Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 2Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Islamic
Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 2
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Arabian Peninsula -- Description and travel
The idol of Jeddah, in the days of Arab litholatry, was called Sakhrah
Tawilah, the Long Stone. May not this stone of Eve be the Moslemized
revival of the old idolatry? It is to be observed that the Arabs, if
the tombs be admitted as evidence, are inconsistent in their dimensions
of the patriarchal stature. The sepulchre of Adam at the Masjid
al-Khayf is, like that of Eve, gigantic. That of Noah at Al-Bukaa is a
bit of Aqueduct thirty-eight paces long by one and a half wide. Jobs
tomb near Hulah (seven parasangs from Kerbela) is small. I have not
seen the grave of Moses (south-east of the Red Sea), which is becoming
known by the bitumen cups there sold to pilgrims. But Aarons sepulchre
in the Sinaitic peninsula is of moderate dimensions.
On leaving the graveyard I offered the guardian a dollar, which he
received with a remonstrance that a man of my dignity should give so
paltry a fee. Nor was he at all contented with the assurance that
nothing more could be expected from an Afghan Darwaysh, however pious.
Next day the boy Mohammed explained the
[p.276] Mans empressement and disappointment,I had been mistaken for the
Pasha of Al-Madinah.
For a time my peregrinations ended. Worn out with fatigue, and the
fatal fiery heat, I embarked (Sept. 26) on board the Dwarka; experienced
the greatest kindness from the commander and chief officer (Messrs.
Wolley and Taylor); and, wondering the while how the Turkish pilgrims
who crowded the vessel did not take the trouble to throw me overboard,
in due time I arrived at Suez.
And here, reader, we part. Bear with me while I conclude, in the words
of a brother traveller, long gone, but not forgottenFa-hianthis Personal
Narrative of my Journey to Al-Hijaz: I have been exposed to perils, and
I have escaped from them; I have traversed the sea, and have not
succumbed under the severest fatigues; and my heart is moved with
emotions of gratitude, that I have been permitted to effect the objects
I had in view.[FN#12]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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