Till Midnight We Sat
Chatting With The Different Ciceroni Who Came Up To Offer Their
Services.
I could not help remarking their shabby and dirty clothes,
and was informed that during pilgrimage, when splendour is liable to be
spoiled, they wear out old dresses; and appear endimanches for the
Muharram fete, when most travellers have left the city.
Presently my
two companions, exhausted with fatigue, fell asleep; I went up to the
Ka’abah, with the intention of “annexing” a bit of the torn old Kiswat or
curtain, but too many eyes were looking on. At this season of the year
the Kiswat is much tattered at the base, partly by pilgrims’ fingers, and
partly by the strain of the cord which confines it when the wind is
blowing. It is considered a mere peccadillo to purloin a bit of the
venerable stuff; but as the officers of the temple make money by
selling it, they certainly would visit detection with an
[p.177] unmerciful application of the quarterstaff. The piece in my
possession was given to me by the boy Mohammed before I left Meccah.
Waistcoats cut out of the Kiswah still make the combatants invulnerable
in battle, and are considered presents fit for princes. The Moslems
generally try to secure a strip of this cloth as a mark for the Koran,
or for some such purpose. The opportunity, however, was favourable for
a survey, and with a piece of tape, and the simple processes of
stepping and spanning, I managed to measure all the objects concerning
which I was curious.
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