Chapter 23

As Ghaleb was a merchant and land-owner, and procured all the articles of consumption at the first hand, the maintenance of his household, with his women and slaves, did not, I should imagine, require above twenty thousand pounds sterling per annum. In time of peace the Sherif kept a small permanent force, not exceeding five hundred men, of whom about one hundred were in garrison at Djidda, fifty at Tayf, as many at Yembo, and the rest at Mekka: of this body about eight hundred were cavalry, in addition to his own mounted household. Many of the soldiers were his domestic slaves; but the greater part were Bedouins from different parts of Arabia; those from Yemen, the mountains of Asyr, and Nedjed, being the most numerous. Their pay was from eight to twelve dollars per month;

[p.237] and they were commanded by Sherifs, whom they obeyed as Bedouins obey their leader during war, that is to say, that, trained to no regular exercise, they accompanied the Sherif whenever he took a ride out of the town, and on returning fired off their guns, according to the Arabian custom, in leaping wildly about. The arms of the infantry were a matchlock and crooked knife; the horsemen had a lance.

When Ghaleb engaged in war, this force was increased by the accession of many Sherifs and their retinues, who received no pay, but occasional presents, and a share in the booty acquired; these wars being generally directed against some Bedouin tribes, whose cattle was the sole object of invasion. Upon these occasions, the Sherif was joined also by other Bedouins, who returned with their Sheikhs to their homes, as soon as the expedition was terminated. On the breaking out of the Wahaby war, and when the Wahabys began to make successful attacks upon the Hedjaz, Ghaleb found it necessary to increase his standing force; he therefore added to it a number of black slaves, thereby augmenting it to eight hundred, following, in this respect, the practice of his predecessors, who always considered their own purchased slaves as the most faithful men under their command; [During the last century, the Sherifs of Mekka constantly kept a small corps of Georgian Mamelouks as their body guard.] he also enlisted additional numbers of Bedouins, and had, during the whole of the contest, generally from two to three thousand men; a number thought fully sufficient to guard his cities. Whenever he planned an attack on the Wahabys, he collected his allies among the Bedouins, and advanced several times towards Nedjed with an united force of ten thousand men. When those allies were obliged, successively, to yield to the invaders, and the southern Bedouins, on whom Ghaleb always principally depended, were conquered by the great exertions and activity of Othman el Medhayfe, Ghaleb found himself alone, with his few troops, unable to prolong the contest, and was soon driven to extremities and obliged to submit, though he still kept a corps of troops in his pay, after Saoud had obtained firm possession of the Hedjaz, and conducted his affairs with such consummate

[p.238] skill, as to maintain his authority, and command the respect of the Wahabys.

The expenses attending the increased forces of the Sherif during the Wahaby war, were considerable; it was necessary to make donations to the Sherif and the Bedouins, to keep them in his interest; but it happened, for once, that his interests were equally their own; and Bedouins, though never tired of asking for presents, are generally content with small sums. It may hence be easily conceived that Ghaleb never, during any period of his reign, lived up to the amount of his income; and it was a general, and, I believe, well-founded opinion in the Hedjaz, that during the twenty-seven years of his official life, he had amassed a large treasure in money. When Mohammed Aly seized his person, the amount of the whole of his disposable property found at Mekka and Djidda, was calculated at about two hundred thousand or two hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling; and it was presumed that he had either secreted his treasure in the castle of Mekka, or sent it to his friends in India, while Mohammed Aly was making preparations for his attack. It is most probable that he employed both modes of secreting his wealth, and thus made another addition to the large sums daily buried in the East, by persons in authority, as well as by private individuals. But such is the bad use to which Eastern rulers apply their riches, that the public prosperity of the country suffers little by the loss. [The prevalence of the practice of concealing riches in Turkey, and the cause of it, will at once appear from the following account of a circumstance which happened in 1813, at Cairo. Mohammed Aly having demanded 15,000 purses from the Copts employed in the finances of Egypt, they divided the sum among themselves; and Moallem Felteos, an old man, who had been in former times a chief financier, was assessed at twelve hundred purses, or about 18,000l. sterling: this he refused to pay, alleging his poverty; but, after long parleys, at last offered to give two hundred purses. The Pasha sent for him, threatened, and, seeing him obstinate, ordered him to be beaten: after receiving five hundred strokes with the stick, and being nearly half dead, be swore that he could pay no more than two hundred purses. Mohammed Aly thought he was telling the truth; but his son, Ibrahim Pasha, who happened to be present, said that he was sure the man had more money. Felteos, therefore, received three hundred additional strokes, after which he confessed that he was possessed of the sum demanded, and promised to pay it. He was then permitted to [p.239] return home; and at the end of a fortnight, being so much recovered from the effects of his beating that he could walk about, commissioners were sent to his house from the Pasha, labourers were called, and Felteos descended with them into the privy of his house, at the bottom of which they removed a large stone which closed up a small passage containing a vaulted niche, where two iron chests were deposited. On opening these, two thousand purses in sequins were found, twelve hundred of which the Pasha took, and left the remainder to the owner, who died three months after, not in consequence of the blows he had received, but of grief for the loss of his money. Had he been able secretly to remove the treasure, he would probably have done so, had not a guard been posted in his house immediately on his promising to pay; the Pasha suspecting that the money was concealed in some secret spot, according to a practice general in the East.]

[p.240] CLIMATE AND DISEASES OF MEKKA AND DJIDDA.

THE climate of Mekka is sultry and unwholesome; the rocks which enclose its narrow valley, intercept the wind, especially that from the north, and reflect the rays of the sun with redoubled heat. In the months of August, September, and October, the heat is excessive: during my residence at Mekka a suffocating hot wind pervaded the atmosphere for five successive days in September. The rainy season usually begins in December; but the rains are not uninterrupted, as in other tropical countries falling only at intervals of five or six days but then with great violence. Showers are not unfrequent, even in summer: the Mekkawys say that the clouds coming from the sea-side are those which copiously irrigate the ground; while those which come from the East, or the high mountains, produce only mere showers, or gushes. The want of rain is very frequently felt here: I was told that four successive years of copious rains are seldom experienced; which is, probably, the main reason why all the Bedouins in this neighbourhood are poor, the greater part of their cattle dying in years of drought, from want of pasturage.

The air of Mekka is generally very dry. Dews begin to fall in the month of January, after a few heavy showers of rain: the contrary is the case at Djidda, where the atmosphere, even during the greatest heat, is damp, arising from the sea vapours, and the numerous marshes on that low coast. The dampness of the air is there so great, that in the month of September, in a hot and perfectly clear day, I found my

[p.241] upper gown wet completely through, from being two hours in the open air. There are heavy dews also by night, during that month and in October; thick fogs appeared on the coast, in the evening and morning. During the summer months, the wind blows generally between east and south, seldom veering to the west, but sometimes to the north. In September, the regular northerly winds set in, and continue during the whole winter. In the Hedjaz, as on the sea-coast of Egypt, the north- east wind is more damp than any other; and during its prevalence, the stone pavement in the interior of the houses always appeared as if covered with moisture.

The diseases prevalent in both towns are much the same; and the coast of the Hedjaz is perhaps among the most unhealthy countries of the East. Intermittent fevers are extremely common, as are likewise dysenteries, which usually terminate in swellings of the abdomen, and often prove fatal. Few persons pass a whole year without a slight attack of these disorders; and no stranger settles at Mekka or Djidda, without being obliged to submit, during the first months of his residence, to one of these distempers; a fact, of which ample proof was afforded in the Turkish army, under Mohammed Aly Pacha. Inflammatory fevers are less frequent at Djidda than at Mekka; but the former place is often visited with a putrid fever, which, as the inhabitants told me, sometimes appeared to be contagious; fifty persons having been known to die of it in one day. Asamy and Fasy mention frequent epidemical diseases at Mekka: in A.H. 671, a pestilence broke out, which carried off fifty persons a day; and in 749, 793, and 829, others also infected the town: in the latter year two thousand persons died. These authors, however, never mention the plague; nor had it made its appearance in the Hedjaz within the memory of the oldest inhabitants; whence a belief was entertained, that the Almighty protected this holy province from its ravages; but, in the spring of 1815, it broke out with great violence, as I shall mention in another place, and Mekka and Djidda lost, perhaps, one-sixth of their population.

Ophthalmia is very little known in the Hedjaz. I saw a single

[p.242] instance of leprosy, in a Bedouin at Tayf. The elephantiasis and Guinea-worm are not uncommon, especially the former, of which I have seen many frightful cases. It is said that stone in the bladder is frequent at Mekka, caused, perhaps, by the peculiar quality of the water; to the badness of which many other diseases also may be ascribed in this hot country, where such quantities of it are daily drunk. I heard that the only surgeons who knew how to perform the operation of extracting the stone from the bladder, are Bedouins of the tribe of Beni Sad, who live in the mountains, about thirty miles south of Tayf. In time of peace, some of them repair annually to Mekka, to perform this operation, the knowledge of which they consider as a secret hereditary in some families of their tribe. They are said to use a common razor, and, in general, with success.

Sores on the legs, especially on the shin-bone, are extremely common both at Mekka and Djidda; but more so at the latter place, where the dampness of the atmosphere renders their cure much more difficult; indeed, in that damp climate, the smallest scratch, or bite of any insect, if neglected, becomes a sore, and soon after an open wound: nothing is more common than to see persons walking in the streets, having on their legs sores of this kind, which, if neglected, often corrode the bone. As their cure demands patience, and, above all, repose, the lower classes seldom apply the proper remedies in time; and when they have increased to such a state as to render their application indispensably necessary, no good surgeons are to be found; fever ensues, and many of the patients die. I believe that one-fourth of the population of Djidda is constantly afflicted with ulcers on their legs; the bad nature of these sores is further aggravated by the use of seawater for ablutions.

During my stay at Mekka, I seldom enjoyed perfect good health. I was twice attacked by fever; and, after the departure of the Syrian Hadj, by a violent diarrhœa, from which I had scarcely recovered when I set out for Medina. In those days, even when I was free from disease, I felt great lassitude, a depression of spirits, and a total want of appetite. During the five days of the Hadj, I was luckily in good

[p.243] health, though I was under great apprehensions from the consequences of taking the ihram. My strength was greatly diminished, and it required much effort, whenever I left my room, to walk about.

I attributed my illness chiefly to bad water, previous experience having taught me that my constitution is very susceptible of the want of good light water, that prime article of life in eastern countries. Brackish water in the Desert is perhaps salutary to travellers: heated as they are by the journey, and often labouring under obstructions from the quality of their food on the road, it acts as a gentle aperient, and thus supplies the place of medicinal draughts; but the contrary is the case when the same water is used during a continued sedentary residence, when long habit only can accustom the stomach to receive it. Had I found myself in better health and spirits, I should probably have visited some of the neighbouring valleys to the south, or passed a few months among the Bedouins of the Hedjaz; but the worst effect of ill health upon a traveller, is the pusillanimity which accompanies it, and the apprehensions with which it fills the mind, of fatigues and dangers, that, under other circumstances, would be thought undeserving of notice.

The current price of provisions at Mekka in December, 1814, was as follows:--

Piastres. Paras. 1 lb. of beef .......................... 2 10 1 lb. of mutton ........................ 20 1 lb. of camel’s flesh ................. 10 1 lb. of butter ........................ 5 1 lb. of fresh unsalted cheese ......... 3 A fowl ................................. 6 An egg ................................. 0 8 1 lb. of milk .......................... 2 1 lb. of vegetables, viz. leek, spinach, turnips, radishes, calabashes, egg- plants, green onions, petrosiles, &c.... 0 30

[p.244]

Piastres. Paras. A small, round, flat loaf of bread ..... 0 20 1 lb. of dry biscuits .................. 0 32 1 lb. of raisins from Tayf ............. 1 20 1 lb. of dates ......................... 0 25 1 lb. of sugar (Indian) ................ 2 10 1 lb. of coffee ........................ 2 20 A pomegranate .......................... 0 15 An orange .............................. 0 15 A lemon, (the size of a walnut, the Same species as the Egyptian lemon) 0 10 1 lb. of good Syrian tobacco ........... 6 1 lb. of common tobacco ................ 1 30 1 lb. of tombac, or tobacco for the Persian pipe ........................ 3 1 keyle of wheat ....................... 3 1 do. of flour ......................... 3 20 1 do. of Indian rice ................... 3 1 do. Of lentils from Egypt ............ 2 30 1 do. Of dried locusts ................. 1 A skin of water ........................ 1 20 As much wood as will cook two dishes ... 0 20 A labourer for the day ................. 3 A porter for going in town the distance Of half a mile ...................... 1 Common wages of servants,[FN#1] besides Clothes and food, per month ........ 30 Wages of craftsmen, as smiths, carpen- ters, &c. per day, besides food ..........5

N.B. The Spanish dollar was worth from nine to twelve piastres during my residence at Mekka, changing its value almost daily.

[p.245] One piastre equal to forty paras or diwanys, as they are called in the Hedjaz. The pound, or rotolo, of Mekka, has a hundred and forty- four drams. The Egyptian erdeb, equivalent to about fifteen English bushels, is divided here into fifty keyles or measures. At Medina the erdeb is divided into ninety-six keyles. The pound of Djidda is nearly double that of Mekka. [The Mekkawys have only slaves; but many Egyptians are ready to enter into the service of hadjys. The most common servants in the families of Mekka are the younger sons or some poor relations.]

[p.246] THE HADJ, OR PILGRIMAGE.

THE time has passed (and, probably for ever,) when hadjys or pilgrims, from all regions of the Muselman world, came every year in multitudes, that they might visit devotionally the sacred places of the Hedjaz. An increasing indifference to their religion, and an increase of expense attending the journey, now deter the greater part of the Mohammedans from complying with that law of the Koran, which enjoins to every Moslim who can afford it, the performance of a pilgrimage to Mekka, once at least in his life. To those whom indispensable occupations confine to their homes, the law permits a substitution of prayers; but even with this injunction few people now comply, or it is evaded by giving a few dollars to some hadjy, who, taking from several persons commissions of the same kind, includes all their names in the addition consequently made to the prayers recited by him at the places of holy visit. When Muselman zeal was more ardent, the difficulties of the journey being held to increase the merit of it, became with many an additional incitement to join the caravans, and to perform the whole journey by land; but at present, most of the pilgrims do not join any regular Hadj caravan, but reach Djidda by sea from Egypt, or the Persian Gulf; commercial and lucrative speculations being the chief inducements to this journey.

In 1814, many hadjys had arrived at Mekka, three or four months previous to the prescribed time of the pilgrimage. To pass the Ramadhan in this holy city, is a great inducement with such as can afford the expense, to hasten their arrival, and prolong their residence in it.

[p.247] About the time when the regular caravans were expected, at least four thousand pilgrims from Turkey, who had come by sea, were already assembled at Mekka, and perhaps half that number from other distant quarters of the Mohammedan world. Of the five or six regular caravans which, formerly, always arrived at Mekka a few days before the Hadj, two only made their appearance this year; these were from Syria and Egypt; the latter composed entirely of people belonging to the retinue of the commander of the Hadj, and his troops; no pilgrims having come by land from Cairo, though the road was safe.

The Syrian caravan has always been the strongest, since the time when the Khalifes, in person, accompanied the pilgrims from Baghdad. It. sets out from Constantinople, and collects the pilgrims of Northern Asia in its passage through Anatolia and Syria, until it reaches Damascus, where it remains for several weeks. During the whole of the route from Constantinople to Damascus, every care is taken for the safety and convenience of the caravan; it is accompanied from town to town by the armed forces of the governors; at every station caravansaries and public fountains have been constructed by former Sultans, to accommodate it on its passage, which is attended so far with continual festivities and rejoicings. At Damascus, it is necessary to prepare for a journey of thirty days, across the Desert to Medina; and the camels which had transported it thus far, must be changed, the Anatolian camel not being able to bear the fatigues of such a journey. Almost every town in the eastern part of Syria furnishes its beasts for the purpose; and the great Bedouin Sheikhs of the frontiers of that country contract largely for camels with the government of Damascus. Their number must be supposed very great, even if the caravan be but thinly attended, when it is considered that besides those carrying water and provisions for the hadjys and soldiers, their horses, and the spare camels brought to supply such as may fail on the road, daily food for the camels themselves must be similarly transported; as well as provisions, which are deposited in castles on the Hadj route, to form a supply for the return. The Bedouins take good care that the camels shall not be overloaded, that the numbers wanted may thus be increased. In 1814, though the caravan consisted of not more than

[p.248] four or five thousand persons, including soldiers and servants, it had fifteen thousand camels. [El Fasy relates that, when the mother of Motasem b’Illah, the last of the Abassides, performed the pilgrimage in A.H. 631, her caravan was composed of one hundred and twenty thousand camels. When Solyman Ibn Abd el Melek performed the pilgrimage in A.H. 97, nine hundred camels were employed in the transport of his wardrobe only. It is observable that none of the Othman Emperors of Constantinople ever performed the pilgrimage in person. The Khalife El Mohdy Abou Abdallah Mohammed expended on his pilgrimage in A.H. 160, thirty millions of dirhems. He carried with him an immense number of gowns to distribute as presents. He built fine houses at every station from Baghdad to Mekka, and caused them to be splendidly furnished; he also erected mile-stones along the whole route, and was the first Khalife who carried snow with him, to cool sherbet on the road, in which he was imitated by many of his successors. Haroun el Rasheid, who performed the pilgrimage nine times, spent, in one of his visits, one million and fifty thousand dynars in presents to the Mekkawys and the poor hadjys. El Melek Nasir eddyn Abou el Maaly, Sultan of Egypt, carried with him, on his pilgrimage in A.H. 719, five hundred camels, for the transport of sweetmeats and confectionary only; and two hundred and eighty for pomegranates, almonds, and other fruits: in his travelling larder were one thousand geese, and three thousand fowls. Vide Makrisi’s Treatise Man Hadj myn el Kholafa.]

The Syrian caravan is very well regulated, though, as in all matters of oriental government, the abuses and exceptions are numerous. The Pasha of Damascus, or one of his principal officers, always accompanies this caravan, and gives the signal for encamping and starting, by firing a musket. On the route, a troop of horsemen ride in front, and another in the rear, to bring up the stragglers. The different parties of hadjys, distinguished by their provinces or towns, keep close together ; and each knows its never-varying station in the caravan, which is determined by the geographical proximity of the place from whence it comes. When they encamp, the same order is constantly observed; thus the people from Aleppo always encamp close by those of Homs, &c. This regulation is very necessary to prevent disorder in night-marches. [In our author’s Syrian Travels, (p. 242.) the reader will find some further remarks on this Hadj-caravan, and in the Appendix to that volume (No. 3.) an account of the route between Damascus and Mekka.--ED.]

The hadjys usually contract for the journey with a Mekowem, one who speculates in the furnishing of camels and provisions to the Hadj.