Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah Volume Ii Part 31

"Here they all pitch their tents (it being in a s.p.a.cious plain), and spend the time of Curbaen Byram, viz. three days. As soon as their tents are pitched, and all things orderly disposed, every individual Hagge, the first day, goes and throws seven of the small stones, which they had gathered, against a small pillar, or little square stone building.[FN#36] Which action of theirs is intended to testify their defiance of the devil and his deeds; for they at the same time p.r.o.nounce the following words, viz. Erzum le Shetane wazbehe[FN#37]; i.e. stone the devil, and them that please him.[FN#38] And there are two other of the like pillars, which are situated near one another; at each of which

[p.377] (I mean all three), the second day, they throw seven stones; and the same they do the third day. As I was going to perform this ceremony of throwing the stones, a facetious Hagge met me; saith he, 'You may save your labour at present, if you please, for I have hit out the devil's eyes already.' You must observe, that after they have thrown the seven stones on the first day (the country people having brought great flocks of sheep to be sold), every one buys a sheep and sacrifices it; some of which they give to their friends, some to the poor which come out of Mecca and the country adjacent, very ragged poor, and the rest they eat themselves; after which they shave their heads, throw off Hirrawem, and put on other clothes, and then salute one another with a kiss, saying, 'Byram Mabarick Ela,' i.e. the feast be a blessing to you.

"These three days of Byram they spend festivally, rejoicing with abundance of illuminations all night, shooting of guns, and fireworks flying in the air; for they reckon that all their sins are now done away, and they shall, when they die, go directly to heaven, if they don't apostatize; and that for the future, if they keep their vow and do well, G.o.d will set down for every good action ten; but if they do ill, G.o.d will likewise reckon every evil action ten: and any person, who, after having received the t.i.tle of Hagge, shall fall back to a vicious course of life, is esteemed to be very vile and infamous by them.[FN#39]

"Some have written, that many of the Hagges, after they have returned home, have been so austere to themselves as to pore a long time over red-hot bricks, or ingots of iron, and by that means willingly lose their sight, desiring to see nothing evil or profane, after so sacred a sight as the temple at Mecca; but I never knew any such thing done.

[p.378] "During their three days' stay at Mina, scarce any Hagge (unless impotent) but thinks it his duty to pay his visit, once at least, to the temple at Mecca. They scarce cease running all the way thitherward, shewing their vehement desire to have a fresh sight of the Beat-Allah; which as soon as ever they come in sight of, they burst into tears for joy; and after having performed Towoaf for a while, and a few Erkaets, they return again to Mina. And when the three days of Byram are expired, they all, with their tents, &c., come back again to Mecca.

"They say, that after the Hagges are gone from Mina to Mecca, G.o.d doth usually send a good shower of rain to wash away the filth and dung of the sacrifices there slain; and also that those vast numbers of little stones, which I told you the Hagges throw in defiance of the devil, are all carried away by the angels before the year comes about again. But I am sure I saw vast numbers of them that were thrown the year before, lie upon the ground. After they are returned to Mecca, they can tarry there no longer than the stated time, which is about ten or twelve days; during which time there is a great fair held, where are sold all manner of East India goods, and abundance of fine stones for rings and bracelets, &c., brought from Yeamane[FN#40]; also of China-ware and musk, and variety of other curiosities. Now is the time in which the Hagges are busily employed in buying, for they do not think it lawful to buy any thing till they have received the t.i.tle of Hagge. Every one almost now buys a caffin, or shroud of fine linen, to be buried in (for they never use coffins for that purpose), which might have been procured at Algier, or their other respective homes, at a much cheaper rate; but they choose to buy it here, because they have the advantage of dipping it in the holy water, Zem Zem. They are very careful to carry the said

[p.379] caffin with them wherever they travel, whether by sea or land, that they may be sure to be buried therein.

"The evening before they leave Mecca, every one must go to take their solemn leave of the Beat, entering at the gate called Babe el Salem, i.e. Welcome Gate, and having continued at Towoaf as long as they please, which many do till they are quite tired, and it being the last time of their paying their devotions to it, they do it with floods of tears, as being extremely unwilling to part and bid farewell; and having drank their fill of the water Zem Zem, they go to one side of the Beat, their backs being towards the door called by the name of Babe el Weedoh i.e., the Farewell Door, which is opposite to the welcome door; where, having performed two or three Erkaets, they get upon their legs and hold up their hands towards the Beat, making earnest pet.i.tions; and then keep going backward till they come to the above said farewell gate, being guided by some other, for they account it a very irreverent thing to turn their backs towards the Beat when they take leave of it. All the way as they retreat they continue pet.i.tioning, holding up their hands, with their eyes fixed upon the Beat, till they are out of sight of it; and so go to their lodgings weeping.

"Ere I leave Mecca, I shall acquaint you with a pa.s.sage of a Turk to me in the temple cloyster, in the night time, between Acsham-nomas, and Gega-nomas, i.e., between the evening and the night services. The Hagges do usually spend that time, or good part of it (which is about an hour and half), at Towoaf, and then sit down on the mats and rest themselves. This I did, and after I had sat a while, and for my more ease at last was lying on my back, with my feet towards the Beat, but at a distance as many others did, a Turk which sat by me, asked me what countryman I was; 'A Mogrebee' (said I), i.e. one of the West. 'Pray,' quoth he, 'how far west did you come?' I told him from Gazair, i.e. Algier. 'Ah!'

replied he, 'have you taken so much

[p.380] pains, and been at so much cost, and now be guilty of this irreverent posture before the Beat Allah?'

"Here are many Moors, who get a beggarly livelihood by selling models of the temple unto strangers, and in being serviceable to the Pilgrims.

Here are also several Effendies, or masters of learning, who daily expound out of the Alcoran, sitting in high chairs, and some of the learned Pilgrims, whilst they are here, do undertake the same.

"Under the room of the Hanifees (which I mentioned before), people do usually gather together (between the hours of devotion), and sitting round cross-legged, it may be, twenty or thirty of them, they have a very large pair of Tessbeehs, or beads, each bead near as big as a man's fist, which they keep pa.s.sing round, bead after bead, one to the other, all the time, using some devout expressions. I myself was once got in amongst them, and methought it was a pretty play enough for children,-however, I was to appearance very devout.

"There are likewise some dervises that get money here, as well as at other places, by burning of incense, swinging their censers as they go along before the people that are sitting; as this they do commonly on Friday, their Sabbath. In all other Gamiler or Mosques, when the Hattib is preaching, and the people all sitting still at their devotion, they are all in ranks, so that the dervise, without the least disturbance to any, walks between every rank, with his censer in one hand, and with the other takes his powdered incense out of a little pouch that hangs by his side.[FN#41]

"But though this place, Mecca, is esteemed so very holy, yet it comes short of none for lewdness and debauchery. As for uncleanness, it is equal to Grand Cairo; and they will steal even in the temple itself.

[p.381] "CHAPTER VIII.- Of the Pilgrims' return from Mecca: their visit made at Medina to Mahomet's tomb there.

"Having thus given you an account of the Turks' pilgrimage to Mecca, and of their worship there (the manner and circ.u.mstances of which I have faithfully and punctually related, and may challenge the world to convict me of a known falsehood), I now come to take leave of the temple and town of Mecca.

"Having hired camels of the carriers, we set out, but we give as much for the hire of one from Mecca to Egypt, which is about forty days'

journey, as the real worth of it is, (viz.) about five or six pounds sterling. If it happen that the camel dies by the way, the carrier is to supply us with another; and therefore, those carriers[FN#42] who come from Egypt to Mecca with the Caravan, bring with them several spare camels; for there is hardly a night pa.s.seth but many die upon the road, for if a camel should chance to fall, it is seldom known that it is able to rise again; and if it should, they despair of its being capable of performing the journey, or ever being useful more. It is a common thing, therefore, when a camel once falls, to take off its burden and put it on another, and then kill it; which the poorer sort of the company eat. I myself have eaten of camel's flesh, and it is very sweet and nourishing. If a camel tires, they even leave him upon the place.

"The first day we set out from Mecca, it was without any order at all, all hurly burly; but the next day every one laboured to get forward; and in order to it, there was many time much quarrelling and fighting.

But after every one had taken his place in the Caravan, they orderly and peaceably kept the same place till they came to Grand Cairo. They travel four camels in a breast,

[p.382] which are all tied one after the other, like as in teams.[FN#43] The whole body is called a Caravan, which is divided into several cottors, or companies, each of which hath its name, and consists, it may be, of several thousand camels; and they move one cottor after another, like distinct troops. In the head of each cottor is some great gentleman or officer, who is carried in a thing like a horse-litter, borne by two camels, one before and the other behind, which is covered all over with sear-cloth, and over that again with green broad cloth, and set forth very handsomely. If the said great person hath a wife with him, she is carried in another of the same.[FN#44] In the head of every cottor there goes, likewise, a sumpter camel which carries his treasures, &c. This camel hath two bells, about the bigness of our market-bells, having one on each side, the sound of which may be heard a great way off. Some other of the camels have round bells about their necks, some about their legs, like those which our carriers put about their fore-horses' necks; which together with the servants (who belong to the camels, and travel on foot) singing all night, make a pleasant noise, and the journey pa.s.ses away delightfully. They say this musick make the camels brisk and lively. Thus they travel, in good order every day, till they come to Grand Cairo; and were it not for this order, you may guess what confusion would be amongst such a vast mult.i.tude.

"They have lights by night (which is the chief time of travelling, because of the exceeding heat of the sun by day), which are carried on the tops of high poles, to direct the Hagges on their march.[FN#45]

They are somewhat like

[p.382] iron stoves, into which they put short dry wood, which some of the camels are loaded with; it is carried in great sacks, which have an hole near the bottom, where the servants take it out, as they see the fires need a recruit. Every cottor hath one of these poles belonging to it, some of which have ten, some twelve, of these lights on their tops, or more or less; and they are likewise of different figures as well as numbers; one, perhaps, oval way, like a gate; another triangular, or like an N or M, &c., so that every one knows by them his respective cottor. They are carried in the front, and set up in the place where the Caravan is to pitch, before that comes up, at some distance from one another. They are also carried by day, not lighted, but yet by the figure and number of them, the Hagges are directed to what cottor they belong, as soldiers are, by their colours, where to rendezvous; and without such directions it would be impossible to avoid confusion in such a vast number of people.

"Every day, viz. in the morning, they pitch their tents, and rest several hours. When the camels are unloaded the owners drive them to water, and give them their provender, &c. So that we had nothing to do with them, besides helping to load them.

"As soon as our tents were pitched, my business was to make a little fire and get a pot of coffee. When we had ate some small matter and drank the coffee, we lay down to sleep. Between eleven and twelve we boiled something for dinner, and having dined, lay down again, till about four in the afternoon; when the trumpet was sounded which gave notice to every one to take down their tents, pack up their things, and load their camels in order to proceed on their journey. It takes up about two hours time ere they are in all their places again. At the time of Acsham-nomas, and also Gega-nomas, they make a halt, and perform their Sallah (so punctual

[p.384] are they in their worship), and then they travel till next morning. If water be scarce, what I call an imaginary Abdes[FN#46] will do. As for ancient men, it being very troublesome for such to alight off the camels, and get up again, it is lawful for them to defer these two times of nomas till the next day; but they will be sure to perform it then.

"As for provisions, we bring enough out of Egypt to suffice us till we return thither again. At Mecca we compute how much will serve us for one day, and consequently, for the forty days' journey to Egypt, and if we find we have more than we may well guess will suffice us for a long time, we sell the overplus at Mecca. There is a charity maintained by the Grand Seignior, for water to refresh the poor who travel on foot all the way; for there are many such undertake this journey (or pilgrimage) without any money, relying on the charity of the Hagges for subsistence, knowing that they largely extend it at such a time.

"Every Hagge carries his provisions, water, bedding, &c., with him, and usually three or four diet together, and sometimes discharge a poor man's expenses the whole journey for his attendance on them. There was an Irish renegade, who was taken very young, insomuch that he had not only lost his Christian religion, but his native language also. This man had endured thirty years slavery in Spain, and in the French gallies, but was afterwards redeemed and came home to Algier. He was looked upon as a very pious man, and a great Zealot, by the Turks, for his not turning from the Mahommedan faith, notwithstanding the great temptations he had so to do. Some of my neighbours who intended for Mecca, the same year I went with my patroon thither, offered

[p.385] this renegado that if he would serve them on this journey they would defray his charges throughout. He gladly embraced the offer, and I remember when we arrived at Mecca he pa.s.sionately told me, that G.o.d had delivered him out of h.e.l.l upon earth (meaning his former slavery in France and Spain), and had brought him into a heaven upon earth, viz.

Mecca. I admired much his zeal, but pitied his condition.

"Their water they carry in goats' skins, which they fasten to one side of their camels. It sometimes happens that no water is to be met with for two, three, or more days; but yet it is well known that a camel is a creature that can live long without drinking (G.o.d in his wise providence so ordering it: for otherwise it would be very difficult, if not impossible to travel through the parched deserts of Arabia).

"In this journey many times the skulking, thievish, Arabs do much mischief to some of the Hagges; for in the night time they will steal upon them (especially such as are on the outside of the Caravan), and being taken to be some of the servants that belong to the carriers, or owners of the camels, they are not suspected. When they see an Hagge fast asleep (for it is usual for them to sleep on the road), they loose a camel before and behind, and one of the thieves leads it away with the Hagge upon its back asleep. Another of them in the meanwhile, pulls on the next camel to tie it to the camel from whence 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 s.p.a.ce 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. But such as come from Turkey, Tartary, Egypt, and Africa, think themselves obliged to do so.

"Medina is but a little town, and poor, yet it is walled round,[FN#48]

and hath in it a great Mosque, but nothing near so big as the temple at Mecca. In one corner of the Mosque is a place, built about fourteen or fifteen paces square. About this place are great windows,[FN#49] fenced with bra.s.s grates. In the inside it is decked with some lamps, and ornaments. It is arched all over head. (I find some relate, that there are no less than 3000 lamps about Mahomet's tomb; but it is a mistake, for there are not, as I verily believe, an hundred; and I speak what I know, and have been an eye-witness of). In the middle of this place is the tomb of Mahomet, where the corpse of that b.l.o.o.d.y impostor is laid, which hath silk curtains all around it like a bed; which curtains are not costly nor beautiful. There is nothing of his tomb to be seen by any, by reason

[p.387] of the curtains round it, nor are any of the Hagges permitted to enter there.[FN#50] None go in but the Eunuchs, who keep watch over it, and they only light the lamps, which burn there by night, and to sweep and cleanse the place. All the privilege the Hagges have, is only to thrust in their hands at the windows,[FN#51] between the bra.s.s grates, and to pet.i.tion the dead juggler, which they do with a wonderful deal of reverence, affection, and zeal. My patroon had his silk handkerchief stole out of his bosom, while he stood at his devotion here.

"It is storied by some, that the coffin of Mahomet hangs up by the attractive virtue of a loadstone to the roof of the Mosque; but believe me it is a false story. When I looked through the bra.s.s gate, I saw as much as any of the Hagges; and the top of the curtains, which covered the tomb, were not half so high as the roof or arch, so that it is impossible his coffin should be hanging there. I never heard the Mahometans say anything like it. On the outside of this place, where Mahomet's tomb is, are some sepulchres of their reputed saints; among which is one prepared for Jesus Christ, when he shall come again personally into the world; for they hold that Christ will come again in the flesh, forty years before the end of the world, to confirm the Mahometan faith, and say likewise, that our Saviour was not crucified in person, but in effigy, or one like him.

"Medina is much supplied by the opposite Abyssine country, which is on the other side of the Red Sea: from thence they have corn and necessaries brought in ships: an odd sort of vessels as ever I saw, their sails being made of matting, such as they use in the houses and Mosques to tread upon.

[p.388] "When we had taken our leave of Medina, the third day, and travelled about ten days more, we were met by a great many Arabians, who brought abundance of fruit to us, particularly raisins; but from whence I cannot tell.[FN#52] When we came within fifteen days' journey of Grand Cairo, we were met by many people who came from thence, with their camels laden with presents for the Hagges, sent from their friends and relations, as sweetmeats, &c. But some of them came rather for profit, to sell fresh provisions to the Hagges, and trade with them.

"About ten days before we got to Cairo, we came to a very long steep hill, called Ackaba, which the Hagges are usually much afraid how they shall be able to get up. Those who can will walk it. The poor camels, having no hoofs, find it very hard work, and many drop here. They were all untied, and we dealt gently with them, moving very slowly, and often halting. Before we came to this hill, I observed no descent, and when we were at the top there was none, but all plain as before.

"We past by Mount Sinai by night, and, perhaps, when I was asleep; so that I had no prospect of it.

"When we came within seven days' journey of Cairo, we were met by abundance of people more, some hundreds, who came to welcome their friends and relations; but it being night, it was difficult to find those they wanted, and, therefore, as the Caravans past along they kept calling them aloud by their names, and by this means found them out. And when we were in three days' journey of it, we had many camel-loads of the water of the Nile brought us to drink. But the day and night before we came to Cairo, thousands came out to meet us with extraordinary rejoicing. It is thirty-seven days' journey from Mecca to Cairo, and three days we tarry by [p.389] the way, which together make us (as I said) forty days' journey; and in all this way there is scarce any green thing to be met with, nor beast nor fowl to be seen or heard; nothing but sand and stones, excepting one place which we pa.s.sed through by night; I suppose it was a village, where were some trees, and, we thought, gardens."

[FN#1] It is curious, as Crichton (Arabia, vol. ii. p. 208) observes, that Gibbon seems not to have seen or known anything of the little work published by Pitts on his return home. It is ent.i.tled "A faithful Account of the Religion and the Manners of the Mahometans, in which is a particular Relation of their Pilgrimage to Mecca, the Place of Mahomet's Birth, and Description of Medina, and of his Tomb there," &c., &c. My copy is the 4th edition, printed for T. Longman and R. Hett, London, A.D. 1708. The only remarkable feature in the "getting up" of the little octavo is, that the engraving headed "the most sacred and antient Temple of the Mahometans at Mecca," is the reverse of the impression[.]

[FN#2] Some years afterwards, Mr. Consul Baker, when waited upon by Pitts, in London, gave him a copy of the letter, with the following memorandum upon the back of it-"Copy of my letter to Consul Raye at Smyrna, to favour the escape of Joseph Pitts, an English renegade, from a squadron of Algier men-of-war. Had my kindness to him been discovered by the government of Algiers, my legs and arms had first been broken, and my carca.s.s burnt-a danger hitherto not courted by any."

[FN#3] The italics in the text are the author's. This is admirably characteristic of the man. Asiatic Christendom would not satisfy him.

He seems to hate the "d.a.m.nable doctrines" of the "Papists," almost as much as those of the Moslems.

[FN#4] He must have been accustomed to long days' journeys. Al-Idrisi makes Jeddah forty miles from Meccah; I calculated about forty-four.

[FN#5] Dalil, a guide, generally called at Meccah "Muttawwif."

[FN#6] Pitts' Note,-that before they'll provide for themselves, they serve G.o.d in their way.

[FN#7] Abdast is the Turkish word, borrowed from the Persian, for "Wuzu,"

the minor ablution.

[FN#8] Ruka'at, a bending. This two-bow prayer is in honour of the Mosque.

[FN#9] This is the ceremony technically called Al-Sai, or running between Safa and Marwah. Burckhardt describes it accurately, vol. i.

pp. 174, 175.

[FN#10] Ihram, the pilgrim-garb.

[FN#11] Now gold or gilt.