is given to

.FOX 1 ē¡ÁÂT O I

town. Foucational medreses, or schools, were built and

not a single public school exists in the

2

endowed in connexion with the mosque; and El Fasy, who was himself kadhy of Mecca, and wrote a history of it in the fifteenth century of our era, enumerates no less than eleven as subsisting in his day. The edifices still remain; but, through the shameful cupidity of the olemas and functionaries of the mosque, they have been converted into private residences, and are let out as lodgings to the hadjis. The only schools are those held under the piazzas of the mosque; and if any parents wish to educate their children after a higher standard, they are obliged to send them to Cairo or Damascus. In former times, also, several public libraries belonged to the mosque, but they have all disappeared, the last remnants of them having been carried off by the Wahabys. But with all this defective mental culture, the Meccans are singularly polite and urbane in their address, particularly to strangers, and show great elegance and taste in the decorations of their houses and in the service of the table. They are very hospitable also; and, 1, with something like patriarchal simplicity, invite any one who may seat himself in the vestibule to partake of their repast. On the other hand, they are excessively proud, holding themselves above all mankind as dwellers in the most sacred spot on earth, and as assured of the bliss in paradise promised to the frequenters of the Kaaba. They are gay and cheerful, nevertheless, and do not affect that stolid gravity which is so remarkable among the Turks and other Orientals. In their domestic economy they follow the usual customs of the East. They have one or more wives and concubines according to their means, the inmates of their harems being principally Abyssinian slaves. It is from this mixture of Abyssinian blood that the general complexion of the Mekkawys has become a yellowish-brown, very distinct from the healthy hue of the neighbouring Bedouins. They are reputed to be bigoted and intolerant; but as no unbeliever is permitted to enter, or even approach, their walls, they have little opportunity of displaying these qualities. Burckhardt found his residence amongst them sufficiently agreeable, though he complains bitterly of the climate and the quality of the water; but he was left to enjoy complete freedom, unmolested by inquisitive or suspicious inquiries.

bite shie MA* ** JOURNEY TO MEDINA.

#

On the 15th of January 1815 our traveller quitted Mecca for Medina, with a small caravan of hadjis who were going to visit the tomb of the prophet. It may be remarked, that a visit to -Medina forms no part of the duties of the hadj, or pilgrimage, being undertaken only by the more zealous of the Mohammedan devotees. The route from Mecca to Medina passes through several Scultivated valleys, studded with groves of date-trees, and large villages, inhabited by settled tribes of Arabs, and sometimes by Lesd C

Arabs who partake of both the settled and the Bedouin character. The names of these villages, which are all market-places for the surrounding tribes, are Kholeys, El Rabegh, Szafra, and Djedeyda. No incident of any moment marked the journey; and Burckhardt entered Medina on the thirteenth day after leaving Mecca-namely, on the 28th of January-although the distance is generally traversed in eleven, and occasionally in ten days.

Medina is the city in which Mohammed took refuge when his life was sought by the Koreysh, his kinsmen; and the adherence of its inhabitants gave the first impulse to his career. In gratitude, he directed his body to be interred amongst them. Extraordinary tales were current in Europe at one time concerning his tomb, which were purely fabulous. Amongst others, it was stated that his coffin was suspended in the air, kept in equipoise by four walls of adamant. It is, in truth, deposited under ground, within the great mosque of Medina, which stands in the eastern part of the city, and not in the centre, as usually represented. This mosque, which, like that of Mecca, is styled El Haram, on account of its inviolability, is not nearly so large as the latter. It is only a hundred and sixty-five paces in length, and a hundred and thirty in breadth; but it is built much upon the same plan, forming an open square, surrounded on all sides by covered colonnades, with a small building in the centre of the square. Near the south corner stands the tomb of Mohammed, detached from the walls of the mosque, being twenty-five feet from the south, and fifteen from the east wall. It is within an enclosure, forming an irregular square of about twenty paces, and consist ing of an iron railing, painted green, fixed between the columns of the colonnade about two-thirds of their height. The upper part of the columns is left open, and is surmounted by a lofty dome, rising far above the other domes of the mosque, and ornamented with a large globe and a crescent, both said to be of pure gold. The railing is interwoven with inscriptions of yellow bronze, of so close a texture, that no view can be gained into the interior except by several small windows about six inches square, and five feet from the ground. There are four gates to it, three of which are kept constantly shut, and one only is opened every morning and evening to admit the eunuchs, whose office it is to clean the floor and light the lamps. Permission to enter this enclosure, which is distinguished by the name of El Hedjra, may be purchased from the principal eunuchs; but the privilege is rarely embraced. All that can be discerned from the outside, through the windows, is a curtain hanging down on all sides, leaving an interval of a few paces between it and the railing. Within that is said to be another curtain of rich silk brocade, of various colours, interwoven with silver flowers and arabesques, and covered with inscriptions in golden characters. No person is permitted to penetrate behind this latter covering except the

chief eunuchs, who take care of it, and put on the new curtain sent from Constantinople when the old one is decayed, or a new sultan ascends the throne. Within is the tomb of Mohammed, buried deep in the earth, according to the historian of Medina, and above it are the tombs of his two earliest friends and immediate successors, Abou Beker and Omar. A large amount of treasure was at one time deposited here, consisting of gold and silver vessels and precious jewels; but all has been swept away, chiefly by Saoud the Wahaby chief, and nothing of any value now remains except a few gold vessels presented by Tousoun Pasha, son of Mohammed Ali, who, unlike his father and brother, was of a religious turn of mind. The curtain of the enclosure is surrounded with lamps, which are lighted every evening, and remain burning all night; and on one side of it is seen the tomb of SetnaFatme, the daughter of Mohammed. From the Hedjra to the opposite side of the mosque runs a wooden partition, dividing the southern colonnade from a holy place called El Rodha, or the Garden-a name bestowed upon it by Mohammed, who said, "Between my tomb and my pulpit is a garden of the gardens of paradise." The pulpit of the mosque stands close to this partition, and the name of Rodha belongs strictly to that space only which is between the pulpit and the Hedjra. The columns within the Rodha are painted, to the height of about five feet, with flowers and arabesques, to give it something of the appearance of a garden, and the floor is strewed with rich carpets, on which the congregation sits when assembled for prayers.

The ceremonies on visiting the mosque are somewhat analogous to those observed in the temple of Mecca. First, the pilgrim is led to the Rodha, where he prays, and performs four prostrations as a salutation to the mosque; and then proceeds at a slow pace to the Hedjra, where he addresses invocations to Mohammed, repeating his different surnames or honourable titles, and craving his intercession in favour of himself and of all he chooses to include in his prayers. After this he steps back, and performs four prostrations, which being accomplished, he plants himself opposite another part of the Hedjra, where the tomb of Abou Beker is understood to be placed, and invokes him in like manner; and subsequently does the same with regard to Omar and Setna-Fatme, who is propitiated under the title of Fatme-è-Zohera, or the Bright-blooming Fatme. The whole is concluded with a prayer to the Deity, repeated in the Rodha the time consumed in these observances rarely exceeding twenty minutes. The devotee is, however, pretty heavily mulcted for the satisfaction he derives from them, having to pay fees on every spot where prayers are said to people waiting to receive them, and to the eunuchs of the mosque on the completion of the rites. He is, moreover, beset by a crowd of beggars at the door of the edifice, from whom he finds it difficult to escape without a liberal distribution of alms. He has also to give a handsome

gratuity to his guide or mezowah, as he is called, so that the poor hadji is plundered quite as ruthlessly as at Mecca.

The guardianship of the mosque is intrusted to the care of forty or fifty eunuchs, who have an establishment similar to the eunuchs of the Beitullah at Mecca; but they are persons of greater consequence at Medina, and are more richly dressed, though in the same costume, usually wearing fine Cashmere shawls, and gowns of the best Indian silk. When they pass through the bazaar, everybody hastens to kiss their hands, and they exercise considerable influence in the internal affairs of the town. They have large stipends, which are sent annually from Constantinople by the Syrian hadj caravan; they share also in all donations made to the mosque; and they expect presents from every rich hadji, besides what they take as fees from the visitors of the Hedjra. They live together in one of the best quarters of Medina, to the eastward of the mosque, and their houses are said to be furnished in a more costly manner than any others in the town. Like their brethren at Mecca, they are all, singularly enough, married to black or Abyssinian slaves. Their forms are emaciated, and their whole appearance represented as inspiring disgust. The chief of these eunuchs is called Sheikh el Haram, and is the principal personage in the town. Even Tousoun Pasha, who was governor of Medina at the time of Burckhardt's visit, yielded him precedence, and kissed his hand when he met him. In addition to the eunuchs, there are a great many other persons connected with the mosque, employed to light the lamps of the colonnade at night, to keep the mosque clean, and spread the carpets; these are called Ferrashyn, and as their duties are light and honorary, they include some of the first people in the place. They amount in number to no less than five hundred, and share among them an annual sum transmitted from Constantinople for their use. They officiate also as mezowahs, and drive a lucrative trade in praying for the absent-persons remitting them money from all parts of the Moslem world to pray for them before the tomb of Mohammed. Many of them have from four to five hundred regular correspondents of this profitable class, through whom they enjoy, at a slight expense of trouble, sufficient incomes to live in leisure and affluence.

As at Mecca, so at Medina there are several places considered sacred, and visited by the pious. The principal is the burialground outside the town, where numerous saints are interred, consisting of members of Mohammed's family, warriors who fell in his battles, and the Caliph Othman, one of his successors. As a specimen of the invocations addressed to the manes of saints, we may take that repeated with uplifted hands after a prayer of two rikats over the tomb of Othman :-" Peace be with thee, oh, Othman! Peace be with thee, oh friend of the chosen! Peace be with thee, oh collecter of the Koran! Mayst thou deserve the contentment of God! May God ordain Paradise as

66

thy dwelling, thy habitation, and thy abode! I deposit on this spot, and near thee, oh Othman, the profession everlasting, from this day to the day of judgment, that there is no God but God, and that Mohammed is his servant and his prophet." The other places of resort are the Djebel Ohod, a mountain on which Hasuze, the uncle of Mohammed, and seventy-five martyrs, fell in battle, and are buried; Koba, a mosque erected on the ground where Mohammed first alighted on his flight to Medina; and El Kebletyn, a spot marked by two pillars, at which the prophet first changed the Kebly, or direction in praying, which, before his time, was towards Jerusalem, and which he changed to the 'Kaaba at Mecca.

4

The city of Medina itself stands in the centre of an extensive plain, on the edge of the great Arabian desert, in the 25th degree of north latitude, and contains from 14,000 to 20,000 inhabitants. "It is divided into the interior town and the suburbs, the former 'describing an oval, enclosed by a thick stone wall, from thirtyfive to forty feet high, flanked by about thirty towers, and surrounded by a ditch. Three gates lead into the town, and on its western point is a large castle or citadel, of considerable strength, capable of holding a garrison of six hundred men. The houses are generally two storeys high, with flat roofs, and entirely built of stone; but, owing to their not being whitewashed, and to the extreme narrowness of the streets, they have a very gloomy appearance. Many of them, moreover, have fallen into decay, and an air of ruin and desolation pervades the whole place. Outside, however, on three sides of the city, cultivated fields, gardens, and date groves present a cheerful landscape, and afford agreeable retreats to the inhabitants, the wealthier of whom have little villas in the midst of them. On the southern side, the rocky nature of the ground forbids any attempt at cultivation. The present inhabitants of Medina are, as at Mecca, for the most part of foreign descent, owing to the gradual extinction or removal of the native Arabians, and the settlement from time to time of pilgrims. The trade of the town is inconsiderable when compared with that of Mecca, and is liable to continual interruptions from the quarrels of the tribes in its vicinity. There is the same remarkable deficiency of artisans, scarcely a single mechanic existing in the place; even carpenters and masons are to be brought from Yembo when repairs are needed to a house. The sources of wealth are few, since no manufactures are prosecuted'; and the sole dependence of the inhabitants is on the gifts from Constantinople, and the sums spent by the pilgrims. Of these there is nothing like the number that resort to Mecca

a visit to Medina being considered rather meritorious and edifying than strictly essential, although the Moslem divines teach that one prayer said in sight of the Hedjra is as efficacious as a thousand repeated in any other mosque, except that of Mecca; and it is also said that he who recites forty prayers in the