The Fact Is, Some Such Precautions Must
Always Be Taken.
The pilgrims are forbidden to quarrel, to fight, or to
destroy life, except under circumstances duly provided for.
Moreover,
as I shall explain in another part of this work, it was of old, and
still is, the custom of the fiercer kind of Badawin to flock to
Arafat—where the victim is sure to be found—for the purpose of revenging
their blood-losses. As our authorities at Aden well know, there cannot
be a congregation of different Arab tribes without a little murder.
After fighting with the common foe, or if unable to fight with him, the
wild men invariably turn their swords against their private enemies.
[FN#19] So, on the wild and tree-clad heights of the Neilgherry hills,
despite the brilliance of the stars, every traveller remarks the
darkness of the atmosphere at night.
[FN#20] Mohammed Ali gave six dollars for every Arab head, which fact
accounts for the heaps that surrounded him. One would suppose that when
acting against an ene[m]y, so quick and agile as the Arabs, such an
order would be an unwise one. Experience, however, proves the contrary.
[FN#21] “Finati’s long disuse of European writing,” says Mr. Bankes, “made him
very slow with his pen.” Fortunately, he found in London some person who
took down the story in easy, unaffected, and not inelegant Italian. In
1828, Mr. Bankes translated it into English, securing accuracy by
consulting the author, when necessary.
[FN#22] His translator and editor is obliged to explain that he means
Cufic, by “characters that are not now in use,” and the statue of Memnon by
“one of two enormous sitting figures in the plain, from which, according
to an old story or superstition, a sound proceeds when the sun rises.”
When the crew of his Nile-boat “form in circle upon the bank, and perform
a sort of religious mummery, shaking their heads and shoulders
violently, and uttering a hoarse sobbing or barking noise, till some of
them would drop or fall into convulsions,”—a sight likely to excite the
curiosity of most men—he “takes his gun in pursuit of wild geese.” He allowed
Mr. Bankes’ mare to eat Oleander leaves, and thus to die of the commonest
poison.
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