The Old
Hangings, Which Had Been Up For More Than Twenty Years, Were Now
Publicly Sold To Devotees At The Rate Of About One Dollar For A
Piece Of Six Inches Square.
The right of offering these hangings
was in the person who gave the exterior kessoua, though exceptions
sometimes occurred, as in A.H. 865, when Shah Rokh, king of Persia,
sent a magnificent covering for the interior.
[See Kotobeddyn.]
Before the gate called Bab-es-Salam is a shop where pieces both of the
exterior and interior coverings are constantly for sale: those of the
latter are most esteemed. I have seen waistcoats made of them, which, of
course, are reckoned the safest coat of mail that one of the faithful
can wear. In the same shop are sold drawings of Mekka and Medina, done
in a coarse and most gaudy style upon paper or linen, and small
impressions of prayers, &c. from engravings on wood. I bought some of
these, for the same purpose as the Zemzem bottles which I took front
hence.
[p.180] REMARKS ON THE INHABITANTS OF MEKKA AND DJIDDA.
MEKKA and Djidda are inhabited by the same class of people; and their
character and customs are the same. I have already remarked that all the
rich Mekkawys have houses at Djidda, and that the commercial employments
of the two cities are alike.
The inhabitants of Mekka may be all styled foreigners, or the offspring
of foreigners, except a few Hedjaz Bedouins, or their descendants, who
have settled here. The ancient tribe of Koreysh, which was divided into
a wandering and a settled branch, is almost extinct. There are some
Bedouins of Koreysh still in the neighbourhood; but the settled Koreysh,
who were the inhabitants of Mekka in the time of Mohammed, have either
been destroyed, or have migrated, in consequence of the frequent
intestine wars. At this moment three Koreysh families only, descendants
of the ancient tribe of that name, are found at Mekka, the head of one
of which is the Nayb, or keeper of the mosque; and the two others are
poor people, also attached to its service. The neighbourhood of the
great mart of Djidda, the yearly arrival of immense caravans, and the
holy house, have attracted, however, a sufficient number of strangers to
supply the place of the Koreysh. In every hadj some of the pilgrims
remain behind: the Mohammedan, whenever resident for any time in a town,
takes a wife, and is thus often induced to settle permanently on the
spot. Hence most of the Mekkawys are descendants of foreigners from
distant parts of the
[p.181] globe, who have adopted Arabian manners, and, by intermarrying,
have produced a race which can no longer be distinguished from the
indigenous Arabians. On questioning shopkeepers, merchants, olemas,
metowafs, and indeed people of every description, they are found to be
the sons, grandsons, or descendants of foreigners. The most numerous are
those whose fathers came from Yemen and Hadramaut; next to them in
numbers are the descendants of Indians, Egyptians, Syrians, Mogrebyns,
and Turks.
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