Many Flying Parties Of Travellers Had Almost Started On The
High Road, And Late In The Evening Came A New Report That The Body Of
The Caravan Would March About Midnight.
We sat up till about two A.M.,
when, having heard no gun, and having seen no camels, we lay down to
sleep through the sultry remnant of the hours of darkness.
[P.57]Thus, gentle reader, was spent my last night at Al-Madinah.
I had reason to congratulate myself upon having passed through the
first danger. Meccah is so near the coast, that, in case of detection,
the traveller might escape in a few hours to Jeddah, where he would
find an English Vice-Consul, protection from the Turkish authorities,
and possibly a British cruiser in the harbour. But at Al-Madinah
discovery would entail more serious consequences. The next risk to be
run was the journey between the two cities, where it would be easy for
the local officials quietly to dispose of a suspected person by giving
a dollar to a Badawi.
[FN#1] The “Tayyarah,” or “Flying Caravan,” is lightly laden, and travels by
forced marches.
[FN#2] This “Musafahah,” as it is called, is the Arab fashion of shaking
hands. They apply the palms of the right hands flat to each other,
without squeezing the fingers, and then raise the hand to the forehead.
[FN#3] On this occasion I heard three new words: “Kharitah,” used to
signify a single trip to Meccah (without return to Al-Madinah), “Ta’arifah,”
going out from Meccah to Mount Arafat, and “Tanzilah,” return from Mount
Arafat to Meccah.
[FN#4] And part of an extra animal which was to carry water for the
party.
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