OF THE UN IVLRSITY Of ILLINOIS Received by bequest from Albert H. Lybyer Professor of History University of Illinois 1916-1949 ■=>& 353 PERSONAL NARRATIVE PILGRIMAGE TO EL-MEDINAH AND MECCAH. BY RICHARD F. BURTON, LIEUT. BOMBAY ARMY. WITH INTRODUCTION BY BAYARD TAYLOR. •• Our notions of Meccan most be drawn from the Arabians ; as no unbeliever is permitted to enter the city, our travellers are silent.”'— Gibbon, chap. 50. Stop, an!) €ba Illustrations. SECOND AMERICAN EDITION. B OSTON : SHEPARD, CLARK & BROWN. 1 858 . PUBLISHERS’ PREFACE. The English Edition of “ Burton’s Pilgrimage to Ei Medinah and Meccah” was originally published in three volumes, large octavo. In order to meet the requirements of the American public, both as regards the size and expense of the work, it has been deemed expedient to abridge and condense some chapters. The portions omitted, however, do not affect the narrative or the incidents of the visit to the Holy Places, but chiefly relate to Lieut. Burton’s preliminary residence in Egypt, and to historical and ethnological considera- tions. An Appendix, containing a resume of former explorations, is also omitted, but its place is supplied by the introductory essay by Bayard Taylor. We believe that the readers of the narrative of Lieut. Burton’s singular and dangerous journey will sustain us in the assertion, that no volume of modern travel possesses greater intrinsic interest or originality, while for graphic description it compares favorably with the “Eothen” of Kinglake, or the “ Crescent and the Cross” of Warburton. G. P. PUTNAM & CO. 321 Broadway, N. Y. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/personalnarrativ00burt_0 EDITOR’S PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION. The interest just now felt in everything that relates to the East would alone be sufficient to ensure to the author of “El Medinah and Meccah” the favorable consideration of the Reading Public. But when it is borne in mind that since the days of William Pitts of Exeter (a.d. 1678-1688) no European travellers, with the exception of Burckliardt* and Lieut. Burton, f have been able to send us back an account of their travels there, it cannot be doubted but that the present work will be hailed as a welcome addition to our knowledge of these hitherto mysterious penetralia of Mahommedan superstition. In fact, El Medinah may be considered almost a virgin theme; for as Burckhardt was pros- trated by sickness throughout the period of his stay in the Northern Hejaz, he was not able to describe it as satisfactorily or minutely as he did the southern coun- try,— he could not send a plan of the mosque, or correct the popular but erroneous ideas which prevail concern- ing it and the surrounding city. * In 1811. f Captain Sadlier is not mentioned, as his Frankish dress prevented his entering the city. VI PREFACE. The reader may question the propriety of introduc- ing, in a work of description, anecdotes which may appear open to the charge of triviality. The author’s object, however, seems to be to illustrate the peculiari- ties of the people, — to dramatize, as it were, the dry journal of a journey, — and to preserve the tone of the adventures, together with that local coloring in which mainly consists u V education d?un voyage .” It was during a residence of many years in India that Mr. Burton had fitted himself for his late undertaking, by acquiring, through his peculiar aptitude for such studies, a thorough acquaintance with various dialects of Arabia and Persia ; and, indeed, his Eastern cast of features seemed to point him out as the very person of all others best suited for an expedition like that de- scribed in the following pages. It will be observed that in writing Arabic, Hindoos- tannee, Persian, or Turkish words, the author has gene- rally adopted the system proposed by Sir William Jones and modified by later Orientalists. But when a word (like Fat-hah for Fatihah) has been “ stamped” by general popular use, the conversational form, has been preferred ; and the same, too, may be said of the com- mon corruptions, Cairo, Kadi, &c., which, in any other form, would appear to us pedantic and ridiculous. Still, in the absence of the author, it must be expected that some trifling errors and inaccuracies will have here and there crept in. CONTENTS CHAPTER L PAGB A few Words concerning what Induced me to a Pilgrimage, . . 17 CHAPTER IL I Leave Alexandria, 29 CHAPTER III. The Nile Steamboat, 41 CHAPTER IV. Life in the Wakalah, 48 CHAPTER V. The Mosque, 73 CHAPTER VL Preparations to Quit Cairo, 86 CHAPTER VH. From Cairo to Suez, 94 CHAPTER VIII. Suez, . . 107 CHAPTER IX. The Pilgrim Ship, 120 CHAPTER X. To Yambu, 135 CHAPTER XI. The Halt at Yambu, 145 CHAPTER XII. From Yambu to Bir Abbas, 155 CHAPTER XIH. From Bir Abbas to El Medinah, 167 CHAPTER XIV. Through the Suburb of El Medinah to Hamid’s House, .... 17 9 CHAPTER XV. A Visit to the Prophet’s Tomb, 194 Vlll CONTENTS CHAPTER XYL pagb El Medinah, 230 CHAPTER XVII. A Ride to the Mosque of Kuba, 243 CHAPTER XVIII. The Visitation of Hamzah’s Tomb, 257 CHAPTER XIX. The People of El Medinah, 278 CHAPTER XX. A Visit to the Saints’ Cemetery, 290 CHAPTER XXI. From El Medinah to El Suwayrkiyah, 804 CHAPTER XXH. The Bedouins of El Hejaz, 318 CHAPTER XXIII. From El Suwayrkiyah to Meccah, 345 CHAPTER XXIV. The House of Allah, 366 CHAPTER XXV. The First Visit to the House of Allah, 389 CHAPTER XXVI. Of Hajj, or Pilgrimage, 401 CHAPTER XXVII. The Ceremonies of the Yaum El Tarwiyah, 413 CHAPTER XXVHI. The Ceremonies of the Day of Arafat, 423 CHAPTER XXIX. The Ceremonies of the Day of Victims, 432 CHAPTER XXX. The Days of Drying Flesh, 446 CHAPTER XXXL Life at Meccah, and the Little Pilgrimage, 463 CHAPTER XXXII. Places of Pious Visitation at Meccah, ... ... 469 CHAPTER XXXIII. To Jeddah, 479 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. BY BAYARD TAYLOR. The present century is already remarkable beyond the last, for the extent and richness of its contributions to geo- graphical knowledge ; but the generation in which we live will be especially noted hereafter as that which has pre- eminently invaded the few lingering haunts of fable, and brought their cherished mysteries under the microscopic lenses of modern eyes. Within ten years the courageous M. Hue has penetrated through the vast interior realms of China and Tartary, to the sacred city of Lha-Ssa, of which he has given the first satisfactory description ; Lieutenant Lynch has exploded the superstitious terrors with which the Dead Sea was regarded ; Dr. Barth has returned safely to Europe, after a residence of seven months at Tim- buctoo ; Dr. Krapf has looked upon the snowy pinnacles of the long lost Mountains of the Moon ; and now, Lieu- tenant Burton, having penetrated to Medina and Mecca, and entered the holiest sanctuaries of the Moslem faith, presents us with the picturesque story of his pilgrimage. The extreme reverence in which these cities are held, X INTRODUCTION* and that jealousy which prevents all acknowledged fol- lowers of other religions from visiting, or even approaching them, undoubtedly grew out of the fierce and fanatical character of Mohammedanism in its earlier days. The violence of that fanaticism is now over. Except in Arabia, the cradle and stronghold of Islam, the Frank Christians mingle freely with the followers of the Prophet, not only without indignity, but in many places as their friends and protectors. The rapid spread of intercourse between the East and the West, and, more than all, the recent alliance of Christian and Moslem powers in the war against Russia, has greatly weakened, and, in the course of time, may wholly obliterate, the bitterness of that religious prejudice which has hitherto been the characteristic of such inter- course. Its effect is already seen, in the facility with which travellers now obtain access to the sacred mosques of Constantinople and Cairo. Even the Mosque of Omar, at Jerusalem, where, five years ago, Christians were stoned for attempting to enter — whose gates would not open to a Frank for a firman of the Sultan himself — has alike become accessible to profane feet. The same change will even- tually overtake the more bigoted population of the Hedjaz, and future travellers, perhaps, in green veils and spectacles, may languidly scrutinize the mosques of Mecca. The success of such men as Burckhardt and Burton should not be ascribed, however, to this circumstance. It is entirely due to their courage, prudence, and perseverance, and to their intimate acquaintance with eastern life, and the cere- monials of the Moslem faith. INTRODUCTION. xi The design of visiting Mecca has been a favorite one with travellers for centuries past, but the difficulties in the way of its prosecution have been so great, that the number of those who succeeded may be reckoned upon the fingers of one’s hand. Lieutenant Burton, in an Appendix to the English edition of his work, gives extracts from the de- scriptions of his predecessors, which differ from his own and Burckhardt’s in some trifling particulars, but correspond much more nearly than might have been expected from travellers of such different epochs. Gibbon, at the time of writing his “ Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” was not aware any Christian had reached Mecca up to that time. It appears, however, from Mr. Burton’s investiga- tions, that two persons had accomplished the journey — Lodovico Bartema, a gentleman of Rome, in the year 1603; and Joseph Pitts, of Exon, England, in 1680. To these may be added, in later years, Giovanni Finati, an Italian renegade, and Burckhardt, both in 1814, and Burton, in 1853. The French apostates in the service of Mohammed Ali, some of whom made the usual pilgrimage, as good Mussulmans, need not be reckoned. Some of them have published accounts of their experiences, it is true ; but, as new converts to the faith, they were regarded with distrust, and thereby prevented from making measure- ments or observations. Their accounts are therefore very inaccurate, and contribute nothing to our knowledge of the holy cities. The first traveller on the list, Lodovico Bartema, visited Damascus in his wanderings through the East, and Xii INTRODUCTION. there won the friendship of a Mameluke captain, who was a renegade Christian. Disguising himself as a Mameluke, he accompanied the latter on a pilgrimage to Mecca, appa- rently conducting himself as a devout Mussulman, for his real character was not suspected, although he was after- wards imprisoned for a time in Yemen, on acknowledging himself a Christian. His narrative has all the quaint sim- plicity and picturesque character of those of the early travellers, with no more credulity than is necessary to give piquancy to his story. Lieutenant Burton, who of course is thoroughly competent to judge on this point, places him in the foremost rank of the old oriental travellers, for cor- rectness of observation and readiness of wit. Joseph Pitts was an English boy, who, for love of adventure going to sea in his fifteenth or sixteenth year, was captured by Algerine pirates and sold as a slave. His master, who had been a great sinner, determined to convert him, as an atonement for his own impiety, and achieved his object by means of the bastinado. Pitts submitted to this violent conversion, and performed all the external forms and ceremonies required of him; but hated the new faith in his heart, with a vehemence which was not in the least abated by fifteen years of Moslem life. He was taken to Mecca and El Medinah by his master, remained some months in the former city, and returned to Cairo. Having received his freedom, he determined to make his escape, in which, after various adventures, he succeeded, and returned safely to England. His de- scriptions of the Beit Allah (house of God) at Mecca, the INTRODUCTION. xiii ceremonies on Mount Arafat, the stoning of the devil, and other features of the pilgrimage, are very circumstantial and correct, considering that they were written from memory, after a lapse of many years. Lieutenant Bur- ton finds little fault with Pitts, except his hatred and bigotry, which the manner of his conversion may well explain. Finati was an ignorant and unprincipled Italian rene- gade, who made the campaign against the Wahabees for the recovery of Mecca and Medina, in the army of Mohammed Ali. Mr. Bankes, the English traveller, after- wards took him into his service, and translated the narra- tive of his adventures, which was dictated in Italian, as he was unable to write. The particulars he gives concerning the holy places of Mecca are very imperfect and unsatis- factory. Burckhardt, who made his visit to Mecca and Medina in the same year as Finati, may be considered as the first enlightened and experienced traveller who describes those places. He ventured on the undertaking only after years of preparation in the East, and a fami- liarity with the language and the faith so complete, that, under his assumed name of Shekh Ibrahim, his real cha- racter was unsuspected. Once only, when visiting Mo- hammed Ali, at Tayf, was he subjected to a rigid exami- nation on points of Mohammedan doctrine, by two learned shekhs ul-Islam , at the instance of the pasha, who had heard suspicions whispered against him in Cairo. Burck- hardt passed the test triumphantly, the shekhs declaring, that he was not only a genuine Mussulman, but one of Xiv INTRODUCTION. unusual learning and piety. After performing all the ceremonies of the pilgrimage, he returned to Mecca, where he remained three months, before visiting Medina. At the latter place he was too ill to make many observations, and his descriptions are more meagre than usual. His accounts of the holy edifices of Mecca, and the pilgrim ceremonies, however, are very complete, and Burton pays the highest tribute to his correctness, by copying entire his description of the Kaaba. The present author, therefore, traverses a partly beaten track, but a track wherein the last success reflects as much honor as the first. His experiment, in fact, was even more daring than that of Burckhardt, whose assumed character was already recognised throughout the Orient, and who, after his examination at Tayf, was placed beyond the reach of suspicion. Burton, on the other hand, was a novice in this special field, and was obliged to disguise himself under a totally different character. He took his part with admirable boldness and skill, and when once suspected by the young Meccan rogue, Mohammed, whose travels had made his vision precociously keen, was zea- lously defended by the remainder of the party, who com- pletely silenced his accuser. Burton’s narrative is especially valuable for his full and accurate particulars of the religious observances of the pilgrimage, and the various formulas of salutation and prayer. In this respect there is no other work of the kind equal to it. His descriptions of the holy edifices are scrupulously technical and careful ; and he gives us, for the first time, sketches of the sacred cities INTRODUCTION. XV which impress us with their fidelity to nature. We could have desired more ample pictures of the scenery through which he passed, and the spirited account of the voyage from Suez to Yambu shows that he is not deficient in descriptive power. But much allowance must be made for the night travels of the pilgrim caravan, and the conse- quent fatigue of the traveller. He has the advantage over Burckhardt of writing in his mother-tongue, and his narrative is much richer in those characteristic personal incidents and adventures which are the vital spirit of books of travel. It is to be hoped that so prudent, daring, and intelli- gent a traveller will be permitted to carry out his original scheme of exploring the interior of the Arabian peninsula — one of the richest and most interesting fields of research now remaining. Certainly no one is better qualified for the undertaking. B. T. New York, July ls£, 1856. A PILGRIMAGE TO EL MEDINAH AND MECCAH. CHAPTER I. TO ALEXANDRIA. A FEW WORDS CONCERNING WHAT INDUCED ME TO A PILGRIMAGE. In the autumn of 1852, through the medium of General Monteith, I offered my services to the Royal Geographical Society of London, for the purpose of removing that oppro- brium to modern adventure, the huge white blot which in our maps still notes the eastern and the central regions of Arabia. A deputation from that distinguished body, with their usual zeal for discovery and readiness to encourage the discoverer, honored me by warmly supporting, in a personal interview with the Chairman of the Court of Directors to the East India Company, my application for three years’ leave of absence on special duty from India to Muscat. But they were unable to prevail upon Sir James Hogg, who, remembering the fatalities which of late years have befallen sundry soldier-travellers in the East, refused his sanction, alleging as a reason that the contemplated 18 A PILGRIMAGE TO EL MEDINAH AND MECCAH. journey was of too dangerous a nature. In compensation, however, for the disappointment, I was graciously allowel the additional furlough of a year, in order to pursue my Arabic studies in lands where the language is best learned. What remained for me but to prove, by trial, that what might be perilous to other travellers is safe to me. The “ experimentum crucis” was a visit to El Hejaz, at once the most difficult and the most dangerous point by which a European can enter Arabia. I had intended, had the period of leave originally applied for been granted, to land at Muscat — a favorable starting-place — and there to apply myself, slowly and surely, to the task of spanning the deserts. But now I was to hurry, in the midst of summer, after a four years’ sojourn in Europe, during which many things Oriental had fallen away from my memory, and — after passing through the ordeal of Egypt, a country where the police is curious as in Rome or Milan — to begin with the Moslem’s Holy Land, the jealously guarded and exclu- sive Haram. However, being liberally supplied with the means of travel by the Royal Geographical Society ; thoroughly tired of “ progress” and of “ civilization curious to see with my eyes what others are content to 44 hear with ears,” namely, Moslem’s inner life in a really Mohammedan country; and longing, if truth be told, to set foot on that mysterious spot which no tourist had yet described, measured, sketched and daguerreotyped, I re- solved to resume an old character of a Persian wanderer,* and to make the attempt. The principal object with which I started was this : — To cross the unknown Arabian Peninsula, in a direct line from either El Medinah to Muscat, or diagonally from Meccah to * The vagrant, the merchant, and the philosopher, amongst Orientals, are frequently united in the same person. HOW AND WHY UNDERTAKEN. 19 Makallah on the Indian Ocean. By what circumstances my plans were defeated, the reader will discover in the course of this volume. The secondary objects were numerous. I was desirous to find out if any market for horses could be opened between Central Arabia and India, where the studs are beginning to excite general dissatisfaction ; to obtain information concerning the Great Eastern wilderness, the vast expanse marked Ruba el Khali (the empty abode) in our maps ; to inquire into the hydrography of the Hejaz, its water-shed, the disputed slope of the country, and the existence or non-existence of perennial streams ; and finally, to try, by actual observation, the truth of a theory proposed by the learned Orientalist, Col. Sykes, namely, that if history speak truth, in the population of the vast Peninsula there must exist certain physiological differences sufficient to warrant our questioning the common origin of the Arab family. As regards the horses, I am satisfied that from the Eastern coast something might be done, — nothing on the Western, where the animals, though “ thorough-bred,” are mere “ weeds,” of a foolish price, and procurable only by chance. Of the Ruba el Khali I have heard enough, from credible relators, to conclude that its horrid depths swarm with a large and half-starving population ; that it abounds in wadys, valleys, gullies, and ravines, par- tially fertilized by intermittent torrents ; and therefore, that the land is open only to the adventurous traveller. More- over, I am satisfied, that in spite of all geographers, from Ptolemy to Jormard, Arabia, which abounds in fiumaras ,* * In a communication made to the Royal Geographical Society, and published in the 24th vol. of the Journal, I have given my reasons for naturalising this word. It will be used in the following pages to express a “ hill water-course, which rolls a torrent after rain, and is either partially or wholly dry during the drought season.” It is, in fact, the Indian “ Nullah.” 20 A PILGRIMAGE TO EL MEDINAH AND MECCAH. possesses not a single perennial stream worthy the name of river; and the testimony of the natives induces me to think, with Wallin, contrary to Ritter and others, that the Peninsula falls instead of rising towards the south. Finally, I have found proof, to be produced in a future part of this publication, for believing in three distinct races. 1. The aborigines of the country, driven, like the Bheels and other autochthonic Indians, into the eastern and south-eastern wilds bordering upon the ocean. 2. A Syrian or Mesopo- tamian stock, typified by Shem and Joktan, that drove the indigenae from the choicest tracts of country ; these invaders still enjoy their conquests, representing the great Arabian people. And 3. An impure Egypto-Arab clan — we per- sonify it by Ishmael, his son Nebajoth and Edom (Esau, the son of Isaac) — that populated and still populates the Sinaitic Peninsula. And in most places, even in the heart of Meccah, I met with debris of heathenry, proscribed by Mohammed, yet still popular, though the ignorant observers of the old customs assign to them a modern and a rational- istic origin. I have entitled this account of my summer’s tour through El Hejaz, a personal narrative, and I have labored to make its nature correspond with its name, simply because “ it is the personal that interests mankind.” Many may not follow my example ;* but some, perchance, will be curious to see what measures I adopted, in order to appear * The only European I have met with who visited Meccah without apostatising, is M. Bertolucci, Swedish Consul at Cairo. This gentle- man persuaded the Bedouin camel men who were accompanying him to Taif, to introduce him in disguise ; he naively owns that his terror of discovery prevented his making any observations. Dr. Wallin, of Finland, performed the Haj in 1845 ; but his “ somewhat perilous posi- tion, and the filthy company of Persians,” were effectual obstacles to his taking notes. GETTING INTO TRAIN. 21 suddenly as an Eastern upon the stage of Oriental life ; and as the recital may he found useful by future adventurers, I make no apology for the egotistical semblance of the narra- tive. Those who have felt the want of some “ silent friend” to aid them with advice, when it must not be asked, will appreciate what may appear to the uninterested critic mere outpourings of a mind full of self. In April, 1853, I left London for Southampton. By the advice of a brother officer — little thought at that time the adviser or the advised how valuable was the suggestion — my Eastern dress was called into requisition before leaving town, and all my “ impedimenta” were taught to look exceedingly Oriental. Early the next day a “ Persian Prince” embarked on board the Peninsular and Oriental Company’s screw steamer u Bengal.” A fortnight was profitably spent in getting into the train of Oriental manners. For what polite Chesterfield says of the difference between a gentleman and his reverse — namely, that both perform the same offices of life, but each in a several and widely different way — is notably as applicable to the manners of the Eastern as of the W estern men. Look, for instance, at an Indian Moslem drinking a glass of water. With us the operation is simple enough, but his performance includes no less than five novelties. In the first place, he clutches his tumbler as though it were the throat of a foe ; secondly, he ejaculates, “ In the name of Allah the Compassionate, the Merciful !” before wetting his lips ; thirdly, he imbibes the contents, swallowing them, not drinking, and ending with a satisfied grunt ; fourthly, before setting down the cup, he sighs forth, “ Praise be to Allah !” — of which you will understand the full meaning in the Desert ; and, fifthly, he replies, “ May Allah make it pleasant to thee !” in answer to his friend’s polite “ Pleasur- ably and health !” Also he is careful to avoid the irreli- 22 A PILGRIMAGE TO EL MEDINA II AND MECCAH. gious action of drinking the pure element in a standing position, mindful, however, of the three recognised excep- tions, the fluid of the Holy Well, Zem-zem, water distri- buted in charity, and that which remains after Wuzu, the lesser ablution. Moreover, in Europe one forgets the use of the right hand, the manipulation of the rosary, the abuse of the chair, — your genuine Oriental looks almost as comfortable in one as a sailor upon the back of a high- trotting horse — the rolling gait with the toes straight to the front, the grave look and the habit of pious ejacula- tions. Our voyage over the “ summer sea” was an eventless one. The ship was in every way comfortable ; the cook, strange to say, was good, and the voyage lasted long enough, and not too long. On the evening of the thir- teenth day after our start, the big-trowsered pilot, so lovely in his deformities to western eyes, made his appear- ance, and the good screw “ Bengal” found herself at anchor off the Headland of Figs. Having been invited to start from the house of a kind friend, I disembarked with him, and rejoiced to see that by dint of a beard and a shaven head I had succeeded in mis- leading the inquisitive spirit of the populace. The mingled herd of spectators before whom we passed in review on the landing-place, hearing an audible “ Alhamdulillah,”* whis- pered “ Moslem !” The infant population spared me the compliments usually addressed to hatted heads ; and when a little boy, presuming that the occasion might possibly open the hand of generosity, looked in my face and * “Praise be to Allah, Lord of the (three) worlds P a pious ejacula- tion, which leaves the lips of the True Believer on all occasions of con- cluding actions. THE “KAIF.” 23 exclaimed, “ Bakhshish,”* he obtained in reply “ Mafish ;”f which convinced the bystanders that the sheep-skin con- tained a real sheep. We then mounted a carriage, fought our way through the donkeys, and in half an hour found ourselves, chibouque in mouth and coffee-cup in hand, seated on divans in my friend’s hospitable house. Wonderful was the contrast between the steamer and that villa on the Mahmudiyah canal ! Startling the sudden change from presto to adagio lifeU In thirteen days we had passed from the clammy grey fog, that atmosphere of industry which kept us at an anchor off the Isle of Wight, through the liveliest air of the inland sea, whose sparkling blue and purple haze spread charms even on Africa’s bel- dame features, and now we were sitting silent and still, lis- tening to the monotonous melody of the East — the soft night-breeze wandering through starlight skies and tufted trees, with a voice of melancholy meaning. And this is the Arab’s Kaif. The savoring of animal existence ; the passive enjoyment of mere sense ; the plea- sant languor, the dreamy tranquillity, the airy castle-build- ing, which in Asia stand in lieu of the vigorous, intensive, passionate life of Europe. It is the result of a lively, impressible, excitable nature, and exquisite sensibility of nerve, — a facility for voluptuousness unknown to northern regions ; where happiness is placed in the exertion of men- * “ Bakhshish,” says a modern writer, “ is a fee or present which the Arabs (he here means the Egyptians, who got the word from the Per- sians through the Turks) claim on all occasions for services you render them, as well as for services they have rendered you. This bakhshish, in fact, is a sort of alms or tribute, which the poor Arab believes him- self entitled to claim from every respectable-looking person.” f Mafish, “ There is none,” equivalent to, “ I have left my purse at home.” Nothing takes the Oriental mind so much as a retort allitera- tive or jingling. 24 A PILGRIMAGE TO EL MEDINA!! AND MECCAH. tal and physical powers ; where niggard earth commands ceaseless sweat of brow, and damp chill air demands per- petual excitement, exercise, or change, or adventure, or dissipation, for want of something better. In the East, man requires but rest and shade : upon the banks of a bub- bling stream, or under the cool shelter of a perfumed tree, he is perfectly happy, smoking a pipe, or sipping a cup of coffee, or drinking a glass of sherbet, but, above all things, deranging body and mind as little as possible ; the trouble of conversations, the displeasures of memory, and the vanity of thought being the most unpleasant interruptions to his Kaif. No wonder that Kaif is a word untranslatable in our mother-tongue !* The better to blind the inquisitive eyes of servants and visitors, my friend lodged me in an outhouse, where I could revel in the utmost freedom of life and manners. And although some Armenian Dragoman, a restless spy like all his race, occasionally remarked that “voila un Persan diablement degage,” none, except those who were entrusted with the secret, had any idea of the part I was playing. The domestics, devout Moslems, pronounced me to be an Ajemi,* a kind of Mohammedan, not a good one like them- selves, but still, better than nothing. I lost no time in securing the assistance of a Shaykh,f and plunged once more into the intricacies of the Faith, revived my recollec- tions of religious ablution, read the Koran, and again became an adept in the art of prostration. My leisure hours were employed in visiting the baths and coffee-houses, in attend- * In a coarser sense “kaif” is applied to all manner of intoxication. Sonnini is not wrong when he says, “ the Arabs give the name of Kaif to the voluptuous relaxation, the delicious stupor, produced by the smoking of hemp.” f A Persian opposed to an Arab. X A priest, elder, chieftain, language-master, ung Egypt, disappearing before glass and unsightly green blinds. 46 A PILGRIMAGE TO EL MEDINAH AND MECCAH. sit and talk and sip sherbet and smoke with them, they called us “ Jungli” — wild men, fresh caught in the jungle and sent to rule over the land of Hind.* Certainly nothing suits us less than perpetual society, an utter want of solitude, when one cannot retire into oneself an instant without being asked some puerile question by a friend, or look into a book without a servant peering over one’s shoulder ; when from the hour you rise to the time you rest, you must ever be talking or listening, you must converse yourself to sleep in a public dormitory, and give ear to your companions’ snores and mutterings at midnight.f The very essence of Oriental hospitality, however, is this family style of reception, which costs your host neither coin nor trouble. You make one more at his eating tray, and an additional mattress appears in the sleeping room. When you depart, you leave if you like a little present, merely for a memorial, with your entertainer ; he would be offended if you offered it him openly as a remuneration, J and you give some trifling sums to the servants. Thus you will be welcome wherever you go. If perchance you are * Caste in India arises from the peculiarly sociable nature of the native mind, for which reason “ it is found existing among sects whose creeds are as different and as opposite as those of the Hindoo and the Christian.” Hence, nothing can be more terrible to a man than expul- sion from caste ; the excommunication of our feudal times was not a more dreadful form of living death. f With us, every man’s house is his castle. But caste divides a people into huge families, each member of which has a right to know every thing about his “ caste-brother,” because a whole body might be polluted and degraded by the act of an individual. Hence there is no such thing as domestic privacy, and no system of espionage devised by rulers could be so complete as that self-imposed by the Hindoos. \ I speak of the rare tracts in which the old barbarous hospitality still lingers. THE LAWS OF HOSPITALITY. 47 detained perforce in such a situation, — which may easily happen to you, medical man, — you have only to make your- self as disagreeable as possible, by calling for all manner of impossible things. Shame is a passion with Eastern nations. Your host would blush to point out to you the indecorum of your conduct; and the laws of hospitality oblige him to supply the every want of a guest, even though he be a detenu . CHAPTER IV. LIFE IK THE WAKALAH. The “wakalah,” as the caravanserai or khan is called in Egypt, combines the offices of hotel, lodging house, and store. It is at Cairo, as at Constantinople, a massive pile of buildings surrounding a quadrangular “ hosh ” or court- yard. On the ground-floor are rooms like caverns for mer- chandise, and shops of different kinds — tailors, cobblers, bakers, tobacconists, fruiterers, and others. A roofless gallery or a covered verandah, into which all the apart- ments open, runs round the first and sometimes the second story: the latter, however, is usually exposed to the sun and wind. The accommodations consist of sets of two or three rooms, generally an inner one and an outer; this contains a hearth for cooking, a bathing place, and similar necessaries. The staircases are high, narrow, and exceed- ingly dirty, dark at night and often in bad repair ; a goat or dcnkey is tethered upon the different landings; here and there a fresh skin is stretched in process of tanning, and the smell reminds the veteran traveller of those closets in the old French inns where cats used to be prepared for playing the part of jugged hare. The interior is unfur- LIFE IN THE WAKALAH. 49 nished; *wen the pegs upon which clothes are hung have been pulled down for firewood : the walls are bare but for stains, thick cobwebs depend in festoons from the black- ened rafters of the ceiling, and the stone floor would dis- grace a civilised prison : the windows are huge apertures carefully barred with wood or iron, and in rare places show remains of glass or paper pasted over the frame- works. In the court-yard the poorer sort of travellers consort with tethered beasts of burden, beggars howl, and the slaves lie basking and scratching themselves upon mountainous heaps of cotton bales and other mer- chandise. This is not a tempting picture, yet is the wakalah a most amusing place, presenting a succession of scenes which would delight lovers of the Dutch school — a rich exemplification of the grotesque, and what is called by our artists the “ dirty picturesque.” I could find no room in the Wakalah Khan Khalil, (the Long’s, or Meurice’s, of native Cairo,) I was therefore obliged to put up with the Jemaliyah, the Greek quarter, a place swarming with drunken Christians, and therefore not altogether fashionable. Even for this I had to wait a week. The pilgrims were flocking to Cairo, and to none other would the prudent hotel keepers open their doors, for the following sufficient reasons. When you enter a wa- kalah the first thing you have to do is to pay a small sum, varying from two to five shillings, for the miftah (the key). This is generally equivalent to a month’s rent, so the sooner you leave the house the better for it. I was obliged to call myself a Turkish pilgrim in order to get possession of two most comfortless rooms, which I afterwards learned were celebrated for making travellers ill, and I had to pay eight- een piastres for the key and eighteen ditto per mensem for rent, besides five piastres to the man who swept and washed 3 50 A PILGRIMAGE TO EL MEDINA!! AND MECCAH. the place. So that for this month my house hire amounted to nearly four pence a day. But I was fortunate enough in choosing the Jemaliyah Wakalah, for I found a friend there. On board the steamer a fellow voyager, seeing me sitting alone and therefore as he conceived in discomfort, placed himself by my side and opened a hot fire of kind inquiries. He was a man about forty-five, of middle size, with a large round head closely shaven, a bull-neck, limbs sturdy as a Saxon’s, a thin red beard, and handsome features beaming with benevolence. A curious dry humor he had, delighting in “quizzing,” bat in so quiet, solemn, and quaint a way that before you knew him you could scarcely divine his drift. “ Thank Allah we carry a doctor !” said my friend more than once, with apparent fervor of gratitude, after he had discovered my profession. I was fairly taken by the pious ejaculation, and some days elapsed before the drift of his remark became apparent. “ You doctors,” he explained, when we were more intimate, u what do you do ? a man goes to you for oph- thalmia. It is a purge, a blister, and a drop on the eye ! Is it for fever? well ! a purge and kinakina (quinine). For dysentery ? a purge and extract of opium. W allah ! I am as good a physician as the best of you,” he would add, with a broad grin, u if I only knew a few break-jaw Arabic names of diseases.” Haji Wali therefore emphatically advised me to make bread by honestly teaching languages. “We are doctor- ridden,” said he, and I found it was the case. When we lived under the same roof, the Haji and I became fast friends. During the day we called on each other frequently, we dined together, and passed the even- ing in a mosque, or some other place of public pastime. Coyly at first, but less guardedly as we grew bolder, we THE PILGRIM BECOMES AN AFGHAN. 51 smoked the forbidden weed u hashish,”* conversing length- ily the while about that world of which I had seen so much. Originally from Russia he also had been a tra- veller, and in his wanderings had cast off most of the pre- judices of his people. “ I believe in Allah and his Pro- phet, and in nothing else,” was his sturdy creed ; he rejected alchemy, genii, and magicians, and truly he had a most unoriental distaste for tales of wonder. When I entered the wakalah, he constituted himself my cicerone, and especially guarded me against the cheating of trades- men. By his advice I laid aside the dervish’s gown, the large blue pantaloons, and the short shirt, in fact all con- nexion with Persia and the Persians. “ If you persist in being an Ajemi,” said the Haji, “ you will get yourself into trouble ; in Egypt you will be cursed, in Arabia you will be beaten because you are a heretic, you will pay the treble of what other travellers do, and if you fall sick you may die by the roadside.” After long deliberation about the choice of nations I became a Pathan.f Born in India, * By the Indians called Bhang, the Persians Bang, and the natives of Barbary, I believe, Fasukh. The Hottentots use it, and even the Sibe- rians, we are told, intoxicate themselves by the vapor of this seed thrown upon red-hot stones. Egypt surpasses all other nations in the variety of compounds into which this fascinating drug enters, and will one day probably supply the Western world with “Indian hemp,” when its solid merits are duly appreciated. At present in Europe it is chiefly confined, as cognac and opium used to be, to the apothecary’s shelves. Some adventurous individuals at Paris, after the perusal of “ Monte Christo,” attempted an “ orgie” in one of the cafes, but with poor success. f The Indian name of an Afghan, supposed to be a corruption of the Arabic Fathan (a conqueror), or a derivation from the Hindostani paithna, to penetrate (into the hostile ranks). It is an honorable term in Arabia, where “ Khurasani” (a native of Khorassan) leads men to suspect a Persian, and the other generic appellation of the Afghan tribes. 52 A PILGRIMAGE TO EL MEDINAH AND MECCAH. of Afghan parents, who had settled in the country, edu- cated at Rangoon, and sent out to wander, as men of that race frequently are from early youth, I was well guarded against the danger of detection by a fellow countryman. To support the character requires a knowledge of Persian, Hindostani, and Arabic, all of which I knew sufficiently well to pass muster; any trifling inaccuracy was charged upon my long residence at Rangoon. This was an impor- tant step. The first question at the shop, on the camel, and in the mosque is, “ What is thy name ?” the second, “ Whence comest thou ?” This is not generally imperti- nent, or intended to be annoying ; if, however, you see any evil intention in the questioner, you may rather roughly ask him, “What may be his maternal parent’s name” — equi- valent to inquiring, Anglicb , in what church his mother was married — and escape your difficulties undercover of a storm. But this is rarely necessary. I assumed the polite and pliant manners of an Indian physician, and the dress of a small Ef- fendi,* still, however, representing myself to be a Dervish, and frequenting the places where Dervishes congregate. “ What business,” asked the Haji, “ have those reverend men with politics or statistics, or any of the information which you are collecting ? Call yourself a religious wan- derer if you like, and let those who ask the object of your peregrinations know that you are under a vow to visit all the holy places in Islam. Thus you will persuade them that you are a man of rank under a cloud, and • you will receive much more civility than perhaps you deserve,” con- cluded my friend, with a dry laugh. The remark proved his sagacity, and, after ample experience, I had not to repent having been guided by his advice. After lodging myself in the Wakalah, my first object * Gentleman. NO EASTERN WORD FOR “ GRATITUDE.” 53 was to make a certain stir in the world. In Europe, your travelling doctor advertises the loss of a diamond ring, the gift of a Russian autocrat, or he monopolises a whole column in a newspaper, feeing perhaps a title for the use of a signature ; the large brass plate, the gold-headed cane, the rattling chariot, and the summons from the sermon, complete the work. Here there is no such royal road to medical fame. You must begin by sitting with the porter, who is sure to have blear eyes, into which you drop a little nitrate of silver, whilst you instil into his ear the pleasing intelligence that you never take a fee from the poor. He recovers ; his report of you spreads far and wide, crowding your doors with paupers. They come to you as though you were their servant, and when cured turn their backs upon you for ever. Hence it is that European doctors generally complain of ingratitude on the part of their Oriental patients. It is true that if you save a man’s life he naturally asks you for the means of preserving it. Moreover, in none of the Eastern languages with which I am acquainted, is there a single term conveying the mean- ing of our “ gratitude,” and none but the Germans have ideas unexplainable by words. But you must not condemn this absence of a virtue without considering the cause. An Oriental deems that he has a right to your surplus. “ Daily bread is divided” (by heaven) he asserts, and eating yours he considers it his own. Thus it is with other things. He is thankful to Allah for the gifts of the Creator, but he has a claim to the good offices of a fellow creature. In rendering him a service you have but done your duty, and he would not pay you so poor a compliment as to praise you for the act. He leaves you, his benefactor, with a short prayer for the length of your days. “ Thank you,” being expressed by “ Allah increase thy weal !” or the selfish wish that your shadow (with which you protect him and his fellows) 54 PILGRIMAGE TO EL MEDINAII AND MECCAH. may never be less. And this is probably the last you hear of him. There is a discomfort in such proceedings, a reasonable, a metaphysical coldness, uglily contrasting in theory with the genial warmth which a little more heart would infuse into them. In theory, I say, not in practice. What can be more troublesome than, when you have obliged a man, to run the gauntlet of his and his family’s thanksgivings. “ To find yourself become a master from being a friend,” a great man where you were an equal ; not to be contra- dicted, where shortly before every one gave his opinion freely. You must be unamiable if these considerations de- ter you from benefiting your friend, yet, I humbly opine, you still may fear his gratefulness. To resume. When the mob has raised you to fame, patients of a better class will slowly appear on the scene. After some coquetting about “ etiquette,” whether you are to visit them or they are to call upon you, they make up their minds to see you, and to judge with their eyes whether you are to be trusted or not ; whilst you, on your side, set out with the determination that they shall at once cross the Rubicon, — in less classical phrase, swallow your drug. If you visit the house, you insist on the patient’s servants at- tending you ; he must also provide and pay for an ass for your conveyance, no matter if it be only to the other side of the street. Your confidential man accompanies you, primed for replies to the “ fifty searching questions” of the “ servants’ hall.” You are lifted oft* the saddle tenderly, as nurses dis- mount their charges, when you arrive at the gate, and you waddle up stairs with dignity. Arrived at the sick room, you salute those present with a general “peace be upon you!” to which they respond, “ and upon you be the peace and the mercy of Allah, and his blessing!” To the invalid you say, “ There is nothing the matter, please Allah, except the A MEDICAL MAN’S VISIT IN THE EAST. 55 health to which the proper answer — for here every sign of ceremony has its countersign — is, “ may Allah give thee health!” You then sit down and acknowledge the presence of the company by raising your right hand to your lips and forehead, bowing the while circularly ; each individual re- turns the civility by a similar gesture. Then inquiry about the state of your health ensues. Then you are asked what refreshment you will take : you studiously mention some- thing not likely to be in the house, but at last you rough it with a pipe and a cup of coffee. Then you proceed to the patient, who extends his wrist, and asks you what his com- plaint is. Then you examine his tongue, you feel his pulse, you look learned, and — he is talking all the time — after hearing a detailed list of all his ailments, you gravely dis- cover them, taking for the same as much praise to yourself as does the practising phrenologist, for a similar simple ex- ercise of the reasoning faculties. The disease to be respect- able must invariably be connected with one of the four tem- peraments, or the four elements, or the “ humors of Hip- pocrates.” Cure is easy, but it will take time, and you, the doctor, require attention ; any little rudeness it is in your power to punish by an alteration in the pill, or the powder, and, so unknown is professional honor, that none will brave your displeasure. If you would pass for a native practi- tioner, you must then proceed to a most uncomfortable part of your visit, bargaining for fees. Nothing more effectually arouses suspicion than disinterestedness in a doctor. I once cured a rich Hazramaut merchant of rheumatism, and neglected to make him pay for treatment; he carried off one of my coffee cups, and was unceasingly wondering where I came from. So I made him produce five piastres, a shilling, which he threw upon the carpet, cursing Indian avarice. “ You will bring on another illness,” said my friend the Haji, when he heard of it. Properly sjieaking the fee for a visit to 56 PILGRIMAGE TO EL MEDINAH AND MECCAH. a respectable man is 20 piastres, but with the rich patient you begin by making a bargain. He complains, for instance, of dysentery and sciatica. You demand 10/. for the dysen- tery, and 20/. for the sciatica. But you will rarely get it, The Eastern pays a doctor’s bill as an Irishman does his 44 rint,” making a grievance of it. Your patient will show indisputable signs of convalescence : he will laugh and jest half the day ; but the moment you appear, groans and a lengthened visage, and pretended compaints welcome you. Then your way is to throw out some such hint as 44 The world is a carcass, and they who seek it are dogs.” And you refkse to treat the second disorder, which conduct may bring the refractory one to his senses. 44 Dat Galenus opes,” however, is a Western apothegm: the utmost “Jali- nus” can do for you here is to provide you with the neces- saries and the comforts of life. Whatever you prescribe must be solid and material, and if you accompany it with something painful, such as rubbing unto scarification with a horse brush, so much the better. Easterns, as our peasants in Europe, like the doctor to 44 give them the value of their money.” Besides which, rough measures act beneficially upon their imagination. So the Hakim of the King of Persia cured fevers by the bastinado; patients are bene- ficially baked in a bread-oven at Bagdad; and an Egyptian at Alexandria, whose quartan resisted the strongest appli- ances of European physic, was effectually healed by the actual cautery, which a certain Arab Shaykh applied to the crown of his head. When you administer with your own hand the remedy — half-a-dozen huge bread pills, dipped in a solution of aloes or cinnamon water, flavored with assa- foetida, which in the case of the dyspeptic rich often suffice, if they will but diet themselves — you are careful to say, MEDICAL TREATMENT IN THE EAST. 57 “In the name of Allah, the compassionate, the merciful.” And after the patient has been dosed, “ Praise be to Allah, the curer, the healer;” you then call for pen, ink, and paper, and write some such prescription as this : — • “A* u In the name of Allah, the compassionate, the merciful, and blessings and peace he upon our Lord the Prophet, and his family, and his companions one and all ! But afterwards let him take bees- honey and cinnamon and album grfecum, of each half a part, and of ginger a whole part, which let him pound and mix with the honey, and form boluses, each bolus the weight of a miskal, and of it let him use every day a miskal on the saliva.f Yerily its effects are wonderful. And let him abstain from flesh, fish, vegetables, sweet- meats, flatulent food, acids of all descriptions, as well as the major ablution, and life in perfect quiet. So shall he be cured by the help of the King the Healer. % And the peace.” § The diet, I need scarcely say, should be rigorous ; no- thing has tended more to bring the European system of medicine into contempt among orientals than our inatten- tion to this branch of the therapeutic art. When an Indian takes cathartic medicine, he prepares himself for it by diet and rest two or three days before its adhibition, and as gradually after the dose, he relapses into his usual habits ; if he break through the regime it is concluded that fatal results must ensue. The ancient Egyptians we learn from Herodotus devoted a certain number of days in each month * A monogram generally placed at the head of writings. It is the initial letter of “ Allah,” and the first of the alphabet, used from time immemorial to denote the origin of creation. “ I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.” t “ AT ar-rik,” that is to say, fasting — the first thing in the morning, t The Almighty. § Was’-salam, i. e. adieu. 58 PILGRIMAGE TO EL MEDINAH AND MECCAH. to the use of alteratives, and the period was consecutive, doubtless in order to graduate the strength of the medicine. The Persians, when under salivation, shut themselves up in a warm room, never undress, and so carefully guard against cold that they even drink tepid water. When the Afghan princes find it necessary to employ Chob-Chini, (the Jin- seng, or China root so celebrated as a purifier, tonic, and aphrodisiac) they choose the spring season; they remove to a garden, where flowers and trees and bubbling streams soothe their senses; they carefully avoid fatigue and trouble of all kinds, and will not even hear a letter read, lest it should contain bad news. When the prescription is written out, you affix an im- pression of your ring seal to the beginning and the end of it, that no one may be able to add to or to take from its contents. And when you send medicine to a patient of rank, who is sure to have enemies, you adopt some similar precaution against the box or the bottle being opened. One of the Pashas whom I attended — a brave soldier, who had been a favorite with Mohammed Ali, and therefore was degraded by his successor — kept an impression of my ring in wax, to compare with that upon the phials. Men have not forgotten how frequently, in former times, those who became obnoxious to the state were seized with sudden and fatal cramps in the stomach. In the case of the doctor it is common prudence to adopt these precau- tions, as all evil consequences would be charged upon him, and he would be exposed to the family’s revenge. Cairo, though abounding in medical practitioners, can still support more ; but they must be Indians, or Chinese, or Maghrabis to thrive. The Egyptians are thoroughly disgusted with European treatment, which is here about as efficacious as in India — that is to say, not at all. But they are ignorant of the medicine of Hind, and therefore great SUPERSTITIOUS INFLUENCES OF CLIMATE. 59 is its name ; deservedly perhaps, for skill in simples and dietetics. Besides which the Indian may deal in charms and spells — things to which the latitude gives such force that even Europeans learn to put faith in them. The tra- veller who, on the banks of the Seine, scoffs at Sights and Sounds, Table-turning and Spirit-rapping, in the wilds of Tartary and Thibet sees a something supernatural and dia- bolical in the bungling Sie-fa of the Bokte* Some sensible men, who pass for philosophers among their friends, have been caught by the incantations of the turbaned and bearded Cairo magician. In our West African colonies the phrase “ growing black,” was applied to colonists, who, after a term of residence, became thoroughly imbued with the superstitions of the land. And there are not wanting old English Indians, intelligent men, that place firm trust in tales and tenets too puerile even for the Hindus to believe. As “Hindi” I could use animal magnetism, taking care, however, to give the science a specious super- natural appearance. Haji Wali, who, professing positive scepticism, showed the greatest interest in the subject, as a curiosity, advised me not to practise pure mesmerism; otherwise, that I should infallibly become a “ Companion of Devils.” “You must call this an Indian secret,” said my friend, “ for it is clear that you are no Mashaikh,f and * Certain Lamas who, we learn from M. Hue, perform famous Sie-fa, or supernaturalisms, such as cutting open the abdomen, licking red-hot irons, making incisions in various parts of the body, which an instant afterwards leave no trace behind, &c., ecu- liar prejudices are misunderstood. Those travellers who complain of their insolence and extortion may have been * In the mouth of a Turk, no epithet is more contemptuous than that of “Fellah ibn Fellah” — “boor, son of a boor!” The Osmanlis have, as usual, a semi-religious tradition to account for the superiority of their nation over the Egyptians. When the learned doctor, Abu Abdullah Mohammed ben Idris el Shafei, returned from Mecca to the banks of the Nile, he mounted, it is said, a donkey belonging to one of the Asinarii of Bulak. Arriving at the caravanserai, he gave the man ample fare, whereupon the Egyptian putting forth his hand, and saying “ haat,” called for more. The doctor doubled the fee ; still the double was demanded. At last the divine s purse was exhausted, and the pro- prietor of the donkey waxed insolent. A wandering Turk seeing this, took all the money from the Egyptian, paid him his due, solemnly kicked him, and returned the rest to El Shafei, who asked him his name — “ Osman” — and his nation — the “ Osmanli” — blessed him, and prophesied to his countrymen supremacy over the Fellahs and donkey boys of Egypt. THE DESERT. 99 either ignorant of their language, or offensive to them by assumption of superiority — in the Desert man meets man — - or physically unfitted to acquire their esteem. We journeyed on till near sunset through the wilder- ness without ennui. It is strange how the mind can be amused amid scenery that presents so few objects to occupy it. But in such a country every slight modification of form or color rivets observation: the senses are sharp- ened, and perceptive faculties, prone to sleep over a con- fused shifting of scenery, act vigorously when excited by the capability of embracing each detail. Moreover, desert views are eminently suggestive ; they appeal to the future, not to the past ; they arouse because they are by no means memorial. To the solitary wayfarer there is an interest in the wilderness unknown to Cape seas and Alpine glaciers, and even to the rolling prairie — the effect of continued excitement on the mind, stimulating its powers to their pitch. Above, through a sky terrible in its stainless beauty, and the splendors of a pitiless blinding glare, the Simoom caresses you like a lion with flaming breath. Around lie drifted sand heaps, upon which each puff of wind leaves its own trace in solid waves, flayed rocks, the very skeletons of mountains, and hard unbroken plains, over which he who rides is spurred by the idea, that the bursting of a water skin, or the pricking of a camel’s hoof, would be a certain death of torture- — a haggard land, infested with wild beasts, and wilder men — a region whose very fountains murmur the warning words, “Drink and away!” What can be more exciting? what more sub- lime ? Man’s heart bounds in his breast at the thought of measuring his puny force with nature’s might, and of emerging triumphant from the trial. This explains the Arab’s proverb, “Voyaging is a victory.” In the desert even more than upon the ocean, there is present death : 100 A PILGRIMAGE TO EL MEDINAH AND MECCAH. hardship is there, and piracies, and shipwreck — solitary, not in crowds, where, as the Persians say, “ Death is a festival” — and this sense of danger, never absent, invests the scene of travel with an interest not its own. Let the traveller who suspects exaggeration leave the Suez road for an hour or two, and gallop northwards over the sands : in the drear silence, the solitude, and the fan- tastic desolation of the place, he will feel what the Desert may be. And then the Oases,* and little lines of fertility — how soft and how beautiful ! — even though the Wady El Ward (the Yale of Flowers) be the name of some stern flat upon which a handful of wild shrubs blossom while struggling through a cold season’s ephemeral existence. In such cir- cumstances the mind is influenced through the body. Though your mouth glows, and your skin is parched, yet you feel no languor, the effect of humid heat ; your lungs * Nothing can be more incorrect than the vulgar idea of an Arabian Oasis, except it be the popular conception of an Arabian desert. One reads of “isles of the sandy sea,” but never sees them. The real “ wady” is, generally speaking, a rocky valley, bisected by the bed of a mountain torrent, dry during the hot season. In such places the Bedouins love to encamp, because they find food and drink — water being always procurable by digging. When the supply is perennial, the wady becomes the site of a vil- lage. The Desert is as unaptly compared to a “ sandy sea. v Most of the wilds of Arabia resemble the tract between Suez and Cairo ; only the former are of primitive formation, whereas the others are of a later date. Sand heaps are found in every desert, but sand plains are merely a local feature, not the general face of the country. The wil- derness east of the Nile is generally a hard dry earth, which requires only a monsoon to become highly productive : even where silicious sand covers the plain, the waters of a torrent, depositing humus or vegetable mould, bind the particles together, and fit it for the recep- tion of seed. THE PLEASURES OF THE DESERT. 101 are lightened, your sight brightens, your memory recovers its tone, and your spirits become exuberant; your fancy and imagination are powerfully aroused, and the wildness and sublimity of the scenes around you stir up all the energies of your soul — whether for exertion, danger, or strife. Your morale improves: you become frank and cordial, hospitable and single-minded : the hypocritical politeness and the slavery of civilization are left behind you in the city. Your senses are quickened : they require no stimulants but air and exercise. In the Desert, spirituous liquors excite only disgust. There is a keen enjoyment in a mere animal existence. The sharp appetite disposes of the most indigestible food, the sand is softer than a bed of down, and the purity of the air suddenly puts to flight a dire cohort of diseases. Hence it is that both sexes, and every age, the most material as well as the most imagina- tive of minds, the tamest citizen, the most peaceful student, the spoiled child of civilization, all feel their hearts dilate, and their pulses beat strong as they look down from their dromedaries upon the “ glorious Desert.” Where do we hear of a “ traveller” being disappointed by it ? It is another illustration of the ancient truth, that nature returns to man, however unworthily he has treated her. And believe me, gentle reader, that when once your tastes have conformed to the tranquillity of such travel, you will suffer real pain in returning to the turmoil of civilization. You will anticipate the bustle and the confusion of artificial life, its luxury and its false pleasures, with repugnance. De- pressed in spirits, you will for a time after your return feel incapable of mental or bodily exertion. The air of cities will suffocate you, and the care-worn and cadaverous coun- tenances of citizens will haunt you like a vision of judg- ment. 102 A PILGRIMAGE TO EL MEDINAH AND MECCAH. As the black shadow mounted in the East,* I turned off the road, and was suddenly saluted by a figure rising from a little hollow with an “ As’ Salamo Alaykum” of truly Arab sound.f I looked at the speaker for a moment with- out recognising him. He then advanced with voluble expressions of joy, invited me to sup, seized my camel’s halter without waiting for an answer, “nakh’dj” him, led me hurriedly to a carpet spread in a sandy hollow, pulled off my slippers, gave me cold water for ablution, told me that he had mistaken me at a distance for a “ Sherif” of the Arabs, but was delighted to find himself in error, and urged me to hurry over ablution, otherwise that night would come on before w T e could say our prayers. It was Mohammed El Basyuni, the Meccan boy of whom I had bought my pilgrim-garb at Cairo. After prayer he lighted a pipe, and immediately placed the snake-like tube in my hand; this is an argument which the tired traveller can rarely resist. He then began to rummage my saddle-bags ; drew forth stores of provisions, rolls, w^ater-melons, boiled eggs, and dates, and whilst lighting the fire and boiling coffee, managed to distribute his own stock, which was neither plentiful nor first-rate, to the camel-men. Shaykh Nassar and his brother looked aghast at this movement, but the boy was inexorable. They tried a few rough hints, which he noticed by singing a Hindostani couplet that asserts the impropriety of anointing rats’ heads with jasmine * This, as a general rule in El-Islam, is a sign that the Maghrib or evening prayer must not be delayed. f This salutation of peace is so differently pronounced by every eastern nation that the observing traveller will easily make of it a shibboleth. J To “ nakh,” in Arabic, is to gurgle “ Ikh ! ikh 1” in the bottom of one’s throat till the camel kneels down. We have no English word for this proceeding. BEDOUIN FINESSE. 103 oil. They suspected abuse, and waxed cross ; he acknow- ledged this by deriding them. And I urged him on, want- ing to see how the city Arab treats the countryman. He then took my tobacco pouch from the angry Bedouins, and in a stage whisper reproved me for entrusting it to such thieves, insisting at the same time upon drinking all the coffee, so that the poor guides had to prepare for them- selves. He improved every opportunity of making mis- chief. After an hour most amusingly spent in this way, I arose and insisted upon mounting. Shaykh Nassar and his brother had reckoned upon living gratis, for at least three days, judging it improbable that a soft Effendi would hurry himself. When they saw the fair vision dissolved, they began to finesse ; they induced the camel man, who ran by the side of Mohammed’s dromedary, to precede the ani- mal, a favorite manoeuvre to prevent overspeed. Ordered to fall back, the man pleaded fatigue and inability to walk. The boy Mohammed immediately asked if I had any objec- tion to dismount one of my guides, and to let his weary attendant ride for an hour or so. I at once assented, and the Bedouins obeyed me with ominous grumblings. When we resumed our march, the melancholy Arabs had no song left in them, whereas Mohammed chanted vociferously, and quoted bad Hindostani and worse Persian till silence was forcibly imposed upon him. The camel men lagged behind, in order to prevent my dromedary advancing too fast, and the boy’s guide, after dismounting, would stride along in front of us, under pretext of showing the way. And so we jogged on, now walking, then trotting, till the dromeda- ries began to grunt with fatigue, and the Arabs clamored for a halt. At midnight we reached the centre station, and lay down under its walls to take a little rest. The dews fell heavily, 104 A PILGKIMAGE TO EL MEDINA H AND MECCAH. wetting the sheets that covered us ; but who cares for such trifles in the Desert ? The moon shone bright ;* the breeze blew coolly, and the jackal sang a lullaby which lost no time in producing the soundest sleep. As the wolf’s tailf appeared in the heavens we arose, mounted our camels, and resumed the march in real earnest. The dawn passed away in its delicious coolness, and sultry morning came on. Then day arose in its fierceness, and the noontide sun made the plain glow with terrible heat. Still we pressed onwards. At 3 p. m. we turned off the road into a dry water-course. The sand was dotted with the dried-up leaves of the Datura, and strongly perfumed by a kind of Absinthe, the sweetest herb of the Desert. A Mimosa was there, and although its shade at this season is little better than a cocoa tree’s J the Bedouins would not neglect it. We lay down upon the sand to rest among a party of Maghrabi pilgrims travelling to Suez. It was impossible to help pitying their state, nor could I eat, seeing them hungry, thirsty, and way-worn. So Nassar served out about a pint of water and a little bread to each man. Then they asked for more. None was to be had, so they cried out that money would do as well. I had determined upon being generous to the extent of a few pence. Custom, as well as inclination, was in favor of the act ; but when the alms became a demand, and the demand was backed by fierce looks and a derisive sneer, and a kind * “ The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.” (Psalm cxxi. 6.) Easterns still believe firmly in the evil effects of moon- light on the human frame. From Sindh to Abyssinia, the traveller will hear tales of wonder concerning it. j* The wolf’s tail is the Persian name for the first brushes of grey light which appear as forerunners of dawn. t We are told in verse of “a cocoa’s feathery shade.” But to real- ise the prose picture, let the home reader, choosing some sultry August day, fasten a large fan to a long pole, and enjoy himself under it. THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF SUEZ. 105 of reference to their knives, gentle charity took the alarm and fled. My pistols kept them at bay, for they were only making an attempt to intimidate, and though I took the pre- caution of sitting apart from them, there was no real danger. Of the Maghrabis I shall have more to say when relating my voyage in the Pilgrim Ship : they were the only travel- lers from whom we experienced the least annoyance. Nu- merous parties of Turks, Arabs, and Afghans, and a few Indians, were on the same errand as ourselves. All, as we passed them, welcomed us with the friendly salutation that so becomes men engaged in a labor of religion. Suez was now near. In the blue distance rose the castel- lated peaks and the wide sand-tracts over which lies the land route to El Hejaz. Before us the sight ever dear to English eyes, — a strip of sea gloriously azure, with a gallant steamer walking the waters. On the right-hand side lay the broad slopes of Jebel Mukuttum, a range of hills which flanks the road all the way from Cairo. It was at this hour a specta- cle not easily to be forgotten. We drew up at a small building called Bir Suways (well of Suez), and under pretext of watering the cattle, I sat for half an hour admiring the charms of the Desert. The eye never tires of loveliness of hue, and the memory of the hideousness of this range, when a sun in front exposed each barren and deformed feature, supplied the evening view with another element of attrac- tion. It was already night when we passed through the tum- bling gateway of Suez ; and there still remained the task of finding my servant and effects. After wandering in and out of every Wakalat in the village, we accidentally heard that an Indian had taken lodgings at a hostelry bearing the name of Jirjis. On arriving there our satisfaction was diminished by the intelligence that the same Indian, after locking the door, had gone out with his friends to a ship in 5 * 106 A PILGRIMAGE TO EL MEDINAH AND MECCAH. the harbor ; in fact, that he had made all preparations for running away. I dismounted, and tried to persuade the porter to break open the wooden bolt, but he absolutely refused, and threatened the police. Meanwhile Mohammed had found a party of friends, men of El Medinah, returning to the pilgrimage after a begging tour through Egypt and Turkey. The meeting was characterised by vociferous inquiries, loud guffaws, and warm embraces. I was invited to share their supper, and their dormitory,- — an uncovered platform projecting from the gallery over the square court below, but I had neither appetite nor spirits to be sociable. The porter, after persuasion, showed me an empty room, in which I spread my carpet. That night was a sad one. My eighty-four mile ride had made every bone ache ; I had lost much epidermis, and the sun had seared every portion of skin exposed to it. So, lamenting my degeneracy and the ill effects of four years’ domicile in Europe, and equally dis- quieted in mind about the fate of my goods and chattels, I fell into an uncomfortable sleep. CHAPTER VIII. SUEZ. Early on the morning after my arrival, I arose, and con- sulted my new acquaintances about what steps should be taken towards recovering the missing property. They unanimously advised a visit to the governor, whom, how- ever, they described to be a “ Kelb ibn Kelb,” (dog, son of a dog,) who never returned Moslems’ salutations, and thought all men dirt to be trodden under foot by the Turks. The boy Mohammed showed his savoir faire by extracting from his huge box a fine embroidered cap, and a grand peach-colored coat, with which I was instantly invested ; he dressed himself with similar magnificence, and we then set out to the “ palace.” Giaffar Bey, — he has since been deposed, — then occupied the position of judge, officer commanding, collector of cus- toms, and magistrate of Suez. The large old Turk received me most superciliously, disdained all return of salaam, and fixing upon me two little eyes like gimlets demanded my business. I stated that one Shaykh Nur, my Indian servant, had played me false ; therefore I required permission to break into the room supposed to contain my effects. He 108 A PILGRIMAGE TO EL MEDINAH AND MECCAII. asked my profession. I replied the medical. This led him to inquire if I had any medicine for the eyes, and being answer- ed in the affirmative, he sent a messenger with me to enforce obedience on the part of the porter. The obnoxious measure was, however, unnecessary. As we entered the caravanserai there appeared at the door the black face of Shaykh Nur, looking, though accompanied by sundry fellow countrymen, uncommonly as if he merited and expected the bamboo. He had, by his own account, been seduced into the festivities of a coal hulk manned by Indian Lascars, and the vehemence of his self-accusation saved him from the chastisement which I had determined to administer. I must now briefly describe the party into which fate threw me : the names of these men will so frequently appear in the following pages, that a few words about their natures will not be misplaced. First of all comes Omar Effendi, — so called in honor, — a Daghistani or Circassian, the grandson of a Hanafi Mufti at El Medinah, and the son of a Shayk Rakl, an officer whose duty it is to lead dromedary-caravans. He sits upon his cot, a small, short, plump body, of yellow complexion and bilious temperament, grey-eyed, soft-featured, and utterly beardless, — which affects his feelings, — he looks fifteen, and owns to twenty-eight. His manners are those of a student ; he dresses respectably, prays regularly, hates the fair sex, like an Arab, whose affections and aversions are always in extremes, is serious, has a mild demeanor, an humble gait, and a soft slow voice. When roused he becomes furious as a Bengal tiger. His parents have urged him to marry, and he, like Camaralzaman, has informed his father that he is a person of great age, but little sense. Urged moreover by a melancholy turn of mind, and the want of leisure for study at El Medinah, he fled the paternal domicile, and entered himself a pauper (student) in the Azhar mosque. His dis- A CONFIDENTIAL MAN. 109 consolate friends and afflicted relations sent a confidential man to fetch him home by force, should it be necessary ; he has yielded, and is now awaiting the first opportunity of travelling, if possible, gratis to El Medinah. That confidential man is a negro-servant, called Saad, notorious in his native city as El Jinni, the devil. Born and bred a slave in Omar Effendi’s family, he obtained manu- mission, became a soldier in El-Hejaz, was dissatisfied with pay perpetually in arrears, turned merchant, and wandered far and wide, to Russia, to Gibraltar, and to Baghdad. He is the pure African, noisily merry at one moment, at another silently sulky, affectionate and abusive, brave and boastful, reckless and crafty, exceedingly quarrelsome, and unscrupu- lous to the last degree. The bright side of his character is his love for, and respect to, the young master Omar Effendi ; yet even him he will scold in a paroxysm of fury, and steal from him whatever he can lay his hands on. He is generous with his goods, but is ever borrowing and never paying money ; he dresses like a beggar, with the dirtiest tarboosh upon his tufty poll, and only a cotton shirt over his sooty skin, whilst his two boxes are full of handsome apparel for himself and the three ladies his wives at El Medinah. He knows no fear but for those boxes. Frequently during our search for a vessel he forced himself into Giaffar Bey’s pre- sence, and demeaned himself so impudently, that we expected to see him lamed by the bastinado ; his forward- ness, however, only amused the dignitary. He wanders all day about the bazaar, talking about freight and passage, for he has resolved, cost what it will, to travel gratis, and with doggedness like his, he must succeed. Shaykh Hamid el Lamman derives his cognomen, the “ clarified butter-seller,” from a celebrated saint and Sufi of the Kadiriyah order, who left a long line of holy descend- ants at El Medinah. This Shaykh squats upon a box full of 110 A PILGRIMAGE TO EL MEDHSTAH AND MECCAH. presents for the daughter of his paternal uncle,* a perfect specimen of the town Arab. His head is crowned with a rough Shushah or tuft of hair on the poll ;f his face is of a dirty brown, his little goat’s beard untrimmed ; his feet are bare, and his only garment is an exceedingly unclean ochre- colored blouse, tucked at the waist into a leathern girdle beneath it. He will not pray, because he is unwilling to take pure clothes out of his box ; but he smokes when he can get other people’s tobacco, and groans between the whiffs, conjugating the verb all day, for he is of active mind. He can pick out his letters, and he keeps in his bosom a little dog’s-eared MS. full of serious romances and silly prayers, old and exceedingly ill written : this he will draw forth at times, peep into for a moment, devoutly kiss, and restore to its proper place with all the veneration of the vulgar for a book. He can sing all manner of songs, slaughter a sheep with dexterity, deliver a grand call to prayer, shave, cook, fight, and he excels in the science of vituperation : like Saad, he never performs his devotions, except when necessary to “ keep up appearances.” His brow crumples at the word wine, but there is quite another expression about the region of the mouth ; and Stamboul, where he has lived some months, without learning ten words of Turkish, is a notable place for displaying pre- judice. * His wife. f When travelling, the Shushah is allowed to spread over the great- est portion of the scalp, to act as a protection against the sun ; and the hair being shaved off about two inches all round the head, leaves a large circular patch. Nothing can be uglier than such tonsure, and it is contrary to the strict law of the Prophet. The Arab, however, knows by experience, that habitual exposure of the scalp to a burning sun seldom fails to damage its precious contents. He, therefore, wears a Shushah during his wanderings, and removes it on his return home. Ill A “ FLY-SUCKER.” Stretched on a carpet, smoking a Persian Kalioon all day, lies Salih Shakkar, a Turk, born at El Medinah. We were intimate enough on the road, when he borrowed from me a little money. But at El Medinah he cut me pitilessly, as a “ town man” does a country acquaintance accidentally met, and of course he tried, though in vain, to evade repay- ing his debt. He had a tincture of letters, and appeared to have studied critically the subject of “ largesse.” “The generous is Allah’s friend, aye, though he be a sinner, and the miser is Allah’s foe, aye, though he be a saint,” was a venerable saying always in his mouth. He also informed me that Pharaoh, although the quintessence of impiety, is mentioned by name in the Koran, by reason of his liberality, whereas, Nimrod, another monster of iniquity, is only al- luded to, because he was a stingy tyrant. It is almost need- less to declare that Salih Shakkar was, as the Indians say, a very “ fly-sucker.” * There were two other men of El Medinah in the Wakalat Girgis ; but I omit description, as we left them, they being penniless, at Suez. One of them, Mahommed Shiklibha, I afterwards met at Meccah, and seldom have I seen a more honest and warm-hearted fellow. When we were embarking at Suez, he fell upon Hamid’s bosom, and both of them wept at the prospect of parting even for a few days. All the individuals above mentioned lost no time in open- ing the question of a loan. It was a lesson in oriental meta- physics to see their condition. They had a twelve days’ voyage, and a four days’ journey, before them ; boxes to carry, custom-houses to face, and stomachs to fill ; yet the whole party could scarcely, I believe, muster two dollars of ready money. Their boxes were full of valuables, arms, clothes, pipes, slippers, sweetmeats, and other “notions,” * “ Makhi-chus,” equivalent to our “ skin-flint . 5 112 A PILGRIMAGE TO EL MEDINAH AND MECCAH. but nothing short of starvation would have induced th»