Travels In Arabia

J >> John Lewis Burckhardt >> Travels In Arabia

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The Syrian caravan has always been the strongest, since the time when
the Khalifes, in person, accompanied the pilgrims from Baghdad. It. sets
out from Constantinople, and collects the pilgrims of Northern Asia in
its passage through Anatolia and Syria, until it reaches Damascus, where
it remains for several weeks. During the whole of the route from
Constantinople to Damascus, every care is taken for the safety and
convenience of the caravan; it is accompanied from town to town by the
armed forces of the governors; at every station caravansaries and public
fountains have been constructed by former Sultans, to accommodate it on
its passage, which is attended so far with continual festivities and
rejoicings. At Damascus, it is necessary to prepare for a journey of
thirty days, across the Desert to Medina; and the camels which had
transported it thus far, must be changed, the Anatolian camel not being
able to bear the fatigues of such a journey. Almost every town in the
eastern part of Syria furnishes its beasts for the purpose; and the
great Bedouin Sheikhs of the frontiers of that country contract largely
for camels with the government of Damascus. Their number must be
supposed very great, even if the caravan be but thinly attended, when it
is considered that besides those carrying water and provisions for the
hadjys and soldiers, their horses, and the spare camels brought to
supply such as may fail on the road, daily food for the camels
themselves must be similarly transported; as well as provisions, which
are deposited in castles on the Hadj route, to form a supply for the
return. The Bedouins take good care that the camels shall not be
overloaded, that the numbers wanted may thus be increased. In 1814,
though the caravan consisted of not more than

[p.248] four or five thousand persons, including soldiers and servants,
it had fifteen thousand camels. [El Fasy relates that, when the mother of
Motasem b'Illah, the last of the Abassides, performed the pilgrimage in
A.H. 631, her caravan was composed of one hundred and twenty thousand
camels. When Solyman Ibn Abd el Melek performed the pilgrimage in A.H.
97, nine hundred camels were employed in the transport of his wardrobe
only. It is observable that none of the Othman Emperors of
Constantinople ever performed the pilgrimage in person. The Khalife El
Mohdy Abou Abdallah Mohammed expended on his pilgrimage in A.H. 160,
thirty millions of dirhems. He carried with him an immense number of
gowns to distribute as presents. He built fine houses at every station
from Baghdad to Mekka, and caused them to be splendidly furnished; he
also erected mile-stones along the whole route, and was the first
Khalife who carried snow with him, to cool sherbet on the road, in which
he was imitated by many of his successors. Haroun el Rasheid, who
performed the pilgrimage nine times, spent, in one of his visits, one
million and fifty thousand dynars in presents to the Mekkawys and the
poor hadjys. El Melek Nasir eddyn Abou el Maaly, Sultan of Egypt,
carried with him, on his pilgrimage in A.H. 719, five hundred camels,
for the transport of sweetmeats and confectionary only; and two hundred
and eighty for pomegranates, almonds, and other fruits: in his
travelling larder were one thousand geese, and three thousand fowls.
Vide Makrisi's Treatise Man Hadj myn el Kholafa.]

The Syrian caravan is very well regulated, though, as in all matters of
oriental government, the abuses and exceptions are numerous. The Pasha
of Damascus, or one of his principal officers, always accompanies this
caravan, and gives the signal for encamping and starting, by firing a
musket. On the route, a troop of horsemen ride in front, and another in
the rear, to bring up the stragglers. The different parties of hadjys,
distinguished by their provinces or towns, keep close together ; and
each knows its never-varying station in the caravan, which is determined
by the geographical proximity of the place from whence it comes. When
they encamp, the same order is constantly observed; thus the people from
Aleppo always encamp close by those of Homs, &c. This regulation is very
necessary to prevent disorder in night-marches. [In our author's Syrian
Travels, (p. 242.) the reader will find some further remarks on this
Hadj-caravan, and in the Appendix to that volume (No. 3.) an account of
the route between Damascus and Mekka.--ED.]

The hadjys usually contract for the journey with a Mekowem, one who
speculates in the furnishing of camels and provisions to the Hadj.

[p.249] From twenty to thirty pilgrims are under the care of the same
Mekowem, who has his tents and servants, and saves the hadjys from all
fatigue and trouble on the road: their tent, coffee, water, breakfast,
and dinner are prepared for them, and they need not take the slightest
trouble about packing and loading. If a camel should die, the Mekowem
must find another; and, however great may be the want of provisions on
the road, he must furnish his passengers with their daily meals. In
1814, the hire of one Mekowem, and the boarding at his table, was one
hundred and fifty dollars from Damascus to Medina, and fifty dollars
more from Medina to Mekka. Out of these two hundred dollars, sixty were
given by the Mekowem to a man who led the camel by the halter during the
night-marches; a precaution necessary in so great a caravan, when the
rider usually sleeps, and the animal might otherwise easily wander from
the path. In addition to the stipulated hire, the Mekowem always
receives some presents from his pilgrims. On the return to Syria, the
sum is something less, as many camels then go unloaded.

Few travellers choose to perform the journey at their own risk, or upon
their own camels; for if they are not particularly protected by the
soldiery, or the chief of the caravan, they find it difficult to escape
the ill-treatment of the Mekowem at watering-places, as well as on the
march; the latter endeavouring to check, by every means in their power,
the practice of traveling independent of them, so that it is rarely done
except by rich hadjys, who have the means of forming a party of their
own amounting to forty or fifty individuals.

At night, torches are lighted, and the daily distance is usually
performed between three o'clock in the afternoon, and an hour or two
after sun-rise on the following day. The Bedouins who carry provisions
for the troops, travel by day only, and in advance of the caravan, the
encampment of which they pass in the morning, and are overtaken in turn,
and passed by the caravan on the following night, at their own resting-
place. The journey with these Bedouins is less fatiguing than with the
great body of the caravan, as a regular night's rest is obtained; but
their bad character deters most pilgrims from joining them.

[p.250] At every watering-place on the route are a small castle and a
large tank, at which the camels water. The castles are garrisoned by a
few persons, who remain during the whole year to guard the provisions
deposited there. It is at these watering-places, which belong to the
Bedouins, that the Sheikhs of the tribes meet the caravan, and receive
the accustomed tribute. Water is plentiful on the route: the stations
are no where more distant than eleven or twelve hours' march; and in
winter, pools of rain-water are frequently found. Those pilgrims who can
travel with a litter, or on commodious camel-saddles, may sleep at
night, and perform the journey with little inconvenience; but of those
whom poverty, or the desire of soon acquiring a large sum of money,
induces to follow the caravan on foot, or to hire themselves as
servants, many die on the road from fatigue.

The Egyptian caravan, which starts from Cairo, is under the same
regulations as the Syrian, but seldom equals the latter in numbers,
being composed of Egyptians only, besides the military escort. Its route
is more dangerous and fatiguing than that of the Syrian caravan; the
road along the shore of the Red Sea leading through the territories of
wild and warlike tribes of Bedouins, who frequently endeavour to cut off
a part of the caravan by open force. The watering-places too are much
fewer on this route than on the other; three days frequently intervening
between the wells, which are, besides, seldom copious, and, with the
exception of two or three, are of bad brackish water. In 1814, this
caravan was composed of soldiers only with the retinue of the sacred
camel, and some public officers; all the Egyptian pilgrims having
preferred taking the route by Suez. In 1816, several grandees of Cairo
joined the Hadj, one of whom had one hundred and ten camels for the
transport of his baggage and retinue, and eight tents: his travelling
expenses in going and coming must have amounted to ten thousand pounds.
There were also about five hundred peasants, with their women, from
upper and lower Egypt, who were less afraid of the fatigues and dangers
of the Desert than of the Sea. I saw with them a party of public women
and dancing-girls, whose tents and equipage were among the most splendid
in the

[p.251] caravan. Female hadjys of a similar class accompany the Syrian
caravan also.

The Persian Hadj, which used to set out from Baghdad, and come through
Nedjed to Mekka, was discontinued about the time when the Wahabys
stopped the Syrian Hadj. After Abdullah ibn Saoud had made peace with
Tousoun Pasha in 1815, it ventured to cross the Desert, and passed by
Derayeh unmolested; but within four days' journey of Mekka, it was
attacked by the Beni Shammar, a tribe which had remained neuter during
the war between Tousoun and the Wahabys. The caravan then returned to
Derayeh; through the intercession of Saoud, the goods of which it had
been plundered were restored; and he sent a party of his own people to
escort it to the holy city.

The Persian caravan is usually escorted by the Ageyl Arabs, of Baghdad.
As its pilgrims are known to be sectaries, they are exposed to great
extortions on the road: Saoud exacted a heavy capitation-tax from them,
as did Sherif Ghaleb at Mekka, amounting in latter times to thirty
sequins per head. Persian hadjys are all persons of property, and no
pilgrims suffer so much imposition as they during the whole route. Great
numbers of them come by sea: they embark at Bassora for Mokha, and if
they fall in with the trade-wind, run straight to Djidda; if not, they
form themselves into a caravan, and come by land along the coast of
Yemen. In 1814, when I was present at the Hadj, the few Persians who
came by land, had passed through Baghdad to Syria, and had followed the
Syrian caravan, accompanied by Baghdad camel-drivers.

It deserves notice here, that the Persians were not always permitted to
come to the holy city; being notorious heretics, who conceal their
doctrines only during the Hadj, that they may not give offence to the
Sunnys. In 1634, a few years after the temple of Mekka had been rebuilt,
Sultan Murad IV. commanded that no Persian of the sect of Aly should be
allowed to perform the pilgrimage, or enter the Beittullah. This
prohibition was complied with for several years; but the money expended
by the Persians soon re-opened the way to Arafat

[p.252] and the Kaaba. We learn from Asamy, that, in 1625, a sectary of
Aly was impaled alive at Mekka, because he would not abjure his creed.

The Moggrebyn Hadj caravan has for many years ceased to be regular. It
is usually accompanied by a relative of the King of Morocco, and
proceeds from his residence by slow marches towards Tunis and Tripoly,
collecting additional pilgrims in every district through which it
passes. Its route from Tripoly is along the shores of the Syrtis to
Derne, and from thence along the coast of Egypt, passing either by
Alexandria, or taking the direction of the Natron lakes straight for
Cairo, from whence it follows the common pilgrim-route. This caravan
returning from Mekka always visits Medina, which the Egyptian Hadj never
does, and sometimes extends its route by land as far as Jerusalem. Few
troops accompany it; but its pilgrims are well armed, and ready to
defend themselves: of the two other great caravans, no body fights but
the escort.

The last Moggrebyn caravan passed through Egypt in 1811; the Wahabys
permitted them to visit Mekka, as they saw that they were free from
those scandalous practices with which they upbraided the Egyptians and
Syrians; but the caravan experienced many misfortunes on its return,
from enemies, and from a want of guides, and provisions, in consequence
of which many of its people died. The pilgrims from Barbary arrive now
usually by sea at Alexandria, and re-embark at Suez, in parties of fifty
or a hundred at a time. Although poorly dressed, they have generally
sufficient money to defray their expenses, and few of them are beggars;
of this class, however, I saw a small party, Arabs from Draa, on the
S.E. side of Mount Atlas, who had set out with the Egyptian caravan by
land in September, 1816. They told me that they had obtained a. free
passage by sea from Tunis to Alexandria. One of them was a Bedouin of
the Shilouh nation, whose encampment, when he left it, was at twenty
days' journey from Tombuctou.

In the Moggrebyn caravan also are generally found some natives of the
island of Djerba, or Girba, who are strongly suspected of being
sectaries of Aly; and some of whom are often stationary at Cairo,

[p.253] inhabiting the quarter called Teyloun, and keeping themselves
wholly separate from all other Moggrebyns established in the town. But
the far greater part of the caravan is from the kingdom of Marocco.

I believe that two thousand is the largest yearly number of Barbary
pilgrims. The last caravans comprised altogether from six to eight
thousand men.

Two Yemen pilgrim caravans used to arrive at Mekka, in former times, by
land. The one called Hadj el Kebsy, started from Sada, in Yemen, and
took its course along the mountains to Tayf and to Mekka. Two
itineraries of this caravan, with some notices on it, will be found in
the Appendix. The other, which was formed of natives of Yemen, and of
Persians and Indians who had arrived in the harbours of that country,
came along the coast. This caravan was discontinued about 1803, and has
not yet been re-established. It was once considerable, and rich in
merchandize and coffee; and sometimes enjoyed the honour of being
accompanied by the Imams of Yemen. Like the Syrian and Egyptian
caravans, it had a particular place assigned for its camp near Mekka,
where a large stone tank was built to supply it with water.

I have seen the route of an Indian pilgrim caravan, laid down in several
maps as starting from Maskat, and coming by Nedjed to Mekka; but I could
obtain no information respecting it; that such, however, existed
formerly, appears from the frequent mention of it made by the historian
Asamy. Those persons whom I questioned assured me that no such caravan
had arrived within their memory; but I believe that, in the time of
peace, Indian, Persian, and Arab beggars, in small parties, sometimes
arrive in the Hedjaz by the above route.

Before the power of the Sherifs was broken by the chief Sherif Serour,
the former extorted from every caravan that came to Mekka considerable
sums, besides the surra to which they were entitled. As soon as they
heard of the near approach of a caravan, they issued from Mekka with all
their armed retinue and their Bedouin friends, and often disputed with
the leaders of the caravan for several days before the amount of the
tribute was settled.

To the regular caravans above mentioned, must be added large bodies of
Bedouins, which resort to Mekka, during peace, from every part of the
Desert; for even among the least religious Bedouins, the title of hadjy
is respected: Nedjed sends its pilgrims, as do also the Southern
Bedouins. When the Wahabys were in possession of Mekka, hosts of these
sectaries came to Arafat, as much, perhaps, for the purpose of paying
their court to the chief, who, it was known, liked to see his Arabs
collected there, as from religious motives. The last time the Wahabys
performed the Hadj was in 1811, shortly after the first defeat of
Tousoun Pasha at Djedeyde: they were accompanied by large bodies of
Bedouins of Kahtan, Asyr, with others from the most interior part of the
Desert. The plunder taken from the Turkish army was sold to the Mekkawys
in the market at Arafat. I shall here observe that Aly Bey el Abassy has
made a strange mistake with respect to the host of Wahabys, whom he saw
entering Mekka at the time of the pilgrimage; for he fancied that they
came to take possession of the town, and flattered himself that he was
present at the first conquest of Mekka by the Wahabys, while every child
in the place could have informed him that this event happened three
years before his arrival in the Hedjaz.

At present, as I have already mentioned, most of the hadjys arrive by
sea at Djidda: those who come from the north embark at Suez or Cosseir,
and among them are a large proportion of the Barbary pilgrims, many
Turks from Anatolia and European Turkey, Syrians, and numerous dervishes
from Persia, Tartary, and the realms watered by the Indus. The want of
shipping on the Red Sea, occasioned by the increased demand for ships to
accommodate the Turkish army of the Hedjaz, renders the passage
precarious; and they sometimes lose the opportunity, and arrive too late
for the pilgrimage, as happened to a party in 1814, who reached Mekka
three days after the Hadj, having been long detained at Suez. From the
bad quality of the vessels, and their crowded state, the passage is very
disagreeable, and often dangerous. Nothing has yet been done by Mohammed
Aly Pasha to make this voyage more commodious to the pilgrims; but, on
the contrary, be has laid a tax upon them, by forcing a contract for
their passage to Djidda

[p.255] at a high price, (it was eighteen dollars a head in 1814), with
his governor at Suez, who distributed them on board the Arab ships, and
paid to the masters of the vessels only six dollars per head. Formerly
hadjys were permitted to carry with them from Suez as great a quantity
of provisions as they chose, part of which they afterwards sold in the
Hedjaz to some profit; but at present none can embark with more than
what is barely sufficient for his own consumption during the pilgrimage.
The advantage of carrying along with them their provisions, chiefly
butter, flour, biscuits, and dried flesh, purchased at cheap prices in
Egypt, for the whole journey, was a principal reason for preferring a
sea voyage; for those who go by land must purchase all their provisions
at Mekka, where the prices are high.

If the foreign pilgrims, on their arrival at Cairo, cannot hear of any
ships lying in the harbour of Suez, they often pursue their way up the
Nile as far as Genne, and from thence cross the Desert to Cosseir, from
whence it is but a short voyage to Djidda. In returning from the Hedjaz,
this Cosseir route is preferred by the greater part of the Turkish
hadjys. The natives of Upper Egypt go by Cosseir; likewise many negro
pilgrims, after having followed the banks of the Nile from Sennar down
to Genne. The usual fare for hadjys from Cosseir to Djidda, is from six
to eight dollars.

In the last days of the Mamelouks, when they held possession of Upper
Egypt, while the lower was conquered by Mohammed Aly, many Turkish
hadjys who repaired to the Hedjaz in small parties, though it was then
in the hands of the Wahabys, suffered much illtreatment from the
Mamelouks, on their return to Egypt; many of them were stripped and
slain in their passage down the Nile. The sanguinary Greek, Hassan Beg
el Yahoudy, boasted of having himself killed five hundred of them. These
massacres of inoffensive pilgrims furnished Mohammed Aly with an excuse
for his treachery in putting the Mamelouks to death at the castle of
Cairo.

Other pilgrims arrive by sea from Yemen and the East India, namely,
Mohammedan Hindous, and Malays; Cashmerians, and people from Guzerat;
Persians, from the Persian Gulf; Arabians, from Bassora, Maskat, Oman,
Hadramaut; and those from the coasts

[p.256] of Melinda and Mombaza, who are comprised under the generic name
of the people of the Sowahel, i.e. the level coast; Abyssinian Moslims,
and many negro pilgrims, who come by the same route. All Moslims
dwelling on the coasts of the ocean are certain of finding, towards the
period of the Hadj, some ship departing from a neighbouring harbour for
the Red Sea; but the greater number arrive with the regular Indian fleet
in May, and remain at Mekka or Medina till the time of the Hadj; soon
after which, they embark on board country ships at Djidda for Yemen,
where they wait till the period of the trade-winds to pass the Bab el
Mandeb. Multitudes of beggars come to Mekka from the above-mentioned
countries; they get a free passage from charitable individuals in their
own country, or the cost of it is defrayed by those who employ them as
their proxies in performing the Hadj; but when they land, they are
thrown entirely upon the charity of other hadjys; and the alms they
collect, must serve to carry them back to their homes.

Few pilgrims, except the mendicants, arrive without bringing some
productions of their respective countries for sale; and this remark is
applicable as well to the merchants, with whom commercial pursuits are
the main object, as to those who are actuated by religious zeal for to
the latter, the profits derived from selling a few native articles at
Mekka, diminish, in some degree, the heavy expenses of the journey. The
Moggrebyns, for example, bring their red bonnets and woollen cloaks; the
European Turks, shoes and slippers, hardware, embroidered stuffs,
sweetmeats, amber, trinkets of European manufacture, knit silk purses,
&c.; the Turks of Anatolia bring carpets, silks, and Angora shawls; the
Persians, cashmere shawls and large silk handkerchiefs; the Afghans,
tooth-brushes, called Mesouak Kattary, made of the spongy boughs of a
tree growing in Bokhara, beads of a yellow soap-stone, and plain, coarse
shawls, manufactured in their own country; the Indians, the numerous
productions of their rich and extensive region; the people of Yemen,
snakes for the Persian pipes, sandals, and various other works in
leather; and the Africans bring various articles adapted to the slave-
trade. The hadjys are, however, often disappointed in their expectations
of gain; want of money makes

[p.257] them hastily sell their little adventures at the public
auctions, and often obliges them to accept very low prices.

Of all the poor pilgrims who arrive in the Hedjaz, none bear a more
respectable character for industry than the Negroes, or Tekrourys, as
they are called here. All the poorer class of Indians turn beggars as
soon as they are landed at Djidda. Many Syrians and Egyptians follow the
same trade; but not so the Negroes. I have already stated in a former
journal, that the latter reach the Hedjaz by the three harbours of
Massouah, Souakin, and Cosseir. Those who come by Sennar and Abyssinia
to Massoua, are all paupers. The small sum of one dollar carries them
from Massoua to the opposite coast of Yemen; and they usually land at
Hodeyda. Here they wait for the arrival of a sufficient number of their
countrymen, to form a small caravan, and then ascend the mountains of
Yemen, along the fertile valleys of which, inhabited by hospitable
Arabs, they beg their way to Djidda or to Mekka. [In 1813, a party of
Tekrourys, about sixty in number, having taken that road, the Arabs of
those mountains, who are Wahabys, and who had often seen black slaves
among the Turkish soldiers, conceived that the negro hadjys were in the
habit of entering into the service of the Turks. To prevent the party
then passing from being ever opposed to them, they waylaid the poor
Tekrourys on the road, and killed many of them.] If rich enough to spare
two dollars, they obtain, perhaps, a passage from Massoua direct to
Djidda, where they meet with such of their countrymen as may have landed
there from Souakin or Cosseir. Immediately on their arrival at Djidda or
Mekka, they apply themselves to labour: some serve as porters, for the
transport of goods and corn from the ships to the warehouses; others
hire themselves to clean the court-yards, fetch wood from the
neighbouring mountains, for the supply of which the inhabitants of
Djidda and Mekka are exclusively indebted to them, as none of their own
lazy poor will undertake that labour, although four piastres a day may
be gained by it. At Mekka, they make small hearths of clay, (kanoun,)
which they paint with yellow and red; these are bought by the hadjys,
who boil their coffee-pots upon them. Some manufacture small baskets and
mats of date-leaves, or prepare the intoxicating drink called bouza; and
others serve as water-carriers: in short, when any occasion requires
manual

[p.258] labour, a Tekroury from the market is always employed. If any of
them is attacked by disease, his companions attend upon him, and defray
his expenses. I have seen very few of them ask for charity, except on
the first days after their arrival, before they have been able to obtain
employment. From Mekka, they either travel by land, or sometimes make a
sea voyage by way of Yembo to Medina, where they again supply the town
with fire-wood. Indeed, the hadjys would be much at a loss in the
Hedjaz, if they could not command the laborious services of these
blacks. During the Wahaby conquest, they continued to perform the
pilgrimage; and it is said that Saoud expressed a particular esteem for
them. [Makrisi states, in his treatise on the Khalifes who performed the
Hadj, that in A.H. 724, a negro king called Mousa arrived at Cairo on
his way to Mekka, and was splendidly entertained by Kalaoun, then Sultan
of Egypt. He had with him, according to Makrisi, fourteen thousand
chosen female slaves.]