?%3}%: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES UMVERSITY of CA' ^-'.'HJMiA AT LIBRARY ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY OF TRAl^EL TRAVELS IN ARABIA COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY BAYARD TAYLOR REVISED BY THOMAS STEVENS NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1893. CorVRIGHT, 1881, 1892. BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS ,' , -f ,* mow omcCTonr *'-D eoouoisomo compan T Z\ t REVISER'S NOTE The continuance of Bayard Taylor's Library of Travel in the popular favor is one of the accepted facts of the literary world. So much so, indeed, that a revision of his works on the part of another is to be permitted only on certain conditions of reserve, and by i-eason of events that have transpired since the death of the distinguished traveller. Travellers and authors die ; but the tribes, nations, and races visited by them continue on, making war or peace, changing frontiers, setting up or pulling down dynasties. The whole political complexion of a country may be changed in a decade. Though the people of Arabia, the genuine Bedouins, are believed to have changed little or nothing in their mode of life since the days of the Shepherd Kings of Abraham's time, waves of political and i-eligious agitation have occa- sionally rippled over one part or another of the an- cient peninsula. Seemingly they make as little permanent impression on the undercurrent of Bed- ouin life, as do the waves of the sea on its immutable whole, so that the accounts of the earlier chroniclers of Arabian life and manners agree in a singular man- ner with the descriptions of contemporary visitors. For this reason, no less than for the respect and ad- iv REVISER'S NOTE miration entertained bv the reviser for Mr. Taylor's conscientiousness and judgment as a traveller and compiler, and his literary excellence as an author, this volume remains, practically, as fully the work of its original editor as before. By way of bringing it up to date, however, Chap- ter XYII. has been added, and such slight revision of preceding chapters has been made as was found necessary, consistent with the scope and intention of the new edition. Thomas Stevens. CONTENTS CHAPTER L PAGE Sketch of Arabia : its Geographical Position, and Ancient History, 1 CHAPTER II. Early Explorers of Arabia, 8 CHAPTER ni. Niebuhr's Travels is Yemen, 14 CHAPTER IV. Buhckhardt's Journey to Mecca and Medina, . . 29 CHAPTER V. Wellsted's Explorations in Oman, .... 40 CHAPTER VL Wellsted's Discovery of an Ancient City "in Hai> RAMAUT, 55 CHAPTER Vn. Burton's Pilgrimage, 62 CHAPTER Vni. Palgra-v-e's Travels m Central Arabia : from Pales- tine to the Djo'tt'F, 83 VJ CONTENTS CHAPTER IX. PAGE Palgrave'b Travels — Residence in the Djowf, , 107 CHAPTER X. Palgrave's Travels — Crossing the Nefood, . . 127 CHAPTER XI. Palgrave's Travels— Life in Ha'yel 138 CHAPTER XII. Palgrave's Travels— Journey to Bereydah, . . 176 CHAPTER XIII. Palgrave's Travels — Journey to Ri'ad the Capital OP Nedjed, 201 CHAPTER XIV. Palgrave's Travels — Adventures in Ri'ad, . .217 CHAPTER XV. Palgrave's Travels — His Escape to the Eastern Coast, 240 CHAPTER XVI. Palgrave's Travels— Eastern Arabia, . . . 259 CHAPTER XVII. Lady Blunt's Pilgrimage to Ne.td, .... 279 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS A Night March on the Arabian Desert, . Frontispiece Coffee Hills of Yemen, View of El-Medina, .... A Valley in Oman, Ruins of Nakab-El-Hadjar, in Hadramaut, View op Medina from the West, Camp at Mount Arafat, Costume of Pilgrims to Mecca, William Gifford Palgrave, . An Arab Chief, Captain Burton as a Pilgrim, The Village of El-Suwayrkiyah, An Arab Encampment, .... Death on the Desert, .... FACING FAOB 19 39 51 59 69 77 81 84 105 129 184 190 208 TRAVELS IN ARABIA CHAPTER I. SKETCH OF ARABIA: ITS GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION, AND ANCIENT HISTORY THE Peninsula of Arabia, forming the extreme southwestern corner of Asia, is partly de- tached, both in a geographical and historical sense, from the remainder of the continent. Although parts of it are mentioned in the oldest historical rec- ords, and its shores were probably familiar to the earliest navigators, the greater portion of its terri- tory has always remained almost inaccessible and un- known. The desert lying between Syria and the Euphra- tes is sometimes included by geographers as belong- ing to Arabia, but a line di-awn from the Dead Sea to the mouth of the Euphrates (almost coinciding with the parallel of 30° N.) would more nearly repre- sent the northern boundary of the peninsula. As the most southern point of the Arabian coast reaches the latitude of 12° 40', the greater part of the entire territory, of more than one million square miles, lies within the tropics. In shape it is an irregular rhom- boid, the longest diameter, from Suez to the Cape 2 TRAVELS IN ARABIA El-Had, in Oman, being 1,660, and from tlie Eu- phrates to the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, 1,400 miles. The entire coast region of Arabia, on the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Gulfs of Oman and Persia, is, for the most part, a belt of fertile coun- try, inhabited by a settled, semi-civilized population. Back of this belt, which varies in width from a few miles to upward of a hundred, commences a des- ert table-land, occasionally intersected by mountain chains, and containing in the interior many fertile valleys of considerable extent, which are inhabited. Very little has been known of this great interior re- gion until the present century. The ancient geographei'S divided Arabia into three parts — Arabia Petrcea, or the Rocky, comprising the northwestern portion, including the Sinaitic penin- sula, between the Gulfs of Suez and Akaba ; Arahia Desei'ta, the great central desert ; and Arahia Felix, the Happy, by which they appear to have designated the southwestern part, now known as Yemen. The modern Arabic geography, which lias been partly ado])ted on our maps, is based, to some extent, on the political divisions of the country. The coast re- gion along the Red Sea, down to a point nearlj' half way between Jedda and the Straits of Bab-el-Man- deb, and including the holy cities of Medina and Mecca, is called the Hedjaz. Yemen, the capital of which is Sana, and the chief seaports Mocha, Hodeida, and Loheia, embraces all the southwestern portion of the peninsula. The southern coast, although divided into various little chiefdoms, is known under the SKBJTCJI OF ARABIA 3 general name of Hadramant. The kingdom of Oman has extended itself along the eastern shore, nearly to the head of the Persian Gnlf. The north- ern oases, the seat of the powerfnl sect of the Waha- bees, are called Nedjed ; and the nnknown southern interior, which is believed to be almost wholly desert, inhabited only by a few wandering Bedonins, is known as the Dahna or Akhaf. Arabia has been inhabited by the same race since the earliest times, and has changed less, in the course of thousands of years, than any other country of the globe, not excepting China. According to Biblical genealogy, the natives are descended from Ham, through Cush ; but the Bedonins have always claimed that they are the posterity of Ishmael. Some por- tions of the country, such as Edom, or Idumsea, Te- man, and Sheba (the modern Yemen), are mentioned in the Old Testament ; but neither the Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian, nor Egyptian monarchies suc- ceeded in gaining possession of the peninsula. Alex- ander the Great made preparations for a journey of conquest, which was prevented by his death, and Trajan was the only Roman emperor who penetrated into the interior. The inhabitants were idolaters, whose religion had probably some resemblance to that of the Phoe- nicians. After the destruction of Jerusalem, both Jews and Christians found their way thither, and made proselytes. There were Jews in Medina, Mec- ca, and Yemen ; and even the last Hymyaritic king of the latter country became a convert to Mosaic faith. Thus the streno-th of the ancient reliaion was 4 TRAVELS IN ARABIA already weakened when Mohammed was born (a.d. 570) ; and tliere are strong evidences for the conject- ure tliat tlie demoralization of both Jews and Chris- tians, resulting from their long enmity, was the chief cause wliich prevented Mohammed from adopting the belief of the latter. At the time of his birth, the civilization of the dominant Arab tribes was little inferior to that of Europe or the Eastern Empire. There was already an Arabic literature ; and the arts and sciences of the ancient world had found their way even to the oases of Nedjed, The union of the best and strongest elements in the race which followed the establishment of the new religion, gave to men of Arabian blood a part to play in the history of the world. For six hundred years after Mohammed's death Islam and Christen- dom were nearly equal powers, and it is difficult, even now, to decide which contributed the more to the arts from which modern civilization has sprung, Arabia flourished, as never before, under the Ca- liphs ; yet it does not appear that the life of the inhabitants was materially changed, or that any growth, acquired during the new importance of the country, became permanent. Its commerce was re- stricted to the products of its narrow belt of fertile shore ; an arid desert separated it from Bagdad and Syria; none of the lines of traffic between Europe and the East Indies traversed its territory, and thns it remained comparatively unknown to the Christian world. After the downfall of the Caliphate the tribes re- lapsed into their former condition of independent SKETCH OF ARABIA 5 cliiefdoms, and the old hostilities, which had been partially suppressed for some centuries, again re- vived. In the sixteenth centuiy the Tui'ks obtained possession of Hedjaz and Yemen ; the Portuguese held Muscat for a hundred and fifty years, and the Persians made some tenipoi-aiy conquests, but the vast interior region easily maintained its indepen- dence. The deserts, which everywhere intervene be- tween its large and fertile valleys and the seacoast, are the home of wandering Bedouin tribes, whose only occupation is plunder — whose hand is against every man's and every man's hand against them. Thus they serve as a body-guard even to their own enemies. The long repose and seclusion of Central Arabia was first broken during the present century. It may be well to state, very briefiy, the circumstances which led to it, since they will explain the great difficulty and danger which all modern explorers must en- counter. Early in the last century, an Arabian named Abd el-Wahab, scandalized at what he be- lieved to be the corruption of the Moslem faith, began preaching a Reformation. He advocated the slaugh- ter or forcible conversion of heretics, the most rigid forms of fasting and prayer, the disuse of tobacco, and various other changes in the Oriental habits of life. Having succeeded in converting the chief of Nedjed, Mohammed Ibu-Saoud, he took up his resi- dence in Derreyeh, the capitalj which thenceforth became the rendezvous for all his followers, who were named Wahahees. They increased to such an extent that their authority became supreme through- 6 TRAVELS IN ARABIA ont Central Arabia, and the successor of Ibu-Saoud was able to call an army of 100,000 men into the iield, and deiy the Ottoman powei'. In the year 1803 the Wahabees took and plundered Mecca, and slew great numbers of the pilgrims who had gathered there. A second expedition against Medina failed, but the annual caravan of pilgrims was robbed and dispersed. Finally, in 1809, the Sultan transferred to Mohammed Ali, of Egypt, the duty of suppressing this menacing religious and politi- cal rebellion. The first campaign in Arabia was a failure ; the second, under Ibrahim Pasha, was suc- cessful. He overcame the Wahabees in 1818, capt- ured Derreyeh, and razed it to the ground. In 1828 they began a second war against Turkey, but were again defeated. Since then they have refrained from any further aggressive movement, but their hos- tility and bigotry are as active as ever. The Waha- bee doctrine flatters the clannish and exclusive spirit of the race, and will probably prevent, for a long time, any easy communication between Arabia and the rest of the world. The greater part of our present knowledge of Arabia has been obtained since the opening of this century. The chief seaports and the route from Suez to Mt. Sinai were known during the Middle Ages, but all else was little better than a blank. AVithin the last fifty or sixty years the mountains of Edom liave been explored, the i-ock-hewn city of Petra discovered, the holy cities of Medina and Mecca visited by intelligent Europeans; Yemen, lladra- maut, and Oman partly traversed ; and, last of all SKETCH OF ARABIA 7 we have a very clear and satisfactory account of Ked- jed and the other central regions of Arabia, by the intrepid English travellei-, Mr. Palgrave. Thus, only the southern interior of the peninsula remains to be visited. The name given to it by the Arabs, Hoha el-Khaly, " the abode of emptiness," no doubt describes its character. It is an immense, undulating, sandy waste, dotted with scai'ce and small oases, which give water and shelter to the Bed- ouins, but without any large tract of habitable land, and consequently without cities, or other than the rudest forms of political organization. CHAPTER II. EARLY EXPLORERS OF ARABIA WHEN the habit of travel began to revive in the Middle Ages, its character -was either religious or commercial, either in the form of pil- grimages to Rome, Palestine (whenever possible), and the shrines of popular saints, or of journeys to the Levant, Persia, and the Indies, with the object of acquiring wealth by traffic, the profits of which in- creased in the same proportion as its hazards. From the time of Trajan's expedition to Arabia (in a.d. 117) down to the sixteenth century, we have no re- port of the history or condition of the country except such as can be drawn from the earlier Jewish and Christian traditions and the later Mohammedan rec- ords. The first account of a visit to Arabia which ap- pears to be worthy of credence, is that given by Lu- dovico Bartema, of Rome. After visiting Egypt, he joined the caravan of pilgrims at Damascus, in 1503, in tlie company of a Mameluke captain, himself dis- guised as a Mameluke renegade. After several at- tacks from the Bedouins of the desert, the caravan reached Medina, which he describes as containing three hundred liouses. Bartema gives a very correct EARLY EXPLORERS OF ARABIA 9 description of the tomb of the Prophet, and scoffs at the then prevalent belief that the latter's coffin is suspended in the air between four lodestones. He thus describes an adventure which befell his company the same evening after their visit to the mosque. " At almost three of the night, ten or twelve of the elders of the sect of Mohammed en- tered into our caravan, wliich remained not past a stone's cast from the gate of the city. These ran hither and thither, crying like madmen with these words : ' Mohammed, the messenger and apostle of God, shall rise again ! O Prophet, O God, Moham- med shall rise again ! Have mercy on us, God ! ' Our captain and we, all raised with this cry, took weapon with all expedition, suspecting that the Arabs were come to rob our caravan. We asked what was the cause of that exclamation, and what they cried ? For they cried as do the Christians when suddenly any marvellous thing clianceth. The elders an- swered : ' Saw you not the lightning which shone out of the sepulchre of the Prophet Mohammed ? ' Our captain answered that he saw nothing, and we also being demanded, answered in like manner. Then said one of the old men : ' Are yon slaves ? ' This to say bought men, meaning thereby, Mamelukes. Then said our captain : ' We are indeed Mamelukes.' Then again the old man said : ' Yon, my lords, can- not see heavenly things, as being neoyluti., that is, newly come to the faith, and not yet confirmed in our religion.' It is therefore to be understood that none other shining came out of the sepulchre than a certain flame, which the priests caused to come out 10 TRAVELS IN ARABIA of the open place of the tower, whereby they would have deceived us." Leaving Medina, the cai'avan travelled for three days over a " broad plain," all covered with white sand, in manner as small as flour. Then they passed a mountain, where they heard " a certain horrible noise and cry," and after journeying for ten days longer, during which time they twice fought with " fifty thousand Arabians," they reached Mecca, of which Bartema says : " The city is veiy fair, and well inhabited, and containeth in round form six thousand houses as well builded as ours, and some that cost three or four thousand pieces of gold : it hath no walls." Bartema describes the ceremonies performed by the pilgrims with tolerable correctness. His fel- lowship with the Mamelukes seems to have been a complete protection up to the time when the caravan was ready to set out on its return to Damascus, and the members of the troop were ordered to accompany it, on pain of death. Tlien he managed to escape by persuading a Mohammedan that he understood the art of casting cannon, and wished to reach India, in order to assist the native monarchs in defending themselves against the Poi-tuguese. Beaching Jedda in safety, Bartema sailed for Persia, visiting Yemen on the way ; made his way to India, and after vari- ous adventures, returned to Europe by way of the Cape of Good Hope. The second European who made his way to the holy cities was Joseph Pitts, an Englishman, who was captured by an Algerine ])ii'ate, as a sailor-boy EARLY EXPLORERS OF ARABIA 11 of sixteen, and forced by liis master to become a Mussulman. After some years, when lie liad ac- quired the Arabic and Turkish languages, he accom- panied his master for a pilgrimage to Mecca by way of Cairo, Suez, and the Red Sea. Here he re- ceived his freedom ; but continued with the pilgrims to Medina, and returned to Egypt by land, through Arabia Petrsea. After fifteen years of exile he suc- ceeded in escaping to Italy, and thence made his way back to England. Pitts gives a minute and generally correct account of the ceremonies at Mecca. He was not, of course, learned in Moslem theology, and his narrative, like that of all former visitors to Mecca, has been super- seded by the more intelligent description of Burck- hardt ; yet it coincides with the latter in all essential particulars. His description of the city and surround- ing scenery is worth quoting, from the quaint sim- plicity of its style. " 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 lit- tle hills. It is a place of no force, wanting both walls and gates. Its buildings are, as I said before, very ordinary, insomuch that it would be a place of no tolerable entertainment, were it not for the anni- versary resort of so many thousand Ilagges (Hadjis), 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 a poor sort of people, very thin, lean and swarthy. The town is 12 TRAVELS IN ARABIA surrounded for several miles witli many tliousands 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 a bigness, ap- pearing at a distance like cocks of hay, but all point- ing toward Mecca. Some of them are half a mile in circumference, but all near of one height. The peo- ple here have an odd and foolish sort of tradition con- cerning them, viz., that when Abraham w^ent about building the Beat- Allah (Beit-Allah, or ' House of God '), 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 thei'e is a mountain near Algier which is called Cor- radog, i.e.^ Black Mountain, and the reason of its blackness, they sa^^, is because it did not send any part of itself toward building the temple at Mecca. Between these hills is good and plain travelling, though they stand one to another. " There is upon the top of one of them a cave, which they term Ilii-a, i.e., Blessing, into which, they say, Mohamet did usually retire for his solitary devotions, meditations, and fastings; and here they believe he had a great part of the Alcoran brought 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, EARLY EXPLOEERS OF ARABIA 13 where is a cupola, under which is a cloven rock ; into this, they say, Mahomet when very 3'oung, viz., ahout four years of age, was carried by the angel Gabriel, who opened his breast and took out his lieart, f roni which he picked some black blood specks, which was his original corruption ; then put it into its place again, and afterward closed up the part ; and that during this operation Mahomet felt no pain." The next account of the same pilgrimage is given by Giovanni Tinati, an Italian, who deserted from the French service on the coast of Dalmatia, and became an Albanian soldier. Making his way to Egypt, after various adventures, he became at last a corporal in Mohammed Ali's body-guard, and shared in several campaigns against the Wahabees. He did not, however, penetrate very far inland from the coast, and his visit to Mecca was the result of his desertion from the Egyptian army after a defeat. His narrative contains nothing which has not been more fully and satisfactorily stated by later trav- ellers. By this time, however, the era of careful scientific exploration had already commenced, and the descrip- tions which have since then been furnished to us are positive contributions to our knowledge of Ara- bia. With the exception of the journey of Carsten Niebuhr, which embraces only the Sinaitic Peninsula and Yemen, the important explorations — all of which are equally difficult and daring — have been made since the commencement of this century. CHAPTER III. NIEBUHR'S TRAVELS IN YEMEN IN 1760 the Danish government decided to send an expedition to Arabia and India, for the purpose of geographical exploration. Tlie command was given to Cai'sten Kiebnhr, a native of Hanover, and a civil engineer. Four other gentlemen, an artist, a botanist, a physician, and an astronomer, were asso- ciated with him in the undertaking ; yet, by a singu- lar fatality, all died during the journey, and Kiebuhr returned alone, after an absence of nearly seven years, to publish the first narrative of travel based on scientific observation. The party sailed from Copenhagen for Smyrna in January, 1701, visited Constantinople, and then pro- ceeded to Egypt, where they remained nearly a year. After a journey to Sinai, they finally succeeded in engaging passage on board a vessel carrying pilgrims from Suez to Jedda, and sailed from the former port in October, 1702. They took the precaution of adopting the Oriental dress, and conformed, as far as possible, to the customs of the Mussulman passen- gers ; thus the voyage, although very tedious and un- comfortable, was not accompanied with any other danger than that from the coral reefs along the Arabian slioro. The vessel touched at Yambo, the NIEBUHR'S TRAVELS IN YEMEN 15 port of Medina, and finally reached Jedda, after a voyage of nineteen days. The travellers entered Jedda under strong appre- hensions of ill-treatment from the inhabitants, but were favorably disappointed. The people, it seemed, were already accustomed to the sight of Christian merchants in their town, and took no particular notice of the strangers, who went freely to the coffee-houses and markets, and felt themselves safe so long as they did not attempt to pass through the gate leading to Mecca. The Turkish Pasha of the city received them kindly, and they were allowed to hire a house for their temporary residence. After waiting six weeks for the chance of a pas- sage to Mocha, they learned that an Arabian vessel was about to sail for Hodeida, one of the ports of Yemen. The craft, when they visited it, proved to be more like a hogshead than a ship ; it was only seven fathoms long, by three in breadth. It had no deck ; its planks were extremely thin, and seemed to be only nailed together, but not pitched. The captain wore nothing but a linen cloth upon his loins, and his sailors, nine in number, were black slaves from Africa or Malabar. Nevertheless, they engaged pas- sage, taking the entire vessel for themselves alone ; but when they came to embark, it was filled with the merchandise of others. The voyage proved to be safe and pleasant, and in sixteen days they landed at Loheia, in Yemen. The governor of this place was a negro, who had formerly been a slave. He received the travellers with the greatest kindness, persuaded them to leave 16 TRAVELS IN ARABIA the vessel, and gave tliem a residence, promising camels for the further journey bj land. Although thej were somewhat annoyed by the great curiosity of the inhabitants, their residence was so agreeable, and offered the naturalists so many facilities for mak- ing collections, that they remained nearly four months. " We had one opportunit}^" says Kiebuhr, '^of learning their ideas of the benefits to be derived from medicine. Mr. Cramer had given a scribe an etnetic which operated with extreme violence. Tlie Aiabs, being struck at its wonderful effects, resolved all to take the same excellent remed}'', and the repu- tation of. our friend's skill thus became very high among them. The Emir of the port sent one day foi- him ; and, as he did not go immediately, the Emir soon after sent a saddled horse to our gate. Mr. Cramer, supposing that this horse was intended to bear him to the Emir, was going to mount him, when he was told that this was the patient he was to cure. We luckily found another physician in our party ; our Swedish servant had been with the hus- sars in his native country, and had acquired some knowledo;e of the diseases of horses. He offered to cure the Emir's horse, and succeeded. The cure rendered him famous, and he was afterward sent for to human patients." Having satisfied themselves by this time that there was no danger in travelling in Yemen, they did not wait for the departure of any large caravan, l^ut, on February 20, 17G3, set out from Loheia, mounted on asses, and made their way across the 2ehama, or low country, toward the large town of NIEBUHR'S TRAVELS IN YEMEN 17 Beit el-Fakih, wliicli stands near the base of the coffee-bearing hills. They wore dresses somewliat similar to those of the natives, a long shirt, reaching nearly to the feet, a girdle, and a mantle over the shoulders. The country was barren, but there were many villages, and at intervals of evei-y few miles they found coffee-houses, or, rather, huts, for the re- freshment of travellers. After having suffered no further inconvenience than from the brackish water, which is drawn from wells more than a hundred feet deep, they reached Beit el-Fakih in five days. Here they were kindly received by one of the native merchants, who hired a stone house for them. The town is seated upon a well-cultivated plain ; it is comparatively modern, but populous, and the travel- lers, now entirely accustomed to the Arabian mode of life, felt themselves safe. The Emir took no par- ticular notice of them, a neglect with which they were fully satisfied, since it left them free to range the country in all directions. K iebuhr, therefore, de- termined to make the place the temporary liead- quarters of the expedition, and to give some time to excursions in that part of Yemen. " I hired an ass," says he, " and its owner agreed to follow me as my servant on foot. A turban, a gi-eat coat wanting the sleeves, a shirt, linen drawers, and a pair of slippers, were all the dress that I wore. It being the fashion of the country to carry arms in travelling, I had a sabre and two pistols hung by my girdle. A piece of old carpet was my saddle, and served me likewise for a seat, a table, and various other purposes. To cover me at night, I had the linen cloak which the 18 TRAVELS IN ARABIA Arabs wrap about their shoulders, to shelter them from the sun and rain. A bucket of water, an article of indispensable necessity' to a traveller in these arid regions, hung by vay saddle." After a trip to the seaport of Hodeida, Niebuhr visited the old town of Zebid, built on the ruins of an older city, which is said to liave once been the capital of all the low country. Zebid is situated in a large and fertile valley, traversed during the rainy season by a considerable stream, by which a large tract of country is irrigated. There are the remains of an aqueduct built b\' the Turks, but the modern town does not cover half the space of the ancient capital. Zebid, however, is still distinguished for its academy, in which the youth of all that part of Ye- men study such sciences as are now cultivated by the Mussulmans. Xiebulu-'s next trip was to the plantations of the famous Mocha coffee, whither the other members of the party had already gone, during his visit to Zebid. After riding about twent\^ miles eastward from Beit el-Fakih, he reached the foot of the mountains. He thus describes the region : " Neither asses nor mules can be used here. The hills are to be climbed by steep and narrow paths ; yet, in comparison with the parched plains of the Tehama, the scenery seemed to me charming, as it was covered with gardens and plantations of coffee-trees. " Up to this time I had seen only one small basalt- ic hill ; but here whole mountains were composed chiefly of those columns. Such detached rocks formed grand objects in the landscaj)e, especially ML NIEBUHR'8 TRAVELS IN YEMEN 19 where cascades of water were seen to rush from their summits. The cascades, in sncli instances, had tlie appearance of being supported by rows of artificial pillars. These basalts are of great utility to the in- habitants ; the columns, which are easily separated, serve as steps where the ascent is niost difficult, and as materials for walls to support the plantations of coffee-trees upon the steep declivities of the moun- tains. " The tree which affords the coffee is well known in Europe ; so that I need not here describe it par- ticularly. The coffee-trees were all in flower at Bulgosa, and exhaled an exquisitely agreeable per- fume. They are planted upon terraces, in the foi-m of an amphitheatre. Most of them are only watered by the rains that fall, but some, indeed, from large reservoirs upon the heights, in which spring-water is collected, in order to be sprinkled upon the ter- races, where the trees gi-ow so thick together that the rays of the sun can hardly enter among their branches. We were told that those trees, thus arti- ficially watered, yielded ripe fruit twice in the j^ear ; but the fruit becomes not fully ripe the second time, and the coffee of this crop is always inferior to that of the first. " Stones being more common in this part of the country than in the Tehama, the houses — as well of the villages as those which are scattered solitarily over the hills — are built of this material. Although not to be compared to the houses of Europe for com- modiousness and elegance, yet they have a good ap- pearance ; especially such of them as stand upon the 20 TRAVELS IN ARABIA heights, with amphitheatres of beautiful gardens and trees around them. " Even at this village of Bnlgosa we were greatly above the level of the plain from which we had as- cended ; yet we had scarcely climbed half the ascent to Kusma, where the Emir of this district dwells, upon the loftiest peak of the range of mountains. Enchanting landscapes there meet the eye on all sides. ""We passed the night at Bnlgosa. Several of the men of the village came to see us, and after they retired we had a visit from our hostess, with some young women accompanying her, who were all very desirous to see the Europeans. They seemed less shy than the women in the cities ; their faces were unveiled, and they talked freely with us. As the air is fresher and cooler upon these hills, the women have a finer and fairer complexion than in the plain. Our artist drew a portrait of a young girl who was going to draw water, and was dressed in a shirt of linen, checkered blue and white. The top and mid- dle of the shirt, as well as the lower part of the drawers, were embroidered with needlework of dif- ferent colors," Having met with no molestation so far, Niebuhr determined to make a longer excursion into the southern interior of Yemen, among the mountains, to the important towns of Udden and Taas. The preparations were easily made. The travellers hired asses, the owners accompanying them on foot as guides and servants. As a further disguise they as- Bujned Arabic names, and their real character was so NIEBUHR'S TRAVELS IN YEMEN 21 well concealed that even the guides supposed thein to be Oriental Christians — not Europeans. Enter- ing the mountains by an unfrequented road, they found a barren region at first, but soon reached val- leys where coffee was cultivated. The inhabitants, on account of the cooler nights, sleep in linen bags, which they draw over the head, and thus keep them- selves warm by their own breathing. After reaching Udden, which Kiebuhr found to be a town of only three hundred houses, the hill- country became more thickly settled. Beside the roads, which had formerly been paved with stones, there were frequent tanks of water for the use of travellers, and, in exposed places, houses for their shelter in case of storms. The next important place was Djobla, a place of sonje importance in the annals of Yemen, but with no antiquities, except some ruined mosques. A further march of two days brought the party to the fortified city of Taas, but they did not venture within its walls, not having ap- plied to the Emir for permission. They returned to their quarters at Beit el-Fakih, by way of Ilaas, another large town at the base of the mountains, hav- ing made themselves acquainted with a large portion of the hill-country of Arabia Felix. The journey to Mocha lasted three days, over a hot, barren plain, with no inhabitants except in the wadys or valleys, which are well watered during the rainy season. Their arrival at Mocha was followed by a series of annoyances, first from the custom- liouse oflacials, and then from the Emir, who con- ceived a sudden prejudice against the travellers, 22 TRAVELS IN ARABIA SO that they were in danger of being driven out of the city. An English merchant, however, came to their assistance, a present of fifty ducats mollified the Emir, and at the end of a very disagreeable week tliey received permission to stay in the city. From heat and pi-ivation they had all become ill, and in a short time one of the pai-ty died. Niebnhr now requested permission to proceed to Sana, the capital of Yemen. This the Emir re- fused, nntil he could send word to the Imam ; but, after a delay of a month, he allowed the party to go as far as Taas, which they reached in four da^-s, and where they were well received. The refreshing rains every evening pui-ified the air, and all gradually re- covered their health, except the botanist, who died before reaching Sana. Taas stands at the foot of the fertile mountain of Sabber, upon which, the Arabs say, grow all varie- ties of plants and trees to be found in the world. Nevertheless they did not allow the travellers to ascend or even approach it. The city is surrounded with a wall, between sixteen and thirty feet high, and flanked with towers. The patron saint of the place is a former king, Ismael Melek, who is buried in a mosque bearing his name. Xo person is allowed to visit the tomb since the occuri-ence of a miiacle, wliich Niebuhr thus i-elates : " Two beggars had asked charity of the Emir of Taas, but only one of them had tasted of his bounty. Upon this the other went to the tomb of Ismael Melek to imploj'e his aid. The saint, who, when alive, had been very charital)lc, stretched his hand out of the tomb and NIEDUIIR'S TRAVELS IN YEMEN 23 gave the beggar a letter containing an order on the Emir to pay him a hundred ci'owns. Upon examin- \\m this order with the greatest care it Avas found tliat Ismael Melek had written it with his own liand and sealed it with his own seal. The governor could not refuse payment ; but to avoid all subsequent trouble from such bills of exchange, he had a wall built, inclosing the tomb." The Emir of Taas so changed in liis behavior toward the travellers, after a few days, that he or- dered them to return to Mocha. Finding all their arguments and protests in vain, they were about to comply, when a messenger arrived from Mocha, bringing the permission of the Imam of Yemen for them to continue their journey to Sana. They set out on June 2Sth, and, after crossing the mountain ranges of Mharras and Samara, by well -paved and graded roads, reached, in a week, the town of Jerim, near the ruins of the ancient Ilimyaritic city of Taphar, which, however, they were unable to visit on account of the illness of Mr. Forskal, the botanist of the expedition. This gentleman died in a few days ; and they were obliged to bury hiui by night, with the greatest precaution. From Jerim it is a day's journey to Damai', the capital of a province. The city, which is seated in the midst of a fertile plain, and is without walls, con- tains five thousand well-built houses. It has a fa- mous university, which is usually attended by five hundred students. The travellers were here very much annoyed by the curiositj' of the people, who threw stones at their windows in order to force them 24 TRAVELS IN ARABIA to show themselves. There is a mine of native sul- phur near the place, and a mountain wliere cornelians are found, which are highly esteemed throughout the East. Beyond Damar the country is hilly, but every vil- lage is surrounded with gardens, orchards, and vine- yards, which are irrigated from large artificial reser- voirs built at the foot of the hills. On reaching Sana the travellers were not allowed to ent«r the city, but conducted to an unfurnished house wiHiout the walls, where they were oi-dered to wait two days in entire seclusion, until they could be received hy the Imam. During this time they were not allowed to be visited by anyone. Xiebuhr thus describes their interview, which took place on the third da}' : " The hall of audience was a spacious square cham- ber, having an arched roof. In the middle was a large basin, with some jets d^eau, rising fourteen feet in lieight. Behind the basin, and near the throne, were two large benches, each a foot and a half high ; upon the throne was a space covered with silken stuff, on which, as well as on both sides of it, lay large cushions. The Imam sat between the cush- ions, with his legs crossed in the Eastern fashion ; his gown was of a bright green color, and had large sleeves. Upon each side of his breast was a rich filleting of gold lace, and on his head he wore a great white turban. Ilis sons sat on his right hand, and his brothers on the left. Opposite to them, on the hiirhest of the two benches, sat the Vizier, and our place was on the lower bench. . " Wc were first led up to the Imam, and were per- NIEBUHR'^ TRAVELS IN YEMEN 25 mitted to kiss both the back and the pahn of his iiand, as well as the hem of his robe. It is an extra- ordinary favor when the Mohammedan princes per- mit any person to kiss the palm of the hand. There was a solemn silence through the whole hall. As each of ns touched the Imam's hand a herald still proclaimed, ' God preserve the Imam ! ' and all who were present repeated these words after him. I was thinking at the time how I should pay my compli- ments in Arabic, and was not a little disturbed by this noisy ceremony. " We did not think it proper to mention the true reason of our expedition through Arabia ; but told the Imam that, wishing to travel by the shortest ways to the Danish colonies, in the East Indies, we liad heard so much of the plenty and security which prevailed through his dominions, that we liad re- solved to see them with our own eyes, so that we might describe them to our countrymen. The Imam told us we were welcome to his dominions, and might stay as long as we pleased. After our retui-n home he sent to each of us a small purse containing ninety- nine komassis, two and tliirty of which make a crown. This piece of civility might, perhaps, appear no com- pliment to a traveller's delicacy. But, when it is considered that a stranger, unacquainted with the value of the nionej^ of the country, obliged to pay every day for his provisions, is in danger of being imposed upon by the money-changers, this care of providing us with small money will appear to have been sufficiently obliging." " The city of Sana," says l!siebuhr, " is situated at 26 TRAVELS IN ARABIA the foot of Mount Kikkum, on which are still to be seen the rnins of a castle, which the Arabs suppose to have been bnilt by Sbein. ISTear this mountain stands the citadel ; a rivulet rises upon the other side, and near it is the Bostan el-Metwokkel, a spacious garden, which was laid out by the Imam of that name, and has been greatly embellished by the i-eigning Imam. The walls of the city, which are built of bricks, ex- clude this garden, which is inclosed within a wall of its own. The city, properly so called, is not very ex- tensive ; one may walk around it in an hour. There are a number of mosques, some of which have been built by Turkish Pashas. In Sana are only twelve public baths, but many noble palaces, three of the most splendid of which have been built by the reign- ing Imam. The matei'ials of these palaces are buint bricks, and sometimes even hewn stones ; but the houses of the common people are of bricks which have been dried in the sun. " The suburb of Bir el-Arsab is nearly adjoining the city on the east side. The houses of this village are scattered through the gardens, along the banks of a small river. Fruits are vei-y plenteous ; there are more than twenty kinds of grapes, which, as they do not all ripen at the same time, continue to afford a delicious refreshment for several months. The Ai'abs likewise preserve grapes by hanging them up in their cellars, and eat tliem almost through the whole year. Two leagues northward from Sana is a plain named Ilodda, which is oversj)read with gai'dens and watered by a number of rivulets. This place bears a great resemblance to the neighborhood of Damascus. But NIEBUHR'S TRAVELS IN YEMEN 27 Sana, which some ancient authois compare to Damas- cus, stands on a rising ground, with nothing like florid vegetation about it. x\fter long I'ains, indeed, a small rivulet runs through the city ; but all the ground is dry through the rest of the year. How- ever, by aqueducts from Mount Nikkum the town and castle of Sana are, at all times, supplied with abundance of excellent fresh water. ^' After a stay of a week the travellers obtained an audience of leave, fearing that a longer delay might subject them to suspicions and embarrassments. Two days afterward the Imam sent each of them a com- plete suit of clothes, with a letter to the Emir of Mocha, ordering him to pay them two hundred crowns as a farewell present. He also furnished them with camels for the journej'. Instead of return- ing by the same road they determined to descend from the hill-country to their old headquarters at Beit el-Fakih, and thence cross the lowland to Mocha. For two days they travelled over high, rocky mountains, by the worst roads they found in Yemen. The country was poor and thiidy inhabited, and the declivities only began to be clothed with trees and terraced into coffee plantations as they approached the plains. The poorer regions are not considered entirely safe by the Arabs, as the people frequently plunder defenceless travellers; but the party passed safely through this region, and reached Beit el-Fakih after a week's journey from Sana. Niebuhr and his companions reached Mocha early in August, and toward the end of that month sailed in an English vessel for Bombay, after a stay of ten 28 TRAVELS IN ARABIA months in Yemen, The artist of the expedition and the Swedish servant died on the Indian Ocean, and the physician in India, a few months afterward, leav- ing Niebnhr tlie sole survivor of the six persons who left Copenhagen three years before. After having sent home the journals and collections of the expedi- tion he continued his travels through the Persian Gulf, Bagdad, Armenia, and Asia Minor, finally reaching Denmark in 1767. The era of intelligent, scientific exploration, which is now rapidly opening all parts of the world to our knowledge, may be said to have been inaugurated by his travels. CHAPTER TV. BURCKHARDT'S JOURNEY TO MECCA AND MEDINA BURCKHARDT, to whom we are indebted for the first careful and complete description of the holy cities of Arabia, was a native of Lausanne, in Switzerland. After having been educated in Ger- many, he went to London with the intention of en- tering the English military service, but was per- suaded by Sir Joseph Banks to apply to the African Association for an appointment to explore the Sa- hara, and the then unknown negro kingdoms of Cen- tral Africa. His offer was accepted, and after some preparation he went to Aleppo, in Syria, where he remained for a year or two, engaged in studying Arabic and familiarizing himself with Oriental habits of life. His first journeys in Syria and Palestine, which were only meant as preparations for the African ex- ploration, led to the most important results. He was the first to visit the country of Hauran — the Bashan of Scripture — lying southeast of Damascus. After this he passed through Moab, east of the Dead Sea, and under the pretence of making a pilgrimage to the tomb of Aaron on Mount Hor, discovered the rock-hewn palaces and temples of Petra, which had been for many centuries lost to the world. 30 TRAVELS IN ARABIA Burckhardt reached Cairo in safety, and after vainly waiting some months for an opportunity of joining a caravan to Fezzan, determined to employ his time in making a visit to Upper Egypt and Ku- bia. Travelling alone, with a single guide, he suc- ceeded in reaching the frontiers of Dongola, beyond which it was then impossible to proceed. He there- fore returned to Assouan, and joined a small caravan, which crossed the J^ubian Desert to Ethiopia, by very nearly the same route which Bruce had taken in returning from Abj'ssinia. He remained some time at Shendj^ the capital of Ethiopia, and then, after a journey of three months across the country of Takka, which had iiever before been visited by a European, reached the port of Suakin, on the Bed Sea. Here he embarked for Jedda, in Arabia, where he arrived in July, 1814. By this time his Moslem character had been so completely acquired that he felt himself free from suspicion. Accordingly he decided to remain and take part in the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, which was to take place that year, in November. His funds, however, were nearly exhausted, and the Jedda merchants refused to honor an old letter of credit upon Cairo, which he still carried with him. In this emergency he wrote to the Armenian pln'si- cian of Mohammed Ali, who was at that time with the Pasha at the city of Tayf (or Taj^ef), about sev- enty miles southeast of Mecca. Mohammed Ali happening to hear of this application, immediately sent a messenger with two dromedaries, to summon Burckhardt to visit him. It seems most probable BURQKHARDT'S JOURNEY TO MECCA 31 that the Paslia suspected the traveller of being an English spy, and wished to examine him personally. The guide had orders to conduct the latter to Tayf by a circuitous route, instead of by the direct road through Mecca. Burckhardt set out without the least hesitation, talcing care to exhibit no suspicion of the Pasha's object, and no desire to see the holy city. But the guide himself proposed that they should pass through Mecca in order to save travel ; the journey was hur- ried, however, and only a rapid observation was pos- sible. Pushing eastward, they reached, on the third night, the Mountain of Kora, which divides the ter- ritory of Mecca from tliat of Tayf. Burckhardt was astonished at the change in the scenery, produced by the greater elevation of the interior of Arabia above the sea. His description is a striking contrast to that of the scenery about Mecca, "This," he says, "is the most beautiful spot in the Hedjaz, and more picturesque and delightful than anything I had seen since my departure from Leba- non, in Syria. The top of Djebel Kora is flat, but large masses of granite lie scattered over it, the sur- face of which, like that of the granite rocks near the second cataract of the Nile, is blackened by the sun. Several small rivulets descend from this peak and ir- rigate the plain, which is covered with verdant fields and large shady trees beside the granite rocks. To those who have only known the dreary and scorching sands of the lower country of the Hedjaz, this scene is as surprising as the keen air which blows here is refreshing. Many of the fruit-trees of Europe are 32 TRAVELS IN ARABIA found here : figs, apricots, peaclies, apples, t^ie Egyp- tian sycamore, almonds, pomegi-anates ; but particu- larly vines, the pi-oduce of which is of the best qual- ity. After having passed through this delightful district for about half an hour, just as the sun was rising, when every leaf and blade of grass was covered with a balmy dew, and every tree and shrub diffused a fragrance as delicious to the smell as was the land- scape to the eye, I halted near the largest of the rivulets, which, although not more than two paces across, nourishes upon its banks a green alpine turf, such as the mighty Nile, with all its luxuriance, can never produce in Egypt." Burckhardt had an interview with Mohammed Ali on the evening of his arrival in Tayf. His suspicions were confirmed : the Kadi (Judge) of Mecca and two well-informed teachers of the Moslem faith were present, and although the Pasha professed to accept Burckhard's protestations of his Moslem character, it was very evident to the latter that he was cunningly tested by the teachers. Nevertheless, when the inter- view was over, they pronounced him to be not only a genuine Moslem, but one of unusual learning and piety. The Pasha was forced to submit to this de- cision, but he was evidently not entirely convinced, for he gave orders that Burckhardt should be the guest of his physician, in order that his speech and actions might be more closely observed. Burckhardt took a thoroughly Oriental way to release himself from this surveillance. He gave the physician so much trouble that the latter was very glad, at the end of ten days, to procure from the Pasha permission for BURCKHARDT'S JOURNEY TO MECCA 33 him to return to Mecca, in order to get rid of him. Burckhardt thereupon travelled to the holy city in company with the Kadi himself. At the valley of Mohrara, nearly a day's journey from Mecca, Burckhardt changed his garb for the i/i- ram, or costume worn by the pilgrims during their devotional services. It consists of two pieces of either linen, cotton, or woollen cloth ; one is wrapped around the loins, while the other is thrown over the shoulder in such a manner as to leave the right arm entirely bare. On reaching Mecca he obeyed the Moslem injunction of first visiting the great mosque and performing all the requisite ceremonies befoi-e transacting any worldly business. When this had been accomplished he made a trip to Jedda for the purpose of procuring supplies, which were necessary for the later pilgrimage to Medina, and then estab- lished himself comfortably in an unfrequented part of Mecca, to await the arrival of the caravan of pil- grims from Damascus. Burckhardt describes the great mosque of Mecca, which is called the Beii Allah, or " House of God," as " a large quadrangular building, in the centre of which stands the Kaaba, an oblong, massive structure eighteen paces in length, fourteen in breadth, and from thirty-five to forty feet in height. It is con- structed of gray Mecca stone, in large blocks of dif- ferent sizes, joined together in a veiy rough manner, and with bad cement. At the northeast corner of the Kaaba, near the door, is the famous Black Stone, which forms part of the sharp angle of the building at four or five feet above the ground. It is an irreg- 34 TRAVELS IN ARABIA nlar oval of about seven inches in diameter, witli an undulating surface, composed of about a dozen smaller stones of different sizes and shapes, well joined to- gether with a small quantity of cement, and perfectly smoothed. It is very difficult to determine accurately the quality of this stone, which has been worn to its present surface by the millions of touches and kisses it has received. It appears to me like a lava, contain- ing several small extraneous particles. Its color is now a deep reddish brown, approaching to black. It is surrounded on all sides by a border, composed of a substance which I took to be a close cement of pitch and gravel ; this border serves to support its detached pieces. Both the border and the stone itself are en- circled by a silver band." Toward the end of November the caravans from Syria and Egypt arrived, and at the same time Mo- hammed Ali, so that the /mdj, or pilgrimage, as- sumed a character of unusual pomp and parade. The Pasha's iliram consisted of two of the finest Cashmere shawls ; the liorses and camels belonging to himself and his large retinue, with those of the Pasha of Damascus and other Moslem princes, were decorated with the most brilliant trappings. On ar- riving, the pilgrims did not halt in Mecca, but con- tinued their march to the Sacred Mountain of Arafat, to the eastward of the city. A camp, several miles in extent, was formed upon the plain, at the foot of the mountain, and here Burckhardt joined the im- mense crowd, in order to take his share in the cere- monies of the following day. In the morning he climbed to the top of Arafat, BURGKIIARDT'S JOURNEY TO MECCA 35 which is an irregnlar, isolated mass of gi-anite, rising only about two hundred feet above the plain. Over- looking thus the entire camp, he counted more than three thousand tents, and estimated that at least twenty-five thousand camels and seventy thousand human being-s were there collected together. "The scene," he says, " was one of the most extraordinary which the earth affords. Eveiy pilgrim issued from his tent to walk over the plain and take a view of the busy crowds assembled there. Long streets of tents, fitted up as bazaars, furnished them with all kinds of provisions. The Syrian and Egyptian cavalry were exercised by their chiefs early in the morning, while thousands of camels were seen feeding upon the dry shrubs of the plain all around the camp. The Syrian pilgrims were encamped upon the south and south- west sides of the mountain ; the Egyptians upon the southeast. Mohammed Ali, and Soleyman, Pasha of Damascus, as well as several of their followers, had very handsome tents ; but the most magnificent of all was that of the wife of Mohammed Ali, the mother of Toossoon Pasha and Ibrahim Pasha, who had lately arrived from Cairo with a truly royal equipage, five hundred camels being necessary to transport her baofijao-e from Jedda to Mecca. Her tent was in fact an encampment, consisting of a dozen tents of differ- ent sizes, inhabited by her women ; the whole en- closed by a wall of linen cloth, eight hundred paces in cii'cuit, the single entrance to which was guarded by eunuchs in splendid dresses. The beautiful em- broidery on the exterior of this linen palace, with the various colors displayed in every part of it, consti- 36 TRAVELS JN ARABIA tilted an object which i-emiiided nie of some descrip- tions ill the Arabian tales of the Thousand and One Kights." Biirckliardt also gives an interesting description of the sermon preached on Mount Arafat, the hearing of which is an indispensable part of the pilgrimage: unless a person is at least present during its delivery, he is not entitled to the name of hadji, or pilgrim. The great encampment broke up at three o'clock in the afternoon, and JNIount Arafat was soon covered from top to bottom. " The two Pashas, with their whole cavalry drawn up in two squadi'ons behind them, took their posts in the rear of the deep line of camels of the pilgrims, to which those of the people of Hedjaz were also joined ; and here they waited in solemn and respectful silence the conclusion of the sermon. Farther removed from the preacher was the Scherif of Mecca, with his small body of soldiers, distinguished by several green standards cairied be- fore him. The two mahmals, or hoi}' camels, which carry on their backs the high structure which serves as the banner of their respective caravans, made way with difficulty through the ranks of camels that en- circled the southern and eastern sides of the hill, op- posite to the preacher, and took their station, sur- rounded by their guards, directly under the platform in front of him. The preacher, who is usually the Kadi of Mecca, was mounted upon a finely capai'i- soned camel, which had been led up the steps : it was traditionally said that Mohammed was always seated when he addressed his followers, a practice in which he w'as imitated by all the Caliphs who came to the BURCKHARDT'S JOURNEY TO MECCA 37 pilgi-image, and who from this place addressed their subjects in person. The Turkish gentleman of Con- stantinople, however, unused to camel-riding, could not keep his seat so well as the hardy Bedouin prophet, and the camel becoming unruly, he was soon obliged to alight from it. He read his sermon from a book in Arabic, which he held in his hands. At intervals of every four or five minutes he paused and stretched forth his arms to implore blessings from above, while the assembled multitudes around and before him waved the skirts of their ihrams over their heads and rent the air with shouts of Lehcyh^ Allah^ huma leheyh ! — ' Here we are at Thy bidding, oh God ! ' Dui'ing the waving of the ihrams the sides of the mountain, thickly crowded as it was by the people in their white garments, had the ap- pearance of a cataract of water ; while the green umbrellas, with which several thousand pilgrims sit- ting on their camels below were pi-ovided, bore some resetnblance to a verdant plain." Burckhardt performed all the remaining ceremo- nies required of a pilgrim ; but these have been more recently described and with greater minuteness by Captain Burton. He remained in Mecca for an- other month, unsuspected and unmolested, and com- pleted his observations of a place which the Arabs believed they had safely sealed against all Christian travellers. Leaving Mecca with a small caravan of pilgrims, on January 15, 1815, he reached Medina after a journey of thirteen days, during which he narrowly escaped being slain by the Bedouins. 145769 38 TRAVELS IN ARABIA Barckhardt was attacked with fever soon after his arrival at Medina, and remained there three months. The ceremonies prescribed for tlie pilgrims who visit the city are brief and unimportant ; but the descrip- tion of the tomb of Mohannned is of sufficient inter- est to quote. "The mausolenm," he says, "stands at the southeastern corner of the principal mosque, and is protected from the too near approach of visi- tors by an iron railing, painted green, about two- thirds the height of the pillars of the colonnade which runs around the interior of the mosque. The railing is of good workmanship, in imitation of fili- gree, and is interwoven with open-worked inscrip- tions of yellow bronze, supposed by the vulgar to be of gold, and of so close a texture that no view can be ob- taiubJ of the interior except by several small windows, about six inches square, which ai'e placed in the four sides of the railing, about five feet above the ground. On the south side, where are the two principal windows, before which the devout stand when pray- ing, the railing is plated with silver, and the common inscription — ' There is no god but God, the Evident Truth ! ' — is wrought in silver letters around the win- dows. The tomb itself, as well as those of Abu Bekr and Omar, which stand close to it, is concealed from the public gaze by a curtain of rich silk brocade of various coloi's, interwoven with silver flowers and ara- besques, with inscriptions in characters of gold run- ning across the midst of it, like that of the covering of the Kaaba. Behind this curtain, which, according to the historian of the city, was formerly changed every six years, and is now renewed by the Porte yiiiiiiiiiiiliilijiiiiiiiii 'It i: j BURGKHARDT'S JOURNEY TO MECCA 39 whenever the old one is decayed, or when a new Sul- tan ascends the tlirone, none but tlie chief eunuclis, the attendants of the mosque, are permitted to enter. This holy sanctuary once served, as the temple of Delphi did among the Greeks, as the public treasmy of the nation. Here the money, jewels, and other precious articles of the people of Iledjaz were kept in chests, or suspended on silken ropes. Among these was a copy of the Koran in Cufic characters ; a brilliant star set in diamonds and pearls, which was suspended directly over the Prophet's tomb ; Avith all sorts of vessels filled with jewels, earrings, brace- lets, necklaces, and other ornaments sent as presents from all parts of the empire. Most of these articles were carried away by the Wahabees when they sacked and plundered the sacred cities." Burckhardt reached Yambo (the port of Medina), at the end of April, and, after running great danger from the plague, succeeded in obtaining passage to the Peninsula of Sinai, whence he slowly made his way back to Cairo. Here he waited for two years, vainly hoping for the departure of a cai-avan for Central Africa, and meanwhile assisting Belzoni in his explorations at Thebes. In October, 1817, he died, and the people who knew him only as Shekh Abdallah, laid his body in the Moslem burying- ground, on the eastern side of Cairo. CHAPTER y. WELLSTED'S EXPLORATIONS IN OMAN PERHAPS the most satisfactory account of the interior of Oman — the southeastern portion of Arabia — has been given by Lieutenant Wellsted. While in the Indian Navy lie was employed for sev- eral years in survej'ing the southern and eastern coasts of Arabia. Having become somewhat famil- iar with the language and habits of the people, he conceived the idea of undertaking a journey to Der- reyeh, in Nedjed, the capital of the Wahabees, which no traveller had then reached. The governor of Bombay gave him the necessary leave of absence, and he landed at Muscat in November, 1835. The Sultan, Sayid Saeed, received the young Eng- lishman with great kindness, promised him all possi- ble aid in his undertaking, and even arranged for liim the route to be travelled. He was to sail first to the port of Sur, south of Muscat, thence penetrate to the country inhabited by the Beni-Abu-Ali tiibe, and make his way northward to the Jebel Akhdar, or Green Mountains, which were described to him as lofty, fruitful, and populous. Having thus visited the most interesting portions of Oman, he was then to be at liberty, if the way was open, to take the northern route through the Desert toward Ncdjcd. WELLSTED'S EXPLORATIONS IN OMAN 41 The Sultan presented him with a horse and sword, together with letters to the governors of the districts through which he should pass. At Sur, which is a small, insignificant village, with a good harbor, the mountains of the interior ap- proach the sea, but they are here divided by a val- ley which furnishes easy access to the country be- yond them. After a journey of four days Wellsted reached the tents of the tribe of Ben-Abu-Ali, at a point to which the English troops had penetrated in 1821, to punish the tribe for acts of piracy. Al- though no Eno-lishman had visited them since that time, they received him with every demonstration of friendship. Sheep were killed, a feast prepared, a guard of honor stationed around the tent, and, in the evening, all the men of the encampment, 250 in number, assembled for the purpose of exhibiting their war-dance. Wellsted thus describes the scene : " They formed a circle within which five of their number entered. After walking leisurely around for some time, each challenged one of the spectators by striking him gently with the flat of his sword. His adversary immediately leaped forth and a feigned combat ensued. They have but two cuts, one directly downward, at the head, the other hori- zontal, across the legs. They parry neither with the sword nor shield, but avoid the blows by leaping or bounding backward. The blade of their sword is three feet in length, thin, double-edged, and as sharp as a razor. As they carry it upright before them, by a peculiar motion of the wrist they cause it to vi- brate in a very remarkable manner, which has a sin- 42 TRAVELS IN ARABIA gularly striking effect when tliey are assembled in any considerable number. It was part of the enter- tainment to fii'e off their matchlocks under the legs of some one of the spectators who appeared too in- tent on watching the game to observe their approach, and any signs of alarm which incautiously escaped the individual added greatly to their mirth." In the evening a party of the Geneba Bedouins came in from the desert, accompanied by one of their chiefs. The latter readily consented that Wellsted should accompany him on a short journey into his country, and they set out the following morning. It was December, and the morning air was cold and pure ; the party swept rapidly across the broad, barren plains, the low hills, dotted with acacia trees, and the stony channels which carried the floods of the rainy season to the sea. After a day's journey of forty-four miles they encamped near some brack- ish wells. " You wished," said the chief to Well- sted, " to see the country of the Bedouins ; M/s," he continued, striking his spear into the firm sand, " this is the country of the Bedouins." Neither he nor his companions wore any clothing except a single cloth around the loins. Their hair, which is permitted to grow until it reaches the waist, and is usually well plastered with grease, is the only covering which protects their heads from the sun. The second day's journey brought Wellsted to a 6n)all encampment, where the chief's wives were abiding. They conversed with him, unveiled, gave him coffee, milk, and dates, and treated him with all the hospitality which their scanty means allowed. WELLSTEir,^ EXPLUIIATIOXS IX OMAN 43 The Beni Geneba tribe numbei's about three thou- sand five hundred figliting men ; tliey are spread over a large extent of Southern Arabia, and are divided into two distinct classes — those who live by fishing, and those who follow pastoral pursuits. A race of fishermen, however, is found on all parts of the Arabian coast. In some districts they are con- sidered a separate and degraded people, with whom the genuine Bedouins will neither eat, associate, nor intermarry ; but among the Beni Geneba this dis- tinction does not exist. Wellsted might have penetrated much farther to the westward under the protection of this tribe, and was tempted to do so ; but it seemed more important to move northward, and get upon some one of the caravan tracks leading into Central Arabia. He therefore retui-ned to the camp of the Beni-Abu-Ali, whei'e the friendly people would hardly suffer him to depart, promising to build a house for him if he would remain a month with them. For two days he travelled northward, over an undulating region of sand, sometimes dotted with stunted acacias, and reached a district called Bediah, consisting of seven villages, each seated in its little oasis of date palms. One striking feature of these towns is their low situ- ation. They are erected in artificial hollows, which have been excavated to the depth of six or eight feet. Water is then conveyed to them in subterranean channels from wells in the neighboring hills, and the soil is so fertile that irrigation suffices to produce the richest harvest of fruit and vegetables. A single step carries the traveller from the glare and sand of 44 TEA VELS IN ARABIA the desert into a spot teeming with the most hixnri- ant vegetation, and embowered bj lofty trees, whose foliage keeps out the sun. " Some idea," saj^s Well- sted, " may be formed of the density of this shade by the effect it produces in lessening the terresti'ial radiation. A Fahrenheit thermometer which with- in the house stood at 55°, six inches from the ground fell to 45°. From this cause and the abundance of water they are always saturated with damp, and even in the heat of the day possess a clammy coldness." On approaching Ibrah, the next lai-ge town to the north, the country became hilly, and the valleys be- tween the abrupt limestone ranges increased in fer- tility. Wellsted thus describes the place: "There are some handsome houses in Ibrah ; but the style of building is quite peculiar to this part of Arabia. To avoid the damp and catch an occasional beam of the sun above the trees, they are usually very lofty. A parapet surrounding the upper part is turreted, and on some of the lai-gest houses guns are mounted. The windows and doors have the Saracenic arch, and every part of the building is profusely decorated with ornajnents of stucco in bas-relief, some in very good taste. The doors are also cased with brass, and have rings and other massive ornaments of the same metal. "Ibrah is justly renowned for the beauty and fair- ness of its females. Those we met on the streets evinced but little shyness, and on my return to tlie tent I found it filled with them. They were in high glee at all they saw ; every box I had was turned over for their inspection, and whenever I attempted to remonstrate against their proceedings they stopped WELLSTED'S EXPLORATIONS IN OMAN 45 my mouth with their hands. With such damsels there was nothing left but to laugh and look on." Travelling two days farther in the northward, Wellsted i-eached the town of Semnied, where he found a line stream of running water. The Sliekh's house was a large fort, the rooms of which were spa- cious and lofty, but destitute of furniture. Sus- pended on pegs protruding from the walls were the saddles, cloths, and harness of the horses and camels. The ceilings were painted in various devices, but the floors were of mud, and only partially covered with mats. Lamps formed of shells, a species of murex, were suspended by lines from the ceiling. On re- turning to the tent, after tliis visit, the traveller found, as usual, a great crowd collected there, but kept in order by a boy about twelve years of age. He had taken possession of the tent, as its guardian, and allowed none to enter without his permission. He carried a sword longer than himself, and also a stick, with which he occasionall}^ laid about him. It is a part of the Arab system of education to cease treating boys as children at a very early age, and they acquire, therefore, the gravity and demeanor of men. Beyond this place Wellsted was accompanied by a guard of seventy armed men, for the country was considered insecure. For two days and a half he passed many small villages, separated by desert tracts, and then reached the town of Minna, near the foot of the Green Mountains. " Minna," he says, " differs from the other towns in having its cultiva- tion in the open fields. As we crossed these, with 46 TRAVELS IN ARABIA lofty almond, citron, and orange trees yielding a de- licious fragrance on eitiier hand, exclamations of as- tonishment and admii-ation burst from us. 'Is this Arabia ? ' we said ; ' this the country we have looked on heretofore as a desert ? ' Yerdant fields of grain and sugar-cane stretching along for miles are before ns ; stj-eams of water, flowing in all directions, inter- sect our path ; and the happy and contented appear- ance of the peasants agreeably helps to fill up the smiling picture. The atmosphei-e was delightfully clear and pure ; and, as we trotted joyously along, giving or returning the salutations of peace or M-el- come, I could almost fancy that we had at last reached that ' Araby the Blessed ' which I had been accus- tomed to regard as existing only in the fictions of our poets. " Minna is an old town, said to have been erected at the pei'iod of Xarhirvan's invasion ; but it bears, in common with the other towns, no indications of antiquity ; its houses are lofty, but do not differ from those of Ibi-ah or Semmed. There are two square towers, about one hundred and seventy feet in height, nearly in the centre of the town ; at their bases the breadth of the wall is not more than two feet, and neither side exceeds in length eight yaids. It is therefore astonishing, considering the rudeness of the materials (they have nothing but uidiewn stones and a coarse but apparently strong cement), that, with proportions so meagre, they should have been able to carry them to their present elevation. The guards, who are constantly on the lookout, ascend by means of a rude ladder, formed by placing bars of wood WELLSTED'S EXPLORATIONS IN OMAN 47 in a diagonal direction in one of tlie side angles within the interior of the building." Tlie important town of Neswah, at the western base of the Jebel Akdar, or Green Mountains, is a short day's journey from Minna. On arriving there Wellsted was received in a friendly manner by the governor, and lodged, for the first time since leaving Muscat, in a substantial house. He was allowed to visit the fortress, which, in that region, is considered impregnable. He was admitted by an iron door of great strength, and, ascending through a vaulted pas- sage, passed through six others equally massive be- fore reaching the summit. The form of the fort is circular, its diameter being nearly one hundred yards, and to the height of ninety feet it has been filled up by a solid mass of earth and stones. Seven or eight wells have been bored through this, from several of which they obtain a plentiful supply of watei', M'liile those which are dry serve as magazines for their shot and ammunition. A wall forty feet high surrounds the summit, making the whole height of the fortress one Inuidred and fifty feet. It is a work of extraor- dinary labor, and from its appearance probably of considerable antiquity ; but no certain intelligence could be obtained on this point. On Christmas-day Wellsted left Neswah on an excursion to the celebrated Green Mountains. Tlie Shekh of Tanuf, the first village where he encamped, endeavored in every possible way to dissuade him from undertaking the journey ; but his resolute man- ner and a few gifts overcame the difficulty. Mounted ou strong asses, the part}' commenced ascending a 48 TRAVELS IN ARABIA precipitous ridge by a track so narrow that they seemed at times to be suspended over precipices of unknown depth. On the second day they reached the village of Seyk. " By means of steps," he says, " we descended the steep side of a narrow glen, about four hundred feet in depth, passing in our progress several houses perched on crags or other acclivities, their walls built up in some places so as to appear but a continuation of the precipice. These small, snug, compact-looking dwellings have been erected by the natives one above the other, so that their appearance from the bottom of the glen, hanging as it were in mid-air, affords to the spectator a most novel and in- teresting picture. Here we found, amid a great va- riety of fruits and trees, pomegranates, citrons, al- monds, nutmegs, and walnuts, with coffee-bushes and vines. In the summer, these together must yield a delicious fragrance ; but it was now winter, and they were leafless. Water flows in many places from the upper part of the hills, and is received at the lower in small reservoirs, whence it is distributed all over the face of the country. From the narrowness of this glen, and the steepness of its sides, only the lower part of it receives the warmth of the sun's rays for a short period of the day ; and even at the time of our arrival \\Q found it so chilly, that, after a short halt, we were very happy to continue our journey." They halted for the night at a village called Shirazi, in the heart of the mountains, the highest peaks of which here reach a height of 6,000 feet above the sea. The inhabitants belong to a tribe called the Beni Ryam, who are considered infidels by the people of WELLS TED'S EXPLORATIONS IN OMAN 49 Neswali because they cultivate tlie grape for the pur- pose of making wine. Tlie next day the Arabs wlio formed Wellsted's escort left him, and he had con- siderable difficulty in returning to ISTeswah by another road. From this point he had intended starting for Central Arabia, but the funds which he expected did not arrive fi'om Muscat, the British agent there hav- ing refused to make the necessary advances. "Well- sted thereupon applied directly to the Sultan, Sayd Saeed, for a loan, and while waiting an answer, made an excursion into the desert, fifty miles to the west- ward of !Neswah. With a view to familiarize him- self with the manners and domestic life of the Bed- ouins, he mixed with them during this trip, living and sleeping in their huts and tents. On all occa- sions he was treated with kindness, and often with a degree of hospitality above rather than below the means of those who gave it. Although the Sultan of Muscat was willing to fur- nish the necessary supplies, and arrangements had been made which Wellsted felt sure would have enabled him to penetrate into the interior, he was prevented from going forward by a violent fever, from the effects of which he remained insensible for five days. Recovering sufficiently to travel, his only course was to return at once to the sea-coast, and on January 22, 1836, he left Keswah for the little port of Sib, where he arrived after a slow journey of eight days. He relates the following incident, which oc- curred at Semayel, the half-way station : "Weary and faint from the fatigue of the day's journey, in order to enjoy the freshness of the evening breeze I had 50 TRAVELS IN ARABIA my carpet spread beneath a tree. An Arab passing by paused to gaze upon nie, and, touched by iny con- dition and the melancholy which was depicted on my countenance, he proffered the salutation of peace, pointed to the crystal stream which sparkled at my feet, and said : ' Look, friend, for running water maketh the heart glad!' With his hands folded over his breast, that mute but most graceful of Eastern salutations, lie bowed and passed on. I w^as in a situation to estimate sympathy ; and so much of that feeling was exhibited in the manner of this son of the desert, that I have never since recurred to the incident, trifling as it is, without emotion." A rest of four weeks at Sib recruited the traveller's strength, and he determined to make another effort to reach Central Arabia. He therefore applied to the Sultan for an escort to Bireimah, the first town of the Wahabees, beyond the northern frontier of Oman. The Sultan sent a guide, but objected to the undertaking, as word had just arrived that the Waha- bees were preparing to invade his territory, Well- sted, however, was not willing to give up Jiis design without at least making the attempt. He followed the coast, north of Muscat, as far as the port of Su- weik, where he was most hospitably received by the wife of the governor, Seyd Hilal, who was absent. "A huge meal, consisting of a great variety of dishes, sufficient for thirty or forty people, was piepared in his kitchen, and brought to us, on large copper dishes, twice a day during the time we remained. On these occasions there was a great profusion of blue and gilt ii»i"l'' '&tmmm^m' WELLSTED'S EXPLORATIONS IN OMAN 51 cliinaware, cut glass dishes, and decanters containing sherbet instead of wine." " The Shekh," Wellsted continues, " after liis re- turn, usually spent the evening with us. On one occasion he was accompanied bj a professional story- teller, who appeared to be a great favorite with him. ' Whenever I feel melancholy or out of order,' said he, ' I send for this man, who very soon restoi-es me to my wonted spirits.' From the falsetto tone in which the story was chanted, I could not follow the thread of the tale, and, upon my mentioning this to him, the Shekh very kindly sent me the manuscript, of which the reciter had availed himself. With lit- tle variation I found it to be the identical Sindbad the Sailor, so familiar to the readers of the Arabian Nights. I little thought, when first I perused these fascinating tales in my own language, that it would ever be my lot to listen to the original in a spot so congenial and so remote." Leaving Suweik on March 4th, Wellsted was deserted by his camel-men at the end of the first day's march, but succeeded in engaging others at a neighboring village. The road, which at first led between low hills, now entered a deep mountain- goi-ge, inclosed by abrupt mountains of rock several thousand feet in height. For two days the party followed this winding de- tile, where the precipices frequently towered from three to four thousand feet over their heads. Then, having passed the main chain, the country became more open, and they reached the village of Muskin, in the territory of the Beni Kalban Arabs. Their 52 TRAVELS IN ARABIA progress beyond this point was slow and tedious, on account of the country being divided into separate districts, which are partly independent of each other. At the next town, Makiniyat, the Sliekh urged them to go no farther, on account of the great risk, but finally consented to furnish an escort to Obri, the last town to the northward which acknowledges the sway of Muscat. Tliis was distant two days' journey — the first through a broad valley between pyramidal hills, the second over sandy plains, which indicated their approach to the Desert. Obri is one of the largest and most populous towns in Oman. The inhabitants devote themselves almost exclusively tC' agriculture, and export large quantities of indigo, sugar, and dates. On arriving Wellsted went immediately to the residence of the Shekh, whom he found to be a very different char- acter from the officials whom he had hitherto en- countered. " Upon my producing the Imam's let- ters," says lie, " he read them, and took his leave without returning any answer. About an hour after- ward he sent a verbal message to request that I should lose no time in quitting his town, as he begged to inform me, what he supposed I could not have been aware of, that it was then filled with nearly two thousand AVahabees. This was indeed news to us ; it was somewhat earlier than we antici- pated falling in with them, but we put a good face on the n)atter, and behaved as coolly as we could." The next morning the Shekh returned, with a pos- itive refusal to allow them to proceed farther. Well- sted demanded a written refusal, as evidence which WELLSTED'S EXPLORATIONS IN OMAN 53 he could present to the Sultan, and this the Shekh at once promised to give. His object was evidently to force the traveller away from the place, and such was the threatening appearance of things that the latter had no wish to remain. The Wahabees crowded around the party in great numbers, and seemed only waiting for some pretext to commence an affi-ay. *' When the Shekh came and presented me with the letter for the Sultan," says Wellsted, " I knew it M'ould be in vain to make any further effort to shake his resolution, and therefore did not attempt it. In the meantime news had spread far and wide that two Englishmen, with a box of ' dollars,' but in reality containing only the few clothes that we car- ried with us, had halted in the town. The Waha- bees and other tribes had met in deliberation, while the lower classes of the townsfolk were creating noise and confusion. The Shekh either had not the shad- ow of any influence, or was afraid to exercise it, and his followers evidently wished to share in the plun- der. It was time to act. I called Ali on one side, told him to make neither noise nor confusion, but to collect the camels without delay. In the meantime we had packed up the tent, the crowd increasing every minute ; the camels M-ere ready, and we mounted on them. A leader, or some trifling inci- dent, was now only w^anting to furnish them with a pretext for an onset. They followed us with hisses and various other noises until we got sufficiently clear to push briskly forward ; and, beyond a few stones being thrown, we reached the outskirts of the town without further molestation. I had often be- 54 TRAVELS IX ARABIA fore heard of tlie inhospitable character of the in- habitants of this place. The neighboring Arabs ob- serve that to enter Obri a man must either go armed to the teeth, or as a beggar with a cloth, and that not of decent quality, around his waist. Thus, for a sec- ond time, ended my hopes of reach ingDerreyeh from this quarter." Wellsted was forced to return to Suweik, narrowly escaping a Bedouin ambush on the way. As a last attempt he followed the coast as far as Schinas, near the mouth of the Straits of Ormuz, and thence de- spatched a messenger to the Wahabees at Birsimah. This plan also failed, and he then returned to India. He has given us, however, the only authentic account of the scenery and inhabitants of the interior of Oman, and his travels are thus an important contribution to our knowledge of Arabia. It is a sufficient commentary on the exclusive char- acter of Interior Arabia, and the difficulties that bar the way thei-e to free and thorough exploration, that, although Lieutenant Wellsted's journey was in 1835, we still (1892) have to turn to his veiy interesting narrative for almost all we know of the interior of Oman. CHAPTER VI. WELLSTED'S DISCOVERY OF AN ANCIENT CITY IN HADRAMAUT WHILE employed in the survey of the southern coast of Arabia in the spring of 1835, Lieu- tenant "Wellsted was occupied for a time near the cape called Has el-Aseida, in Hadramaut, about one hundred miles east of Aden. On this cape there is a watch-tower, with the guardian of which, an officer named Ilamed, he became acquainted ; and on learn- ing from the Bedouins of the neighborhood that ex- tensive ruins, which they described as having been built by infidels, and of great antiquity, were to be found at some distance inland, he prevailed upon the ofl[icer to procure him camels and guides. One day, having landed with a midshipman in order to visit some inscriptions at a few hours' dis- tance, the Bedouins who brought the camels refused to go to the place, but expressed their willingness to convey the two Europeans to the ruined city. Ila- med declined to accompany them, on the plea of sickness, and they were unsupplied with provisions or presents for the Shekhs of the villages on the way. Still the chance was too tempting to be lost. Well- sted decided to trust himself to the uncertain pro- tection of the Bedouins, sent his boat to the survey- 56 TRAVELS IN ARABIA ing vessel with a message that it should meet him at a point farther to the westward at the end of three days, and set out for the ruins late in the afternoon. Leaving the sea-shore at sunset, they struck north- ward into the interior, and travelled until after mid- night, passing several villages of the Diyabi Bed- ouins, a very fierce and powerful tribe, who are dreaded by all their neighbors. Scraping for them- selves beds in the sand, the travellers slept until daybreak without being disturbed. The path soon after mounted a ledge about four hundred feet in height, from the summit of which they obtained an extensive but dreary view of the surrounding coun- try. Their route lay along a broad valley, skirted on each side by a lofty range of mountains. By eight o'clock the sun became so oppressive that the Bedouins halted under the shade of some stunted tamarisk trees. "Within these burning hollows," says Wellsted, " the sun's rays are concentrated and thrown off as from a mirror; the herbs around were scorched to a cindery blackness ; not a cloud ob- scured the firmament, and the breeze which moaned past us was of a glowing heat, like that escaping from the mouth of a furnace. Our guides dug hol- lows in the sand, and thrust their blistered feet within them. Although we were not long in avail- ing ourselves of the practical lesson they had taught us, I began to be far from pleased with their churl- ish demeanor." During the day they travelled over sandy and stony ridges, and late in the afternoon entered the Wady Meifah, where they found wells of good water DISCOVERT OF AN ANGIENT CITY 57 and scanty vegetation. " Tlie country now began to assume a far different aspect. Numerous hamlets, interspersed amid extensive date groves, verdant fields of grain, and herds of sleek cattle, showed themselves in every direction, and we now fell in with parties of inhabitants for the first time since leaving the sea-shore. Astonishment was depicted on their countenances, but as we did not halt they had no opportunity of gratifying their curiosity by gazing at us for any length of time." One of the Bedouins, however, in spite of Well- sted's remonstrances, told the people that the trav- ellers were in search of buried treasure. When the latter attempted to encamp near a village, the inhab- itants requested them to remove ; the guides proved to be ignorant of the road in the night, and they would have been suffered to wander about without shelter but for the kindness of an old woman, who conducted them to her house. This proved to be a kind of khan for travellers, and was already so crowded that the travellers were obliged to sleep in an open courtyard. They were hardly prepared for the scene which daylight disclosed to them. " The dark verdure of fields of millet, sorghum, tobacco, etc., extended as far as the eye could reach. Mingled with these we had the soft acacia and the stately but more sombre foliage -of the date palm ; while the creaking of nu- merous wheels with which the grounds were irrigat- ed, and in the distance several rude ploughs drawn by oxen, the ruddy and lively appearance of the peo- ple, who now flocked toward us from all quarters, 58 TRAVELS IN ARABIA and the delightful and refreshing coolness of the morning air, combined to form a scene which he who gazes on the barren aspect of the coast could never anticipate. After three hours' travel through tliis bright and populous region, they came in sight of tlie ruins, which the inhabitants call Nakah el-Hadjar (mean- ing " The Excavation from the Rock "). According to Wellsted's estimate, they are about fifty miles from the coast. The following is Wellsted's description of the place : " The hill upon which these ruins are situ- ated stands out in the centre of the valley, and di- vides a stream which passes, during floods, on either side of it. It is nearly eight hundred yards in length, and about three hundred and fifty yards at its ex- treme breadth. About a third of the height from its base a massive wall, averaging from thirty to forty feet in height, is carried completely around the emi- nence, and flanked by square towers, erected at equal distances. There are but two entrances, north and south ; a hollow, square tower, measuring fourteen feet, stands on both sides of these. Their bases ex- tend to the plain below, and are carried out consider- ably beyond the rest of the building. Between the towers, at an elevation of twenty feet fi'om the ]^lain, there is an oblong platform which projects about eighteen feet without and within the walls. A flight of 8tei)s was a])parently once attached to either ex- tremity of the building. " Within the entrance, at an elevation of ten feet from the platform, we found inscriptions. They are ^ . ^.M!g'li'"l'lll!il:lllkH!l$l;".:^u:;g:! DISCOVERY OF AN ANCIENT CITY 59 executed with extreme care, in two lioi'izontal lines, on the smooth face of the stones, the letters being about eight inches long. Attempts have been made, though without success, to obliterate them. From the conspicuous situation which they occupy, there can be but little doubt but that, when deciphered, they will be found to contain the name of the founder of the building, as well as the date and purport of its erection.* The whole of the walls and towers, and some of the edifices within, are built of the same ma- terial — a compact grayish-colored marble, hewn to the required shape with the utmost nicety. The di- mensions of the slabs at the base were from five to seven feet in length, two to three in height, and three to four in breadth, " Let us now visit the interior, where the most conspicuous object is an oblong square building, the walls of which face the cardinal points : its dimen- sions are twenty-seven by seventeen yards. The walls are fronted with a kind of freestone, each slab being cut of the same size, and the whole so beauti- fully put together that I endeavo.red in vain to insert the blade of a small penknife between them. The outer, unpolished surface is covered with small chisel- marks, which the Bedouins have mistaken for writ- ing. From the extreme care displayed in the con- struction of this building, I have no doubt that it is a temple, and my disappointment at finding the in- * The inscription, which is copied in Lieutenant Wellsted's work, appears to be in the Himyaritio character. If any transla- tion of it has ever been made, the compiler is unable to say where It can be found. 60 TRAVELS IN ARABIA terior filled up with the ruins of the fallen roof was very great. Had it remained entire, yve might have obtained some clew to guide us in our researches re- specting the form of religion professed by the earlier Arabs. Above and beyond this building there are several other edifices, with nothing peculiar in their form or appearance. " In no portion of the ruins did we succeed in tracing any remains of arches or columns, nor could we discover on their surface any of those fragments of pottery, colored glass, or metals, which are always found in old Egyptian towns, and which I also saw in those we discovered on the northwest coast of Arabia. Except the attempts to deface the inscrip- tions, there is no other appeai'ance of the buildings having suffered from any ravages besides those of time ; and owing to the dryness of the climate, as well as the hardness of the material, every stone, even to the marking of the chisel, remains as perfect as the day it was hewn. We were anxious to ascer- tain if the Arabs had preserved any tradition con- cerning the building, but they refer them, like other Arabs, to their pagan ancestors. ' Do you believe,' said one of the Bedouins to me upon my telling him that liis ancestors were then capable of greater works than themselves, ' that these stones were raised by the unassisted hands of the Kafirs ? No ! no 1 They had devils, legions of devils (God preserve us from them !), to aid them.' " On his return to the sea, which occupied a day and a liair, AVellsted was kindly treated by the natives, and suftcred only from the intense lieat. The vessel DISCOVERY OF AN ANCIENT CITY 61 was fortunately waiting at the appointed place. Since the journey was made (in 1836) Baron von Wrede, a German traveller, has succeeded in exploring a por- tion of Hadraniaut, penetrating as far as Wady Doan. a large and populous valley, more than a hundred miles from the coast. But a thorough exploration of both Yemen and Hadramaut is still wanting, and when made, it will undoubtedly result in many im- portant discoveries. CHAPTER VII. BURTON'S PILGRIMAGE CAPTAIN PJCHARD F. BURTON, the dis- covei-er of the great Lake Tanganyika, in Cen- tral Africa, first became known to the world by his daring and entirely successful visit to Medina and Mecca, in the year 1853, in the disguise of a Moslem pilgrim, Altliough his journey was that of Burck- hardt, reversed, and he describes the same ceremonies, his account supplies many deficiencies in the narrative of his predecessor, and has the merit of a livelier and more graphic style. Burton's original design was to cross the Arabian Peninsula from west to east, as Palgrave has since done, and the Royal Geographical Society was dis- posed to accept his services. But he failed to obtain a sufilcicnt leave of absence from the East India Company, which only granted him a furlough of one year — a period quite insufficient for the undertakings He therefore determined to prove at least his fitness for the task, by making the pilgrimage to the holy cities. He was already familiar with the Arabic and Persian languages, and had the advantage of an Eastern cast of countenance. Like Burckhardt, he assumed an Oriental character at the start, and during the voyage from Southamp- BURTON'S PILORIMAOE 63 ton to Alexandria was supposed to be a Persian prince. For two or three montlis lie laboriously ap- plied himself in Egypt to the necessary religious studies, joined a society of dervishes, under the natne of Shekh Abdullah, kept the severe fast of Ratnazan, and familiarized himself with all the orthodox forms of ablution, prayer, and prostration. He gave him- self out to be an Afghan by birth, but long absent from his native counti-y, a character which was well adapted to secure him against detection. During his stay in Cairo he made the acquaintance of a boy named Mohammed el-Basyuni, a native of Mecca, who became his companion for the journey, and who seems not to have suspected his real character until the pilgrimage was over. Having purchased a tent and laid in an ample supply of provisions, with about four hundred dollars in money, he went to Suez about July 1st, with the avowed purpose of proceeding to Mecca by way of Jedda, yet with the secret intention of visiting Medina on the way. Here he became acquaint- ed with a company of pilgrims, whose good-will he secured by small loans of money, and joined them in taking passage in a large Arab boat bound for Yembo. The vessel was called the Golden Wire. " Immense was the confusion," says Burton, " on the eventful day of our departure. Suppose us standing on the beach, on the morning of a fiery July day, carefully watching our hurriedly-packed goods and chattels, surrounded by a mob of idlers who are not too proud to pick up waifs and straj's, while pilgrims rush about apparently mad, and friends 64 TRAVELS IN ARABIA are weeping, acquaintances vociferating adienx, boat- men demanding fees, shopmen claiming debts, women shrieking and talking with inconceivable power, chil- dren crjing — in short, for an lionr or so we were in the thick of a Imman storm. To confonnd confusion, the boatmen have moored their skiff half a dozen yards away from the slio]-e, lest the porters should be nnable to make more than double their fare from the pilgrims." They sailed on July 6th, and were five days in reaching the mouth of the Gulf of Akaba. "While crossing to the Arabian shore, the pilgrims are ac- customed to repeat the following prayer, which is a good example of Moslem invocation : " O Allah, O Exalted, O Almighty, O All-pitiful, O All-powerful, thou art my God, and sufficeth to me the knowledge of it ! Glorified be the Lord my Lord, and glorified be the faith my faith ! Thou givest victory to whom thou pleaseth, and thou art the glorious, the merci- ful ! We pray thee for safety in our goings-forth and in our standings-still, in our words and our de- signs, in our dangers of temptation and doubts, and the secret designs of our hearts. Subject unto us this sea, even as thou didst subject the deep to Moses, and as thou didst subject the fire to Abra- ham, and as thou didst subject the iron to David, and as thou didst subject the wind, and devils, and genii, and mankind to Solomon, and as thou didst subject the moon and El-Burak to Mohammed, upon whom be Allah's mercy and His blessing ! And subject unto us all the seas in earth and lieaven, in tlie visible and in thine invisible worlds, the sea of BURTON 8 PILORIMAOE G5 this life, and the sea of futurity. O thou who reign- est over everything, and unto whom all things re- turn, Khyar ! Khyar ! " A further voyage of another week, uncomfortable and devoid of incident, brought the vessel to Yembo. As the pilgrims were desirous of pushing on to Me- dina, camels were hired on the day of arrival, and, a week's provisions having been purchased, the little caravan started the next afternoon. Burton, by the advice of his companions, assumed the Arab dress, but travelled in a litter, both because of an injury to his foot, and because he could thus take notes on the way without being observed. On account of the heat the caravan travelled mostly by night ; the country, thus dimly seen, was low and barren for the first two days, but on the third day they reached a wilder region, which Burton thus describes : " We travelled through a country fantastic in its desolation — a mass of huge hills, barren plains, and desert vales. Even the sturdy acacias here failed, and in some places the camel grass could not find earth enough to take root in. The road wound among mountains, rocks, and hills of granite, over broken ground, flanked by huge blocks and bowlders, piled up as if man's art had aided nature to disfigure herself. Vast clefts seemed like scars on the hideous face of earth ; here they widened into dark caves, there they were choked up with glistening drift sand. Not a bird or a beast was to be seen or heard ; their pres- ence would have argued the vicinity of water, and though my companions opined that Bedouins were hirking among the rocks, I decided that these Bedou- 66 TRAVELS IN ARABIA ins were the creatures of their fears. Above, a sky like polished bhie steel, with a tremendous blaze of yellow light, glared upon lis, without the thinnest veil of mist or cloud. The distant prospect, indeed, was more attractive than the near view, because it bor- rowed a bright azure tinge from the intervening atmosphere ; but the jagged peaks and the perpendicu- lar streaks of shadow down the flanks of the moun- tainous background showed that no change for the better was yet in store for us." At tlie little towns of El-Hamra and Bir Abbas the caravan rested a day, suffering much from the intense heat, and with continual quarrels between the pilgrims and the Arabs to whom the camels belonged. At the latter place they were threatened with a de- tention of several days, but the difficulty was settled, and they set out upon the most dangerous portion of the road. " We travelled that night," says Burton " up a dry river-course in an easterly direction, and at early dawn found ourselves in an ill-famed gorge, called Shuah el-IIadj (the ' Pilgrim's Pass '). The loudest talkers became silent as we neared it, and their countenances showed apprehension written in legible characters. Presently, from the high, pre- cipitous cliff on our left, thin blue curls of smoke — somehow or other they caught everj' eye — rose in the air, and instantly afterward rang the loud, shai-p cracks of the hill-men's matchlocks, echoed by the rocks on the right. My shugduf had been broken by the camel's falling during the night, so I called out to Mansiir that we had better splice the frame-work with a bit of rope ; he looked up, saw me laughing, BURTON'S PILGRIMAGE 67 and with an ejaculation of disgust disappeared. A number of Bedouins were to be seen swarming like hornets over the crests of the rocks, boys as well as men carrying huge weapons, and climbing with the agility of cats. They took up comfortable places in the cnt-throat eminence, and began firing upon us with perfect convenience to themselves. The height of tlie hills and the glare of the rising sun prevented my seeing objects very distinctly, but my companions pointed out to me places where the rock had been scarped, and a kind of breastwork of rough stones — the Sangah of Afghanistan, piled up as a defence, and a rest for the long barrel of the matchlock. It was useless to challenge the Bedouins to come down and fight us upon the plain like men ; and it was equally unprofitable for our escort to fire upon a foe ensconced behind stones. We had, therefore, nothing to do but to blaze away as much powder and to veil ourselves in as much smoke as possible ; the re- sult of the affair was that we lost twelve men, be- sides camels and other beasts of burden. Though the bandits showed no symptoms of bravery, and confined themselves to slaughtering the enemy from their hill-top, my companions seemed to consider this questionable affair a most gallant exploit." After two more days of severe travel, the pilgrims, at early dawn, came in sight of the holy city of Me- dina, Burton thus describes the approach, and the view from the western ridge : " Half an hour after leaving the Wady el-Akik, or ' Blessed Valley,' we came to a huge flight of steps, roughly cut in a long, broad line of black, scoriaceous basalt. This is 68 TRAVELS IN ARABIA called the Mudarraj, or flight of steps over the western ridge of the so-called El-Harratain ; it is holy ground, for the Prophet spoke well of it. Arrived at the top, we passed through a lane of black scoria, with deep banks on both sides, and, after a few minutes a full view of the city suddenly opened on us. We halted our beasts as if by word of command. All of us descended, in imitation of the pious of old, and sat down, jaded and hungry as we were, to feast our eyes with a view of the Holy City. The prayer was, ' O Allah ! this is the Harain (sanctuary) of the Prophet ; make it to us a protec- tion from hell fire, and a refuge from eternal punish- ment ! O, open the gates of thy mercy, and let us pass through them to the land of joy ! ' " As we looked eastward, the sun arose out of the horizon of low hills, blurred and dotted with small tufted trees, wdiich gained a giant stature from the morning mists, and the earth was stained with gold and purple. Before us lay a spacious plain, bounded in front by the undulating ground of Nedjed ; on the left was a grim barrier of rocks, the celebrated Mount Ohod, with a clump of verdure and a white dome or two nestling at its base. Rightward, broad streaks of lilac-colored mists w^ere thick with gathered dew, there pierced and thinned by the morning rays, stretched over the date-groves and the gardens of Kuba, which stood out in emerald green from the dull tawny surface of the plain. Below, at the dis- tance of about two miles, lay El Medina ; at first sight it appeared a large place, but a closer inspection proved the impression to be an erroneous one." BURTON'S PILGRIMAGE 69 On arriving at Medina, Burton became the guest of one of the company he liad met at Suez, and dur- ing his stay of a month in the city performed all the religious ceremonies and visitations which are pre- scribed for the pilgrin]. He gives the following de- scription of the Prophet's mosque : " Passing through muddy streets — they had been freshly watered before evening time — I came suddenly upon the mosque. Like that at Mecca, the approach is choked up by ignoble buildings, some actually touching the holy ' enceinte,' others separated by a lane compared with which the road around St. Paul's is a Vatican square. There is no outer front, no general aspect of the Prophet's mosque ; consequently, as a building it has neither beauty nor dignity. And entering the Bab el-Ilahmah — the Gate of Pity — by a diminutive flight of steps, I was astonished at the mean and tawdry appearance of a place so universally venerated in the Moslem w^orld. It is not like the Meccan mosque, grand and simple — the expression of a single sublime idea ; the longer I looked at it the! more it suggested the resemblance of a museum of second- i*ate art, a curiosity-shop, full of ornaments that are not accessories, and decorated with pauper splendor." We must also quote the traveller's account of his manner of spending the day during his residence in Medina : " At dawn we arose, washed, prayed, and broke our fast upon a crust of stale bread, before smoking a pipe, and drinking a cup of coffee. Then it was time to dress, to mount, and to visit the Haram in one of the holy places outside the city. Return- ing before the sun became intolerable, we sat to- 70 TRAVELS IN ARABIA gether, and with conversation, sliislias and chibouques, coffee and cold water perfumed with mastich-smoke, we whiled away the time till our ariston^ an early dinner which appeared at the primitive hour of 11 A.M. The meal was served in the tnajlis on a large copper tray sent from the upper apartments. Ejacu- lating ' Bismillah ' — the Moslem grace — we all sat round it, and dipped equal hands in the dishes set before us. We had usually unleavened bread, differ- ent kinds of meat and vegetable stews, and at the end of the first course plain boiled rice, eaten with spoons ; then came the fruits, fresh dates, grapes, and pome- granates. After dinner I used invariably to find some excuse — such as the habit of a ' Kaylulah ' (mid- day siesta), or the being a ' Saudawi,' or person of melancholy temperament, to have a rug spread in the dark passage, and there to lie reading, dozing, smok- ing, or writing, all through the worst part of the day, from noon to sunset. Then came the hour for re- ceiving and paying visits. The evening prayers en- sued, eitlier at home or in the Ilaram, followed by our supper, another substantial meal like the dinner, but more plentiful, of bread, meat, vegetables, rice, and fruits. In the evening we sometimes dressed in common clothes and went to the cafe ; sometimes on festive occasions we indulged in a late supper of sweetmeats, pomegranates, and dried fruits. Usually we sat upon mattresses spread upon the ground in the open air, at the Shekh's door, receiving evening visits, chatting, telling stories, and making merry, till each, as lie felt the ap]>i'oaeh of the drowsy god, sank down into his proj)er place, and fell asleep," BURTON'S PILGRIMAGE 71 Burton was charmed with the garden and date- groves about Medina, and enjoyed the excursions, which were enjoined npon him as a pilgrim, to Jebel Ohod, tlie mosque of Kuba, aiid other places in the vicinity of the city. On August 28th the caravan of pilgrims from Damascus arrived, and, on account of danger from the Bedouins, decided to leave on the fourth day afterward, taking the Desert road to Mecca, the same travelled, by the Caliph Haroun EI- Kaschid and his wife Zobeida, instead of the longer road nearer the coast, which Burckhardt had fol- lowed. When this plan was announced, Burton and his companions had but twenty-four hours to make the necessary preparations ; but by hard work they were ready. Leaving Medina, they hastened onwai'd to secure good places in the caravan, which was com- posed of about seven thousand pilgrims, and extended over many miles of the road. For the first four days they travelled southward over a wild, desolate country, almost destitute of water and vegetation. On account of heat, as well as for greater security, the journey was made chiefly by night, although the forced marches between the wells obliged them sometimes to endure the greatest heat of the day. Burton says : " I can scarcely find words to express the weary horrors of a long night's march, during which the hapless traveller, fuming, if a European, with disappointment in his hopes of ' seeing the country,' is compelled to sit upon the back of a creeping camel. The day sleep, too, is a kind of lethargy, and it is all but impossible to pre- serve an appetite during the hours of heat." 72 TRA VELS IN ARABIA After making ninety-nine miles from Medina, they reached the village of El Suwajrkiyah, which is in- cluded within the Meccan territory. The town, con- sisting of about one hundred houses, is built at the base and on the sides of a basaltic mass which rises abruptly from the hard clayey plain. The summit is converted into a rude fortalice by a bulwark of micut stone, piled up so as to make a parapet. The lower part of the town is protected by a mud wall, with the usual semicircular towers. Inside there is a bazaar, well supplied with meat (principally mut- ton) by the neighboring Bedouins, and wheat, barley, and dates are grown near the town. There is little to describe in the narrow streets and the mud houses, which are essentiall}' Arab. The fields around are divided into little square plots by earthen ridges and stone walls ; some of the palms are fine grown trees, and the wells appeared numerous. The M'ater is near the surface and plentiful, but it has a brackish taste, highly disagreeable after a few days' use, and the effects are the reverse of chalybeate. Seventeen miles beyond El Suwayrkiyah is the small village of Sufayuah, beyond which the coun- try becomes again very wild and barren. Burton thus describes the scenery the day after leaving Sufayuah : " This day's march was peculiarly Ara- bia. It was a desert peopled only with echoes — a place of death for what little there is to die in it — a wilderness where, to use my companion's phrase, there is nothing but He (Allah). Nature, scalped, flayed, discovered her anatomy to the gazer's eye. The horizon was a sea of mirage ; gigantic sand- BURTON'S PILGRIMAGE 73 columns whirled over the plain ; and on both sides of our road were huge piles of bare rock standing detached upon the surface of sand and clay. Here they appeared in oval lumps, heaped up with a sem- blance of symmetry ; there a single bowlder stood, with its narrow foundation based upon a pedestal of low, dome-shaped rock. All are of a pink coarse- grained granite, which flakes oif in large crusts under the influence of the atmosphere." After four more long marches the caravan reached a station called El Zaribah, where the pilgrims halted a day to assume the ihrain, or costume which they wear on approaching Mecca. They were now in the country of the Utaybah Bedouins, the most fierce and hostile of all the tribes on the road. Al- though only two marches, or fifty miles, from Mecca, the pilgrims were by no means safe, as the night after they left Zaribah testified. While threading a narrow pass between high rocks, in the twilight, there was a sudden discharge of musketry and some camels dropped dead. The Utaybah, hidden behind the rocks crowning the pass, poured down an irregular fire upon the pilgrims, who were panic-stricken and fell into great disorder. The Wahabees, however, commenced scaling the rocks, and very soon drove the robbers from their ambush. The caravan then liurried forward in great disorder, leaving the dead and severely wounded lying on the ground. " At the beginning of the skirmish," says Burton, " I had primed my pistols, and sat with them ready for use. But soon seeing that there was nothing to be done, and, wishing to make an impression — no- 74 TRAVELS IN ARABIA where does Bobadil now ' go down ' but in the East — I called aloud for my supper. Shekh JS'ur, exanimate with fear, could not move. The boy Mo- hannned ejaculated only an ' Oh, sir ! ' and the people around exclaimed in disgust, ' By Allah ! he eats!' Shekh Abdullah, the Meccan, being a man of spirit, was amused by the spectacle. ' Are these Afghan manners, Effendim ? ' he inquired from the shugduf behind me. ' Yes,' I replied aloud, ' in my country we always dine before an attack of rob- bers, because that gentry is in the habit of sending men to bed supperless.' The Shekh laughed aloud, but those around him looked offended." The morning after this adventure the pilgrims reached the Wady Laymun, or Valley of Limes, a beautiful region of gardens and orchards, only twen- ty-four miles from Mecca. Here they halted four hours to rest and enjoy the fruits and fi-esh water ; then the line of march was resumed toward the Holy City. In the afternoon the range of Jebel Kora, in tlie southeast, became visible, and as evening ap- proached all eyes wei-e strained, but in vain, for a sight of Mecca. Night came down, and the pilgrims moved slowly onward in the darkness. An hour after midnight Burton was roused by a general ex- citement in the caravan. " Mecca ! Mecca ! " cried some voices ; " The Sanctuary, O the Sanctuary ! " exclaimed others, and all burst into loud cries of " Laheyk .^" not unfrequently broken by sobs. Look- ing out from his litter the traveller saw by the light of the southern stars the dim outlines of a large city. They were passing over the last rocky BURTON'S PILGRIMAGE 75 ridge by an artificial cut. The winding path was flanked on both sides by high watch - towers ; a short distance farther they entered the northern sub- urb. The Meccan boy Mohammed, who had been Bur- ton's companion during the pilgrimage, conducted the latter to his mother's liouse, where he remained during his stay. A meal of vermicelli and sugar was prepared on their arrival in the night, and after an hour or two of sleep they rose at dawn, in order to perform the ceremonies of arrival. After having bathed, they walked in their pilgrim garb to the Beit Allah, or " House of God." " There," says Burton, " there at last it lay, the bourne of my long and weary pilgrimage, realizing the plans and hopes of many and many a year. The mirage medium of fancy invested the huge cata- falque and its gloomy pall with peculiar charms. There were no giant fragments of hoar antiquity as in Egypt, no remains of graceful and harmonious beauty as in Greece and Italy, no barbaric gorgeous- ness as in the buildings of India ; yet the view was strange, unique, and how few have looked upon the celebrated shrine ! I may truly say, that, of all the worshippers who clung weeping to the curtain, or who pressed their beating hearts to the stone, none felt for the moment a deeper emotion than did the Iladji from the far north. It was as if the poetical legends of the Arab spoke truth, and that the waving wings of angels, not the sweet breezes of morning, were agitating and swelling the black covering of the shrine. But, to confess humbling truth, theirs 76 TRAVELS IN ARABIA was the high feeling of religions enthusiasm, mine was the ecstasy of gratified pride." Burton's description of the Beit Allali and the Kaaba is more minute and careful tlian that of Burckhardt, but does not differ from it in any im- portant particular. iN^either is it necessary to quote his account of the ceremonies to be performed by each individual pilgrim, with all their mechanical prostrations and repetitions. His account of the visit to the famous Black Stone, however, is both curious and amusing : " For a long time I stood look- ing in despair at the swarming crowd of Bedouin and other pilgrims that besieged it. But the boy Mo- hammed was equal to the occasion. During our cir- cuit he had displayed a fiery zeal against heresy and schism by foully abusing every Persian in his path, and the inopportune introduction of hard words into his prayers made the latter a strange patchwork. He might, for instance, be repeating ' and I take refuge with thee from ignominy in this world," when, ' O thou rejected one, son of the rejected ! ' M'ould be the interpolation addressed to some long-bearded Ivhorassani, ' and in that to come — O hog and brother of a hoggess ! ' And so he continued till I wondered that no one dared to turn and rend him. After vainly addressing the pilgrims, of whom noth- ing could be seen but a mosaic of occiputs and shoulder-blades, the boy Mohammed collected about half a doxen stalwart Meccans, with whose assistance, by sheer strength, we wedged our way into the thin and light-legged crowd. The Bedouins turned round upon us like wildcats, but they had no daggers. The iiiM^i ii iliiilli i lii l BURTON'S PILGRIMAGE 77 season being autumn, they had not swelled them- selves with milk for six mouths ; and they had be- come such living mummies that I could have man- aged single-handed half a dozen of them. After thus reaching the stone, despite popular indignation, testified by impatient shouts, we monopolized the use of it for at least ten minutes. Whilst kissing it and rubbing hands and forehead upon it I narrowly ob- served it, and came away persuaded that it is a big aerolite." On September 12th the pilgrims set out for Mount Arafat. Three miles from Mecca there is a laro;e villaoje called Muna, noted for three standino; miracles — the pebbles, there thrown at the Devil, return by angelic agency to whence they came ; dur- ing the three days of drying meat rapacious birds and beasts cannot prey there, and flies do not settle upon the articles of food exposed in the bazaars. Beyond the place there is a mosque called El Ivhayf, where, according to some traditions, Adam is buried, his head being at one end of the long wall and his feet at the other, while the dome is built over his navel. "Arafat," says Burton, "is about a six hours' march, or twelve miles, on the Taif road, due east of Mecca. We arrived there in a shorter time, but our weary camels, during the last third of the way, frequently threw themselves upon the ground. Human beings suffered more. Between Muna and Arafat I saw no less than five men fall down and die upon the high- way ; exhausted and moribund, they had dragged themselves out to give up the ghost where it departs to 78 TRAVELS IN ARABIA instant beatitude. The spectacle showed how easy it is to die in these latitudes ; each man suddenly stag- gered, fell as if shot, and, after a brief convulsion, lay still as marble. The corpses were carefully taken up, and carelessly buried that same evening, in a vacant space amongst the crowds encamped upon the Arafat plain. " Nothing can be more picturesque than the view the mountain affords of the blue peaks behind, and the vast encampment scattered over the barren yellow plain below. On the north lay the regularly pitched camp of the guards that defend the unarmed pilgrims. To the eastward w^as the Scherif's encamp- ment with the bright mahmals and the gilt knobs of the grander pavilions ; whilst, on the southern and western sides, the tents of the vulgar crowded the ground, disposed in dowars, or circles, for penning cattle. After many calculations, I estimated the number to be not less than fifty thousand, of all ages and both sexes." After the sermon on Arafat, which Burton de- scribes in the same manner as Burckhardt, the former gives an account of the subsequent ceremony of " stoning the Great Devil " near the village of Muna : "' The Shay tan el-Kabir' is a dwarf buttress of rude masonry, about eight feet high by two and a half broad, placed against a rough wall of stones, at the Meccan entrance to Muna. As the ceremony of ' llamy,' or Lapidation, must be performed on the first day by all pilgrims between sunrise and sunset, and as the Fiend was malicious enough to appear in a rugged pass, the crowd makes tlie place dangerous. BURTON'S PILGRIMAGE 79 On one side of tlie road, wliicli is not forty feet broad, stood a row of shops belonging principally to barbers. On tlie other side is the rugged wall of the pillar, with a ckevaux defrise of Bedouins and naked boys. The narrow space was crowded with pilgrims, all struggling like drowning men to approach as near as possible to the Devil ; it would have been easy to run over the heads of the mass. Amongst them were horsemen with rearing chargers. Bedouins on wild camels, and grandees on mules and asses, with outrunners, were breaking a way by assault and bat- tery. I had read Ali Bey's self-felicitations upon es- caping this place with ' only two wounds in the left leg,' and had duly provided myself with a liidden dagger. The precaution was not useless. Scarcely had my dordvcy entered the crowd than he was over- thrown by a dromedary, and I found myself under the stamping and roaring beast's stomach. By a judicious use of the knife, I avoided being trampled npon, and lost no time in escaping from a place so ignobly dangerous. Finding an opening at last, we approached within about five cubits of the place, and holding each stone between the thumb and fore- finger of the ring hand, cast it at the pillar, exclaim- ing : 'In the name of Allah, and Allah is Almighty, 1 do this in hatred of the Fiend and to his shame.' The seven stones being duly thrown, we retired, and entering the barber's booth, took our places upon one of the earthen benches around it. This was the time to remove the ihram or pilgrim's garb, and to return to ihlal^ the normal state of El Islam, The barber shaved our heads, and, after trimming our beards 80 TRAVELS IN ARABIA and cutting onr nails, made ns repeat tliose words : ' I purpose loosening my ihram according to the practice of the Prophet, whom may Allah bless and preserve ! O Allah, make unto me in ev^ery hair a light, a purity, and a generous reward ! In the name of Allah, and Allah is Almighty!' At the conclu- sion of his labor the barber politely addressed to us a ' Naiman ' — Pleasure to you ! To which we as ceremoniously replied, ' Allah give thee pleasure!'" We will conclude these quotations from Burton's narrative with his description of a sermon in the great mosque of Mecca. " After returning to the city from the sacrifice of sheep in the valley of Muna, we bathed, and when noon drew nigh we repaired to the Haram for the purpose of hearing the sermon. Descending to the cloisters below the Bab el-Ziyadah, I stood wonderstruck by the scene before me. The vast quadi'angle was crowded with worshippers sitting in long rows, and everywhere facing the central black tower ; the showy colors of their dresses were not to be surpassed by a garden of the most brilliant flow- ers, and such diversity of detail would probably not be seen massed together in any other building upon earth. The women, a dull and sombre-looking group, sat apart in their peculiar place. The Pasha stood on the I'oof of Zem Zem, surrounded by guards in Ni- zam uniform. Where the principal ulema stationed themselves the crowd was thicker; and in the more auspicious spots naught was to be seen but a pave- ment of lieads and shoulders. Nothing seemed to move but a few dervishes, who, censer in liand, sidled throuirh the rows and received the unsolicited alms COSTL'ME OF Pir^GlUMS TO MECCA. BURTON'S PILORIMAQE 81 o£ the faithful. Apparently in the midst, and raised above the crowd by the tall, pointed pnlpit, whose gilt spire flamed in the snn, sat the preacher, an old man with snowy beard. The style of head-dress called ' taylasan ' covered his turban, which was white as his robes, and a short staff supported his left hand. Presently he arose, took the staff in his right hand, pronounced a few inaudible words, and sat down again on one of the lower steps, whilst a Muezzin, at the foot of the pulpit, recited the call to sermon. Then the old man stood up and began to preach. As the majestic figure began to exert it- self there was a deep silence. Presently a general ' Amin ' was intoned by the crowd at the conclusion of some long sentence. And at last, toward the end of the sermon, every third or fourth word was fol- lowed by the simultaneous rise and fall of thousands of voices. " I have seen the religious ceremonies of many lands, but never — nowhere — aught so solemn, so im- pressive as this spectacle." Finding that it was impossible for him to under- take the journey across Central Arabia, both for lack of time and the menacing attitude of the Desert tribes, Burton left Mecca for Jedda at the end of Septem- ber. Starting in the afternoon, the chance caravan of returning pilgrims reached, about midnight, a mass of huts called El Hadda, which is the usual half-way halting-place. It is maintained solely for the pur- pose of supplying travellers with coffee and water. Here the country slopes gradually toward the sea, the hills recede, and every feature denotes departure 82 TRAVELS IN ARABIA from the upland plateau of Mecca. After reaching here, and at some solitary coffee-honses farther on tlie way, the pilgrims reached Jedda safely at eight m the morning. From this place Barton took passage on a steamer for Suez, and returned to Cairo, but without the Meccan boy, Mohammed, who began to have a sus- picion of his true character, after seeing him in com- pany with some English officers, and who left him before embarking. CHAPTER VIII. PALGRAVE'S TRAVELS IN CENTRAL ARABIA: FROM PALESTINE TO THE DJOWF MR. WILLIAM GIFFORD PALGRAVE, son of Sir Francis Palgrave, tlie liistoi-ian, per- formed, in 1862-63, a journey in Arabia, which gives us the first clear and full account of the interior of the country, including the great Wahabee state of Nedjed, the early home of Arabian poetry and also of the famous Arabian breed of horses. Mr. Pal- grave's qualifications for the undertaking were in some respects superior to those of either Burckhardt or Burton. To a high degree of general culture and a vigorous and picturesque style as a writer, he added a knowledge of the Arabic language and literature equal to that of any native scholar ; he spoke the language as well as his mother tongue ; his features were sufficiently Oriental to disarm suspicion, and years of residence in the East had rendered him en- tirely familiar with the habits of the people and even with all those minor forms of etiquette which are so rarely acquired by a stranger. His narrative, therefore, is as admirable and satisfactory in its char-, acter as the fields he traversed were new and fasci- nating. It throws, indeed, so much indirect light upon the experiences of all his predecessors, and is so 84 TRAVELS IN ARABIA much richer in its ilhistrations of Arab life and char- acter that no brief summary of its contents can do justice to its importance. Of the first stage of tlie journey, from Gaza on the Mediterranean to the little town of Ma'an, which lies William Gifford Palgrave. on the route of the caravans from Damascus to Mecca, a short distance to the northeast of Petra, and thus nearly on the boundary between the country of Moab and Edom, Palgrave gives ns no account. Yet, in spite of the comparatively brief distance traversed, it must have been both laborious and dangei'ous. His narrative commences as follows, at the moment of his dej)arture from Ma'an : PALGRAVE'S TRAVELS 85 " Once for all let us attempt to acquire a fairly correct and comprehensive knowledge of the Arabian Peninsula. With its coasts we are already in great measure acquainted ; several of its maritime prov- inces have been, if not thoroughly, at least suffi- ciently, explored ; Yemen and Hedjaz, Mecca and Medina, are no longer mysteries to us, nor are we wholly without information on the districts of Ha- draraaut and Oman. But of the interior of the vast region, of its plains and mountains, its tribes and cities, of its governments and institutions, of its in- habitants, their ways and customs, of their social condition, how far advanced in civilization or sunk in barbarism, what do we as yet really know, save from accounts necessarily wanting in fulness and precision? It is time to fill up this blank in the map of Asia, and this, at whatever risks, we will now endeavor ; either the land before us shall be our tomb, or we will traverse it in its fullest breadth, and know what it contains from shore to shore. Vestigia nulla re trorsuinP " Such were my thoughts, and such, more or less, I should suppose, those of vi\y companion, when we found ourselves at fall of night without the eastern gate of Mu'an, while the Arabs, our guides and fel- low-travellers, filled their water-skins from a gushing source hard by the town walls, and adjusted the sad- dles and the burdens of their camels, in preparation for the long journey that lay before us and them. It was the evening of June IG, 1862 ; the largest stars were already visible in the deep blue depths of a cloudless sky, while the crescent moon, high to the 86 TRAVELS IN ARABIA west, shone as she shines in those heavens, and prom- ised us assistance for some hours of our night march. We were soon mounted on our meagre long-necked beasts, ' as if,' according to the expression of an Arab poet, ' we and our men were at mast-heads,' and now we set our faces to the east. Behind us lay, in a mass of dark outline, the walls and castle of Ma'an, its liouses and gardens, and farther back in tlie distance the high and barren range of the Sheraa' Mountains, merging into tlie coast chain of Hejaz. Before and around us extended a wide and level plain, blackened over with countless pebbles of basalt and flint, except where the moonbeams gleamed white on little intervening patches of clear sand, or on yellowish streaks of withered grass, the scanty product of the winter rains, and dried now into hay. Over all a deep silence, whicli even our Arab compan- ions seemed fearful of breaking ; when they spoke it was in a half whisper and in a few words, while the noiseless tread of our camels sped stealthily but rapid- ly through the gloom without disturbing its stillness. " Some precaution was not indeed wholly out of place, for that stage of the journey on which we were now entering was anything but safe. We were bound for tlie Djowf, the neai-est inhabited district of Cen- tral Arabia, its outlying station, in fact. Kow the in- tervening tract offered for the most part the double danger of robbers and of thirst, of marauding bands and of the summer season. The distance itself to be traversed Avas near two hundred miles in a straight line, and unavoidable circumstances were likely to render it much longer." PALGRAVE'S TRAVELS • 87 Palgrave's companion was a native Syrian, named Barakat — a man on whom he could fully I'oly. Hardy, young, and enterprising, he belonged to a lo- cality whose inhabitants are accustomed to danger. But the Bedouins who furnished the camels, and acted as guides, were of another class. They Avere three in number — Salim, their leader, a member of a powerful family of the Iloweytat tribe, but outlawed for pillage and murder, and two men. Alee and Djordee, utter barbarians in appearance no less than in character. Even Salim advised tiie travellers to avoid all familiarities with the latter. " Myself and my companion," says Palgrave, " were dressed like ordinary class travellers of inner Syria, an equipment in which we had already made our way from Gaza on the sea-coast to Ma'an without much remark or unseasonable questioning from those whom we fell in with, while we traversed a country so often described already by Pococke, Laborde, and down- ward, under the name of Arabia Petra, that it would be superfluous for nie to enter into any new account of it in the present work. Our dress, then, consisted partly of a long stout blouse of Egyptian hemp, under which, nnlike our Bedouin fellow-travellers, we in- dulged in the luxury of the loose cotton drawers com- mon in the East, while our colored head-kerchiefs, though simple enough, were girt by 'akkals or head- bands of some pretension to elegance ; the loose red-leather boots of the country completed our toi- let. " But in the large travelling-sacks at our camels' sides were contained suits of a more elegant appear- 88 TRAVELS IN ARABIA ance, carefully concealed from Bedouin gaze, but destined for appearance when we should reach better inhabited and more civdlized districts. This reserve toilet numbered articles like the following ; colored overdresses, the Sjrian combaz, handkerchiefs whose silk stripes relieved the plebeian cotton, and girdles of good material and tasteful coloring ; such clothes being absolutely requisite to maintain our assumed character. Mine was that of a native travelling doc- tor, a quack if you will ; and accordingly a tolerable dress was indispensable for the credit of my medical practice. My comrade, who in a general way passed for my brother-in-law, appeared sometimes as a retail merchant, such as not unfrequently visit these coun- tries, and sometimes as pupil or associate in my as- sumed profession. " Our pharmacopoeia consisted of a few but well selected and efficacious drugs, inclosed in small tight- fitting tin boxes, stowed away for the present in the ample recesses of our travelling bags ; about fifty of these little cases contained the wherewithal to kill or cure half the sick men of Arabia. Medicines of a liquid form had been as much as possible omitted, not only from the difficulty of insuring them a safe transport amid so rough a mode of journeying, but also on account of the rapid evaporation unavoidable in this dry and burning climate. In fact two or three small bottles whose contents had seemed to me of absolute necessity, soon retained nothing save their labels to indicate what they had held, in spite of air- tight stoppers and double coverings. I record this, because the hint may be useful to anyone who should PALGRAVE'S TRAVELS 89 be inclined to embark in similar guise on the same adventures. " Some other objects requisite in medical practice, two or three European books for mj' own private use, and kept carefully secret from Arab curiosity, with a couple of Esculapian treatises in good Arabic, in- tended for professional ostentation, completed this part of our fitting-out. But besides these, an ample provision of cloth handkerchiefs, glass necklaces, pipe-bowls, and the like, for sale in whatever locali- ties might not offer sufficient facility for the healing art, filled up our saddle-bags wellnigh to bursting. Last, but not least, two large sacks of coffee, the sheet-anchor and main hope of our commerce, formed alone a sufficient load for a vigorous camel." The first days of travel were a monotony of heat and desolation. The deceptive lakes of the mirage covered the tawny plain, and every dark basaltic block, lying here and there at random, was magni- fied into a mountain in the heated atmosphere. " Dreary land of death, in which even the face of an enemy were almost a relief amid such utter solitude. But for five whole days the little dried-up lizard of the plain that looks as if he had never a drop of moisture in his ugly body, and the jerboa, or field- rat of Arabia, were the only living creatures to con- sole our view. " It was a march during which we might have almost repented of our enterprise, had such a sen- timent been any longer possible or availing. Day after day found us urging our camels to their utmost pace for fifteen or sixteen hours together out of the 90 TRAVELS ly ARABIA twenty-four, under a wellnigli vertical sun, which the Ethiopians of Herodotus might reasonably be ex- cused for cursing, with nothing either in the land- scape around or in the companions of our M'ay to i-e- lieve for a moment the eye or the mind. Then an insufficient halt for rest or sleep, at most of two or three hours, soon interrupted by the oft-repeated admonition, ' if we linger here we all die of thirst,' sounding in our ears ; and then to remount our jaded beasts and push them on through the dark night, amid the constant probability of attack and plunder from roving marauders. For myself, I was, to mend matters, under the depressing influence of a tertian fever contracted at Ma'an, and what between weari- ness and low spirits, began to imagine seriously that no waters remained before us except the waters of death for us and of oblivion for our friends. The days wore b}' like a delirious dream, till we were often almost unconscious of the ground we travelled over and the journey on which we were engaged. One only herb appeared at our feet to give some ap- pearance of variety and life ; it was the bitter and poisonous colocynth of the desert. " Our order of road was this : Long before dawn we were on our way, and paced it till the sun, having attained about half-way between the horizon and the zenith, assigned the moment of alighting for our morning meal. This our Bedouins always took good care should be in some hollow or low ground, for concealment's sake ; in every other respect we had ample liberty of choice, for one patch of black peb- bles with a little sand and withered grass between PALGRAVE'S TRAVELS 91 was just like anotlier ; shade or shelter, or anything like them, was wholly out of the question in such ' nakedness of tlie land.' We then alighted, and my companion and myself would pile up the baggage into a sort of wall, to afford a half-screen from the scorching sun-rays, and here recline awhile. Xext came the culinary preparations, in perfect accordance Avith our provisions, which were simple enough ; namely, a bag of coarse flour mixed with salt and a few dried dates ; there was no thij-d item on the bill of fare. We now took a few handfuls of floui-, and one of the Bedouins kneaded it with his unwashed hands or dirty bit of leather, pouring over it a little of the dingy water contained in the skins, and then patted out this exquisite paste into a large round cake, about an inch thick and five or six inches across. Meanwhile another had lighted a fire of dry grass, colocynth roots, and dried camels' dung, till he had prepared a bed of glowing embers ; among these the cake was now cast, and immediately cov- ered up with hot ashes, and so left for a few min- utes, then taken out, turned, and covered again, till at last, half - kneaded, half- raw, half - roasted, and burnt all round, it was taken out to be broken up between the hungry band, and eaten scalding hot, before it should cool into an indescribable leathery substance, capable of defying the keenest appetite A draught of dingy water was its sole but suitable accompaniment. " The meal ended, we had again without loss of time to resume our way from mirage to mirage, till * slowly flaming over all, from heat to heat, the day 92 TRAVELS IN ARABIA decreased,' and about an hour before sunset we would stagger off our camels as best we might, to prepare an evening feast of precisely" the same description as that of the forenoon, or more often, for fear lest the smoke of our fire should give notice to some distant rover, to content ourselves with dry dates, and half an hour's rest on the sand. At last our dates, like yEsop's bread-sack, or that of Bejhas, his Arab proto- type, came to an end ; and then our supper was a soldier's one ; what that is my military friends will know ; but, grit and pebbles excepted, there was no bed in our case. After which, to remount, and travel on by moon or starlight, till a little before midnight we would lie down for just enough sleep to tatitalize, not refresh. " It was now the 22d of June, and the fifth day since our departure from the wells of Wokba. Tlie water in the skins had little more 'to offer to our thirst than muddy dregs, and as yei no sign ap- peared of a fresh supply. At last about noon we drew near some hillocks of loose gravel and sand- stone a little on our right ; our Bedouins convei'sed together awhile, and then turned their coui'se and ours in that direction. ' Hold fast on your camels, for they are going to be startled and jump about,' said Salim to us. Why the camels should bo startled I could not understand ; when, on crossing the mounds just mentioned, we suddenly came on five or six black tents, of the very poorest description, pitched near some wells excavated in the gravelly hollow below. Tlie reason of Salim's precautionary liint now became evident, for our silly beasts started PALQRAVE'H TEAVELt^ 93 at first sight of tlic tents, as tliongh tliej' had never seen the like before, and then scampered about, bounding friskily here and there, till what between their jolting (for a camel's run much resembles that of a cow) and our own laughing, we could hardly keep on their backs. However, thirst soon pi-evailed over timidity, and they left off their pranks to ap- proach the well's edge and sniff at the water be- low." The inhabitants of the tents showed the ordinary curiosity, but were not unfriendly, and the little caravan rested there for the remainder of the day. A further journey of two days over a region of sand- hills, with an occasional well, still intervened before they could reach Wady Sirhan— a long valley run- ning directly to the populated region of the Djowf. While passing over this intermediate region an inci- dent occurred which had wellnigh put a premature end to the travels and the travellers together. " My readers, no less than myself," says Palgrave, " must have heard or read many a story of the simoom, or deadly wind of the desert, but for me I had never yet met it in full force ; and its modified form, or s/te- look, to use the Arab phrase, that is, the sirocco of the Syrian waste, though disagreeable enough, can hardly ever be termed dangerous. Hence I had been almost inclined to set down the tales told of the strange phenomena and fatal effects of this ' poi- soned gale ' in the same catewrv with the moving- pillars of sand, recorded in many works of higher historical pretensions than ' Thalaba.' At those per- ambulatory columns and sand- smothered caravans tlie 94 TRAVELS IN ARABIA Bedouins, whenever I interrogated them on the sub- ject, laughed outright, and declared that beyond an occasional dust-storm, similar to those which anyone who has passed a summer in Scinde can hardly fail to have experienced, nothing of the romantic kind just alluded to occurred in Arabia. But w^hen ques- tioned about the simoom, they always treated it as a much more serious matter, and such in real earnest we now found it. " It was about noon, the noon of a summer solstice in the unclouded Arabian sky over a scorched desert, when abrupt and burning gusts of wind began to blow by fits from the south, while the oppressiveness of the air increased every moment, till my companion and myself mutually asked each other what this could mean, and what was to be its result. We turned to inquire of Salim, but he had already wrapped up his face in his mantle, and bowed down and crouching on the neck of his camel, replied not a word. His comrades, the two Sherarat Bedouins, had adopted a similar position, and were equally silent. At last, after repeated interrogations, Salim, instead of reply- ing directly to our questioning, pointed to a small black tent, providentially at no great distance in front, and said: 'Try to reach that; if we can get there we are saved.' He added : ' Take care that your camels do not stop and lie down;' and then, giving his own several vigorous blows, relapsed into muffled silence. " We looked anxiously toward the tent ; it was yet a hundred yards off, or more. Meanwhile the gusts grew hotter and more violent, an