The halter of the
other was cut; for if that camel be not fastened again to the leading
camel, it will stop, and all that are behind will then stop of course,
which might be the means of discovering the robbers. When they have
gotten the stolen camel, with his rider, at a convenient distance from
the Caravan, and think themselves out of danger, they awake the Hagge,
and sometimes destroy him immediately; but at other times, being a
little more
[p.386] inclined to mercy, they strip him naked, and let him return to
the Caravan.[FN#47]
“About the tenth easy day’s journey, after we come out of Mecca, we enter
into Medina, the place where Mahomet lies entombed. Although it be (as
I take it) two or three days’ journey out of the direct way from Mecca to
Egypt, yet the Hagges pay their visit there for the space of two days,
and come away the third.
“Those Mahometans which live to the southward of Mecca, at the East
Indies, and thereaway, are not bound to make a visit to Medina, but to
Mecca only, because it would be so much out of their way.
