Upon his reaching Tayef, he caused his arrival to be made known to the pasha, who, upon learning his desire to visit the Holy Cities, expressed a desire to see him late in the evening at his public residence, and observed jocosely to the Kadhy of Mecca, who happened to be present, “It is not the beard alone which proves a man to be a true Moslem; but you are a better judge in such matters than I am.” Our traveller, on learning these particulars, affected to be much hurt by the pasha’s suspicions, and let the physician, who was the bearer of the message, know that he should not go to the pasha’s public audience unless he was received as a Turk. When the physician delivered this message, Mohammed Aly smiled, and said that he was welcome, whether Turk or not. The audience passed off well. But Burckhardt clearly discovered that he was regarded as a spy of the English government; that his conduct was narrowly watched; and that, in being made the guest of the physician, he was a kind of prisoner, all whose words and actions were reported to the pasha. This was by no means an agreeable position. He therefore determined to be delivered from it; and, in order to effect his purpose, adopted the most prudent plan that could have been imagined: he rendered himself so troublesome and expensive to his host, that the latter, in order to be freed from him, represented him in the most favourable light to his master, and contrived to obtain him permission to spend the last days of the Ramadhan at Mecca.
Accordingly, on the 7th of September, Burckhardt departed in company with the kadhy for the Holy City. On passing Wady Mohram, he assumed the ihram, the dress worn by all pilgrims during the Hadj, and consisting of two pieces of linen, woollen, or cotton cloth, one of which is wrapped round the loins, while the other is thrown over the neck and shoulders, so as to leave part of the right arm bare. In this dress he arrived at Mecca, on the 9th of September; and, as the law enjoins, proceeded immediately to visit the temple, before he had attended to any worldly concern whatever. The ceremonies practised on this occasion are long and tedious, the Mohammedans apparently believing, like our monkish madmen in Europe, that whatever is painful or disgusting to man must therefore be pleasing to God. Having completed these absurdities, he hired a ready-furnished lodging in the house of a metowaf, or guide to the holy places; who, while the poor hajjî was occupied with his devotions, employed his spare moments industriously in stealing whatever he could from his travelling-sack.
Being desirous of completing his travelling equipments before the commencement of the Hadj, Burckhardt now proceeded to Jidda, where such things are more easily procured than at Mecca, and again returned about the middle of October, with a slave-boy whom he purchased. He hired apartments in an unfrequented part of the city, where he enjoyed the advantage of several large trees growing before his windows, “the verdure of which,” says he, “among the barren and sunburnt rocks of Mecca, was to me more exhilarating than the finest landscape could have been under different circumstances.” The principal curiosity of Mecca is the Beitullah, or House of God, a species of quadrangle, 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 constructed of the gray Mecca stone, in large blocks of different sizes, joined together in a very rough manner, and with bad cement.” “At the north-east corner of the Kaaba, near the door, is the famous ‘Black Stone;’ it forms a part of the sharp angle of the building at four or five feet above the ground. It is an irregular oval of about seven inches in diameter, with an undulating surface, composed of about a dozen smaller stones of different sizes and shapes, well joined together with a small quantity of cement, and perfectly smoothed. It looks as if the whole had been broken into many pieces by a violent blow, and then united again. 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 appeared to me like a laver, containing several small extraneous particles, of a whitish and of a yellowish substance. Its colour 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, of a similar, but not quite the same, brownish colour. This border serves to support its detached pieces; it is two or three inches in breadth, and rises a little above the surface of the stone. Both the border and the stone itself are encircled by a silver band, broader below than above, and on the two sides, with a considerable swelling below, as if a part of the stone were hidden under it. The lower part of the border is studded with silver nails.”
I have purposely made use of Burckhardt’s own words in describing the Black Stone, and several other objects of curiosity, that the reader may see the exact impressions which they made on the mind of the traveller; though, as his style is very diffuse, it would frequently not have been difficult to compress his meaning into a much smaller compass. I cannot, however, pursue the same course with his description of the Hadj; which, notwithstanding its interest, is far too voluminous for the space which I can bestow upon it. On the 21st of November, 1814, the approach of the Syrian caravan was announced by a messenger, whose horse dropped down dead the moment he dismounted. Several other persons followed in about two hours after; and during the night, the main body, with the Pasha of Damascus at its head, came up, and encamped in the plain of Sheïkh Mahmoud. Next morning the Egyptian caravan likewise arrived; and at the same time Mohammed Aly, who desired to be present at the Hadj, appeared unexpectedly at Mecca, dressed in an ihram composed of two magnificent shawls of Kashmeer. All the hajjîs residing in the city now assumed the ihram, with the usual ceremonies, at their own lodgings, preparatory to their setting out for Arafat, and at noon heard a short sermon in the mosque.
The city was now full of movement and activity: all the pilgrims were preparing to set out for Arafat, some running hither and thither in search of lodgings, others visiting the markets, or the Kaaba. Many Meccawys, engaged in petty traffic, were hastening to establish themselves on the mountain, for the accommodation of the pilgrims. Camel-drivers led their beasts through the streets, offering them to the pilgrims for hire. On the 24th of November, the Syrian caravan, with the Mahmal, or sacred camel, in front, passed in procession through the city. The majority of the pilgrims rode in a species of palanquin, placed upon their camels; but the Pasha of Damascus, and other grandees, were mounted in tackhtravans, or splendid litters, which were borne by two camels. The heads of these picturesque animals were decorated with feathers, tassels, and bells. Crowds of people of all classes lined the streets, and greeted the pilgrims as they passed with loud acclamations and praise. The martial music of the pasha, twelve finely-caparisoned horses led in front of his tackhtravan, and the rich litters in which his women rode, particularly attracted attention. The Egyptian caravan followed soon after, and, consisting entirely of military pilgrims in the splendid Turkish costume, was no less admired than its predecessor. Both continued, without stopping, their march to Arafat, and were almost immediately followed by the other pilgrims in the city, and by far the greater proportion of the population of Mecca and Jidda, among whom our traveller likewise proceeded to the sacred hill.
Burckhardt reached the camp about three hours after sunset. The pilgrims were still wandering about the plain, and among the tents, in search of their companions, or of their resting-place, and many did not arrive until midnight. Numberless fires glimmered upon the dark plain to the extent of several miles; and high and brilliant clusters of lamps marked the different places of encampment of Mohammed Aly, Soleyman Pasha, and the Emir el Hadj of the Egyptian caravan. Few slept: “the devotees set up praying, and their loud chants were particularly distinguished on the side of the Syrian encampment. The merry Meccawys formed themselves into parties, singing jovial songs, accompanied by clapping of hands; and the coffee-houses scattered over the plain were crowded all night with customers. The night was dark and cold. I had formed a resting-place for myself by means of a large carpet tied to the back of a Meccawy’s tent; and having walked about for the greater part of the night, I had just disposed myself to sleep, when two guns, fired by the Syrian and Egyptian Hadj, announced the approaching dawn of the day of pilgrimage, and summoned the faithful to prepare for their morning prayers.”
The scene which, on the unfolding of the dawn, presented itself to the eye of the traveller, was one of the most extraordinary upon earth. “Every pilgrim issued from his tent to walk over the plains, and take a view of the busy crowds assembled there. Long streets of tents, fitted up as bazaars, furnished 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 round the camp.” Burckhardt now ascended the summit of Arafat, whence he could enjoy a distant view of the whole, the mountain being an isolated mass of granite, and reaching the height of two hundred feet above the level of the plain. From this point he counted about three thousand tents, but the far greater number were, like himself, without tents. Twenty or twenty-five thousand camels were dispersed, in separate groups, over the plain; and the number of pilgrims of both sexes, and of all classes, could not amount to less than seventy thousand. “The Syrian Hadj was encamped on the south and south-west side of the mountain; the Egyptian on the south-east. Around the house of the Sherif, Yahya himself was encamped with his Bedouin troops, and in its neighbourhood were all the Hejaz people. Mohammed Aly, and Soleyman, Pasha of Damascus, as well as several of their officers, had very handsome tents; but the most magnificent of all was that of the wife of Mohammed Aly, the mother of Tousoun Pasha and Ibrahim Pasha, who had lately arrived at Cairo for the Hadj, with a truly royal equipage, five hundred camels being necessary to transport her baggage from Jidda to Mecca. Her tent was in fact an encampment, consisting of a dozen tents of different sizes, inhabited by her women; the whole enclosed by a wall of linen cloth, eight hundred paces in circuit, the single entrance to which was guarded by eunuchs in splendid dresses. Around this enclosure were pitched the tents of the men who formed her numerous suite. The beautiful embroidery on the exterior of this linen palace, with the various colours displayed in every part of it, constituted an object which reminded me of some descriptions in the Arabian Tales of the Thousand and One Nights.”
Among the prodigious crowd were persons from every corner of the Mohammedan world. Burckhardt counted forty different languages, and did not doubt that there were many more. About three o’clock in the afternoon, the pilgrims, quitting their tents, which were immediately struck, and mounting their camels, pressed forward towards Mount Arafat, and covered its sides from top to bottom. The preacher now took his stand upon the platform on the mountain, and began to address the multitude. The hearing of the sermon, which lasts till sunset, constitutes the holy ceremony of the Hadj, and without being present at it, and at least appearing to hear, no pilgrim is entitled to the name of hajjî. “The two pashas, with their whole cavalry drawn up in two squadrons behind them, took their post in the rear of the deep line of camels of the hajjîs, to which those of the people of the Hejaz were also joined: and here they waited in solemn and respectful silence the conclusion of the sermon. Farther removed from the preacher was the Sherif Yahya, with his small body of soldiers, distinguished by several green standards carried before him. The two Mahmals, or holy camels, which carry on their backs the high structure that serves as the banner of their respective caravans, made way with difficulty through the ranks of camels that encircled the southern and eastern sides of the hill, opposite to the preacher, and took their station, surrounded by their guards, directly under the platform in front of him. The preacher, or khatyb, who is usually the Kadhy of Mecca, was mounted upon a finely-caparisoned camel, which had been led up the steps; it being traditionally said that Mohammed was always seated when he addressed his followers, a practice in which he was imitated by all the califs who came to the Hadj, and who from hence addressed their subjects in person. The Turkish gentleman of Constantinople, 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 Lebeyk, Allah, huma Lebeyk!—“Here we are at thy bidding, O God!” During the wavings of the ihrams, the side of the mountain, thickly crowded as it was by the people in their white garments, had the appearance of a cataract of water; while the green umbrellas, with which several thousand hajjîs, sitting on their camels below, were provided, bore some resemblance to a verdant plain.”
Burckhardt was present at all the remaining ceremonies of the Hadj, which I shall not now pause to describe; and after observing whatever was worthy of examination both at Mecca and Jidda, he joined a small caravan of pilgrims who were going to visit the tomb of the prophet, and set out for Medina on the 15th of January, 1815. During this journey he imprudently advanced before the caravan, and was attacked by five Bedouins, from whom he was quickly delivered, however, by the approach of his companions. They reached Medina on the 28th of January. The ceremonies practised in this city were much less tedious than at Mecca, and did not occupy our traveller more than a quarter of an hour. Here, shortly after his arrival, he was attacked by an intermittent fever, accompanied by extraordinary despondency. His condition, indeed, was well calculated to inspire gloomy thoughts; for he had no society, and but one book, which was, however, as he observes, worth a whole shelf full of others. This was a pocket edition of Milton, which he had borrowed from an English ship at Jidda.
Medina, it is well known, is chiefly indebted to the tomb of Mohammed for its celebrity. This mausoleum, which stands on the south-eastern corner of the principal mosque, is protected from the too near approach of visiters by an iron railing, painted green, about two-thirds the height of the pillars of the colonnade which runs round the interior of the mosque. “The railing is of good workmanship, in imitation of filligree, and is interwoven with open-worked inscriptions of yellow bronze, supposed by the vulgar to be of gold, and of so close a texture, that no view can be obtained of the interior except by several small windows about six inches square, which are 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 praying, the railing is plated with silver, and the common inscription—“There is no God but God, the Evident Truth”—is wrought in silver letters round the windows. The tomb itself, as well as that 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 colours, interwoven with silver flowers and arabesques, with inscriptions in characters of gold running 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 whenever the old one is decayed, or when a new sultan ascends the throne, none but the chief eunuchs, 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 treasury of the nation. Here the money, jewels, and other precious articles of the people of the Hejaz were kept in chests, or suspended on silken ropes. Among these was a copy of the Koran in Kufic characters; a brilliant star set in diamonds and pearls, which was suspended directly over the prophet’s tomb; with all sorts of vessels set with jewels, earrings, bracelets, 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.