— 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 circumstances 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 carriers42 who come from egypt to mecca with the caravan, bring with them several spare camels; for there is hardly a night passeth 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, which are all tied one after the other, like as in teams.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.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 passes 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 multitude.
“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.45 they are somewhat like 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 are they in their worship), and then they travel till next morning. if water be scarce, what i call an imaginary abdes46 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 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 passionately told me, that god had delivered him out of hell 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 (god 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 inclined to mercy, they strip him naked, and let him return to the caravan.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. 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,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,49 fenced with brass 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 bloody 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 of the curtains round it, nor are any of the hagges permitted to enter there.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,51 between the brass grates, and to petition 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 brass 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.
“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.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 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 passed through by night; i suppose it was a village, where were some trees, and, we thought, gardens.”
