Half-A-
Dozen Houses Of Charity, Established Between Mekka And Medina, With An
Annual Endowment Of A Few Thousand Dollars, Would Be Of More Real
Service To The Cause Of Their Religion, Than All The Sums Spent In
Feeding The Idle, Or Keeping Up A Vain Show.
On the whole of this route
between Mekka and Medina, there is not a public khan, nor has any thing
been done for the benefit of travellers, beyond keeping the wells in
repair.
The only instance of a truly charitable act in any of the
sovereigns who enriched Mekka, recorded by the historians, is the
building of an hospital at Mekka, in A.H. 816, by order of Moayed,
Sultan of Egypt. No traces of it now remain.
In the market-street of Szafra, which is called Souk-es'-Szafra, dates
are the principal article for sale. The pound, which costs twenty-five
paras at Mekka, was sold here for ten. Honey, preserved in sheep-skins,
forms another article of trade here. The neighbouring mountains are full
of bee-hives. In those districts which are known to be frequented by
bees, the Bedouins place wooden hives upon the ground, and the bees
never fail to take possession of them. The honey is of the best quality;
I saw one sort of it as white, and almost as clear, as water. Drugs and
spices, and some perfumes, of which the Bedouins of those countries are
very fond, may here also be purchased.
Szafra and Beder are the only places in the Hedjaz where the balsam of
Mekka, or Balesan, can be procured in a pure state.
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