In the Modaa, a high, broad mole or embankment was thrown across the valley, with an iron gate, by Omar Ibn el Khatab, to resist the torrents flowing in this direction towards the mosque, during heavy rains. Some vestiges of it remained till the fourteenth century. While it existed, the pilgrims on arriving at Mekka used to enjoy from its summit the first sight of the Kaaba; there also they recited prayers, from which circumstance the street takes its name, Modaa meaning place of prayers.
Between the Modaa and Mala, on the one side, and the Ghazze and Geshashye on the other, are several quarters consisting of tolerable buildings, but of extremely dirty and narrow streets, from which the filth is never removed, and fresh air is always excluded. Here we find the Zokak e Seiny, or Chinese street, where gold and silversmiths have their shops. They work in the coarsest manner, but are very much employed, principally in making silver rings for men and women—ornaments very generally used among the Arabs. To the south of this quarter is the Zokak el Hadjar (called also Zokak el Merfek), or the street of the stone, which comprises the birth-place of Fatme, the daughter of Mohammed; and of Abou Beker, the prophets successor in the Khalifat. This street takes its name from the hadjar, or stone, which used miraculously to greet Mohammed with the salutation of Salam aleyk, whenever he passed this way on his return from the Kaaba. It has been mute since the days of the prophet, but is still shown, projecting a little from the wall of a house, which, in honour of it has been white- washed.
We now return towards the Mala, a little beyond the spot where it joins the Ghazze. The shops terminate, and a broad, sandy plain commences, on which there are only a few detached coffee-houses. This may be called the extremity of the town. What lies farther towards the north, must be considered as forming part of the suburbs. Continuing along the plain, we find on each side of the
[p.127] road large birkets, or reservoirs of water, for the accommodation of the pilgrim-caravans: they can be filled from the aqueduct which passes this way towards the town. Of these birkets, one is for the Egyptian caravan; another for the Syrian: they were constructed in A.H. 821, are entirely cased with stone, and continue in a state of perfect repair. Similar monuments of the munificent Turkish Sultans are found at every station of the Hadj, from Medina as far as Damascus and Aleppo. Some of those which I saw to the southward of Damascus, appeared more solid in their construction than the birkets of Mekka: that appropriated to the Egyptian pilgrims is about one hundred and sixty feet square, and from thirty to thirtyfive feet in depth. When the birket contains from eight to ten feet of water, the supply is deemed sufficient for the caravan. These reservoirs are never completely filled. As the aqueduct furnishes water but scantily, adjoining to the western birket are some acres, irrigated by means of a well, and producing vegetables. Near it, also, is a small mosque, called Djama è Soleymanye, in a state of decay, and no longer used for religious purposes; but serving, at present, to lodge a few Turkish soldiers. It belongs to the quarter named El Soleymanye, which extends from Djebel Lala close to the western mountain, as far as the cemeteries beyond the birkets. It does not contain any good houses; and I heard that it derives its name from the Soleymanye, as the Muselmans call the people of Kandahar, Afghanistan, Cashmere, and several other countries on this side of the Indus. It is said that some descendants of those people who were the original settlers, still reside here, mixed with many Indians. It appears, however, from Kotobeddyns history, that Sultan Solyman erected, about A.H. 980, a mosque in this quarter. The mosque at least may be supposed to have borrowed its name from the founder. The inhabitants of Soleymanye are Muselmans of the Hanefy sect, the first of the four orthodox divisions, and not disciples of Aly, like the Persians; many of whom come yearly to the Hadj of Mekka, either by sea from Bombay or Bassora, or by land, travelling as dervises, along the southern provinces of
[p.128] Persia to Baghdad, and through Mesopotamia and Syria to Egypt. I have seen many who had come by that route; they appeared to be men of a much better and more vigorous character than the generality of Indians.
Opposite to this quarter El Soleymanye, on the eastern mountain, and adjoining the Ghazze and Shab Aly, is a half-ruined district, called Shab Aamer, inhabited by Bedouin pedlars of the Thekyf and Koreysh tribes, and by a few poor sherif families. In this quarter are some large mills, worked by horses, for the Turkish governor: the town, I believe, does not contain any others of considerable size. It is the custom at Mekka to use hand-mills, which are usually turned by the slaves of the family, or, among the poorer classes, by the women. Here, also, are the only places in Mekka (or perhaps in the Hedjaz) where linen and cotton are dyed with indigo and saffron: woollen cloth is not dyed here.
As numbers of the public women reside at Shab Aamer, this quarter is not ranked among the most respectable in Mekka. Sherif Ghaleb imposed a regular tax upon those females, and required an additional payment from such of them as, in the time of the pilgrimage, followed the hadjys to Arafat. A similar tax is levied at Cairo, and in all the great provincial towns of Egypt. Mekka abounds with the frail sisterhood, whose numbers are increased during the Hadj by adventurers from foreign countries. They are somewhat more decorous than the public women in Egypt, and never appear in the streets without veils. Among them are many Abyssinian slaves, whose former masters, according to report, share the profits of their vocation. Some are slaves belonging to Mekkawys.
The Arabian poets make frequent allusions to Shab Aamer; thus Ibn el
Faredh says:—
Is Shab Aamer, since we left it, still inhabited?
Is it to this day the place of meeting for lovers? [See Sir William
Jones's Comment de Poës. Asiat., on the subject of a poem by Ibn Faredh,
which abounds with local allusions to Mekka.]
[p.129] Proceeding from the birkets northward over the plain, we come to an insulated house, of good size and construction, belonging to the Sherif, in which some of Ghalebs favourites once resided. Opposite to this building, a paved causeway leads towards the western hills, through which is an opening that seems artificial. El Azraky applies the name Djebel el Hazna to this part of the mountain; and says that the road was cut through the rock by Yahia Ibn Khold Ibn Barmak. On the other side of the opening, the road descends into the plain of Sheikh Mahmoud, so named from the tomb of a saint, round which the Syrian pilgrims generally encamp. Sherif Ghaleb erected upon the hill, on both sides of the narrow road, which is formed in rude steps, (whether natural or artificial, it would be difficult to say,) two watch-towers, similar to those already described. On both sides of the causeway, in the valley of Mekka, extend the burying-grounds, where most of the inhabitants of the city have their family tombs.