midday before
My African Berbers are all Mohammedans who have performed the Pilgrimage . One of them is a muezzin by profession ; and if he can but catch sight of the sun , he will never miss the five hours of prayer . None of them requires telling the direction to Mecca ... . I issued from Your Majesty 's great gate about the third hour , and taking the road to Adrianople , journeyed till near midday before meeting a human being . There were farms and farmhouses on my right and left , and the fields had been planted in good season ; but the growing grain was wasted ; and when I sought the houses to have speech with their tenants they were forsaken . Twice we were driven off by the stench of bodies rotting before the doors . '' `` Greeks ? ''