He Had Treated Me So Hospitably, That I Could Not Take Back
Any Part Of The £5 Lent To Him At Suez.
His three brothers received a
dollar or two each, and one or two of his cousins hinted to some effect
that such a proceeding would meet with their approbation.
The luggage was then carried down, and disposed in packs upon the
ground before the house, so as to be ready for loading at a moment’s
notice. Many flying parties of travellers had almost started on the
high road, and late in the evening came a new report that the body of
the Caravan would march about midnight. We sat up till about two A.M.,
when, having heard no gun, and having seen no camels, we lay down to
sleep through the sultry remnant of the hours of darkness.
[p.57]Thus, gentle reader, was spent my last night at Al-Madinah.
I had reason to congratulate myself upon having passed through the
first danger. Meccah is so near the coast, that, in case of detection,
the traveller might escape in a few hours to Jeddah, where he would
find an English Vice-Consul, protection from the Turkish authorities,
and possibly a British cruiser in the harbour. But at Al-Madinah
discovery would entail more serious consequences. The next risk to be
run was the journey between the two cities, where it would be easy for
the local officials quietly to dispose of a suspected person by giving
a dollar to a Badawi.
[FN#1] The “Tayyarah,” or “Flying Caravan,” is lightly laden, and travels by
forced marches.
[FN#2] This “Musafahah,” as it is called, is the Arab fashion of shaking
hands. They apply the palms of the right hands flat to each other,
without squeezing the fingers, and then raise the hand to the forehead.
[FN#3] On this occasion I heard three new words: “Kharitah,” used to
signify a single trip to Meccah (without return to Al-Madinah), “Ta’arifah,”
going out from Meccah to Mount Arafat, and “Tanzilah,” return from Mount
Arafat to Meccah.
[FN#4] And part of an extra animal which was to carry water for the
party. Had we travelled by the Darb al-Sultani, we should have paid 6½
dollars, instead of 10, for each beast.
[FN#5] The system of advances, as well as earnest money, is common all
over Arabia. In some places, Aden for instance, I have heard of
two-thirds the price of a cargo of coffee being required from the
purchaser before the seller would undertake to furnish a single bale.
[FN#6] Most men of the Shafe’i school clip their mustachios exceedingly
short; some clean shave the upper lip, the imperial, and the parts of
the beard about the corners of the mouth, and the forepart of the
cheeks. I neglected so to do, which soon won for me the epithet
recorded above. Arabs are vastly given to “nick-naming God’s creatures”;
their habit is the effect of acute observation, and the want of variety
in proper names. Sonnini appears not to like having been called the
“Father of a nose.” But there is nothing disrespectful in these personal
allusions. In Arabia you must be “father” of something, and it is better to
be father of a feature, than father of a cooking pot, or father of a
strong smell (“Abu-Zirt.”)
[FN#7] Salt among the Hindus is considered the essence and preserver of
the seas; it was therefore used in their offerings to the gods. The old
idea in Europe was, that salt is a body composed of various elements,
into which it cannot be resolved by human means: hence, it became the
type of an indissoluble tie between individuals. Homer calls salt
sacred and divine, and whoever ate it with a stranger was supposed to
become his friend. By the Greek authors, as by the Arabs, hospitality
and salt are words expressing a kindred idea. When describing the
Badawin of Al-Hijaz, I shall have occasion to notice their peculiar
notions of the Salt-law.
[FN#8] The import of such articles shows the march of progress in
Al-Hijaz. During the last generation, schoolmasters used for pencils
bits of bar lead beaten to a point.
[FN#9] The “two comforts” are success and despair; the latter, according to
the Arabs, being a more enviable state of feeling than doubt or hope
deferred.
[p.58]CHAPTER XXIV.
FROM AL-MADINAH TO AL-SUWAYRKIYAH.
FOUR roads lead from Al-Madinah to Meccah. The [“]Darb al-Sultani,” or
“Sultan’s Highway,” follows the line of coast: this general passage has been
minutely described by my exact predecessor. The “Tarik al-Ghabir,” a
mountain path, is avoided by the Mahmil and the great Caravans on
account of its rugged passes; water abounds along the whole line, but
there is not a single village and the Sobh Badawin, who own the soil[,]
are inveterate plunderers. The route called “Wady al-Kura” is a favourite
with Dromedary Caravans; on this road are two or three small
settlements, regular wells, and free passage through the Benu Amr
tribe. The Darb al-Sharki, or “Eastern road,” down which I travelled, owes
its existence to the piety of the Lady Zubaydah, wife of Harun
al-Rashid. That munificent princess dug wells from Baghdad to
Al-Madinah, and built, we are told, a wall to direct pilgrims over the
shifting sands.[FN#1] There is a fifth road, or rather mountain path,
concerning which I can give no information.
At eight A.M. on Wednesday, the 26th Zu’l Ka’adah
[p.59] (31st August, 1853), as we were sitting at the window of Hamid’s
house after our early meal, suddenly appeared, in hottest haste, Mas’ud,
our Camel-Shaykh. He was accompanied by his son, a bold boy about
fourteen years of age, who fought sturdily about the weight of each
package as it was thrown over the camel’s back; and his nephew, an ugly
pock-marked lad, too lazy even to quarrel.
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