Ibn Balousa, a man of the Meidhan of Damascus, is looked upon
as the chief of all these castles, and resides generally at El Hassa.
27. El Medine, where the Hadj remains three days. There are two
different roads leading from Medine to Mekke, the eastern and western.
The principal men of the Arab tribes of both routes meet the Pasha at
Medine, to learn which road the Hadj intends to take, and to treat with
him about the passage duty. On the eastern route [Arabic], the first
station from Medine is:
28. (1) El Khona [Arabic], a deep Wady with rain water.
29. (2) El Dereybe [Arabic], a village with walls.
30. (3) Sefyne [Arabic], a village.
31. (4) El Kobab [Arabic], an assemblage of wells.
[p.661]
32. (5) Biar el Hedjar [Arabic], wells.
33. (6) Set Zebeyde [Arabic], a ruined village with a large Birket.
34. (7) El Makhrouka [Arabic], wells.
35. (8) Wady Leimoun [Arabic], a village with a rivulet.
36 (9) Byr el Baghle [Arabic], wells.
37.(10) Mekke [Arabic].
The western road, or as it is likewise called, the great road [Arabic]
is the more usual, but Djezzar always used to take the other. The first
station from Medine on this route is:
28. (1) Biar Aly [Arabic], a village with wells and gardens.
29. (2) El Shohada [Arabic], a spot in the plain, without any water.
30. (3) Djedeyde [Arabic], and at a short distance before it the well
called Byr Dzat el Aalem [Arabic]. Djedeyde is a considerable village on
the sides of a rivulet. The Sheikh of the western route lives here
[Arabic]. The year before the last Hadj caravan effected its passage,
Abdullah Pasha of Damascus was attacked in a Wady near Djedeyde by the
armed population of that village, who were Wahabi. They routed his army,
and obliged him to pay forty thousand dollars for his passage. From
Djedeyde the route leads through the villages of Esszafra [Arabic], and
El Hamra [Arabic], to the second station, which is:
31. (4) The famous Beder [Arabic], where Mohammed laid the foundation of
his power by his victory over his combined enemies. It contains upwards
of five hundred houses, with a rivulet. The Egyptian pilgrim caravan
generally meets here the Syrian.
32. (5) El Kaa [Arabic], a spot in the desert without any water. From
thence a long march to
33. (6) El Akdyd [Arabic], which is twenty-eight hours distant from
Beder.
34. (7) Rabagh [Arabic], a village. Between Rabagh and Khalysz, the Red
sea is seen from the Hadj route. There are Wadys coming from the Red
sea, which in times of high flood are filled with the sea water; it
remains sometimes during the whole summer, at a distance of six and
seven hours from the sea.
