As I Knew That I Should
Return To Mekka, I Did Not Press My Guide To Allow Me A Full View Of The
City, Since We Should, For That Purpose, Have Been Obliged To Ride Back
About Two Miles In A Contrary Direction.
I repressed my curiosity,
therefore, and followed him, reciting those ejaculations which are
customary on entering the holy city.
I travelled several times afterwards between Mekka and Djidda, in both
directions. The caravan's rate of march is here very slow, scarcely
exceeding two miles an hour. I have ridden from Mekka to Djidda upon an
ass in thirteen hours. The distance may, perhaps, be fairly estimated at
sixteen or seventeen hours' walk, or about fifty-five miles; the
direction a trifle to the northward of east.
On turning to our left, we passed, a little farther on, the great
barracks of the Sherif; and in the suburbs called El Moabede, we
alighted at the house of an Arab, with whom my guide happened to be
acquainted. It was now the fast of Ramadhan; but travellers are exempted
by law from observing it. The woman of the house, whose husband was
absent, prepared us a breakfast, for which we paid her, and remained in
the house till after mid-day; we then remounted our camels, and turning
by the Sherif's garden-house, situated at the eastern extremity of the
suburbs, we took the high road to Wady Muna. Winding valleys, of greater
or less breadth,
[p.59] covered with sands, and almost wholly destitute of vegetation,
with hills on both sides, equally barren, lead to Muna. At half an hour
from the garden-house of the Sherif, the country opens a little to the
left. There the canal passes which supplies Mekka with sweet water; and
we saw, about two miles distant, at the extremity of the opening, a
conical mountain, called Djebel el Nour, considered holy by the
pilgrims, as will be subsequently mentioned. We passed on our right, in
an hour and a half, a large tank, built of stones. This, in the time of
the Hadj, is filled with water from the canal, which passes close by it.
I believe this to be the place called Sebyl-es-Sett. One of the side-
valleys between Mekka and Muna is called Wady Mohsab. El Fasy, the
historian of Mekka, says that there were formerly sixteen wells between
that city and Muna. At the end of two hours, after having ascended a
little by a paved causeway formed across the valley, which is about
forty yards in breadth, we entered Wady Muna. Near the causeway we saw a
small field, irrigated by means of a brackish well, where a few
miserable Bedouins raised onions and leeks for the market at Mekka. I
shall give hereafter a more detailed description of Wady Muna, where the
Hadj remains three days after its return from Arafat.
We continued our route among the ruined houses of Muna, passed the short
columns, at which the pilgrims throw stones, then the Sherif's palace,
and issued into the open country, which continues thence towards
Mezdelife, distant three hours and three quarters from Mekka. This name
is given to a small mosque, now almost in ruins, close to which is a
tank or reservoir of water. Here a sermon is preached from a high
platform in front of the mosque, to the pilgrims after their return from
Arafat. El Fasy, the historian, says that this mosque was built in A.H.
759. It is often called Moshar el Haram; but, according to the same
author, this name belongs to a small hill at the
[p.60] extremity of the valley of Mezdelife, which bears also the
appellation of El Kazeh. From Mezdelife two roads lead to Arafat; the
one on the left along the plain or valley called Dhob; the other leads
straight across the mountain, and joins the former near the Aalameyn. We
proceeded along the great road in the valley. At four hours and a
quarter the mountains again close, and a narrow pass called El Mazomeyn
or El Medyk leads across them for half an hour, after which the view
opens upon the plain of Arafat. At the end of four hours and three
quarters, we passed, in this plain, a tank called Bir Basan, constructed
of stone, with a small chapel adjoining. Here the country opens widely
to the north and south. Eastward, the mountains of Tayf are seen for the
first time in their full height. [On my return from Tayf to Mekka, when I
was completely my own master, I drew up a much more detailed and
accurate description of the road than this given here; but I
accidentally lost the papers containing it; the present, therefore, is
written from memory, and the few short notes which I hastily made during
the route to Tayf.] At five hours we reached El Aalameyn, two stone
structures standing one on each side of the road, from eighty to one
hundred paces from each other, and between them the pilgrims must pass
in going, and more particularly in returning from Arafat. They are of
coarse masonry, plaistered white, and the annexed outline represents
their form.[Not included]
Fasy says that there were formerly three, that they were built in A.H.
605, and that one had fallen. Of those now remaining one is entire, the
other half ruined. At five hours and a quarter we passed to our right a
large insulated mosque in a state of decay, called Djama Nimre, or Djama
Ibrahim, built as it now stands by the Sultan Kail, Bey of Egypt. The
low mountain of
[p.61] Arafat was now to our left at the extremity of the plain, about
two miles distant. We proceeded, without stopping, over the plain, which
is covered with shrubs of considerable height, and low acacia trees:
from these it is prohibited to take even the smallest branch, this being
holy ground.
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