Travels In Arabia

J >> John Lewis Burckhardt >> Travels In Arabia

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[p.375] method is to enter into partnership with different petty
merchants or retail dealers, and obtain a share of their profits; but it
is subject to almost as much anxiety as an active trade, from the
necessity of keeping a constant account with the partners, and
incessantly watching them. Usury is practised, and an annual interest
from thirty to fifty per cent is paid at Cairo for money: but few of the
Turkish merchants descend to this practice, which is reckoned
dishonorable. Usury is wholly in the hands of Jews, and Christians the
outcasts of Europe. There is, perhaps, nothing in the present deplorable
state of eastern society that has a more baneful effect upon the minds
and happiness of the people, than the necessity of continuing during
their whole lives in business full of intrigues and chances. The
cheering hopes which animate an European, the prospect of enjoying in
old age the profits of early exertions, are unknown to the native of the
East, whose retirement would bring nothing but danger, by marking him as
wealthy in the eyes of his rapacious governor. The double influence of
the Turkish government and Muselman religion have produced such an
universal hypocrisy, that there is scarcely a Mohammedan (whose tranquil
air, as he smokes his pipe reclining on the sofa, gives one an idea of
the most perfect contentment and apathy,) that does not suffer under all
the agonies of envy, unsatisfied avarice, ambition, or the fear of
losing his ill-gotten property.

Travellers who pass rapidly through the East, without a knowledge of the
language, and rarely mixing with any but persons interested in
misrepresenting their true character, are continually deceived by the
dignified deportment of the Turks, their patriarchal manners and solemn
speeches,--although they would ridicule a Frenchman who,

[p.376] after a few months' residence in England, and ignorant of the
English language, should pretend to a competent knowledge of the British
character and constitution; not recollecting that it is much easier for
a Frenchman to judge of a neighbouring European nation, than for any
European to judge of Oriental nations, whose manners, ideas, and notions
are so different from his own. For my own part, a long residence among
Turks, Syrians, and Egyptians, justifies me in declaring that they are
wholly deficient in virtue, honour, and justice; that they have little
true piety, and still less charity or forbearance; and that honesty is
only to be found in their paupers or idiots. Like the Athenians of old,
a Turk may perhaps know what is right and praiseworthy, but he leaves
the practice to others; though, with fine maxims on his lips, he
endeavours to persuade himself that he acts as they direct. Thus he
believes himself to be a good Muselman, because he does not omit the
performance of certain prayers and ablutions, and frequently invokes the
forgiveness of God.

At Medina several persons engage in small commercial transactions,
chiefly concerning provisions; a lucrative branch of traffic, as the
town depends for its support upon the caravans from Yembo, which are
seldom regular, and this circumstance causes the prices of provisions
continually to fluctuate. The evil consequence of this is, that the
richer corn-dealers sometimes succeed in establishing a monopoly, no
grain remaining but in their warehouses, the petty traders having been
obliged to sell off. Whenever the caravans are delayed for any
considerable time, corn rises to an enormous price; and as the chiefs of
the town are thus interested, it can scarcely be supposed that the
magistrates would interfere.

Next to the provision-trade, that with the neighbouring Bedouins is the
most considerable: they provide the town with butter, honey, (a very
essential article in Hedjaz cookery,) sheep, and charcoal; for which
they take, in return, corn and clothing. Their arrival at Medina is
likewise subject to great irregularity; and if two tribes happen to be
at war, the town is kept for a month at the mercy of the few substantial
merchants who happen to have a stock of those articles in hand. When I
first reached Medina, no butter was to be had in

[p.377] the market, and corn was fifty per cent dearer than at Yembo;
soon after, it was not to be had at all in the market: at another time
salt failed; the same happened with charcoal; and in general the
provision-market was very badly regulated. In other eastern towns, as at
Mekka and Djidda, a public officer, called Mohteseb, is appointed to
watch over the sale of provisions; to take care that they do not rise to
immoderate prices, and fix a maximum to all the victualling traders, so
that they may have a fair but not exorbitant profit. But this is not the
case at Medina, because the Mohteseb is there without any authority.
Corn is sold twenty per cent dearer in one part of the town than in
another, and the same with every other article, so that foreigners
unacquainted with the ways of the place are made to suffer materially.
During my stay, the communication with Yembo was kept up by a caravan of
about one hundred and fifty camels, which arrived at Medina every
fortnight, and by small parties of Bedouin traders with from five to ten
camels, which arrived every five or six days. The far greater part of
the loads was destined for the army of Tousoun Pasha; the rest consisted
of merchandize and provisions; but the latter were very inadequate to
the wants of the town. I heard from a well-informed person, that the
daily consumption of Medina was from thirty to forty erdebs, or twenty-
five to thirty-five Hedjaz camel-loads. The produce of the fields which
surround the town, is said to be barely sufficient for four months'
consumption; for the rest, therefore, it must depend upon Yembo, or
imports from Egypt. In time of peace there is plenty: but lately, since
the Turkish army has been stationed here, the Bedouins fear to trust
their camels in the hands of the Turks, and the supply has fallen much
below the wants of the town. The inhabitants were put to great
inconvenience on that account, and had greatly reduced their consumption
of corn, and eaten up the last of their stock on hand. Tousoun Pasha had
very imprudently seized a great number of the Bedouins' camels, and
obliged them to accompany his army, which had so terrified them, that,
previous to Mohammed Aly's arrival, famine was apprehended from the want
of beasts of transport. The Pasha endeavoured to restore confidence, and
some of the Bedouins began to return with their beasts.

[p.378] In time of peace, corn caravans arrive also from Nedjed,
principally from that district of it called Kasym; but these were
altogether interrupted. I was informed that the transport trade in
provisions from Yembo had been shut up for several years after the
conquest of Medina by the Wahabys, whose chief, Saoud, wished to favour
his own subjects of Nedjed; and that Medina in the mean time drew all
its supplies from Nedjed, and its own fields. Provisions were now
excessively dear: the lower class lived almost entirely upon dates, and
very coarse barley bread; few could afford a little butter, much fewer
meat. The fruit of the lotus, or Nebek, which ripened in the beginning
of March, induced them to quit the dates, and became almost their sole
nourishment for several months; large heaps of it were seen in the
market, and a person might procure enough to satisfy himself for a
pennyworth of corn, which was usually taken in exchange instead of
money, by the Bedouins, who brought the fruit to the town. The
vegetables cultivated in the gardens are chiefly for the use of
foreigners, and are of very indifferent flavour. Arabs dislike them, and
they are only used by those who have acquired the relish in foreign
countries. Fresh onions, leeks, and garlic, are the only vegetables of
which the Arabs are fond.

The prime article of food at Medina, as I have already stated, is dates.
During the two or three months of the date-harvest, (for this fruit is
not all ripe at the same time, each species having its season), from
July till September, the lower classes feed on nothing else; and during
the rest of the year dried dates continue to be their main nourishment.
The date-harvest is here of the same importance as that of wheat in
Europe, and its failure causes general distress. "What is the price of
dates at Mekka or Medina?" is always the first question asked by a
Bedouin who meets a passenger on the road. Of these dates a considerable
part is brought to Medina from distant quarters, and especially from
Fera, a fertile valley in the possession of the Beni Aamer tribe, where
there are numerous date-groves: it is three or four days' journey from
Medina, and as many from Rabegh in the mountains. The dates are brought
from thence in large baskets, in which they are pressed together into a
paste, as I have already mentioned.

[p.379]Although commercial dealings are pretty universal, yet few of the
inhabitants ostensibly follow them. Most of the people are either
cultivators, or, in the higher classes, landed proprietors, and servants
of the mosque. The possession of fields and gardens is much desired; to
be a land-owner is considered honorable; and the rents of the fields, if
the date-harvest be good, is very considerable. If I may judge from two
instances reported to me, the fields are sold at such a rate, as to
leave to the owner, in ordinary years, an income of from twelve to
sixteen per cent upon his capital, after giving up, as is generally
done, half the produce to the actual cultivators. Last year, however, it
was calculated that their money yielded forty per cent. The middling
classes cannot afford to lay out their small capital in gardens, because
to them sixteen or twenty per cent would be an insufficient return; and,
in the Hedjaz, no person who trades with a trifling fund is contented
with less than fifty per cent annually; and in general they contrive, by
cheating foreigners, to double their capital. Those, therefore, only are
land-owners, who by trade, or by their income from the mosque, and from
hadjys, have already acquired considerable wealth.

The chief support of Medina is from the mosque and the hadjys. I have
already mentioned the Ferrashyn, or servants of the mosque, and their
profits; to them must be added a vast number of people attached to the
temple, whose offices are mere sinecures, and who share in the income of
the Haram; a train of ciceroni or mezowars; and almost every
householder, who lets out apartments to the pilgrims Besides the share
in the income of the mosque, the servants of every class have their
surra or annuity, which is brought from Constantinople and Cairo; and
all the inhabitants besides enjoy similar yearly gifts, which also go by
the name of surra. These stipends, it is true, are not always regularly
distributed, and many of the poorest class, for whom they were
originally destined, are now deprived of them; the sums, however, reach
the town, and are brought into circulation. [Kayd Beg, Sultan of Egypt,
after having, in A.H. 881, rebuilt the mosque, appropriated a yearly
income of seven thousand five hundred erdebs for the inhabitants of the
town, to be sent from Egypt; and Sultan Soleyman ibn Selim allowed five
thousand erdebs for the same purpose. (See Kotobeddyn and Samhoudy.)]
Many

[p.380] families are, in this manner, wholly supported by the surra, and
receive as much as 100l. and 200l sterling per annum, without performing
any duty whatever. The Medinans say, that without these surras the town
would soon be abandoned to the land-owners and cultivators; and this
consideration was certainly the original motive for establishing them,
and the numerous wakfs, or pious foundations, which in all parts of the
Turkish empire are annexed to the towns or mosques. At present the surra
is misapplied, and serves only to feed a swarm of persons in a state of
complete idleness, while the poor are left destitute, and not the
smallest encouragement is given to industry. As to want of industry,
Medina is still more remarkable than Mekka. It wants even the most
indispensable mechanics; and the few that live here are foreigners, and
only settle for a time. There is a single upholsterer, and only one
locksmith in the town; carpenters and masons are so scarce, that to
repair a house, they must be brought from Yembo. Whenever the mosque
requires workmen, they are sent from Cairo, or even from Constantinople,
as was the case during my stay, when a master-mason from the latter
place was occupied in repairing the roof of the building. All the wants
of the town, down to the most trifling articles, are supplied by Egypt.
When I was here, not even earthen water jars were made. Some years ago a
native of Damascus established a manufacture of this most indispensable
article; but he had left the town, and the inhabitants were reduced to
the necessity of drinking out of the half-broken jars yet left, or of
importing others, at a great expense, from Mekka No dying, no woollen
manufactures, no looms, no tanneries nor works in leather, no iron-works
of any kind are seen; even nails and horse-shoes are brought from Egypt
and Yembo. In my account of Mekka, I attributed the general aversion of
the people of the Hedjaz from handicrafts, to their indolence and
dislike of all manual labour. But the same remark is not applicable to
Medina, where the cultivators and gardeners, though not very industrious
in improving their land, are nevertheless a hard-working people, and

[p.381] might apply themselves to occupations in town, without
undergoing greater bodily labour than they endure in their fields. I am
inclined to think that the want of artisans here is to be attributed to
the very low estimation in which they are held by the Arabians, whose
pride often proves stronger than their cupidity, and prevents a father
from educating his sons in any craft. This aversion they probably
inherit from the ancient inhabitants, the Bedouins, who, as I have
remarked, exclude, to this day, all handicraftsmen from their tribes,
and consider those who settle in their encampment as of an inferior
cast, with whom they neither associate nor intermarry. They are
differently esteemed in other parts of the East, in Syria, and in Egypt,
where the corporations of artisans are almost as much respected as they
were in France and Germany during the middle ages. A master craftsman is
fully equal in rank and consideration to a merchant of the second class;
he can intermarry with the respectable families of the town, and is
usually a man of more influence in his quarter, than a merchant who
possesses three times more wealth than himself. The first Turkish
emperors did every thing in their power to favour industry and the arts;
and fifty years ago they still flourished in Syria and Egypt: in the
former country they are now upon the decline, except, perhaps, at
Damascus; in Egypt they are reduced to the lowest state: for, while
Mohammed Aly entices English and Italian workmen into his service, who
labour on his sole account, and none of whom prosper, he oppresses
native industry, by monopolizing its produce, and by employing the
greater part of the workmen himself, at a daily salary thirty per cent
less than they might get, if they were permitted to work on their own
account, or for private individuals.

The only industrious persons found in Medina are the destitute pilgrims,
especially those from Syria, who abound here, and who endeavour by hard
labour, during a few months, to earn money sufficient for the expenses
of their journey homewards. They work only at intervals, and on their
departure the town is often without any artisans for a considerable
time. Whilst I resided in Medina, there was but one man who washed
linen; when he went away, as the Arabian women will rarely condescend to
be so employed, the foreign hadjys

[p.382] were all obliged to wash for themselves. Under these
circumstances a traveller cannot expect to find here the most trifling
comforts; and even money cannot supply his wants. Here is, however, one
class of men, to whom I have already referred in describing Mekka, and
who render themselves equally useful at Medina. I mean the black
pilgrims from Soudan. Few negroes, or Tekayrne, as they are called, come
to Mekka, without visiting Medina also, a town even more venerable in
their estimation than Mekka. The orthodox sect of Malekites, to which
they belong, carry, in general, their respect for Mohammed further than
any of the three other sects; and the negroes, little instructed as they
usually are, may be said to adore the Prophet, placing him, if not on a
level with the Deity, at least very little below him. They approach his
tomb with a terrified and appalled conscience, and with more intense
feelings than when they visit the Kaaba; and they are fully persuaded,
that the prayers which they utter while standing before the window of
the Hedjra, will sooner or later obtain their object. A negro hadjy once
asked me, after a short conversation with him in the mosque, if I knew
what prayers he should recite to make Mohammed appear to him in his
sleep, as he wished to ask him a particular question; and when I
expressed my ignorance, he told me that the Prophet had here appeared to
a great many of his countrymen. These people furnish Medina with fire-
wood, which they collect in the neighbouring mountains, and sell to
great advantage. If none, or only few of them, happen to be at Medina,
no wood can be got even for money. They likewise serve as carriers or
porters; and such of them as are not strong enough for hard work, make
small mats and baskets of date-leaves. They usually live together in
some of the huts of the public place called El Menakh, and remain till
they have earned money enough for their journey home. Very few of them
are beggars; of forty or fifty whom I saw here, only two or three
resorted to mendicity, being unfit for any other vocation. In general
beggars are much less numerous at Medina than at Mekka; and most of the
foreign beggars, as at Mekka, are Indians. Few hadjys come here without
either bringing the necessary funds, or being certain of gaining their
livelihood by labour, the distance of Medina from the sea being much

[p.383] greater than that of Mekka, and the road through the Desert
being dreaded by absolute paupers. It may be calculated that only one-
third of the pilgrims who visit Mekka go also to Medina. The Egyptian
caravan of pilgrims seldom passes by the town. [Whenever the Egyptian
caravan passes by Medina, it is always on its return from Mekka, and
then remains, like the Syrian, for three days only. In going from Cairo
to Mekka, this caravan never visits Medina.] Medina has pilgrims during
the whole year, there being no prescribed season for visiting the tomb;
and they usually stay here about a fortnight or a month. They are in the
greatest number during the months following the pilgrimage to Arafat,
and likewise during the month of Rabya el Thany, on the 12th of which,
the birth-day of Mohammed, or Mouled el Naby, is celebrated.

The Medinans make up for the paucity of beggars in their own town by
going elsewhere to beg. It is a custom with those inhabitants of the
town who have received some education, and can read and write, to make a
mendicant journey in Turkey once or twice in their lives. They generally
repair to Constantinople, where, by means of Turkish hadjys, whom they
have known in their own town, they introduce themselves among the
grandees, plead poverty, and receive considerable presents in clothes
and money, being held in esteem as natives of Medina, and neighbours of
the Prophet's tomb. Some of these mendicants serve as Imams in the
houses of the great. After a residence of a couple of years, they invest
the alms they have collected in merchandize, and thus return with a
considerable capital. There are very few individuals of the above
description at Medina, who have not once made the grand tour of Turkey:
I have seen several of them at Cairo, where they quartered themselves
upon people with whom their acquaintance at Medina had been very slight,
and became extremely disagreeable by their incessant craving and
impudence. There are few large cities in Syria, Anatolia, and European
Turkey, where some of these people are not to be found. For their
travelling purposes, and for the duties incumbent upon them as ciceroni
in their own town, many individuals learn a little Turkish; and it is
their pride to

[p.384] persuade the Turkish pilgrims, that they are Turks, and not
Arabians, however little they may like the former.

The Medinans generally are of a less cheerful and lively disposition
than the Mekkans. They display more gravity and austerity in their
manners, but much less than the northern Turks. They outwardly appear
more religious than their southern neighbours. They are much more rigid
in the observance of their sacred rites, and public decorum is much more
observed at Medina than at Mekka: the morals, however, of the
inhabitants appear to be much upon the same level with those of the
Mekkans; all means are adopted to cheat the hadjys. The vices which
disgrace the Mekkans are also prevalent here; and their religious
austerity has not been able to exclude the use of intoxicating liquors.
These are prepared by the negroes, as well as date-wine, which is made
by pouring water over dates, and leaving it to ferment. On the whole, I
believe the Medinans to be as worthless as the Mekkans, and greater
hypocrites. They, however, wish to approach nearer to the northern
Turkish character; and, for that reason, abandon the few good qualities
for which the Mekkans may be commended. In giving this general character
of the Medinans, I do not found it merely on the short experience I had
of them in their own town, but upon information acquired from many
individuals, natives of Medina, whom I met in every part of the Hedjaz.
They appear to be as expensive as the Mekkans. There were only two or
three people in Medina reputed to be worth ten or twelve thousand pounds
sterling, half of which might be invested in landed property, and the
other half in trade. The family of Abd el Shekour was reckoned the
richest. The other merchants have generally very small capitals, from
four to five hundred pounds only; and most of the people attached to the
mosque, or who derive their livelihood from stipends, and from pilgrims,
spend, to the last farthing, their yearly income. They outwardly appear
much richer than the Mekkans, because they dress better; but, not the
slightest comparison can be made between the mass of property in this
town and that in Mekka.

In their own houses, the people of Medina are said to live poorly, with
regard to food; but their houses are well furnished, and their

[p.385] expense in dress is very considerable. Slaves are not so
numerous here as at Mekka; many, however, from Abyssinia are found here,
and some females are settled, as married women. The women of the
cultivators, and of the inhabitants of the suburbs, serve in the
families of the town's-people, as domestics, principally to grind corn
in the hand-mills. The Medina women behave with great decency, and have
the general reputation of being much more virtuous than those of Mekka
and Djidda.

The families that possess gardens go to great expense in entertaining
their friends, by turns, at their country houses, where all the members,
men and women, of the families invited assemble together. It is said
that this fashion is carried to great excess in spring-time, and that
the Medinans vie with each other in this respect, so that it becomes a
matter of public notoriety, whether such a person has given more or less
country parties, during the season, than his neighbours. A few families
pass the whole year at their gardens; among these was the large family
of a saint, established in a delightful little garden to the south of
the town. This man is greatly renowned for his sanctity, so much so,
that Tousoun Pasha himself once kissed his hands. I paid him a visit,
like many other pilgrims, in the first days of my arrival, and found him
seated in an arched recess or large niche adjoining the house, from
whence he never moved. He was more polite than any saint I had ever
seen, and was not averse to talk of worldly matters. I had heard that he
possessed some historical books, which he would perhaps sell; but upon
inquiry, I learnt from him that he did not trouble himself with any
learning except that of the Law, the Koran, and his language. He gave me
a nargyle to smoke, and treated me with a dish of dates, the produce of
his own garden; and after I had put, on taking leave, a dollar under the
carpet upon which I sat, (an act usual, as it was said, on such an
occasion,) he accompanied me to the garden-gate, and begged me to repeat
my visit.

Smoking nargyles, or the Persian pipe, is as general here as at Mekka;
common pipes are more in use here than in other parts of the Hedjaz, the
climate being colder. The use of coffee is immoderate. In the gardens
fruit can be bought with coffee-beans as well as with