Part 44

But yet farther in the country there are mountains of harder stone: In the _Nitrian_, now the desart of St _Macarius_, and not far from the lake where the latroon or true nitre incrustates upon the top of the water, there are many, and some of them not utterly unlike porphyry. That which nearest resembles it’s colour, though not it’s consistence, is the vein that produces the eagle-stone, of which there are many in the _Bahr Batama_, a great sandy valley: But these stones are of a different complexion from porphyry, as you may perceive by those I sent you, which also will assist your conjectures of their original.

However, I can’t pronounce that there is no porphyry hereabouts; for in the chief monastery of the four now remaining (of 366, as many as are days in the longest year) dedicated to the Blessed Virgin; the two stones which secure their entrance are of the like, if not the very same substance; which I more particularly observed upon the account of their ingenious contrivance; for these poor people, lying otherwise at the mercy of the roving _Arabs_, with these two mill-stones (for that’s their make) thus make good their gate against them, (or rather their passage) into which they run them, and then drive a great wooden wedge between them on the inside, which so fastens them, that they cannot be loosed, but upon the inside neither. And of such a sort of porphyry is the noted _Sphynx_ (a mighty head and shoulders one hundred and ten feet in compass) yet standing by the northern Pyramids.

I have indeed been told of the place upon mount _Sinai_, whence this porphyry came, but so they shew the very rock where the two excellent double rows of pillars in the church of _Bethlehem_ were hewn; though I went away satisfy’d that it was a quite different sort of stone. Another tells of a pillar of the same make yet lying there; and if this be certain you need seek no farther. Albeit, I must tell you, that the stones brought thence with the representation of a buck (it must needs be call’d) upon them, some of which you had, though reddish, are of a much finer and more even texture.

_Wansleben_ writes of a great many more southerly; but I know him to well to believe all that he says for Gospel. And a more sober man, Father _Carlo Francisco d’Orleans_, now superior of the _Capucines_ at _Cairo_, who went three hundred leagues up the _Nile_ in the year 1569, told me of many temples, statues, and pillars at that distance; though I cannot be sure he said there were any of porphyry. But since it was in _Thebais_, why may we not suppose them of that black, white, and red speckled _Thebaic_ marble, famous in the world, and wherewith the lesser Pyramid perhaps was crusted, yet to be seen upon the ground about it, and when polish’d looks finely.

Those which I have myself seen, are one of them at the _Matarea_, three or four miles east of Grand _Cairo_, and two at _Alexandria_, just within the wall upon the north side of the city; for _Pompey_’s Pillar, as they call it, half a mile without the gate to the south, is quite of another make and matter; one of these is thrown down and broken into pieces, but was of the same dimensions for breadth and thickness with the other. The _Franks_ call them _Aguglia_’s, the _English_ particularly _Cleopatra_’s needles, but the inhabitants content themselves with the general name of Pillars. They have no Basis nor Pedestals above ground; and if they never had, they must needs be very deep in the earth. The draughts I here send you will excuse all farther description. One of them was very well taken by Monsieur _Brute_ a _French Druggerman_, the other by a _Dutch_ Painter, who, you will see, has but little commended his art.

If you have a fancy, upon the sight of them, to sift out the Hieroglyphic character with which they are engraven, perhaps you will find it to be the ab-original _Egyptian_ letter, long since worn out of common use in the country, as the _Samaritan_ (so it is now generally call’d) was amongst the Jews; and that it bears proportion with the _China_ now in use, where each note represents a word, or rather an entire signification. And moreover, that it is wrought the same way too, from the top to the bottom; as you have seen in the board I brought from a door in the village _Succara_, which is next to the Mummies, the largest piece of _Egyptian_ writing, perhaps at this day in _Europe_. I confess that in the vaults or Priests chambers cut out of the rock, close by the second Pyramid, the whole walls are inscribed therewith, but I speak of an original. And if all that is there written were but exactly copy’d, it might be then lawful to hope, that the language so long since dead and bury’d in the house of bondage, might have it’s resurrection in the land of liberty.

That such vast monuments might be removed from place to place, is difficult indeed, but not impossible. And if one _Archimedes_ (as _Athenæus_ preserves the story for us) could launch the vast ship of _Hiero_, which all the strength of _Syracuse_ was not able to bring to sea; what might not many great masters in the same art perform, and upon their own dunghill too? For I may call _Egypt_ the mother of the Mathematics.

Besides, some of these mountains are near the Red Sea, and _Suss_ from _Cairo_ but two or three days, from _Nile_ less; and how possible it is to convey mighty weights by water, let the Obelisks at _Rome_ declare; which were all of them brought from this very country; and that such things may be done by land too, tho’ not by every one, is plain enough, because we see they have been done. At _Baalbec_, which is fourteen hours from _Damascus_, for thence I went, accompany’d with Mr _Anth. Balam_ and Mr. _Jo. Verney_, both now in _England_, whom I thought fit to name for my Compurgators, if you should question the credit of the story; there is a stone about sixty six foot long on the north side of the castle-wall, and two more of sixty each; and I believe we saw the way they travel’d, having left one of their company, tho’ not quite so big in the road, as a monument thereof to this very day.

If you have got the piece of this _Aguglia_, (for I have nothing here) you will thereby best discern it’s colour and composition. It is something more lively than the Porphyry of St _John_’s font (for by that name it is known) at _Ephesus_, much more vived than those four tall square pillars at _Tadmore_ (in it’s middle age _Palmyra_) which are each of them but of, I think, one piece, whilst all the rest, exceeding many, of another sort of stone, are of several pieces, and round. If you will attribute the clearness of their complexion in part to the air, which corrodes them especially upon the north and east; I impose not upon the liberty of your reason.

If the _Ichnography_ of them (which I desire you to reserve for me) won’t excuse me from any farther description, I beg your pardon that I have said thus much, and hazarded my judgment to demonstrate my affection, how much I am, and endeavour to be,

_Your faithful Friend_,

_And humble Servant_,

R. H.

_The cuts of these pillars are not prefixt to this paper, because engraven and publish’d elsewhere. See ~Philosophical Transactions, Nᵒ 178. p. 1252~._

‘Monsieur _Cuper_, in his letter to _l’Abbe Nicaise_, informs the world, that he had received letters from _Aleppo_, which say, that some _English_ Gentlemen, out of curiosity, going to visit the ruins of _Palmyra_, had found four hundred marble columns, of a sort of Porphyry, and also observed some temples, yet entire with tombs, monuments, _Greek_ and _Latin_ inscriptions, of all which he hopes to get copies. _Journal des Sçavans_, Nᵒ 25, _Anno 1692_.’

_A journey from ~Grand Cairo~ to ~Mecca~._

The day that the _Emir-Adge_ parted from _Cairo_, he encamped in tents, close by the city, and a few days after he encamped at the _Birque_, which is a great pond about twelve miles from _Cairo_, near to which they encamp. This place is the rendezvouz of all the Caravans. The _Emir-Adge_ parted from thence with the whole Caravan, Wednesday the eighth of _August_, it being the custom for the Caravan of _Cairo_ to set out fifty seven days after the beginning of the _Ramadam_, that so it may be there punctually at the time. It is very pretty to see them encamped in the night time, because of the infinite number of lamps that are in the tents and pavilions. Next day, the ninth of _August_, the Caravan of the _Magrebins_ parted also from the _Birque_, and there all of _Barbary_, who intend to make the journey, meet, and make a distinct Caravan; which depends not on the _Emir-Adge_ of _Cairo_, but have a chief of their own. That Caravan never sets out, but a day after the Caravan of _Cairo_; they travel commonly by night, and rest in the day time, as all other Caravans do, that go to other places, that so they may avoid the heat, which is almost insupportable; and when the moon does not shine, there are men who carry links before the Caravan. In all Caravans, the camels are ty’d tail to tail, so that let them but go, and there is no trouble of leading them.

Here I will give the reader an account, how many stages there are betwixt _Cairo_ and _Mecca_, how many days they stay in them, how many hours travelling there is betwixt them, and at what stages the waters are sweet or bitter, all along the way. This little itinerary I had from a Prince of _Tunis_, who made that journey whilst I was at _Cairo_. From _Cairo_ to the _Birque_ it is reckon’d four hours journey; there is fresh water there. From the _Birque_ to _Misana_, that is to say _Cistern_, ten hours; no water there. From _Misana_ to _Kalaat Aadgeroud_, which, is to say, the _Castle of Sand-pits_, twelve hours and an half; there is bitter water there. From the _Castle of Aadgeroud_ to _Navatir_, seven hours and an half, no water there. From _Navatir_ to _Rastagara_, ten hours; no water there, and the way bad. From _Rastagara_ to _Kalaat el Nahhal_, that is to say, the _Castel of Palmes_, fifteen hours; there they stay a day, and have fresh water. From the _Castle of Nahhal_ to _Abiar Alaina_, fourteen hours; only bitter water there. From _Abiar Alaina_ to _Sath el Acaba_, that is to say, the _Plain of the Hill_, fifteen hours; no water there. From _Sath el Acaba_ to _Kalaat el Acaba_, that is to say, the _Castle of the Hill_, (that is upon the side of the Red Sea) sixteen hours, there they stay two days and an half, the way is very bad, but they have fresh water. From the _Castle el Akabe_ to _Dar el Hhamar_, six hours and an half; no water there, (_Dar el Hhamar_ signifies _Asses Back_, and it is like the mountain in _Italy_, where there is an inn call’d _Scarga l’asino_.) From _Dar el Hhamar_ to _Scharafe Benigateie_, fourteen hours; no water there. From _Scharafe Benigateie_ to _Magare Chouaib_, that is to say, the _Grott of Jethro_, fourteen hours; fresh water there; that is the country of the _Midionites_. From _Magare Chouaib_ to _Eyoun el Kaseb_, fourteen hours and an half; fresh water there. It was in that place where _Jethro_’s daughters going to water their cattel, and the shepherds offering to hinder them, _Moses_ protected and defended them against those who would have hindred them to draw water. From _Eyoun el Kaseb_ to _Kalaat el Moilah_, which is by the sea side, fifteen hours; there they rest two days and a half, and have fresh water. From _Kalaat el Moilah_ to _Castel_, eleven hours; bitter water there. From _Castel_ to _Kalaat Ezlem_, fifteen hours and an half; bitter water there. From _Kalaat Ezlem_ to _Istanbel antir_, fourteen hours; fresh water there. From _Istanbel antir_ to _Kalaat el Voudge_, that is to say, the _Castle of the Face_, thirteen hours and an half; fresh water there. From _Kalaat el Voudge_ to _Ekre_, sixteen hours; no water there but what is bitter. From _Ekre_ to _Hank Krue_, that is to say, _Gulph_, twelve hours and an half; no water there. From _Hank Krue_ (going to _Hhawre_, they enter into the territory of _Mecca_) to _Hhawre_, it is thirteen hours; only bitter water there. From _Hhawre_ to _Nabte_, fifteen hours; fresh water there. From thence come the _Nabathean Arabs_, _Eurus ad auroram Nabathæaque regna recessit_. From _Nabte_ to _Hazire_, thirteen hours and an half; no water there. From _Hazire_ to _Yanbouh_, that is to say _Fountain_, fourteen hours and an half; there they stay two days and an half, and have fresh water. From _Yanbouh_ to _Soucaif_, thirteen hours; no water there. From _Soucaif_ to _Bedar Hunein_, that is to say, the moon of _Hunein_, eight hours; fresh water there. _Hunein_ was a man that shew’d the moon in his well. From _Bedar Hunein_ to _Ssbil el Mouhsin_, that is to say, the _way of Benefaction_, or _Benefit_, fourteen hours; fresh water there. _Rabii_ is a sacred place, that is to say, not to be entered into, without being well prepared and purged from all sin. Hence it is that there are two places which are call’d _Haramein_, _Sacred Places_, to wit, _Mecca_ and _Medina_, that is to say, which are two holy places, where one should take heed not to set his foot, unless he be well wash’d from all sin. From _Rabii_ to _Kawdire_, fifteen hours, no water there. From _Kawdire_ to _Bir el fan_, fourteen hours, fresh water there. From _Bir el fan_ to _Vadi fatima_, fourteen hours, fresh water there. From _Vadi fatima_ to _Mecca_ six hours.

_Of the ~Aga~ sent to meet the Caravan upon their return._

About six weeks after the setting out of the Caravan of _Cairo_, when they know that it is ready to return from _Mecca_, an _Aga_ goes from _Cairo_ to guard the fresh provisions that the people of the country send to their friends and relations in the Caravan, every one sending according to their abilities and friendship, all which are well sealed up, and delivered to those they belong unto. For this effect the _Aga_ has many camels with him, and gets considerably by the Caravan, which he meets half way. This year it returned on Tuesday the thirteenth of _November_, and encamped at the _Birque_, where the Caravan of the _Magrebins_ arrived the day before. Several come to _Cairo_ the same day, and their friends go as far as the _Birque_ to welcome them; whereupon meeting, they kiss again and again five or six times, and all who know them salute and kiss them in the same manner; and indeed, for some days after there is nothing to be seen in the city, but people kissing one another, or lamenting their relations who dy’d in the journey, men, women and children, who howl and make fearful gestures, when they hear the news from the first of the Caravan whom they meet. These Pilgrims are forty five days in going, and as much in coming back to _Cairo_, besides some days they stay there; but they make but easy journeys, it being impossible that so great a body should march fast, for they must often stop to load the camels whose loads have fallen off, to unload those that fall or die, or to bury their dead, and a thousand such other accidents; and when one camel stops, all the rest must wait. They travel commonly, as I said, in the night time with links, that they may avoid the heat. In this journey they find but little water, and that exceeding bad too; as for fresh provisions, they find none, and eat only what they carry along with them; but the worst thing they meet with in the journey, are certain hot winds, which stifle the breath, and in a short time kill a great many people. The Prince of _Tunis_ told me, that in one day several hundreds died of that wind, and that he himself was much afraid, that he should have been one of the number. In fine, in this expedition there died six thousand, what of fatigue, thirst, and these hot winds. In that journey people are to be seen riding on camels, and singing verses of the _Koran_, who suddenly fall down dead. Those who return with life are so altered and extenuated, that they can hardly be known; and nevertheless vast numbers of people from all parts yearly perform that pilgrimage, and there passes not a year wherein women and little children do not make it. They who have performed that journey are call’d _Adgi_, that is to say, Pilgrims, meaning tho’ only the pilgrimage of the _Kiaabe_, and they are much respected by all as long as they live, and highly credited. The _Emir-Adge_ gains much by this journey, for the goods of all that die belong to him, besides a vast deal of other profits that he makes on several occasions; and it is thought, that every expedition he gets above an hundred thousand piasters, but this year he got above three hundred thousand, for many people died. The greatest prerogative of this office is, that during the whole expedition he is absolute master of the field, and administers justice as he thinks fit.

Having in my hands an exact description of _Mecca_, and considering that few or no travellers have spoken of it with any certainty, I thought it would not be amiss to add it, and make a particular chapter thereof.

_Of ~Mecca~ and ~Medina~._

_Mecca_ is thirty seven days journey from _Cairo_, and all over desarts; it is a days journey from the Red sea; the port of it is call’d _Gidde_, which is a little town, wherein are two castles on the two sides of the port, one on each side, and the _Turks_ say that _Eve_ lies bury’d there; they shew her sepulchre, which is in length thirty eight or forty steps of a man’s walk, and hath no other ornament but a stone at each end.

_Mecca_ is about the bigness of _Marseilles_, in the middle whereof is the _Kiaabe_ or _Beytullah_, that is to say, the _House of God_, which the _Turks_ say, was first built by the Patriarch _Abraham_. This house is about fifteen foot in length, eleven or twelve in breadth, and about five fathom high. The threshold of the door is as high from the ground as a man can reach his hand, being within filled up even with the threshold. The door is about a fathom and an half high, and a fathom wide, and is in the corner to the left hand, when one faces the house. This door is of beaten silver, and opens with two leaves; they go up to it by a ladder supported by four wheels, two whereof are fastened to the lower end of the ladder; and the other two to two wooden posts about the middle of it, by means of which wheels the ladder is run to the wall, when any body is to enter into the _Beytullah_.

This house has a flat roof, supported by three pillars of an octagon figure, which are of Aloës-wood, as big as the body of a man, and about three fathom and a half long; they are of one entire piece each, and yet run in a straight line the length of the building, which is hung with red and white stuff, having here and there these words upon them, _La Illah Illallah, Mouhammed Resoul allah_.

At the same corner where the door is (but on the other side of the wall) is the black stone, which they call _Hadgiar Asuad_, and is had in veneration by them, because (as they say) _Abraham_ stood upon it when he built that house, and that it served him for a scaffold, to the end he might make no hole in the wall, it rising higher or lower as he pleased, and being for that purpose brought him by the angel _Gabriel_.

There is a court about this house, which the _Turks_ call _Haram_, and it is encompassed with walls, with three rows of pillars, and arches on the inside of it. The four sects of _Mahometanism_ have their places of prayer in this court, which are the _Hanifi_, _Chafii_, _Maliki_, and _Hambeli_, each in one of the four parts of the court, with their faces turned always towards the _Beytullah_, or _House of God_.

This house is begirt with two belts of gold, one below, and the other on high. On one side of the terrass that covers the _Beytullah_ there is a spout of beaten gold, about a fathom long, that jets out, to carry off the rain-water that falls upon the terrass.

The same house is covered on the outside with hangings of black silk, which is a kind of damask, and every year there are new ones sent from _Cairo_, at the charge of the Grand Signior.

Ten days journey from _Mecca_, upon the road to _Damascus_, is the city of _Medina_, three days journey from the Red Sea; the port of it is call’d _Iambo_, which is a little town of the same shape and bigness as _Gidde_.

_Medina_ is about half as big as _Mecca_, but it hath a suburb as big as the town itself; much about the middle of that town there is a Mosque, in a corner whereof is the sepulchre of _Mahomet_, covered in the same manner as the monuments of the _Turkish_ Emperors are at _Constantinople_. The sepulchre is in a little tower, or round building, covered with a dome, which the _Turks_ call _Turbe_. This building is quite open, from the middle up to the dome, and all round it there is a little gallery, of which the out-side wall has several windows with silver grates to them, and the in-side wall, which is that of the little tower, is adorned with a great number of precious stones, and that place which answers to the head of the tomb. There are rich things there also, of an inestimable value, sent by the _Mahometan_ Kings, during so many ages, which are fasten’d within this gallery, all round the said turret. Among others, at the place which answers to the head of the tomb, there is a great diamond, half as long as ones fore finger, and two fingers broad, over which is the diamond which Sultan _Osman_, the son of Sultan _Ashmet_, sent thither, and is equal to that which the _Ottoman_ Emperors wear on their finger. These two diamonds were heretofore but one, which Sultan _Osman_ caused to be saw’d in two in the middle. Lower down there is a half moon of gold, set with diamonds of great worth.

The Pilgrims see not _Mahomet_’s tomb, because that turret wherein it is enclosed hath no windows, being only open above, as hath been said; but such as make any stay at _Medina_ have liberty and leisure to enter into the _Turbe_, and see it, when there is no clutter of strangers there, that is to say, three or four months after the departure of the Pilgrims, who see no more but the aforesaid gallery, and the riches that are within it, thro’ the silver grates of the windows, which we mention’d before. Those then who enter into the _Turbe_, see that the tomb hangs not in the air, as many have falsly written, and (which is more) never did hang so, but is upon the flat ground raised and cover’d like the tombs of _Turkish_ Emperors and Bashaws.

The _Turbe_ is hung all round with hangings of red and white silk, like damask, which cover all the wall, except at the place where the great diamonds are, for there they are tuck’d aside, that the diamonds may not be cover’d. Round all these hangings are the aforemention’d words in characters of gold, _La Illah Illallah, Mouhammed Resoul allah_. These hangings are renew’d every seven years by the _Ottoman_ Emperors, unless when a new Emperor succeeds, before the seven years be accomplish’d, for in that case the Emperor renews them so soon as he comes to the throne.

The door by which they enter into the gallery is of silver, and so is the other that goes out of the gallery into the _Turbe_.

When the Pilgrims (to the number of two hundred thousand souls) are come to _Mecca_ at the usual time, which is a short while before the little _Bairam_, and that it is the day before the vigil of the said _Bairam_, they go and lie at a place call’d _Myne_, half a league from _Mecca_, and next day being the vigil of _Bairam_, they go half a league farther off, to another place call’d _Arafa_, which is a great plain, in the middle whereof there is a rock, or rising hillock, and on the top of it a _Member_, or place for preaching in, into which steps a _Scheikh_, who preaches to all the people about in the plain.