The Pasha, It Is True, Often Punishes Such Delinquents, And
Scarcely A Day Passes Without Some One Being Empaled Alive; The Caravan
Moves On, And The Malefactor Is Left To Be Devoured By The Birds Of
Prey.
The Bedouins are particularly dexterous in pilfering; at night
they sometimes assume the
[P.245]dress of the Pasha's infantry, and thus introduce themselves
unnoticed amongst the camels of the rich Hadjis, when they throw the
sleeping owner from his mule or camel, and in the confusion occasioned
by the cries of the fallen rider, drive off the beast.
The caravan marches daily from Asser, or about three hours after mid-
day, during the whole of the night, and till the followingmorning, when
the tents are pitched. It never stops but during prayers. The Arabs of
Sokhne, Tedmor, and Haouran, together with the Bedouins who let out
their camels, precede or follow the caravan at the distance of one day's
march. They transport the provisions for the Pasha's troops, of which
they steal, and publicly sell at least two-thirds. They march during the
day, and encamp in the evening. Their caravan is called El Selma
[Arabic]. It passes the great caravan once every two or three days, and
then encamps till the latter comes up, when they supply the Pasha's
suite with provisions. The cheapest mode of performing the pilgrimage is
to agree for a camel with one of those Arabs; but the fatigue is much
greater in following the Selma.
The last year in which the Hadj quitted Damascus, the pilgrims reached
the gates of Medina, but they were not permitted to enter the town, nor
to proceed to Mekka; and after an unsuccessful negotiation of seven
days, they were obliged to return to Damascus. About two hundred Persian
Hadjis only, who were with the caravan, were allowed to pass on paying a
large sum of money. Ibn Saoud, the Wahabi chief, had one interview with
Abdullah Pasha, accompanied by the whole of his retinue, at Djebel
Arafat, near Mekka; they exchanged presents, and parted as friends.
Of the seven different pilgrim caravans which unite at Mekka, two only
bear the Mahmal, the Egyptian and Syrian; the latter is the first in
rank.
We left Mezareib towards the evening, and were obliged to proceed
EL TORRA.
[p. 246]alone along the Hadj route, the fear of the Aeneze rendering
every one unwilling to accompany us. In a quarter of an hour we came to
a bridge over the Wady Mezareib, called Djissr Kherreyan [Arabic]; to
the left, near the road, is the ruined village Kherbet el Ghazale
[Arabic], where the Hadj sometimes encamps. It often happens that the
caravan does not encamp upon the usual spots, owing to a wish either to
accelerate or to prolong the journey. Past the Akabe, near the head of
the Red Sea, beyond which the bones of dead camels are the only guides
of the pilgrim through the waste of sand, the caravan often loses its
way, and overshoots the day's station; in such cases the water-skins are
sometimes exhausted, and many pilgrims perish through fatigue and
thirst.
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