached Jeddah, where the utter sterility of
Arabia, with its dunes and rocky hills, becomes apparent. The town,
however, viewed from the sea, is not unpicturesque. Many European
vessels were at anchor off the coast: and as we entered the port,
innumerable small fishing-boats darting in all directions, their sails
no longer white, but emerald green from the intense lustre of the
water, crowded around us on all sides, and reminded one by their
dazzling colours and rapidity of motion of the shoals of porpoises so
often seen on a voyage round the Cape.
On disembarking we were accosted by several “mut?awwafs,” or circuit-men,
so termed in Arabic, because, besides serving as religious guides in
general, their special duty is to lead the pilgrim in his seven
obligatory circuits around the Kabah.
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