The Arafat
Torrent Sweeps From East To West With Great Force, Sometimes Carrying
Away The Habitations, And Even Injuring The Sanctuary.[FN#34]
[FN#1] There are certain officers called Zemzemi, who distribute the
holy water.
In the case of a respectable pilgrim they have a large jar
of the shape described in Chap. iv., marked with his names and titles,
and sent every morning to his lodgings. If he be generous, one or more
will be placed in the Harim, that men may drink in his honour. The
Zemzemi expects a present varying from five to eleven dollars.
[FN#2] The shishah, smoked on the camel, is a tin canister divided into
two compartments, the lower half for the water, the upper one for the
tobacco. The cover is pierced with holes to feed the fire, and a short
hookah-snake projects from one side.
[FN#3] The Hindustani “sir.” Badawin address it slightingly to Indians,
Chapter xii.
[FN#4] When Indians would say “he was killed upon the spot,” they use the
picturesque phrase, “he asked not for water.”
[FN#5] The Arabs are curious in and fond of honey: Meccah alone affords
eight or nine different varieties. The best, and in Arab parlance the
“coldest,” is the green kind, produced by bees that feed upon a thorny
plant called “sihhah.” The white and red honeys rank next. The worst is the
Asal Asmar (brown honey), which sells for something under a piastre per
pound. The Abyssinian mead is unknown in Al-Hijaz, but honey enters
into a variety of dishes.
[FN#6] “La Siwa Hu,” i.e., where there is none but Allah.
[FN#7] This article, an iron cylinder with bands, mounted on a long
pole, corresponds with the European cresset of the fifteenth century.
The Pasha’s cressets are known by their smell, a little incense being
mingled with the wood.
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