Appendix V of Personal Narrative of Pilgrimage to El Medina and Mecca. Our second pilgrim was Joseph Pitts of Exxon, Phutnuk. It is curious, as Crichton, in Arabia volume 2, page 208, observes that, given seems not to have seen or known anything of the little work published by Pitts on his return home, it is entitled, A Faithful Account of the Religion and the Manors of the Mohammedans, in which is a particular relation of their pilgrimage to Mecca and the place of Muhammad's birth and description of Medina and his tomb there, etc., etc. My copy is the fourth edition, printed for T. Longman and R. Het, London, AD, 1708. The only remarkable feature in the getting up of the little octavo is that the engraving headed the most sacred and ancient temple of the Mohammedans at Mecca is the reverse of the impression and the Phutnuk. A youth, 15 or 16 years old, when in AD 1678 his genius leading him to be a sailor and see foreign countries caused him to be captured by an Algerian pirate. After living in slavery for some years, he was taken by his patron to Mecca and El Medina via Alexandria, Rosetta, Cairo, and Suez. His description of these places is accurate in the main points, and though tainted with prejudice and bigotry, he is free from superstition and credulity. Conversant with Turkish and Arabic, he has required more knowledge of the tenets and the practice of Islam than his predecessor, and the term of his residence at Algiers, 15 years, suffice despite the defects of his education to give fullness and finish to his observation. His chief patron, Captain of a troop of horse, was a profligate and debauched man in his time and a murderer who determined to prosalite a Christian slave as an atonement for past impieties. He began by large offers and failed. He succeeded by dint of a great cudgel repeatedly applied to Joseph Pitt's bare feet. I roared out, says the relator, to feel the pain of his cruel strokes, but the more I cried the more furiously he laid on, and to stop the noise of my crying would stamp with his feet on my mouth. At last, through terror, he turned and spake the words la ilaha, etc., as usual holding up the forefinger of the right hand. Then he was circumcised in due form. Of course, such conversion was not a sincere one. There was yet swine's flesh in his teeth. He boast of saying his prayers in a state of impurity, hates his fellow religionists, was truly pleased to hear Muhammad call Sabaterro, i.e. shoemaker, re-eat his bible, talks of the horrid evil of apostasy, calls the prophet a bloody impostor, eats heartily in private of hog, and is very much concerned for one of his countrymen who went home to his own country, but came again to Algeria and voluntarily without the least force used towards him became a Mohammedan. His first letter from his father reached him some days after he had been compelled by his patron's barbarity to abjure his faith. One sentence appears particularly to have afflicted him, was this. To have a care and keep close to God, and to be sure never by any methods of cruelty that could be used towards me, be prevailed to deny my blessed Saviour, and that he, the father, would rather hear of my death than of me being a Mohammedan. Indeed, throughout the work it appears that his repentance was sincere. God be merciful to me, a sinner. Is the deprecation that precedes the account of his turning turk, and the book concludes with, to him, therefore, father, son, and holy spirit, three persons, and one God, be all honor, glory, and raise, world without end, amen. Being received from his patron, whom he acknowledges to have been a second parent to him, a letter of freedom at Mecca, and having entered into pay, still living with his master, pits began to think of escape. The Grand Turk had sent Algiers for ships, and their inner gate was allowed to embark on board one of them, provided with a diplomatic letter from Mr. Baker, consul of Algiers to Mr. Ray, consul at Smyrna. FIT NOTE Some years afterwards, Mr. consul Baker, when weighted upon by pits in London, gave him a copy of the letter, with a following memorandum upon the back of it. Copy of my letter to consul Ray, at Smyrna, to favor the escape of Joseph Pits, an English renegade from a squadron of Algiers 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 car-caste burned, a danger hitherto not courted by any, and a footnote. The devil, we are told, was very busy with him in the Levant, tempting him to lay aside all thoughts of escaping, to return to Algiers and to continue a Muslim, and the loss of eight months' pay and certain other monies seems to have weighed heavily upon his soul. Still he prepared for the desperate enterprise, in which failure would have exposed him to be dragged about the streets on the stone till half-dead, and then be burned to ashes in the Jews' burial-place. A generous friend, Mr. Elliot, a Cornish merchant, who had served some part of his apprenticeship in accent, and had settled at Smyrna, paid four pounds for his passage in a French ship to Lake Horn. Therefrom, in the evening before sailing, he went on board, apparelled as an Englishman, with his beard shaven, a campaign periwig, and a cane in his hand, accompanied with three or four of his friends. At Lake Horn he prostrated himself, and kissed the earth, blessing Almighty God for his mercy and goodness to him, that he wants more footing on the European and Christian part of the world. Footnote. The italics in the text are the authors. This is admirably characteristic of the man, as the Aztec Christendom would not satisfy him. He seems to hate the damnable doctrines of the Papist almost as much as those of the Muslims. And a footnote. He travelled through Italy, Germany, and Holland, where he received many and great kindnesses. But his patriotism was damned as he entered England, his own native country, and the civilized land must have made him, for a time, regret having left Algiers. The very first night he lay ashore, he was impressed into the king's service, we having at that time, war with France. Despite arguments and tears he spent some days in Colchester jail, and finally he was put on board a smack to be carried to the dead-nought man of war. But happily for himself, he had written to Sir William Falconer, one of the Smerenauer Turkey Company in London, that gentleman used his interest to procure a protection from the admiralty office, upon the receipt of which good news Joseph Pitts did rejoice exceedingly, and could not forbear leaping upon the deck. He went to London, thanks Sir William, and hurried down to Exeter, where he ends his fifteen years' tale with a humbly, heartful, and affecting description of his first meeting with his father. His mother died about a year before his return. The following passages are part of the Seventh and Eighth chapter of Pitts' little-known work. Next we came to Gidda, the nearest port town to Mecca, not quite one day's journey from it. He must have been accustomed to long days' journey. A ladrisi makes Gidda forty miles from Mecca. I calculated about forty-two, and a footnote. Here we are met by the lils, i.e. certain persons who came from Mecca on purpose to instruct the hajis or pilgrims in the ceremonies, most of them being ignorant of them, which are to be used in their worship at the temple there. Delil, a guide, generally called at Mecca Motawif, and a footnote, in the middle of which is a place which they called Bitalah, i.e. the house of God. They say that Abraham built it, to which I give no credit. As soon as we come to the town of Mecca, the Delil, or guide, carries us into the great street, which is in the midst of the town, and to which the temple joins. Footnote, Pitts' note, that before they'll provide for themselves, they serve God in their way, and a footnote. When the camels are laid down, he first directs us to the fountain, there to take abdiz, footnote. Abdiz is the Turkish word borrowed from the Persian, for wuzu, the minor ablution, and a footnote. Which being done, he brings us to the temple, into which having left our shoes with one who constantly attends to receive them, we enter at the door called Bab-e-salaam, i.e. the welcome gate, or gate of peace. After a few paces entrance, the Delil makes us stand, and holds up his hands towards the Bitalah, it being in the middle of the mosque. The Hajji is imitating him, and saying after him the same words which he speaks. At the very first sight with the Bitalah, the Hajji is melt into tears, then we are led up to it, still speaking after the Delil, then we are led round it seven times, and then to make two erkaids, footnote. Rokad, a bending, this two-bow prayer is in honor of the mosque, end of footnote. This being done, we are led into the street again, where we are sometimes to run, and sometimes to walk very quickly with the Delil, from one place of the street to the other, about a bow shot, footnote. This is a ceremony technically called assay, or running between Safa and Marwa. Burke-Hard describes it accurately, volume one, page 174 till 175, end of footnote. I profess I could not choose but admire to see those poor creatures so extraordinary devout, and affectionate when they are about these superstitions, and with what awe and trembling they were possessed, in so much that I could scarce forbear shedding of tears, to see their zeal, though blind and idolatrous. After all this is done, return to the place in the street where we left our camels, with our provisions and necessaries, and then look out for lodgings, where when we came we distrobe and take our herawims, footnote. Ehram, the pilgrim garb, end of footnote, and put on our ordinary clothes again. All the pilgrims hold it to their great duty well to improve their time whilst they are at Mecca, not to do their custom duty and devotion in the temple, but to spend all their leisure time there, and as far as strength will permit to continue at Tawaf, i.e. to walk around the beatallah, which is about four and twenty paces square. At one corner of the beat, there is a black stone fastened and framed with silver plate, footnote, now gold or gilt, end of footnote.  This stone they say was formerly white, and then it was called Hajar Asad, i.e. the white stone. But by reason of the sins of the multitudes of people who kiss it, it has become black and is now called Hajar Asad, or the black stone. Footnote, this is an error, the stone is called Hajar Asad, or the black stone, or Hajar Asad, the blessed stone. Moreover, it did not change its color on account of the sins of the people who kissed it, end of footnote. This place is so much frequented by people going around it, that the place of the Tawaf, i.e. the circuit which they take in going around it, they seldom void of people at any time of the day or night. Footnote, the meccans in effect still make this a boast, end of footnote. Many have waited several weeks, may months, for the opportunity of finding itself. For they say that if any person is blessed with such an opportunity, that for his or her zeal in keeping up the honor of the Tawaf, let they petition what they will at the beat of Allah, they shall be answered. Many will walk around till they are quite wary, then rest, and at it again, carefully remembering at the end of every seventh time to perform two arkaids. This beat is in effect the object of their devotion, the idol which they adore, for let them never be so far distant from it, east, west, north, or south of it. They will be sure to bow down towards it, but when they are at the beat, they may go on which side they please, and pay their salah towards it. Footnote, nothing more blindly prejudiced than this statement, Muslims turn towards Mecca as Christians towards Jerusalem, end of footnote. Sometimes there are several hundreds at the Tawaf at once, especially after aksham namaz or fourth time of service, which is after candlelighting, as you heard before. And these both men and women, but the women walk on the outside the men, and the men nearest to the beat. In so great a resort as this it is not to be supposed that every individual person can come to kiss the stone aforementioned. Therefore, in such a case, the lifting up the hands towards it, smoothing down their faces, and using a short expression of devotion, as Allah waik barik, i.e. blessed God, or Allah kabur, i.e. great God, some such like, and so passing by it till opportunity of kissing it offers is thought sufficient. Footnote, as will afterwards be explained, all the four orthodox schools do not think it necessary to kiss the stone after each circumambulation, and a footnote. But when there are but few men at Tawaf, then the women get opportunity to kiss the said stone, and when they have gotten it, they close in with it as they come round, and walk round as quick as they can to come to it again, and keep possession of it for a considerable time. The men, when they see that the women have got the place, will be so civil as to pass by and give them leave to take their fill, as I may say in their Tawaf or walking round, during which they are using some formal expressions. When the women are at the stone, then it is esteemed a very rude and abominable thing to go near them respecting the time and place. I shall now give you a more peculiar description of Mecca and the temple there. First as to Mecca, it is a town situated in a barren place about one day's journey from the Red Sea in a valley or rather in the midst of many little hills. It is a place of no force, wanting both walls and gates. Its buildings are, as I said before, very ordinary in so much that it would be a place of no tolerable entertainment, were it not for the anniversary resort of so many thousand huggies or pilgrims, on whose coming the whole dependence of the town in a manner is. For many shops are scarcely open all the year besides. The people here I observed are poor sort of people, very thin, lean and swarthy. The town is surrounded for several miles with many thousands of little hills which are very near one to the other. I have been on the top of some of them near Mecca, where I could see some miles about, yet was not able to see the farthest of the hills. They are all stony rock and blackish and pretty near of bigness, appearing at a distance like cocks of hay, but all pointing towards Mecca. Some of them are half a mile in circumference, but all near of one height. The people here have an odd and foolish sort of tradition concerning them, this, that when Abraham went about building the Beatallah, God by his wonderful providence did so order it that every mountain in the world should contribute something to the building thereof, and accordingly every one did send its proportion, though there is a mountain near Al-Jir, which is called Karadok, i.e. Black Mountain, and the reason of its blackness they say is because it did not send any part of itself towards the building of the temple at Mecca. These are mere local traditions. The original Kaaba was composed of materials gathered from the Six Mountains of Paradise, Chapter 20. The present building is of gray granite quarried in a hill near Mecca, and a footnote. Between these hills is good and plain traveling, though they stand one to another. There is, upon the top of one of them, a cave, which they term hira, i.e. blessing, footnote, now Jabal Noor, and a footnote, into which they say Muhammad did usually retire for his solitary devotions, meditations, and fastings, and here they believe he had a great part of the Al-Quran brought to him by the angel Gabriel. I have been in this cave and observed that it is not at all beautified, at which I admired. About half a mile out of Mecca is a very steep hill, and there are stairs made to go to the top of it, where there is a cupola under which is a cloven rock.  Into this very place I myself went, because the rest of my company did so, and performed some erkads, as they did. The town had plenty of water, and yet but few herbs, and less in some particular places. Here are several sorts of good fruits to be had, vis grapes, melons, watermelons, cucumbers, pumpkins, and the like, but these are brought two or three days' journey off, where there is a place of very great plenty, called, if I mistake not, Habbash. They come from the well-known tithe, which the country people call Hijaz but never Habbash. The word tithe literally means a circumambulator. It is said that when Adam settled at Mecca, finding the country barren, he prayed to Allah to supply him with a bit of fertile land. Immediately appeared a mountain, which having performed tawab from the Kaaba, settled itself down eastward of Mecca. Hence, to the present day, tithe is called Qataymin Hasham, a piece of Syria, its fatherland. And a footnote. Likewise, sheep are brought hither and sold, so that as to Mecca itself, it affords little or nothing of comfortable provisions. It lies in a very hot country in so much that people run from one side of the streets to the other to get into the shadows as the motion of the sun causes it. Inhabitants, especially men, do usually sleep on the tops of the houses for the air, or in the streets before their doors. Some lay in the small bedding that have on a thin mat on the ground, others have a slight frame, made much like drink stalls on which we place barrels, standing on four legs corded with palm cordage on which they put their bedding. Before they bring out their bedding, they sweep the streets and water them. As for my own part, I usually lay open without any bed covering on the top of the house. Only I took a linen cloth dipped in water, and after I had rung it covered myself with it in the night, and when I awoke I should find it dry, then I would wet it again, and thus I did two or three times in a night. Secondly, I shall next give you some account of the temple of Mecca. It hath about forty doors to enter into it, not so much I think for necessity as figure. In some places they are closed by one another. The form of it is much resembling that of the royal exchange in London, but I believe it is near ten times bigger. It is all open and graveled in the midst, except some paths that come from certain doors which lead to the Baytallah and are paved with broad stones. The walks or cloisters all round are arched overhead and paved beneath with fine broad stone, and all round are little rooms or cells, where which dwell and give themselves up for reading, studying, and a devout life, who are much akin to their dervises or hermets. The Baytallah which stands in the middle of the temple is four square about 24 paces each square and near 24 foot in height. Footnote. This is an error of printing for paces and a footnote. It is built with great stone, all smooth and plain, without the least bit of carpet work on it. It is covered all over from top to bottom with a thick sort of silk. Above the middle part of the covering are embroidered all round letters of gold, the meaning of which I cannot well call to mind, but I think there were some devout expressions. Each letter is near two foot in length and two inches broad. Near the lower end of this beat are large brass rings fastened into it, through which passeth a great cotton rope, and to this the lower end of the covering is tacked. The threshold of the door that belongs to the beat is as high as a man can reach, and therefore when any person insert into it, a sort of ladder stairs are brought for that purpose. The door is plated all over with silver. Footnote. Pitsnote. Not a massy gold, as late French author who I am sure was never there, says, the door is of wood only plated over with silver. Much less is the inside of the beat, sealed with massy gold as the same Frenchman asserts. I cannot assure the world that is no such thing. The door is of wood thickly plated over with silver in many parts gilt, and whatever hereabouts is gilt the meccans always call gold, or fb, and a footnote. And there is a covering, hangs over it and reaches to the ground, which is kept turned up all the week except Thursday night and Friday, which is their Sabbath. The set covering of the door is very thick embroidered with gold, in so much that it weighs several score pounds. The top of the beat is flat, beaten with lime and sand, and there is a long gutter or spout to carry off the water when it rains, at which time the people will run throng and struggle to get under the set gutter so that the water that comes off the beat may fall upon them, accounting it as the dew of heaven and looking on it as a great happiness to have it drop on them. But if they can recover some of this water to drink, they esteem it to be yet a much greater happiness. Many poor people make it their endeavor to get some of it and present it to the haggies for which they are well rewarded. My patron had a present made him of this water with which he was not a little pleased and gave him that brought it a good reward. This beat all lies open but two days in the space of six weeks is one day for the men and the next day for the women. Footnote, this is no longer the case. Few women ever enter the Kaba. On account of the personal danger they run there. End of footnote, I was at Makka about four months. I had the opportunity of entering into it twice. A reputed advantage which many thousands of haggies have not met with for those that come by land make no longer stay at Makka than sixteen or seventeen days. When any entering to the beat all that they have to do is perform two erkats on each side. Footnote, more correctly at three of the corners and the fourth opposite the southern third of the western wall. End of footnote, with holding up their two hands and petitioning at the conclusion of each two erkats. And they are so very reverent and devout in doing this that they will not suffer their eyes to wander and gaze about. For they accounted very sinful to do so. Nay, they say that one was smitten blind for gazing about when in the beat as the reward of his vain and unlawful curiosity. Footnote, it is deemed disrespectful to look at the ceiling but pilgrims may turn their eyes in any other direction they pleased. End of footnote, I could not for my part give any credit for this story but looked on it as a legendary relation and therefore was resolved if I could to take my view of it. I mean not to continue gazing about it but now and then to cast an observing eye. And I profess I found nothing worth seeing in it, only two wooden pillars in the midst to cape up the roof. Footnote, there are now three. End of footnote. And a bar of iron fastened to them on which hang three or four silver lamps which are I suppose but seldom if ever lighted. In one corner of the beat is an iron or brass chain. I cannot tell which for I made no use of it. The pilgrims just clap it about their necks in token of repentance. The floor of the beat is marble and so is the inside of the walls on which there is written something in Arabic which I had no time to read. The walls though of marble on the inside are hung over with silk which is pulled off before the head gaze enter. Footnote, it is tucked up about six feet high. End of footnote. Those that go into the beat tarry there but a very little while this scares so much as half a quarter of an hour because others wait for the same privilege and while some go in others are going out. After all is over and all that will have done this the Sultan of Mecca who is Sharif i.e. one of the race of the Muhammad accounts himself not too good to cleanse the beat and therefore with some of his favorites Doth wash and cleanse it. And first of all they wash it with the holy water Zimzam and after that with sweet water the stairs which were brought to enter in at the door of the beat being removed the people crowd under the door to receive on them the sweepings of the said water and the bisms where with the beat is cleansed are broken in pieces and thrown out amongst the mob and he that gets a small stick or twig of it keeps it as a sacred relic. But to speak something further of the temple of Mecca for I am willing to be very particular in matters about it though in so being I should it may be speak of things which by some people may be thought trivial the compass of the ground around the beat where the people exercise themselves in the duty of Tawaf is paved with marble about 50 foot in breadth. Footnote it is a close kind of gray granite which takes a high polish from the pilgrim's feet. And round this marble pavement stand pillars of brass about 15 foot high footnote now iron posts and a footnote and 20 foot distant from each other above the middle part of which iron bars are fastened reaching from one to the other and several lamps made of glass are hang to each of the said bars with brass wires in the form of a triangle to give light in the night season for they pay their devotions at the beat Allah as much by night as by day during the Hajj stay at Mecca. These glasses are half filled with water and a third part with oil on which around wire brass is buoyed up with three little corks in the midst of this wire is made a place to put in the wick or cotton which burns till the oil is spent every day they are washed clean and replenished with fresh water oil and cotton on each of the four squares of the beat is a little room built and over every one of them is a little chamber with windows all around it in which chambers of the imams together with the mezzins perform salah in the audience of all the people which are below these four chambers are built one at each square of the beat by reason that there are four sorts of the Mohammedans the first called Hanafi most of them are Turks the second Shafi'i the Shafi'i school have not never had a peculiar oratory like the other three schools they pray near the well Zimzim end of it note whose manners and ways Arabians follow the third Himbali of which there are but few the fourth Maliki of which there are those that lived westward of Egypt even to the emperor of Morocco's country these all agree in fundamentals only there is some small difference between them in the ceremonial part about 12 pieces from the beat is as they say the sepulcher of Abraham footnote this place contains the stone which served Abraham for a scaffold when he was erecting the Kaaba some of our popular writers confound the stone with the Hajar al-Iswad and a footnote who by God's immediate command they tell you built this beat Allah which sepulcher is enclosed within iron gates it is made somewhat like the tombstone which people of fashion have among us but with a very handsome embroidered covering into this persons are apt to gaze a small distance from it on the left hand is a well which they call be it a Zimzim the water therefore they call holy water and as superstitiously esteem it as the papis do theirs in the month of Ramadan they will be sure to break their fast with it they report that it is as sweet as milk but for my part I could perceive no other taste in it than in common water except that it was somewhat brackish the haggis when they come first to Mecca drink of it unreasonably by which means there are not much purge but their flesh breaks out all in pimples and this they call the purging of their spiritual corruptions there are hundreds of pictures belonging to the temple which in the month of Ramadan are filled with the said water and placed all along before the people with cups to drink as they are kneeling and waiting for aksham nomaz or evening service and as soon as the messians or clerks on the tops of the minors begin their bawling to call them to the nomaz they follow drinking thereof before they begin their devotions this beer or well of Zimzim is in the midst of one of the little rooms before mentioned at each square of the beat distant about 12 or 14 paces from it out of which four men are employed to draw water without any pay or reward for any that shall desire it each of these men have two leather buckets tied to a rope on a small wheel one of which comes up full while the other goes down empty they do not only drink this water but oftentimes bathe themselves with it at which time they take off their clothes only covering their lower parts with thin wrapper and one of the drawers pours on each person's head five or six buckets of water footnote pit's note the worthy months the final say that the waters of mecca are bitter but i never found them so but as sweet and as good as any others for odd as i could perceive pits has just remarked that he found the waters of Zimzim brackish to my taste it was salt bitter which was exceedingly disagreeable our fb and a footnote the person bathing may lawfully wash himself there with above the middle but not his lower parts because they account they are not worthy only letting the water take its way downwards in short they make use of this water only to drink take up this and for bathing neither may take up this with it unless they first greens their secret parts with other common water yeah such a high esteem they have for it that many hajis carry it home to their respective countries in little latin or tin pots and presented to their friends half a spoonful may be to each who receive it in the hollow of their hand with great care and abundance of thanks sipping a little of it and bestowing the rest on their faces and naked heads at the same time holding up their hands and desiring god that they also may be so happy and prosperous as to go on pilgrimage to mecca the reason of their putting such a high value upon the water of this well is because as they say it is the place where ishmael was laid by his mother hager i have heard them tell the story exactly as it is recorded on the 21st chapter of genesis and they say that in the very place where the child paddled with his feet the water flowed out end of appendix five part one appendix five of personal narrative of pilgrimages to el medina and mecca this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org appendix five of personal narrative of pilgrimage to el medina and mecca by richard frances burton the pilgrimage of joseph pits to mecca in el medina ad 1680 part two i shall now inform you how when and where they receive the honorable title of hedges for which they are at all this pains and expense the korban biram or the feast of sacrifice follows two months and ten days after the ramadan fast the eighth day after the set two months they all enter into herawem ie put on their mortifying habit again and in that manner it'll go to a certain hill called jabal orfat ie arafat el arafat ie the mountain of knowledge for there they say adam first found and knew his wife eve and they likewise say that she was buried at near the red sea at host apple cur old haji's who come to mecca by way of the red sea performed to arca it's nomads and i think no more i could not help but smile to hear this their ridiculous tradition for so i must pronounce it when observing the marks which were set the one at the head and the other at the foot of the grave against them to be a bow shot distant from each other on the middle of her supposed grave is a little mosque built where the haji's pay their religious respect this gibbal or hill is not so big as to contain the vast multitudes which resort tether for it is said by them that their meet no less than 70 000 souls every year in the ninth day after the two months after ramadan and if it happened that in any year they'll be wanting some of that number god they say will supply the deficiency with so many angels fitna they're not so modest 600 000 is the mystical number others declare it to be incalculable oftentimes 7 000 have met at a fat and a fitna i do confess the number of haji's i saw at this mountain was very great nevertheless i cannot think they could amount to so many as 70 000 there are certain bound stones placed round the gibbal in the plain to shoe how far the sacred ground as they esteem it extends and many are so zealous as to come and pitch their tents within these bounds sometime before the hour of paying their devotion here comes waiting for it but why they so solemnly approach this mountain beyond any other place and receive from hence the title of haji's i confess i do not more fully understand than what i have already said giving but little heed to these delusions i observed nothing worth seeing on this hill for there was only a small cupula on the top of it fitna the cupula has now disappeared there is a tall pillar of masonry work white wash rising from a plastered floor for praying and a fitna neither are there many inhabitants nearer to it than mecca about one or two of the clock which is the time of yola nomaz having washed and made themselves ready for it they performed that and at the same time perform a kindle nomaz which they never do at the same time but upon this occasion because at the time when a kindle nomaz should be performed in the custom order with about four o'clock in the afternoon they are imploring pardon for their sins and receiving the imam's benediction fitna on the ninth of the l'hijjah or the day of arafat the pilgrims having taken their stations within the sacred limits perform ablution about noon and pray as directed at that hour at three p.m after again performing the usual devotions or more frequently after neglecting them they're repaired to the hill and hear the sermon and a fitna it was a site indeed able to pierce one's heart to behold so many thousands in their garments of humility and mortification with their naked heads and cheeks watered with tears and to hear their grievous sighs and sobs begging earnestly for the remission of their sins promising a newness of life using a form of penitential expressions and thus continuing for the space of four or five hours viz until the time of aksham nomaz which is to be performed about half an hour after sunset it is a matter of sorrowful reflection to compare the indifference of many christians with the zeal of these poor blind muhammadans who will it is said to be feared rise up in judgment against them and condemn them after their solemn performance of their devotions thus at the jibbal they all at once receive that honorable title of hajji from the imam and are so styled to their dying day immediately upon their receiving this name the trumpet is sounded and they all leave the hill and return for makkah and being gone two or three miles on their way they then rest for the night footnote at musdelifah and a footnote but after nomaz before they go to rest each person gathers nine and forty small stones about the bigness of a hazelnut the meaning of which i shall acquaint you presently the next morning they move to a place called minna or munna the place as they say where abraham went to offer up his son isek and therefore in this place to sacrifice their sheep footnote this i scarcely need say speaking as a christian all muslims believe that ishmael not isek was ordered to be sacrificed the place to which pits alludes is still shown to pilgrims end of it note it is about two or three miles from mecca i was here shown a stone or a little rock which was parted in the middle they told me that when abraham was going to sacrifice his son instead of striking him providence directed his hand to this stone which he clave in two it must be a good stroke indeed here they all pitched their tents it being in a spacious plain and spent the time of the kurban biram this three days as soon as their tents are pitched and all things orderly disposed every individual haggie the first day goes and throws seven of the small stones which they had gathered against a small pillar or little square stone building footnote pitch note mon jus de tevinol saith that they throw these stones at the gibbon or mount but indeed it is otherwise though i must need say he is very exactly almost everything of turkish matters and i pay much deference to that great author and a footnote which action of theirs is intended to testify their defiance of the devil and his deeds for they are the same time pronounced the following words footnote the rami or jackalator now usually says as he cast each stone in the name of allah and allah is omnipotent raghman the shaitan and khizziateh in token of abhorrence to satan and for his ignominy i do this and a footnote i.e. stone the devil and them that please him footnote the arabic would mean stone the devil and slay him unless was be he be an error of washabi and his companions and a footnote and there are two other of the like pillars which are situated near one another at each of which 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 the ceremony of throwing stones a facetious haggie met me saith you may save your labor at present if you please where i have hit up 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 everyone buys the 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 hira and and put on other clothes and then salute one another with a kiss saying biram abarak illa i.e the feast be a blessing to you these three days of biram they spent festively 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 god will set down for every good action ten but if they do ill god will likewise reckon every evil action ten and any person who after having received the title of haggie shall fall back to a vicious course of life is esteemed to be very vile and infamous by them footnote even the present day men who have led wild lives in their youth often date their reformation from the first pilgrimage and the footnote some have written that many of the haggies after they have returned home have been so austere to themselves as to pour a long time over red hot bricks of ingots of iron and by that means willingly lose their sight desiring to see nothing evil or profane after so sacred a sight as a temple at makka but i never knew any such thing done during their three days stay at minna scares any haggie unless impotent but thinks it is his duty to pay his visit at least once the temple at makka they scare seas running all the way through the world showing their vehement desire to have a fresh sight of the beat allah which as soon as ever they come inside they burst into tears for joy and after having performed a while for a while and a few arcades they return again to minna and when the three days of bitum are expired they all with their tents etc come back again to mecca they say that after the haggies are gone from minna to mecca god doth usually send a good shower of rain to wash away the filth and dung of the sacrifices they're slain and also that those vast numbers of little stones which i told you the haggies throw in defiance of the devil are all carried away by the angels before the year comes about again but i'm sure i saw vast numbers of them that were thrown the year before live on the ground after they are returned to mecca they can tarry there no longer than the state of time which is about 10 or 12 days during which time there's a great fair held where sold all manners of east india goods and abundance of fine stones for rings and bracelets etc brought from the emin footnote the emin southern of arabia whose akik or carnelians were celebrated and a footnote also chinaware and musk and variety of other curiosities now is the time in which the haggies are busily employed in buying for they do not think at waffle to buy anything till they have received the title of haggie everyone almost now buys a caffin or a shroud of fine linen to be buried in for they never use coffins for that purpose which might have been procured at al jeer 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 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 everyone must go to take their solemn leave of the beat entering at the gate called babi selam i.e. the welcome gate and having continued at towaf as long as they please which many do so till they're quite tired and it being their last time paying their devotions to it they do it with floats 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 toward the door called by the name babel widoh i.e. the farewell door which is opposite to the welcome door where having performed two or three arkads they get upon their legs and hold up their hands towards the beat making earnest petitions and then keep going backward till they come to the above said farewell gate being guided by some other for they accounted a very irreverent thing to turn their backs towards the beat when they have to take leave of it all the way as they retreat they continue petitioning holding up their hands with their eyes fixed upon the beat till they are out of sight of it and so go to their lodging sweeping here i leave mecca i shall acquaint you with the passage of a turk to me in the temple cloister in the night time between aksham nomas and giga nomas i.e. between the evening and the night services the hedges as usually spend that time or a good part of it which is about an hour and a half out to off 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 mogribi i said ii one of the west pray could he how far west did you come i told him from gizair ii al jeer ah he replied have you taken so much pains and been at so much cost and now be guilty of this irreverent posture before the beat allah here are many more to get bigger the livelihood by selling models of the temple unto strangers and in being serviceable to the pilgrims here are also several offenders or masters of learning who daily expound out al-Quran sitting in high chairs and some of the learned pilgrims whilst they are here to undertake the same under the room of the hafiz which i mentioned before people do usually gather together between the hours of devotion and sitting round cross-legged it might be 20 or 30 of them they have a very large pair of trespass or beads each bead near as big as a man's fist which they keep passing round bead after bead one to the other all the time using some devout expressions i myself was once caught in amongst them and we thought it was pretty plain enough for children however i was to a parents very devout there are likewise some dervishes that get money here as well as that other places by burning of incense swinging their sensors as they go along before the people that are sitting as they do commonly on friday their Sabbath in all other gambler or mosques when the hotlip is preaching and the people all sitting still at their devotion they are all in ranks so that the dervishes without the least disturbance to any walks between every rank with his sensor in one hand and with the other takes his powdered incense out of a little pouch that hangs by his side footnote this is still practiced in muslim countries being considered a decent way of begging during public prayers without interrupting them and a footnote but though this place mecca is esteemed so very holy yet it comes short of none for lewdness and debauchery as for uncleaniness it is equal to grand kairu and they will still even in the temple itself chapter eight of the pilgrims return from mecca their visit made at medina to muhammad's tomb there having thus given you an account of the turk's 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 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 40 days journey as the real worth of it is about five or six pounds turning if it happened that the camel dies by the way the carrier is to supply us with another and therefore those carriers who come from egypt to mecca with a caravan footnote these people will contract to board the pilgrim and to provide him with a tent as well as to convey his luggage and a footnote those carriers who come from egypt to mecca with a 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 is able to rise again and if it should the despair of its being capable of performing the journey or even being useful anymore it is a common thing therefore that when a camel falls to take off its burden and to put it on another and then kill it which the poor sort of the company eat i myself have eaten a camel's flesh and it was 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 everyone labored to get forward and in order to it there was many time much quarreling and fighting but after everyone had taken his place in the caravan they orderly and peaceably kept the same place till they came to grand kyro they travel four camels and abreast which are all tied one after the other like in teams the whole body is called a caravan which is divided into several cutters or companies each of which have its name and consist it may be of several thousand camels and they move one cutter after another like distinct troops footnote the usual way now is in qatar or the indian file each camel's halter being tied to the tail of the beast that precedes him pit's cutter must be a qatar but he uses the word in another of its numerous senses and a footnote in the head of each cutter is some great gentleman or officer who is carried in a thing like a horse litter born by two camels one before and the other behind which is covered all over with seer cloth and over that again with green broad cloth and set forth very handsomely if the said great person had a wife with him she is carried in another of the same footnote this vehicle is the tahtrawan of arabia and a footnote in the head of every cutter there goes likewise a sumptuous camel which carries his treasures etc this camel has 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 four 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 music makes the camels brisk and lively thus they travel in good order every day till they come to grand kairu and were it not for this order you may guess that confusion would be amongst such a vast multitude they have lights by night which is the chief time of traveling because of the exceeding heat of the sun by day which are carried on tops of high poles to direct hedges on their marches footnote he describes the marchals still in use lane has sketched them moored egypt chapter six and a footnote 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 a hole near the bottom where the servants take it out as they see the fires need a recruit every cutter have one of these poles belonging to it some which have 10 some 12 of these lights on their tops are 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 an m etc so that everyone knows by them his respective cutter they are carried in the front and set up in the place where the caravan is to pitch before that comes up and at some distance from another they're also carried by day not lighted but yet by the figure and the number of them the hedges are directed to what cutter they belong as soldiers are by their colors where to rendezvous and without such direction it would be impossible to avoid confusion in such a vast number of people every day visit 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 preventer etc so that we had nothing to do with them beside 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 11 and 12 we boiled something for dinner and having dine lay down again till about four in the afternoon when the trumpet was sounded which gave notice to everyone to take down their tents back up their things and load their camels in order to proceed on their journey it takes about two hours time here they are in all their places again at the time aksham nomaz and also giga nomaz they make halt and perform their salah so punctual are they in their worship and then they travel till next morning if water be scarce what i call imaginary abdess will do footnote pits means by imaginary abdess is the sand ablution lawful when water is wanted for sustaining life and the footnote 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 nomaz till the next day but they will be sure to perform it then as for provision we bring enough out of egypt to suffice us till we return to there again at mecca we compute how much will serve us for one day and consequently for the 40 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 charity maintained by the grand senor 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 haggis for subsistence knowing that they largely extended at such time every haji carries his provision water bedding et cetera with him and usually three or four died together and sometimes just charge of poor man's expenses the whole journey for his attendance on them there was an irish renegade who was taken very young and so much that he had not only lost his christian religion but his native language also this man had endured 30 years labor in spain and in the french galleys but was afterwards redeemed and came home to al jeer he was looked upon as a very pious man and a great zealot but the turks were his not turning from the muhammadian faith notwithstanding the great temptations he had to do so some of my neighbors intended for mecca the same year i went with my petrion tether offered this renegade that if he would serve them on this journey they would defray his chargers 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 with mecca i admired much of his zeal but pitied his condition their water they carry in goat's skin 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 yet it is well known that a camel is the 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 throughout the parts deserts of arabia in this journey many times the skulking thievish Arabs do much mischief to some of the hedges for the night they will steal upon them especially such are the ones outside 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 a hedgy fast asleep or it is usual for them to sleep on the road they lose a camel before and behind and one of the thieves lead it away with a hedgy upon its back asleep another of them in a meanwhile pulls on the next camel to tie to the camel from west 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 the course which might be the means of discovering the robbers when they have gotten the stolen camel with its rider at a convenient distance from the caravan and think themselves out of danger they awake the hedgy and sometimes destroy him immediately but other times being a little more inclined to mercy they strip him naked and let him return to the caravan footnote as i shall explain at a future time there are still some hijazi bedouin whose young men before entering life risk everything in order to plunder a hedgy they care a little for the value of the article stolen the exploit consists in stealing it and a footnote about the tenth easy day's journey we come out of mecca we enter into medina the place where Muhammad lies entombed although it be as i take a two or three days journey out of the direct way from mecca to egypt yet the hedgy's pay their visits there for the space of two days and come away the third those mohammedans which live to the south word of mecca at the east indies and their way are not bound to make visit to medina but to mecca only because it would be so much out of their way but such has 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 footnote the walls therefore were built between ad 1503 and ad 1680 and a footnote and have in it a great mosque but nothing near so big as a temple at mecca in one corner of the mosque is a place built about 14 or 15 paces square about this place are great windows footnote these are not windows but simply the intercolumnar spaces filled with grating and a footnote fence with brass gates in the inside it is checked with some lamps and ornaments it is arch all overhead i find some relate that there are also no less than 3000 lamps about Muhammad's tomb but it is a mistake for there are not as i barely believed a hundred and i speak what i know and i have been an eyewitness of in the middle of this place is a tomb of Muhammad where the corpse of that bloody imposter is laid which has 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 around it nor are any of the hedges permitted to enter there footnote this account is perfectly correct the eunuchs however do not go into the tomb they only light the lamps in and sweep the passage round the sepulcher and the footnote none go in but the eunuchs who keep watch over it and they only like the lamps which burn there by night and to sweep and cleans the place all the privilege the haji have is only to the thruster hands at the windows between the brass grates footnote these are the small apertures in the southern grating c chapter 16 and the footnote and to petition the dead juggler which they do with a wonderful deal of reverence affection and zeal my patron had his silk handkerchief stolen out of his bosom while he stood at his devotion here it is storied by some that the coffin of Muhammad hangs up by the attractive virtue of a low stone to the roof of the mosque but believe me it is a false story when i look through the brass gate i saw as much as any of the hedges and the top of the curtains which cover the tomb were not half so high as the roof or arch so that it is impossible that his coffin should be hanging there and i've heard the Muhammad and say anything like it on the outside of this place where Muhammad's tomb is are some sepulcher of their reputed saints among which one is prepared for Jesus Christ when he shall come again personally into the world for they hold that Christ will come again in the flesh 40 years before the end of the world to confirm the Muhammadan faith and say likewise that our savior was not crucified in person but in effigy or one like him Medina is much supplied by the opposite Abyssin country which is on the other side of the Red Sea from thence they have corn and necessaries brought in ships and all sort of vessels i ever saw their sails being made of matting such as they use in the houses and masts to treat upon when we have taken our leave of Medina the third day and traveled about 10 days more we were met by great many Arabians who brought abundance of fruit to us particularly raisins but from whence i cannot tell the caravan must have been near the harbor of Muala where supplies are abundant and a footnote when we came within 15 days journey of Grand Cairo we were met by many people who came from thence with their camels laden with presents for the Haji's sent from their friends and relations as sweet meats etc but some of them came rather for profit to sell fresh provisions to the Haji's and trade with them about 10 days before we got to Cairo we came to a very long steep hill called Aqaba which the Haji's 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 to work and may drop here they're 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 passed 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 passed along they kept calling them aloud by their names and by this means found them out 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 37 days journey from Mecca to Cairo and three days we tarry by the way which together makes us as i said 40 days journey and all this way there is scarce any green thing to be met with nor beast nor foul to be seen or heard nothing but sand and stones except in one place which we passed through by night i suppose it was a village where were some trees and we thought gardens end of appendix five chapter 50 of pilgrimage to Al Medina and Mecca this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information nor to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater chapter 50 of personal narrative of a pilgrimage to Al Medina and Mecca by Richard Francis Burton appendix six Giovanni Finati the third pilgrim on our list is Giovanni Finati who under the muslim name of Haji Muhammad made the campaign against the Wahhabis for the recovery of Mecca and Al Medina a native of Ferrara the eldest of the four scions of a large landed proprietor tenderly attached to his mother and brought up most unwillingly for a holy vocation to use his own words instructed in all that course of frivolous and empty ceremonials and mysteries which form a principal feature in the training of a priest for the romish church in AD 1805 Giovanni Finati's name appeared in the list of Italian conscripts after a few vain struggles with fate he was marched to Milan drilled and trained the next year his division was ordered to the Tyrol where the young man brought up for the church instantly deserted discovered in his native town he was sent under circumstances of suitable indignity to join his regiment at Venice where a general act of grace promulgated on occasion of Napoleon's short visit preserved him from a platoon of infantry his next move was to Spalato in Dalmatia and the general Marmont to Cattaro the last retreat of the hardy and warlike Montenegrins at Pudoa a seapoint southeast of Ragusa having consulted an Albanian captain merchant Giovanni Finati and 15 other Italians including the sergeant's wife swore fidelity to one another and deserted with all their arms and accoutrements they passed into the Albanese territory and were hospitably treated as soldiers who had deserted from the infidel army in Dalmatia by the Pasha posted at Antivari to keep check upon the French operations at first they were lodged in the mosque and the sergeant's wife had been set apart from the rest but as they refused to apostatize they were made common slaves and worked at the quarries till their backs were sore under these circumstances the sergeant discovering and promulgating his discovery that the Mohammedans believe as we do in a god and upon examination that we might find the differences from our mother church to be less than we had imagined all at once came the determination of professing to be Mohammedans our Italian Candide took the name of Mohammed and became a pipe bearer to a Turkish general officer in the garrison this young man trusted the deserter to such an extent that the doors of the harem were open to him and Giovanni Finati repaid his kindness by seducing Fatima a Georgian girl his master's favorite wife note he describes the harem as containing the females of different countries all of them young and all more or less attractive and the merriest creatures I ever saw his narration proves that affection and fidelity were not wanting there the garrison then removed to scutari being of course hated by his fellow servants the renegade at last fell into disgrace and exchanging the pipe stick for the hatchet he became a hewer of wood this degradation did not diminish poor Fatima's affection she continued to visit him and to leave little presents and tokens for him in his room but presently the girl proved likely to be a mother their intercourse was more than suspected Giovanni Finati had a dread of circumcision note mr banks finati's employer and translator here comments upon Ali Bey's assertion even to travelers in Mohammedan countries I look upon the safety of their journey as almost impossible unless they have previously submitted to the right Ali Bey is correct the danger is doubled by non-compliance with the custom mr banks apprehends that very few renegados do submit to it in bigoted muslim countries it is considered a sine qua non so he came to the felon resolution of flying alone from scutari he happened to meet his original friend the captain merchant and in March 1809 obtained from him a passage to Egypt the Alderado to which all poverty struck Albanian adventurers were then flocking at Alexandria the new Mohammed after twice deserting from a Christian service at the risk of life and honor voluntarily enlisted as an Albanian private soldier in a muslim land the naivete with which he admires and comments upon his conduct is a curious moral phenomenon then he proceeded to Cairo and became a balik bush corporal in charge of six Albanian privates of Muhammad Ali's bodyguard ensued a campaign against the Mamluks in upper Egypt and is being present at the massacre of those miscreants in the citadel of Cairo he confined his part in the affair to plundering from the bays a saddle richly mounted in silver guilt and a slave girl with trinkets and money he married the captive and was stationed for six months at Mataria Heliopolis with the force preparing to march upon Mecca under Tussun Pasha here he suffered from thieves and shot by mistake his bimbashi or sergeant who was engaged in the unwanted and dangerous exercise of prayer in the dark the affair was compromised by the amiable young commander-in-chief who paid the blood money amounting to some thousand piastras on the 6th october 1811 the army started for sewers where 18 vessels waited to convey them to Yanbu Muhammad assisted at the capture of that port and was fortunate enough to escape alive from the desperate action of Jidaida note c chapter 13 of this work end note rheumatism obliged him to return to Cairo where he began by divorcing his wife for great levity of conduct in the early part of 1814 Muhammad inspired by the news of Muhammad Ali Pasha's success in Al-Hijaz joined a reinforcement of Albanians traveled to Suez touched at Yanbu and at Jeddah assisted at the siege and capture of Kunfada and was present at its recapture by the Wahhabis wounded sick harassed by the Badaween and disgusted by his commanding officer he determined to desert again adding as an excuse not that the step on my part at least had the character of a complete desertion since i intended to join the main body of the army and to his mania for desertion we owe the following particulars concerning the city of Mecca exalting in my escape my mind was in a state to receive very strong impressions i was much struck with all i saw upon entering the city for though it is neither large nor beautiful in itself there is something in it that is calculated to impress a sort of awe and it was the hour of noon when everything is very silent except the moesans calling from the minarets the principal feature of the city is that celebrated sacred enclosure which is placed about the center of it it is a vast paved court with doorways opening into it from every side and a covered colonade carried all round like a cloister while in the midst of the open space stands the edifice called the Kaaba whose walls are entirely covered over on the outside with hangings of rich velvet note black cloth according to Ali Bey and i believe he is correct so mr banks if Ali Bey meant broad cloth both are in error as the specimen in my possession a mixture of silk and cotton proves on which there are arabic inscriptions embroidered in gold facing one of its angles for this little edifice is of a square form note Ali Bey showed by his measurements that no two sides correspond exactly to all appearance the sides are equal though it is certain they are not the height exceeds the length and the breadth end note there is a well which is called the well of Zamzam of which the water is considered so peculiarly holy that some of it is even sent annually to the sultan at Constantinople and no person who comes to Mecca whether on pilgrimage or for mere worldly considerations ever fails both the drink of it and to use it in his ablutions since it is supposed to wipe out the stain of all past transgressions there is a stone also near the bottom of the building itself which all the visitors kiss as they pass round it and the multitude of them has been so prodigious as to have worn the surface quite away quite detached but fronting to the calber stands for pavilions corresponding to the four sects of the Muhammadan religion adapted for the pilgrims and though the concourse had of late years been from time to time much interrupted there arrived just when i came to Mecca two caravans of them one asiatic and one from the african side amounting to no less than about 40 000 persons who all seem to be full of reverence towards the holy place note Ali Bey AD 1807 computes 80 000 men 2000 women and 1000 children at Arafat Burkhard AD 1814 calculated it at 70 000 i do not think that in all there were more than 50 000 souls assembled together in 1853 after commenting on the crowded state of the city the lodging of pilgrims in tents and huts or on the bare ground outside the walls note rich pilgrims always secure lodgings the poorer class cannot afford them therefore the great caravans from Egypt Damascus Baghdad and other places pitch on certain spots outside the city and note and the extravagant prices of provisions haji Muhammad proceeds with his description over and above the general ceremonies of the purification at the well and of the kissing of the cornerstone note the stone is fixed in a massive gold or silver gilt circle to the southeast angle but it is not part of the building end note and of the walking round the caraba a certain number of times in a devout manner everyone has also his own separate prayers to put up and so to fulfill the conditions of his vow and the objects of his particular pilgrimage we have then an account of the mosque pigeons for whom it is said some pilgrims bring with them even from the most remote countries a small quantity of grain with which they may take the opportunity of feeding these birds this may have occurred in times of scarcity the grain is now sold in the mosque the superstitions and ceremonies of the place we are told are by no means completed within the city for the pilgrims after having performed their devotions for a certain time at the caraba at last in a sort of procession go to a place called Arifat an eminence which stands detached in the center of a valley and in the way thither there is a part of the road for about the space of a mile where it is customary to run note Ali Bey is correct in stating that the running is on the return from Arifat directly after sunset end note the road also passes near a spot where was formerly a well which is superstitiously supposed to be something unholy and cursed by the prophet himself and for this reason every pilgrim as he goes by it throws a stone and the custom is so universal and has prevailed so long that none can be picked up in the neighborhood and it is necessary therefore to provide them from a distance and some persons even bring them out of their own remote countries thinking thereby to gain the greater favor in the sight of heaven note this sentence abounds in blunders sale Ali Bey and Burkhart all give correct accounts of a little pillar of masonry it has nothing to do with the well which denotes the place where Satan appeared to Abraham the pilgrims do not throw one stone but many the pebbles are partly brought from Muzdalifah partly from the valley of Munir in which stands the pillar end note beyond this point stands a column note Mr Banks confounds this column with the devil's pillar at Munir Finati alludes to the landmarks of the Arifat plain now called Al Alamein the two marks the pilgrims must stand within these boundaries on a certain day the ninth of Zulheja otherwise he has failed to observe a ritual ordinance end note which is set up as the extreme limit of the pilgrimage and this every pilgrim must have passed before sunrise while all such as have gone beyond it by that time must wait till the next year if they wish to be entitled to the consideration and privileges of complete since without this circumstance all the rest remains imperfect the hill of Arifat lies at a distance of seven hours from Mecca it is necessary to set out very early in order to be there in time many of the pilgrims and especially the more devout amongst them performing all the way on foot when they have reached the place note he appears to confound the proper place with Arifat the sacrifice is performed in the valley of Munir after leaving the mountain but Finati we are told by his translator wrote from memory a pernicious practice for a traveler end note all who have any money according to their means sacrifice a sheep and the rich often furnished those who are poor and destitute with the means of buying one such a quantity of sacrifices quite fills the whole open space with victims and the poor flock from all the country round to have meat distributed to them after which at the conclusion of the whole ceremony all the names are registered by a scribe appointed for the purpose note this custom is now obsolete as regards the grand body of pilgrims anciently a certificate from the Sharif was given to all who could afford money for a proof of having performed the pilgrimage but no such practice at present exists my friends have frequently asked me what proof there is of a muslims having become a haji none whatever consequently imposters abound sat die in the gole stone notices a case but the ceremonies of the hajj are so complicated and unintelligible by mere description that a little cross questioning applied to the false haji would easily detect him and when this is finished the african and asiatic caravans part company and return to their own several countries many detachments of the pilgrims visiting medina in the way being desirous of enrolment in some new division of Muhammad Ali's army finati overcame the difficulty of personal access to him by getting a memorial written in turkish and standing at the window of a house joined on to the enclosure of the great temple after the sixth day the pasha observed him and in the greatest rage imaginable desired a detailed account of the defeat at konfuda finati then received 500 piastras and in order to join a core at taif together with a strict charge of secrecy since it was of importance that no reverse or check should be generally talked of before starting our author ads some singular particulars which escaped him in his account of mecca many of the pilgrims go through the ceremony of walking the entire circuit of the city upon the outside and the order in which this is performed is as follows the devoted first goes without the gates and after presenting himself there to the religious officer who presides throws off all his clothes and takes a sort of large wrapping garment in lieu of them to cover himself upon which he sets off walking at a very quick pace or rather running to reach the nearest of the four corners of the city a sort of guide going with him at the same rate all the way who prompts certain ejaculations or prayers which he ought to mention at particular spots as he passes at every angle he finds a barber who with wonderful quickness wets and shaves one quarter of his head and so on till he has reached the barber at the fourth angle who completes the work after which the pilgrim takes his clothes again and has finished that act of devotion note no wonder mr banks is somewhat puzzled by this passage certainly none but a pilgrim could guess that the author refers to the rites called a longra or the running between Mount Safar and Marwa the curious reader may compare the above with Burkard's correct description of the ceremonies as regards the shaving finati possibly was right in his day in Ali baiz as in my time the head was only shaved once and a few strokes of the razor suffice for the purpose of religious tonsure end note there is also near the holy city an eminence called the hill of light note Jabal nur anciently here in a dull gray as of granite it derives its modern name from the spiritual light of religion circumstances prevented my ascending it so i cannot comment upon finati's custom of leaping end note as i imagine from its remarkable whiteness upon this the pilgrims have a custom of leaping while they repeat at the same time prayers and verses of the many also resort to a lesser hill about a mile distant from the city on which there is a small mosque which is reputed as a place of great sanctity an annual ceremony takes place in the great temple itself which is worth mentioning before i quit the subject altogether i have already spoken of the little square building whose walls are covered with hangings of black and gold and which is called the carver once in the year note open three days in the year according to ali bay the same in berkart's and in my time besides these public occasions private largesse's can always turn the key end note and once only this holy of holies is opened and as there is nothing to prevent admission it appears surprising at first to see so few who are willing to go into the interior and especially since this act is supposed to have great efficacy in the remission of all past sins but the reason must be sought for in the conditions which are annexed since he who enters is in the first place bound to exercise no gainful pursuit or trade or to work for his livelihood in any way whatever and next he must submit patiently to all offenses and injuries and must never again touch anything that is impure or unholy note i heard from good authority that the carver is never opened without several pilgrims being crushed to death ali bay remarks mr banks says nothing of the supposed conditions annexed in my next volume part three mecca of this work i shall give them as i receive them from the lips of learned and respectable muslims they differ considerably from finates and no wonder his account is completely opposed to the strong good sense which pervades the customs of al-islam as regards his sneer at the monastic orders in italy that the conditions of entering are stricter and more binding than those of the carver yet that none was already to profess in them it must not be imagined that arab human nature differs very materially from italyan many unworthy feet pass the threshold of the carver but there are many muslims my friend or marafendi for instance who have performed the pilgrimage a dozen times and would never from conscientious motives enter the holy edifice end note one more remark with reference to the great scene of sacrifice at arafat though the pasha's power in arabia had been now for some time established yet it was not complete or universal by any means the wereherbes still retaining upon many sides a very considerable footing so that open and unprotected places even within half a day's journey of mecca might be liable to surprise and violence for this reason our author informs us a sufficient force was disposed round arafat and the prodigious multitude went and returned without molestation or insult note in 1807 according to ali bay the wereherbes took the same precaution says mr banks the fact is some such precautions must always be taken the pilgrims are forbidden to quarrel to fight or to destroy life except under circumstances duly provided for moreover as i shall explain in another part of this work it was of old and still is the custom of the fiercer kind of badaween to flock to arafat where the victim is sure to be found for the purpose of avenging their bloodlosses as our authorities at aid and well know there cannot be a congregation of different arab tribes without a little murder after fighting with the common foe or if unable to fight with him the wild men invariably turn their swords against their private enemies end note after the pilgrimage haji Muhammad repaired to taif on the road he remarked a phenomenon observable in al-hijaz the lightness of the nights there finati attributes it to the southern position of the place but observing a perceptible twilight there i was forced to seek further cause may not the absence of vegetation and the heat absorbing nature of the soil granite quarts and basalt account for the phenomenon note so on the wild and tree-clad heights of the nail-gurry hills despite the brilliance of the stars every traveler remarks the darkness of the atmosphere at night the natives as usual observing it have invested its origin with the garb of fable it is not my attention to accompany Muhammad to the shameful defeat at taraba where tussan pasha lost three quarters of his army or to the glorious victory of bissel where Muhammad Ali on the 10th of january 1815 broke 24 000 Wahhabis commanded by Faisal bin saoud his account of this interesting campaign is not full or accurate like mengins still being the tale of an eyewitness it attracts attention nothing can be more graphic than his picture of the old conqueror sitting with exalting countenance upon the carpet where he had vowed to await death or victory and surrounded by heaps of enemies heads note Muhammad Ali gave six dollars for every Arab head which fact accounts for the heaps that surrounded him one would suppose that when acting against an enemy so quick and agile as the Arabs such an order would be an unwise one experience however proves the contrary end note still less would it be to the purpose to describe the latter details of hajim Muhammad's career his return to Cairo his accompanying mr banks to upper egypt and syria and his various trips to Aleppo Kurdistan the saeed the great oasis Nabathia senar and dongola we concede to him the praise claimed by his translator that he was a traveler to no ordinary extent but beyond this we cannot go he was so ignorant that he had forgotten to write note finetti's long disuse of european writing says mr banks made him very slow with his pen fortunately he found in london some person who took down the story in easy unaffected and not inelegant italian in 1828 mr banks translated it into english securing accuracy by consulting the author when necessary end note his curiosity and his powers of observation keep pace with his knowledge note his translator and editor is obliged to explain that he means kufik by characters that are not now in use and the statue of memnon by one or two enormous sitting figures in the plane from which according to an old story or superstition a sound proceeds when the sun rises when the crew of his nile boat form in circle upon the bank and perform a sort of religious mummary shaking their heads and shoulders violently and uttering a horse sobbing or barking noise till some of them would drop or fall into convulsions a sight likely to excite the curiosity of most men he takes his gun in pursuit of wild geese he allowed mr banks mayor to eat olyanda leaves and thus to die of the communist poison briefly he seems to have been a man who under favorable circumstances learned as little as possible end note his moral character as it appears in print is of that description which knows no sense of shame it is not candor but sheer insensibility which makes him relate circumstantially his repeated desertions his betrayal of fatima and his various plunderings end of section 50 recording by nicolas james bridgewater recorded in london england chapter 51 of pilgrimage to almedina and mecca this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain from more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox.org recording by nicolas james bridgewater chapter 51 of personal narrative of a pilgrimage to almedina and mecca by richard francis burton appendix seven notes on my journey by ace brenger in the map to a former edition of the pilgrimage captain burton's route from medina to mecca is wrongly laid out owing to a typographical error of the text from wadi lay moon to mecca southeast 45 degrees c volume 2 page 155 anti whereas the road runs southwest 45 degrees or as hamdani expresses himself in the commentary on the qasida rod between west and south and therefore the setting sun shines at the evening prayer your face being turned towards mecca on your right temple the account of the eastern route from medina to mecca by so experienced the traveler as captain burton is an important contribution to our geographical knowledge of arabia it leads over the lower terrace of naged the country which muslim writers consider as the home of the genuine arabes and the scene of arabic chivalry as by this mistake the results of my friend's pilgrimage which though pious as he unquestionably is he did not undertake from purely religious motives have been in a great measure marred i called in 1871 his attention to it at the same time i submitted to him a sketch of a map in which his own and burqard's roots are protracted and a few notes culled from arabic geographers with the intention of showing how much light his investigations throw on early geography if illustrated by a corrected map and how they fail to fulfill the object if the mistake is not cleared up the enterprising traveler proved of both the notes and the map and expressed it as his opinion that it might be useful to append them to the new edition i therefore thought proper to recast them and to present them herewith to the reader at sufaina burton found the bagdad caravan the regular bagdad mecca road of which we have two itineraries the one reproduced by hamdani and the other by ibn horded beqodama and others leads to the left of sufaina and runs parallel with the eastern medina mecca road to within one stage of mecca we find only one passage in arabic geographers from which we learn that the bagdad leaves as long as a thousand years ago used under certain circumstances to take the way of sufaina yeh kut volume three page 403 says sufaina sufaina a place in the aalia highland within the territory of the sulaymites lies on the road of zubayda the pilgrims make a roundabout and take this road if they suffer from want of water the pass of sufaina by which they have to descend is very difficult the ridges over which the road leads are called as sitar and are described by yeh kut volume three page 38 as a range of red hills flanking sufaina with the files which serve as passes burton volume two page 128 describes them as low hills of red sandstone and bright porphyry zubayda whose name the partly improved partly newly opened haj road from bagdad to mecca bore was the wife of caliph herroon and it appears from burton pages 134 and 136 that the improvements made by this spirited woman as the wells near qadir and the birkat tank are now ascribed to her weak fantastical and contemptible husband burton's description of the plane covered with huge boulders and attached rocks page 131 puts us in mind of the felsen mirror of the odinwald yeh kut volume three page 370 describes the two most gigantic of these rock pillars which are too far to the left of burton's road than that he could have seen them below sufaina in a desert plain there rise two pillars so high that nobody unless he be a bird can mount them the one is called amoud column of alban and the place alban and the other amoud of asaf they're both on the right hand side of the regular road from bagdad to mecca one mile from ofaya a station on the regular road which answers to sufaina such desolate fantastic scenery is not rare in arabia nor close to the western coast of the red sea the fumara from which burton page 138 emerges at 6 a.m september 9th was crossed by birkat at jolloys and is a more important feature of the country than the two travelers were aware of there are only five or six where these which break through the chain of mountains that runs parallel with the red sea and at these proceeding from south to north where the nachla where the lay moon in the first and this fumara the second early geographers call it where the image or after a place of some importance situated in its lower course wordy saya hemdani page 294 says image and hurran are the two wordies which commence in the harrah volcanic region of the bani soleim and reach the sea the descriptions of this wordy compiled by yeh kut volume three pages 26 and 839 are more ample according to one it contains 70 springs according to another it is a wordy which you overlook if you stand on the sherat the mountain now called jabel sob in its upper course it runs between the two haemia which is the name of two black volcanic regions it contains several villages of note and their lead roads to it from various parts of the country in its uppermost part lies the village of feria with date groves cultivated fields and gardens producing plantains pomegranates and grapes and in its lower course close to saya the rich and populous village of mehia the whole wordy is one of the oasis like district of madine and is administered by a lieutenant of the governor of that city yeh kut makes the remark to this description i do not know whether this valley is still in the same condition or whether it has altered though we know much less of it than yeh kut we may safely assert that the cultivation has vanished and the condition has altered at zaribe burribe burton and his party put on the ehram pilgrim garb if the bagdodlies follow the regular road they perform this ceremony at dzot ehrk which lies somewhat lower down than burribe to the southeast of it and therefore the rainwater which falls in burribe flows in the shape of a torrent to dzot ehrk and is thence carried off by the northern nekhla above the station of dzot ehrk there rises ridges called ehrk up these ridges the regular bagdod road ascends to the high plateau and they are therefore considered by early geographers as the western limit of naged omer a pud yeh kut volume four page 746 says all the country in which the water flows in an easterly northeasterly direction beginning from dzot ehrk as far as Babylonia is called naged and the country which slopes westwards from dzot ehrk to tehama the coast is called hegez the remarks of arabic geographers on the western watershed and those of burton volume two pages 142 and 154 illustrate and complete each other most satisfactorily it appears from yeh kut that fumarra in which burton's party was attacked by robbers takes its rise at gomair close to dzot ehrk that there were numerous date groves in it and that it falls at bospon ibn amir into the nekhla where for it is called the northern nekhla the southern nekhla also called simply nekhla a term which is sometimes reserved for the trunk formed by the junction of the southern and northern nekhla from bospon ibn amir downwards is on account of its history one of the most interesting spots in all arabia i therefore make no apology for entering on its geography in our days it is called where the lay moon and burkhart volume one page 158 says of it zeime is a half ruined castle at the eastern extremity of where the lay moon with copious springs of running water where the lay moon is a fertile valley which extends for several hours towards west in the direction of where the fatma anciently called button mar or mar zahran which is in fact a continuation of where the nekhla it has many date plantations and formerly the ground was cultivated but this i believe has ceased since the wahabi invasion its fruit gardens too have been ruined this he means the village lay moon compare burton volume two page 147 is the last stage on the eastern syrian hajh route to the southeast or east southeast of where the lay moon is another fertile valley called where the medique where some sheriffs are settled and where sherif qalib possessed landed property note medique is burdens el mazik the spelling in arabic being madhiq burkhart's account leads us to think that the village now called madhiq or where the lay moon lies on the left bank of the fumara and is identical with the bostan ibn ayamir which is described by yeh kut as situated in the fork between the northern and southern nekhlas and which in ancient times had like the village of where the lay moon the name of the valley of which it was the chief place namely button nekhla burton gives no information on the position of the village but he says on the right bank of the fumara stood the meccan sherif state pavilion unless the pavilion is separated from the village by the fumara there is a discrepancy between the two accounts which leads me to suspect that the right is an oversight for the left anciently nekhla was pronounced nekhlet and if we suppress the guttural as the greeks and roman sometimes did nalat strabo page 782 in his narrative of the retreat of ailius gallus mentions a place which he calls malotha and of which he says it stood on the bank of a river a position which few towns in arabia have the context leaves no doubt that he means button nekhla and that malotha is a mistake for nalotha in the commentary on the qosida rod where the nekhla as far as the road to mecca runs through it is described as follows from the ridges with those whose declivity the western watershed begins you descend into wedi baubet it is flanked on the left side by the sarot mountains on which toyef stands and contains kornul menazil once the capital of the menayans the great trading nation of antiquity three or four miles below karn is masjid ibrahim and here the valley assumes the name of wedi nekhla at no great distance from the masjid their rise on the left hand side of the wedi two high peaks called jebel yehsum and jebel kafu both were the refuge of numerous monkeys who used to invade the neighboring vineyards as you go down wedi nekhla the first place of importance you meet is azayma close to it was a garden which during the reign of muqtadir belonged to the hersemite prince Abdullah and was in a most flourishing condition it produced an abundance of henna plantains and vegetables of every description and yielded a revenue of 5 000 diner about 2860 pounds annually a canal from wedi the river nekhla feeds a mountain which jets forth in the midst of the garden and lower down a tank in the garden stood a fort which in a dilapidated condition is extant to this day and spoken of by burkhard it was built of huge stones guarded for the defense of the property of the Banu Sa'd and tenanted by the servants and followers of the proprietor below azayma is sabuha a post station where a relay of horses was kept for the transport of government dispatches to give an idea of the distances i may mention that the post stages were 12 arabic miles asunder which on this road are rather larger than an english geographical mile the first station from mecca was moshersh the second sabuha and the third was at the foot of the hill yesum the author of the commentary from which i derive this information leaves wedi nekhla soon after sabuha and turns his steps towards the holy city he mentions the steep rocky pass up which burton toiled with difficulty and calls it orike though he enters into many details he takes no notice of the hillgirt plain called sohla this name occurs however in an arabic verse apud yeh kut volume two page 968 in summer our pasture grounds are in the country of nekhla within the districts of azayma and sohla in wedi fertima burkhart found a perennial rivulet coming from the eastward about three feet broad and two feet deep it is certain that wedi fertima formerly called wedi meur is the continuation of wedi nekhla and yeh kut considers in one passage nekhla as a subdivision of meur and in another meur as a part of wedi nekhla but we do not know whether the rivulet which at azayma seems to be of considerable size disappears under the sand in order to come forth again in wedi meur or whether it forms an uninterrupted stream in ancient times the regular Baghdad mecca road did not run down from zod arq by the northern nekhla which burton followed but it crossed this wedi near its northern end and struck over to the southern nekhla as far as karnul merazil which for a long time was the second station from mecca instead of zod arq end of section 51 recording by nicholas james bridgewater recorded in london england