Travels In Arabia

J >> John Lewis Burckhardt >> Travels In Arabia

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When these negroes have completed the Hadj, and the visit to Mekka, they
repair to Djidda, where they continue to work till an opportunity offers
of sailing to Souakin; for very few, if any, return by way of Abyssinia.
On leaving the Hedjaz, they all possess a sufficient sum of money, saved
from the profits of their industry, to purchase some small adventure,
or, at least, to provide, on their reaching Souakin, for a more
comfortable passage through the Desert than that which they experienced
on their outward journey, and then proceed homewards by Shendy and
Cordofan. Many of them, however, instead of returning on the completion
of the pilgrimage, disperse over Arabia, visit the mosque at Jerusalem,
or Ibrahim's (Abraham' s) tomb at Hebron, and thus remain absent from
their home for many years, subsisting always upon the product of their
own labour.

The benefactors to the Kaaba have enriched the temple of Mekka, and the
idle persons employed in it; but no one has thought of forming any
establishment for facilitating the pilgrimage of the poor negroes and
Indians, or of procuring for them a free passage across the gulf to the
Hedjaz; the expense of which, amounting to a dollar or two, is that
which they feel most heavily. They often arrive in the harbours of the
African side of the gulf, after having spent the

[p.259] little they had taken with them from home, or having been robbed
of it on the journey; and finding, perhaps, no means there of earning as
much as will pay their passage across the Red Sea, are obliged to wait
till the return of their richer companions from the Hedjaz, who
charitably pay for their passage.

The poor Indians afford a complete contrast, both in appearance and
character, to the negroes: more wretched countenances can hardly be
imagined; they seem to have lost not only all energy, but even hope.
With bodies which appear scarcely capable of withstanding a gust of
wind, and voices equally feeble, they would be worthy objects of
commiseration, did not daily experience prove that they delight to
appear in this plight, because it secures to them the alms of the
charitable, and exempts them from labour. The streets of Mekka are
crowded with them; the most decrepid make their doleful appeals to the
passenger, lying at full length on their backs in the middle of the
street; the gates of the mosque are always beset with them; every
coffee-house and water-stand is a station for some of them; and no hadjy
can purchase provisions in the markets, without being importuned by
Indians soliciting a portion of them. I saw among them one of those
devotees who are so common in the north of India and in Persia: one of
his arms was held up straight over his head, and so fixed by long habit,
that it could not be placed in any other situation. From the curiosity
which he excited, I was led to suppose that such characters seldom find
their way to the Hedjaz.

Dervishes of every sect and order in the Turkish empire are found among
the pilgrims; many of them madmen, or at least assuming the appearance
of insanity, which causes them to be much respected by the hadjys, and
fills their pockets with money. The behaviour of some of them is so
violent, and at the same time so cunning, that even the least charitably
disposed hadjys give willingly something to escape from them. They
mostly come from other countries; for among the Arabians themselves
there are fewer crazy of these people than in other parts of the east.
Egypt chiefly abounds with them; and almost every village in the valley
of the Nile furnishes some Masloub, or

[p.260] reputed madman, whom the inhabitants regard as an inspired
being, and a blessing sent to them from heaven. [In 1813, the Christian
community of Gous, in Upper Egypt, had the honour of possessing an
insane youth, who walked about the bazars quite naked. But the Moslims
of the place growing jealous, seized him one night, and converted him by
circumcision into a Mohammedan saint.]

The arrival of strangers from all parts of the Mohammedan world, from
Tombuctou to Samarkand, and from Georgia to Borneo, would render Djidda
a most desirable residence for an inquisitive European traveller, who,
by affording assistance to poor hadjys, and spending a small sum in
provisions for them, would attract large numbers to his house, and might
thus collect much information respecting the most distant and unknown
parts of Africa and Asia. All, except the higher classes of Mekkawys,
let out their houses during the Hadj, and demand from their under-
tenants as much for a few weeks or months as they pay to the proprietor
for a whole year. I paid for one room with a small kitchen and a by-
place for my slave, fifteen dollars for six weeks, which equalled the
annual rent of the whole house received by the landlord; and I should
have been obliged to pay the same price if I had taken it only during
the fortnight preceding and following the Hadj. The house in which I
hired these rooms was divided into several lodgings, and was let
altogether to different hadjys at one hundred and twenty dollars, the
owners having retired into apartments so mean that strangers would not
occupy them.

Of the numerous pilgrims who arrive at Mekka before the caravan, some
are professed merchants; many others bring a few articles for sale,
which they dispose of without trouble. They then pass the interval of
time before the Hadj very pleasantly; free from cares and apprehensions,
and enjoying that supreme happiness of an Asiatic, the dolce far
niente[.] Except those of a very high rank, the pilgrims live together
in a state of freedom and equality. They keep but few servants: many,
indeed, have none, and divide among themselves the various duties of
house-keeping, such as bringing the provisions from market and cooking
them, although accustomed at home to the

[p.261] services of an attendant. The freedom and oblivion of care which
accompany travelling, render it a period of enjoyment among the people
of the East as among Europeans; and the same kind of happiness results
from their residence at Mekka, where reading the Koran, smoking in the
streets or coffee-houses, praying or conversing in the mosque, are added
to the indulgence of their pride in being near the holy house, and to
the anticipation of the honours attached to the title of hadjy for the
remainder of their lives; besides the gratification of religious
feelings, and the hopes of futurity, which influence many of the
pilgrims. The hadjys who come by the caravans pass their time very
differently. As soon as they have finished their tedious journey, they
must undergo the fatiguing ceremonies of visiting the Kaaba and Omra;
immediately after which, they are hurried away to Arafat and Mekka, and,
still heated from the effects of the journey, are exposed to the keen
air of the Hedjaz mountains under the slight and inadequate covering of
the ihram: then returning to Mekka, they have only a few days left to
recruit their strength, and to make their repeated visits to the
Beitullah, when the caravan sets off on its return; and thus the whole
pilgrimage is a severe trial of bodily strength, and a continual series
of fatigues and privations. This mode of visiting the holy city is,
however, in accordance with the opinions of many most learned Moslim
divines, who thought that a long residence in the Hedjaz, however
meritorious the intention, is little conducive to true belief, since the
daily sight of the holy places weakened the first impressions made by
them. Notwithstanding the general decline of Muselman zeal, there are
still found Mohammedans whose devotion induces them to visit repeatedly
the holy places. I knew Turks established at Cairo, who, even while the
Wahaby faith predominated in the Hedjaz, went every year by way of
Cosseir to Mekka; and there are a few individuals who reside constantly
in that city, that they may pass the remainder of their days in pious
duties and abstraction from the world. During my stay, a Turkish grandee
arrived from Constantinople; he had been Kahwadjy Bashy to Sultan Selym;
and the present Grand Signior had permitted him to go, that he might die
in the sacred territory, where his arrival was announced by princely
donations to the mosque.

[p.262] The Syrian and Egyptian caravans always arrive at fixed periods;
generally a day or two before the departure of the Hadj for Arafat. Both
caravans usually pass by Beder, on the same day, or with an interval of
one day only. The Syrian caravan coming from Medina, and the Egyptian
from Yembo el Nakhel, prosecute their route from Beder to Mekka, at a
short distance from each other. On the 5th of the month of Zul Hadj,
A.H. 1229, or the 21st of November, 1814, the approach of the Syrian
caravan was announced by one of its Mekowem, who came galloping into the
town, to win the prize which is always awarded to the Sabbak, or him who
brings the first tidings of the safe arrival of that caravan. The loud
acclamations of the mob followed him to the governor's house, where his
horse expired the moment he dismounted. The news was the more important,
as nothing had been heard of this Hadj, and rumours had even been
circulated of the Bedouins having plundered it on the road to the north
of Medina. Two hours after, many other persons belonging to it arrived;
and in the night the whole body came up, and encamped, with the Pasha of
Damascus at their head, in the plain of Sheikh Mahmoud.

Early the next morning, the Egyptian caravan also arrived. The heavy
baggage and the camels were sent to the usual place of encampment of the
Egyptian Hadj, in the Moabede; but the Mahmal, or holy camel, remained
at Sheikh Mahmoud, that it might pass from thence in procession next day
through the town. Mohammed Aly Pasha arrived unexpectedly this morning
from Tayf, to be present at the Hadj, and to inspect the cavalry which
had come with the Egyptian caravan, a reinforcement that strongly
excited his hopes of success against the Wahabys. He was dressed in a
very handsome ihram, having two large entirely white cashmirene shawls
wrapped round his loins and shoulders: his head was bare; but an officer
held over it an umbrella to protect him from the sun, while riding
through the streets. On the same morning, all the hadjys resident at
Mekka took the ihram at their own lodgings, with the usual ceremonies,
preparatory to their setting out for Arafat; and at mid-day they
assembled in the mosque, where a short sermon was preached on the
occasion. The hadjys who had come with the caravan had already

[p.263] taken the ihram at Asfan, two stations in advance of Mekka; but
a great number of them, especially the servants and camel-drivers, did
not throw off their ordinary dresses, and even appeared in them at
Arafat, without causing either surprise or indignation. There is no
religious police or inquisition here; and every body is left to the
dictates of his conscience, either to observe or neglect the precepts of
the canonical law.

Great bustle prevailed this evening in the town. Every body was
preparing for his journey to Arafat; Syrian hadjys came to engage
lodgings, to inquire about the state of the markets, and to pay their
first visits to the Kaaba. A number of pedlars and petty shopkeepers
left the town to establish themselves at Arafat, and to be ready there
for the accommodation of the pilgrims. A number of camel-drivers from
Syria and Egypt led their unloaded camels through the streets, offering
to let them out to the hadjys going to Arafat. The rate of hire this
year was very moderate, on account of the great number of beasts of
burden: I engaged two of these camels, for the journey of four days to
Arafat and back again, for three dollars.

On the 8th of Zul Hadj, early in the morning, the Syrian Hadj passed in
procession through the town, accompanied by all its soldiers, and
carrying the Mahmal in front. All its baggage was left at Sheikh
Mahmoud, excepting the tents that were to be pitched at Arafat. Most of
the hadjys were mounted in the Shebrye, a sort of palankeen placed upon
the camel. The great people, and the Pasha of Damascus himself, rode in
takhtrouans, a kind of closed [l]itter or box carried by two camels, one
before and the other behind, and forming a very commodious conveyance,
except that it is necessary always to have a ladder, by means of which
one may mount or descend. The camels' heads were decorated with
feathers, tassels, and bells; but their heads, bent down towards the
ground, showed how much they were fatigued by their journey. While these
passed, the streets were lined by people of all classes, who greeted the
caravan with loud acclamations and praise. The martial music of the
Pasha of Damascus, a dozen of fine caparisoned horses led in front of
his litter, and the rich takhtrouans in which his women rode,
particularly attracted attention.

[p.264] Soon after the Syrians had passed, the Egyptian procession
followed, consisting of its Mahmal or sacred camel, (for each of the
caravans carries one,) and the Shebryes of the public officers, who
always accompany the Hadj; but not a single private pilgrim was to be
seen in its suite. The good appearance of the soldiers who were with
them, the splendour of the Mahmal, and of the equipage of the Emir el
Hadj, who was a commander of the Turkish horsemen called Delhis, drew
from the Mekkawys many signs of approbation, such as had been given to
those who immediately preceded them. Both caravans continued their route
to Arafat without stopping.

Before mid-day, all the hadjys who had resided for some time at Mekka,
likewise mounted their camels, and crowded the streets as they pressed
forward to follow the Hadj. They were joined by the far greater part of
the population of Mekka, who make it a rule to go every year to Arafat;
and by a similar portion of the population of Djidda, who had been
assembled here for some time. During five or six days, the gates of
Djidda, thus deserted by so many people, remain shut.

I left my lodgings on foot, after mid-day, with a companion and a slave-
boy mounted on two camels, which I had hired from a Syrian driver, a
native of Homs. It is thought meritorious to make the six hours' journey
to Arafat on foot, particularly if the pilgrim goes barefooted. Many
hadjys did so; and I preferred this mode, because I had led a very
sedentary life for some months. We were several hours before we could
reach the outskirts of the town beyond the Moabede, so great was the
crowd of camels; and many accidents happened. Of the half-naked hadjys,
all dressed in the white ihram, some sat reading the Koran upon their
camels; some ejaculated loud prayers; whilst others cursed their
drivers, and quarrelled with those near them, who were choking up the
passage. Beyond the town the road widens, and we passed on through the
valleys, at a very slow march, for two hours, to Wady Muna, in the
narrow entrance of which great confusion again occurred. The law enjoins
that the hadjys shall recite five prayers at Muna, Mohammed having
always done so; that is to say, that they shall arrive there at noon, in
time for the mid-day prayer, and remaining

[p.265] until the next morning, shall perform the prayers of the Aszer,
of Mogreb, and of Ashe, and that of the dawn on the ensuing day. The
inconvenience, however, arising from a delay on the route has led to the
neglect of this precept for some time past; and the Hadj now passes
Muna, on its way to Arafat, without halting.

In advance of Muna, we had the mosque of Mozdelife to our right, whither
many pilgrims went to recite the Salat el Aszer and Salat el Mogreb; but
the caravan continued its march. Beyond Mozdelife, we again entered the
mountains by the pass called El Mazoumeyn, on the eastern side of which
we issued towards the plain of Arafat. Here the pilgrims passed between
the two pillars called Alameyn, and, on approaching the vicinity of
Djebel Arafat, dispersed over the plain in search of their place of
encampment. I reached the camp about three hours after sun-set; but the
last stragglers did not arrive till midnight. Numberless fires were seen
lighted on an extent of ground of three or four miles in length; and
high and brilliant clusters of lamps marked the different places of
encampment of Mohammed Aly, Soleyman Pasha, and the Emir el Hadj of the
Egyptian caravan. Hadjys were seen in every direction wandering among
the tents in search of their companions, whom they had lost in the
confusion on the road; and it was several hours before the noise and
clamour had subsided. Few persons slept during that night: the devotees
sat up praying, and their loud chants were particularly distinguished on
the side of the Syrian encampment; the merry Mekkawys formed themselves
into parties, singing the jovial songs called djok, accompanied by
clapping of hands; and the coffee-houses scattered over the plain were
crowded the whole night with customers.

The night was dark and cold, and a few drops of rain fell. I had formed
a resting-place for myself by means of a large carpet tied to the back
part of a Mekkawy's tent; and having walked about for the greater part
of the night, I had just disposed myself to sleep, when two guns, fired
by the Syrian and Egyptian Hadj, announced the approaching dawn of the
day of pilgrimage, and summoned the faithful to prepare for their
morning prayers.

To illustrate the following account, a plan of Arafat is annexed;

[p.266] and the figures and marks of reference which it contains are
explained below. [not included]

At sun-rise on the 9th of Zul Hadj, every pilgrim issued from his tent,
to walk over the plains, and take a view of the busy crowds assembled
there. Long streets of tents, fitted up as bazars, furnished all kinds
of provisions. The Syrian and Egyptian cavalry were exercised by their
chiefs early in the morning, while thousands of camels were seen feeding
upon the dry shrubs of the plain all round the camp. I walked to Mount
Arafat, to enjoy from its summit a more distinct view of the whole. This
granite hill, which is also called Djebel er' Rahme, or the Mountain of
Mercy, rises on the north-east side of the plain, close to the mountains
which encompass it, but separated from them by a rocky valley; it is
about a mile, or a mile and a half in circuit; its sides are sloping,
and its summit is nearly two hundred feet above the level of the plain.
On the eastern side broad stone steps lead up to the top, and a broad
unpaved path, on the western, over rude masses of granite, with which
its declivity is covered. After mounting about forty steps, we find a
spot a little on the left, called Modaa Seydna Adam, or the place of
prayer of our Lord Adam, where, it is related, that the father of
mankind used to stand while praying; for here it was, according to
Mohammedan tradition, that the angel Gabriel first instructed Adam how
to adore his Creator. A marble slab, bearing an inscription in modern
characters, is fixed in the side of the mountain. On reaching about the
sixtieth step, we come to a

[p.267] small paved platform to our right, on a level spot of the hill,
where the preacher stands who admonishes the pilgrims on the afternoon
of this day, as I shall hereafter mention. Thus high, the steps are so
broad and easy that a horse or camel may ascend, but higher up they
become more steep and uneven. On the summit the place is shown where
Mohammed used to take his station during the Hadj; a small chapel
formerly stood over it; but this was destroyed by the Wahabys: here the
pilgrims usually pray two rikats, in salutation of Arafat. The steps and
the summit are covered with handkerchiefs to receive their pious gifts,
and each family of the Mekkawys or Bedouins of the tribe of Koreysh, in
whose territory Arafat lies, has its particular spot assigned to it for
this purpose. The summit commands a very extensive and singular
prospect. I brought my compass to take a circle of bearings; but the
crowd was so great, that I could not use it. Towards the western
extremity of the plain are seen Bir Bazan and the Aalameyn; somewhat
nearer, southwards, the mosque called Djama Nimre, or Djama Seydna
Ibrahim; and on the south-east, a small house where the Sherif used to
lodge during the pilgrimage. From thence an elevated rocky ground in the
plain extends towards Arafat. On the eastern side of the mountain, and
close to its foot, are the ruins of a small mosque, built on rocky
ground, called Djama el Szakhrat, where Mohammed was accustomed to pray,
and where the pilgrims make four prostrations in memory of the prophet.
Several large reservoirs lined with stone are dispersed over the plain;
two or three are close to the foot of Arafat, and there are some near
the house of the Sherifs: they are filled from the same fine aqueduct
which supplies Mekka, and the head of which is about one hour and a half
distant, in the eastern mountains. The canal is left open here for the
convenience of pilgrims, and is conducted round the three sides of the
mountains, passing by Modaa Seydna Adam. [At the close of the sixteenth
century, according to Kotobeddyn, the whole plain of Arafat was
cultivated.]

From the summit of Arafat, I counted about three thousand tents
dispersed over the plain, of which two thirds belonged to the two

[p.268] Hadj caravans, and to the suite and soldiers of Mohammed Aly;
the rest to the Arabs of the Sherif, the Bedouin hadjys, and the people
of Mekka and Djidda. These assembled multitudes were for the greater
number, like myself, without tents. The two caravans were encamped
without much order, each party of pilgrims or soldiers having pitched
its tents in large circles or dowars, in the midst of which many of
their camels were reposing. The plain contained, dispersed in different
parts, from twenty to twenty-five thousand camels, twelve thousand of
which belonged to the Syrian Hadj, and from five to six thousand to the
Egyptian; besides about three thousand, purchased by Mohammed Aly from
the Bedouins in the Syrian Deserts, and brought to Mekka with the Hadj,
to convey the pilgrims to this place, previously to being used for the
transport of army-provisions to Tayf.

The Syrian Hadj was encamped on the south and south-west side of the
mountain; the Egyptian on the south-east. Around the house of the
Sherif, Yahya himself was encamped with his Bedouin troops, and in its
neighbourhood were all the Hedjaz people. Here it was that the two Yemen
caravans used formerly to take their station. Mohammed Aly, and Soleyman
Pasha of Damascus, as well as several of their officers, had very
handsome tents; but the most magnificent of all was that of the wife of
Mohammed Aly, the mother of Tousoun Pasha, and Ibrahim Pasha, who had
lately arrived from Cairo for the Hadj, with a truly royal equipage,
five hundred camels being necessary to transport her baggage from Djidda
to Mekka. Her tent was in fact an encampment consisting of a dozen tents
of different sizes, inhabited by her women; the whole enclosed by a wall
of linen cloth, eight hundred paces in circuit, the single entrance to
which was guarded by eunuchs in splendid dresses. Around this enclosure
were pitched the tents of the men who formed her numerous suite. The
beautiful embroidery on the exterior of this linen palace, with the
various colours displayed in every part of it, constituted an object
which reminded me of some descriptions in the Arabian Tales of the
Thousand and One Nights. Among the rich equipages of the other hadjys,
or of the Mekka people, none were so conspicuous as that belonging to
the family of Djeylany, the merchant, whose tents, pitched

[p.269] in a semicircle, rivalled in beauty those of the two Pashas, and
far exceeded those of Sherif Yahya. In other parts of the East, a
merchant would as soon think of buying a rope for his own neck, as of
displaying his wealth in the presence of a Pasha; but Djeylany has not
yet laid aside the customs which the Mekkawys learned under their old
government, particularly that of Sherif Ghaleb, who seldom exercised
extortion upon single individuals; and they now rely on the promises of
Mohammed Aly, that he will respect their property.

During the whole morning, there were repeated discharges of the
artillery which both Pashas had brought with them. A few pilgrims had
taken up their quarters on Djebel Arafat itself, where some small
cavern, or impending block of granite, afforded them shelter from the
sun. It is a belief generally entertained in the East, and strengthened
by many boasting hadjys on their return home, that all the pilgrims, on
this day, encamp upon Mount Arafat; and that the mountain possesses the
miraculous property of expansion, so as to admit an indefinite number of
the faithful upon its summit. The law ordains that the wakfe, or
position of the Hadj, should be on Djebel Arafat; but it wisely provides
against any impossibility, by declaring that the plain in the immediate
neighbourhood of the mountain may be regarded as comprised under the
term "mountain," or Djebel Arafat.