I cannot believe that these topographic details were invented by Schiltberger, and am therefore inclined to think that he alludes to the neighbourhood of the fortresses of Kerak and Shaubek, places that acquired considerable importance during the Crusades in consequence of their admirable situations. They are easily identified with “Crach” and “Sebach” mentioned by De Lannoy, after he refers to the “montaignes d’Arrabicq” for the purpose of observing, that in the former was “la pierre du desert”, and in the latter the sepulchre of Aaron, and that the road thence conducted through a desert to St. Catherine and to Mecca. Quatremère says (Makrizi, II, i, 249) that Karac was the key to the road across the desert. Caravans to and from Damascus and Mecca, merchants, and troops despatched from the capital of Syria to that of Egypt, were obliged to pass close under its walls or at no great distance from them.
Shaubek, the “Mons regalis” of the Crusaders, thirty-six miles from Kerak, was also a strong place. Burckhardt tells us that a ravine, three hundred feet in depth, encircles the citadel, which is in a better state of preservation than the one at Kerak or Krak, called also Petra deserti from its proximity to the ancient city of that name, and to which a part of Arabia owes the name of Arabia Petrea; its situation is characteristically described by Pliny: “oppidum circumdatum montibus inaccessis, amne interfluente”. The valley in which this ancient city was situated, the “vallis Moysi” of the Crusaders, now Wady Mousa (Raumer, Palæstina, etc., 271–277), five hundred feet in depth, is watered by a stream and surrounded by steep rocks (Laborde, Voy. dans l’Arabie pétrée, 55).
According to an Arabian author quoted by Quatremère (l. c. II, i, 245), the road near these two cities was so peculiar that it could have been held by one man against a hundred horsemen. Another reason for the supposition that the bridge seen by Schiltberger was in one of these passages, lies in the fact that the same writer includes the tomb of Iskender among the holy places of pilgrimage in this ancient country; but he does not determine the individuality of that Iskender.
On the hypothesis that “Allenklaisser’s” limb was near the tomb of Iskender, I should be inclined to look in the same locality for the bridge that was constructed, according to the inscription it bore, two hundred years before Schiltberger saw it. Judging from other passages in his work, the author was in Egypt probably about the year 1423, the date of the construction of the bridge being therefore 1223; this, however, can scarcely have been the case, because the feuds between Saladin’s successors, which commenced soon after his death in 1193, had not ceased, and the Ayoubites were continually in conflict with the Crusaders. It should be borne in mind that although Schiltberger knew that the year 825 of the Hegira corresponded to A.D. 1423, he may not have been aware that the Mahomedan is shorter than the Christian year, whereby 200 Mahomedan years are equal to 193 solar years only; and thus he calculated that the construction of the bridge took place in 1223 instead of 1230. This was the time when Al-Kamyl the nephew of Saladin, having become reconciled with the emperor Frederick II., was recognised by the princes of his house as their suzerain lord, and he thereafter, until his death in 1238, held Syria and Egypt, with the exception of the fortresses of Kerak and Shaubek which he had to cede in 1229 to his nephew Daud or David. This circumstance, no doubt, induced the “king-sultan” to order the construction of a bridge for keeping up communication between two parts of his kingdom, the new bridge being near the old one that was kept smeared with oil, a condition that had the effect of persuading the guileless Bavarian that it was indeed a gigantic bone.—Bruun.
CHAPTER XLV.
[(1.)] “Others believe in one who was called Molwa.”—If, as Neumann supposes, a Molla or Mussulman priest is here implied, I would venture to suggest that allusion is made to Hassan, founder of the sect of Assassins or Mulahidah. The partisans of “the Old Man of the Mountain” had not been entirely exterminated by the Mongols, for not only were they in Asia after Marco Polo, but they reappeared in India at a later period, where the Bohras, another Ismailis sect, existed, and with whom they have been frequently confounded. “The nature of their doctrine indeed”, says Colonel Yule (Marco Polo, i, 154), “seems to be very much alike, and the Bohras like the Ismailis attach a divine character to their Mullah or chief pontiff, and make a pilgrimage to his presence once in life”.—Bruun.
CHAPTER XLVI.
[(1.)] “thy descendants will also acquire great power.”—It is stated in chapter 56 that Mahomet was born in the year of our Lord 609, so that his journey into Egypt took place in 622, the year of the prophet’s flight from Mecca to Medina. Schiltberger evidently confuses that memorable event with a journey undertaken by Mahomet when in his thirteenth year, if not into Egypt, at least into Chaldæa, where his great destiny was foretold to him by a Nestorian priest. It is most probable, however, that the author was not quite familiar with Mahomedan traditions, which assert that it was in the year 609, that is to say, thirteen years before the date of the Hegira, that Mahomet was informed of his lofty calling by an angel, and that the archangel Gabriel quickly taught him to read; it is therefore the existence of the prophet, not the birth of the man, that dates from this year. The error is very pardonable, because several miracles attributed to the prophet by Mussulmans, were supposed to have been performed in his youth. They believe, for instance, that from his infancy he was enclosed within an aureola, and could therefore stand in the light of the sun without casting a shadow, which would also have been the case had a black cloud floated over his head as related by Schiltberger, who remained too firmly attached to Christianity not to attribute the phenomenon to the wiles of the Prince of Darkness, rather than to the effect of celestial light.—Bruun.
(1A.) What appears to be the more generally accepted story of Mahomet’s first journey from home, is related by Syer Ameer Ali, in A Critical examination of the Life and Teachings of Mohammed; London, 1873. When Abu Taleb (the prophet’s uncle, for he was an orphan) determined upon making a journey to Syria, leaving Mohammed with his own children, and was on the point of mounting his camel, the boy clasped his knees and cried: Oh! my uncle, take me with thee! The heart of Abu Taleb melted within him, and the little orphan nephew joined the commercial expedition of his uncle. They travelled together into Syria. During one of the halts they met an Arab monk, who, struck by the signs of future greatness, and intellectual and moral qualities of the highest type in the countenance of the orphan child of Abdullah, recognised in him the liberator and saviour of his country and people.—Ed.
[(2.)] “The first temple is also called Mesgit, the other Medrassa, the third, Amarat.”—The designations of these several edifices and their uses are correct. The jamy, called “Sam”, is the largest of mosques; “Mesgit”, or rather mesjyd, being an ordinary and smaller mosque. “Medrassa”, for medressè, is a college usually attached to a mosque, and to be distinguished from the mehteb or boy’s school; and “Amarat”, for which we should read imaret, is an imperial place of burial, and a name applied also to a hospital, almshouse, etc.—Ed.