The rain, the sharp frost of the
morning became distressing to us, and was probably the cause of the
fever which confined me so long in this town; for I had enjoyed perfect
health during the whole journey.
We entered Medina at sun-rise on the 28th of January, the thirteenth day
after our leaving Mekka, having halted two days on the road. The Hadj
caravan usually performs the journey in eleven days, and, if pressed for
time, in ten.
The Bedouins apply to the whole country between Mekka and Medina, west
of the mountains, the name of El Djohfe, which, however, is sometimes
understood to mean the country from Mekka to Beder only.
[p.317]MEDINA.
THE caravan alighted in a large court-yard in the suburb, where the
loads were deposited; and all the travellers who had come with it
immediately dispersed in quest of lodgings. With the help of a Mezowar,
a professional class of men, similar to the delyls at Mekka, I procured,
after some trouble, a good apartment in the principal market-street of
the town, about fifty yards from the great mosque.
