Personal narrative of a pilgrimage to El-Madinah and Meccah

Front matter

O w (

0*

^^0^ e It o

Chapter I Pagb

A few Words concerning what Induced me to a Pilgrimage, . . 1*7

CHAPTER n.

I Leave Alexandria, 29

CHAPTER ni.

The Nile Steamboat, 41

CHAPTER IV.

Life in the Wakdlah, 48

CHAPTER V.

The Mosque, 1Z

CHAPTER VL Preparations to Quit Cairo, 86

CHAPTER Vn.

From Cairo to Suez, , 94

CHAPTER VHI.

Suez, 107

CHAPTER IX.

The Pilgrim Ship, . 120

CHAPTER X.

ToYambu, 136

CHAPTER XL

The Halt at Yambu, 145

CHAPTER XIL From Yambu to Bir Abbas, 155

CHAPTER XHL Fi*om Bir Abbas to El Medinah, 16*7

CHAPTER XIV.

Through the Suburb of El Medinah to Hamid's House, .... 179

CHAPTER XV.

A Visit to the Prophet's Tomb. 194

Vm CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVL pagb

El Medinah, 230

CHAPTER XVn.

A Ride to the Mo8q[ue of Kuba, , 243

CHAPTER XVm.

The Visitation of Hamzah's Tomb, 267

CHAPTER XIX.

The People of El Medinah, 2*78

CHAPTER XX.

A Visit to the Saints' Cemetery, . 290

CHAPTER XXL From El Medinah to El Suwayrkiyah, 804

CHAPTER XXn.

The Bedouins of El Hejaz, SIB

CHAPTER XXIIL From El Suwayrkiyah to Meccah, 846

CHAPTER XXIV, The House of Allah, .• 366

CHAPTER XXV.

The First Visit to the House of Allah, 889

CHAPTER XXVI.

Of Ha]j, or Pilgrimage, 401

CHAPTER XXVII The Ceremonies of the Yaum El Tarwiyah, 418

CHAPTER XXVni The Ceremonies of the Day of Arafat, 423

CHAPTER XXIX.

The Ceremonies of the Day of Victims, 432

CHAPTER XXX.

The Days of Drying Flesh, 446

CHAPTER XXXL .> Life at Meccah, and the Little Pilgrimage, 468

CHAPTER XXXn.

Places of Pious Visitation at Meccah, ... ... 469

CHAPTER XXXIIL To Jeddah, * 479

INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.

BY BAYARD TAYLOR.

The present century is already remarkable beyond the last, for the extent and richness of its contributions to geographical knowledge ; but the generation in which we live will be especially noted hereafter as that which has preeminently invaded the few lingering haunts of fable, and brought their cherished mysteries under the microscopic lenses of modem eyes. "Within ten years the courageous M. Hue has penetrated through the vast interior realms of China and Tartary, to the sacred city of Lha-Ssa, of which he has given the first satisfactory description ; Lieutenant Lynch has exploded the superstitious terrors with which the Dead Sea was regarded ; Dr. Barth has returned safely to Europe, after a residence of seven months at Timbuctoo ; Dr. Krapf has looked upon the snowy pinnacles of the long lost Mountains of the Moon ; and now, Lieutenant Burton, having penetrated to Medina and Mecca, and entered the holiest sanctuaries of the Moslem faith, presents us with the picturesque story of his pilgrimage. The extreme reverence in which these cities are held.

X INTRODUCTION.

and that jealousy which prevents all acknowledged followers of other religions from visiting, or even approaching them, undoubtedly grew out of the fierce and fanatical character of Mohammedanism in its earlier days. The violence of that fanaticism is now over. Except in Arabia, the cradle and stronghold of Islam, the Frank Christians mingle freely with the followers of the Prophet, not only without indignity, but in many places as their friends and protectors. The rapid spread of intercourse between the East and the West, and, more than all, the recent alliance of Christian and Moslem powers in the war against Russia, has greatly weakened, and, in the course of time, may wholly obliterate, the bitterness of that religious prejudice which has hitherto been the characteristic of such intercourse. Its effect is already seen, in the facility with which travellers now obtain access to the sacred mosques of Constantinople and Cairo. Even the Mosque of Omar, at Jerusalem, where, five years ago, Christians were stoned for attempting to enter — ^whose gates would not open to a Frank for a firman of the Sultan himself— has alike become accessible to profane feet. The same change will eventually overtake the more bigoted population of the Hedjaz, and future travellers, perhaps, in green veils and spectacles, may languidly scrutinize the mosques of Mecca. The success of such men as Burckhardt and Burton should not be ascribed, however, to this circumstance. It is entirely due to their courage, prudence, and perseverance, and to their intimate acquaintance with eastern life, and the ceremonials of the Moslem faith.

INTRODUCTION. 33

The design of visiting Mecca has been a favorite one with travellers for centuries past, but the difficulties in the way of its prosecution have been so great, that the number of those who succeeded may be reckoned upon the fingers of one's hand. Lieutenant Burton, in an Appendix to the English edition of his work, gives extracts from the descriptions of his predecessors, which differ from his own and Burckhardt's in some trifling particulars, but correspond much more nearly than might have been expected from travellers of such different epochs. Gibbon, at the time of writing his " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," was not aware any Christian had reached Mecca up to that time. It appears, however, from Mr. Burton's investigations, that two persons had accomplished the journey — Lodovico Bartema, a gentleman of Rome, in the year 1603 ; and Joseph Pitts, of Exon, England, in 1680. To these may be added, in later years, Giovanni Finati, an Italian renegade, and Burckhardt, both in 1814, and Burton, in 1853. The French apostates in the service of Mohammed Ali, some of whom made the usual pilgrimage, as good Mussulmans, need not be reckoned. Some of them have published accounts of their experiences, it is true ; but, as new converts to the faith, they were regarded with distrust, and thereby prevented from making measurements or observations. Their accounts are therefore very inaccurate, and contribute nothing to our knowledge of the holy cities.

The first traveller on the list, Lodovico Bartema, visited Damascus in his wanderings through the East, and

Sii INTRODUCTION.

there won the friendship of a Mameluke captain, who was a renegade Christian. Disguising himself as a Mameluke, he accompanied the latter on a pilgrimage to Mecca, apparently conducting himself as a devout Mussulman, for his real character was not suspected, although he was afterwards imprisoned for a time in Yemen, on acknowledging himself a Christian. His narrative has all the quaint simplicity and picturesque character of those of the early travellers, with no more credulity than is necessary to give piquancy to his story. Lieutenant Burton, who of course is thoroughly competent to judge on this point, places him in the foremost rank of the old oriental travellers, for correctness of observation and readiness of wit.

Joseph Pitts was an English boy, who, for love of adventure going to sea in his fifteenth or sixteenth year, was captured by Algerine pirates and sold as a slave. His master, who had been a great sinner, determined to convert him, as an atonement for his own impiety, and achieved his object by means of the bastinado. Pitts submitted to this violent conversion, and performed all the external forms and ceremonies required of him ; but hated the new faith in his heart, with a vehemence which was *not in the least abated by fifteen years of Moslem life. He was taken to Mecca and El Medinah by his master, remained some months in the former city, and returned to Cairo. Having received his fi'eedom, he determined to make his escape, in which, after various adventures, he succeeded, and returned safely to England. His descriptions of the Beit Allah (house of God) at Mecca, the

INTRODUCTION. XUl

ceremonies on Mount Arafat, the stoning of the devil, and other features of the pilgrimage, are very circumstantial and correct, considering that they were written from memory, after a lapse of many years. Lieutenant Burton finds little fault with Pitts, except his hatred and bigotry, which the manner of his conversion may well explain.

Finati was an ignorant and unprincipled Italian renegade, who made the campaign against the Wahabees for the recovery of Mecca and Medina, in the army of Mohammed Ali. Mr. Bankes, the English traveller, afterwards took him into his service, and translated the narrative of his adventures, which was dictated in Italian, as he was unable to write. The particulars he gives concerning the holy places of Mecca are very imperfect and unsatisfactory. Burckhardt, who made his visit to Mecca and Medina in the same year as Finati, may be considered as the first enlightened and experienced traveller who describes those places. He ventured on the undertaking only after years of preparation in the East, and a familiarity with the language and the faith so complete, that, under his assumed name of Shekh Ibrahim, his real character was unsuspected. Once only, when visiting Mohammed Ali, at Tayf, was he subjected to a rigid examination on points of Mohammedan doctrine, by two learned sheJchs ul-Islam^ at the instance of the pasha, who had heard suspicions whispered against him in Cairo. Burckhardt passed the test triumphantly, the shekhs declaring, that he was not only a genuine Mussulman, but one of

XIV INTRODUCTION.

unusual learning and piety. After performing all the ceremonies of the pilgrimage, he returned to Mecca, where he remained three months, before visiting Medina. At the latter place he was too ill to make many observations, and his descriptions are more meagre than usual. His accounts of the holy edifices of Mecca, and the pilgrim ceremonies, however, are very complete, and Burton pays the highest tribute to his correctness, by copying entire his description of the Kaaba.

The present author, therefore, traverses a partly beaten track, but a track wherein the last success reflects as much honor as the first. His exjDeriment, in fact, was even more daring than that of Burckhardt, whose assumed character was already recognised throughout the Orient, and who, after his examination at Tayf, was placed beyond the reach of suspicion. Burton, on the other hand, was a novice in this special field, and was obliged to disguise himself under a totally different character. He took his part with admirable boldness and skill, and when once suspected by the young Meccan rogue, Mohammed, whose travels had made his vision precociously keen, was zealously defended by the remainder of the party, who completely silenced his accuser. Burton's narrative is especially valuable for his fiill and accurate particulars of the religious observances of the pilgrimage, and the various formulas of salutation and prayer. In this respect there is no other work of the kind equal to it. His descriptions of the holy edifices are scrupulously technical and ctireful ; and he gives us, for the first time, sketches of the sacred citief?

INTBODUCTI ON. XV

which impress us with their fidelity to nature. We could have desired more ample pictures of the scenery through which he passed, and the spirited account of the voyage from Suez to Yambu shows that he is not deficient in descriptive power. But much allowance must be made for the night travels of the pilgrim caravan, and the consequent fatigue of the traveller. He has the advantage over Burckhardt of writing in his mother-tongue, and his narrative is much richer in those characteristic personal incidents and adventures which are the vital spirit of books of travel.

It is to be hoped that so prudent, daring, and intelligent a traveller will be permitted to carry out his original scheme of exploring the interior of the Arabian peninsula — one of the richest and most interesting fields of research now remaining. Certainly no one is better qualified for the undertaking.

B. T.

New Yoek, July Is^, 1866.

X™ Tor ^ G. P Putnam & C-

A PILGRIMAGE

TO

EL MEDINAH AND MECCAH.

CHAPTER I.

TO ALEXANDRIA.

A FEW WORDS CONCERNING WHAT INDUCED MB TO A PILGRIMAGE.

In t^.e autumn of 1852, through the medium of General Moiiteith, I offered my services to the Royal Geographical Society of London, for the purpose of removing that opprobrium to modern adventure, the huge white blot which in our maps still notes the eastern and the central regions of Arabia. A deputation from that distinguished body, with their usual zeal for discovery and readiness to encourage the discoverer, honored me by warmly supporting, in a personal interview with the Chairman of the Court of Directors to the East India Company, my application for three years' leave of absence on special duty from India to Muscat. But they were unable to prevail upon Sir James Hogg, who, remembering the fatalities which of late years have befallen sundry soldier-travellers in the East, refused his sanction, alleging as a reason that the contemplated jouraey was of too dangerous a nature. In compensation, however, for the disappomtment, I was graciously allowed the additional furlough of a year, in order to pursue my Arabic studies in lands where the language is best learned.

What remained for me but to prove, by trial, that what might be perilous to other travellers is safe to me. The " experimentum crucis" was a visit to El Hejaz, at once the most difficult and the most dangerous point by which a European can enter Arabia. I had intended, had the period of leave originally applied for been granted, to land at Muscat — a favorable starting-place — and there to apply myself, slowly and surely, to the task of spanning the deserts. But now I was to hurry, in the midst of summer, after a four years' sojourn in Europe, during which many things Oriental had fallen away from my memory, and — after passing through the ordeal of Egypt, a country where the police is curious as in Rome or Milan — ^to begin with the Moslem's Holy Land, the jealously guarded and exclusive Haram. However, being liberally supplied with the means of travel by the Royal Geographical Society ; thoroughly tired of " progress" and of " civilization ;" curious to see with my eyes what others are content to " hear with ears," namely, Moslem's inner life in a really Mohammedan country; and longing, if truth be told, to set foot on that mysterious spot which no tourist had yet described, measured, sketched and daguerreotyped, I resolved to resume an old character of a Persian wanderer,* and to make the attempt.

The principal object with which I started was this : — To cross the unknown Arabian Peninsula, in a direct line from either El Medinah to Muscat, or diagonally from Meccah to

* The vagrant, the merchant, and the philosopher, amongst Orientals, are frequently united in the same person.

HOW AND WHY UNDERTAKEN. 19

Makallah on the Indian Ocean. By what circumstances my plans were defeated, the reader will discover in the course of this volume. The secondary objects were numerous. I was desu'ous to find out if any market for horses could be ^ opened between Central Arabia and India, where the studs are beginning to excite general dissatisfaction ; to obtain information concerning the Great Eastern wilderness, the vast expanse marked Ruba el Khali (the empty abode) in our maps ; to inquire into the hydrography of the Hejaz, its water-shed, the disputed slope of the country, and the existence or non-existence of perennial streams ; and finally, to try, by actual observation, the truth of a theory proposed by the learned Orientahst, Col. Sykes, namely, that if history speak truth, in the population of the vast Peninsula there must exist certain physiological difierences sufficient to warrant our questioning the common origin of the Arab family. As regards the horses, I am satisfied that from the Eastern coast something might be done, — nothing on the Western, where the animals, though " thorough-bred," are mere " weeds," of a foolish price, and procurable only by chance. Of the Ruba el Khali I have heard enough, from credible relators, to conclude that its horrid depths swarm with a large and half-starving population ; that it abounds in wadys, valleys, gullies, and ravines, partially fertilized by intermittent torrents ; and therefore, that the land is open only to the adventurous traveller. Moreover, I am satisfied, that in spite of all geographers, from Ptolemy to Jormard, Arabia, which abounds in fiumaras^

* In a communication made to the Royal Geographical Society, and published in the 24th voL of the Journal, I have given my reasons for naturalising this "word. It will be used in the following pages to express a " hill water-course, which rolls a torrent after rain, and is either partially or wholly dry during the drought season." It is, in fact, the Indian "KuUah."

possesses not a single perennial stream worthy the name of river; and the testimony of the natives induces me to think, with WalUn, contrary to Ritter and others, that the Peninsula falls instead of rising towards the south. Finally, I have found proof, to be produced in a futm-e part of this pubhcation, for believing in three distinct races. 1. The aborigines of the country, driven, like the Bheels and other autochthonic Indians, into the eastern and south-eastern wilds bordering upon the ocean. 2. A Syrian or Mesopotamian stock, typified by Shem and Joktan, that drove the indigense from the choicest tracts of country ; these invaders still enjoy their conquests, representing the great Arabian people. And 3. An impure Egypto-Arab clan — we personify it by Ishmael, his son Nebajoth and Edom (Esau, the son of Isaac) — that populated and still populates the Sinaitic Peninsula. And in most places, even in the heart of Meccah, I met with debris of heathenry, proscribed by Mohammed, yet still popular, though the ignorant observers of the old customs assign to them a modern and a rationalistic origin.

I have entitled this account of my summer's tour through El Hejaz, a personal narrative, and I have labored to make its nature correspond with its name, simply because " it is the personal that interests mankind." Many may not follow my example ;* but some, perchance, will be curious to see what measures I adopted, in order to appear

* The only European I have met with who visited Meccah without apostatising, is M. Bertolucci, Swedish Consul at Cairo. This gentleman persuaded the Bedouin camel men who were accompanying him to Taif, to introduce him in disguise ; he naively owns that his terror of discovery prevented his making any observations. Dr. Wallin, of Finland, performed the Haj in 1846 ; but his " somewhat perilous position, and the filthy company of Persians," were effectual obstacles to his taking notes.

GETTING INTO TRAIN. 21

suddenly as an Eastern upon the stage of Oriental life ; and as the recital may be found useful by future adventurers, I make no apology for the egotistical semblance of the narrative. Those who have felt the want of some " silent friend" to aid them with advice, when it must not be asked, will appreciate what may appear to the uninterested critic mere outpourings of a mind full of self.

In April, 1853, I left London for Southampton. By the advice of a brother officer — ^little thought at that time the adviser or the advised how valuable was the suggestion — my Eastern dress was called into requisition before leaving town, and all my " impedimenta" were taught to look exceedingly Oriental. Early the next day a " Persian Prince" embarked on board the Peninsular and Oriental Company's screw steamer " Bengal."

A fortnight was profitably spent in getting into the train of Oriental manners. For what poUte Chesterfield says of the difiference between a gentleman and his reverse — namely, that both perform the same offices of life, but each in a several and widely different way — ^is notably as applicable to the manners of the Eastern as of the Western men. Look, for instance, at an Indian Moslem drinking a glass of water. With us the operation is simple enough, but his performance includes no less than five novelties. In the first place, he clutches his tumbler as though it were the throat of a foe ; secondly, he ejaculates, " In the name of Allah the Compassionate, the Merciful !" before wetting his lips ; thirdly, he imbibes the contents, swallowing them, not drinking, and ending with a satisfied grunt ; fourthly, before setting down the cup, he sighs forth, " Praise be to Allah !" — of which you will understand the full meaning in the Desert ; and, fifthly, he replies, " May Allah make it pleasant to thee !" in answer to his friend's poUte " Pleasurably and health !" Also he is careful to avoid the irreligious action of drinking the pure element in a standing position, mindful, however, of the three recognised exceptions, the fluid of the Holy Well, Zem-zem, water distributed in charity, and that which remains after Wuzu, the lesser ablution. Moreover, in Europe one forgets the use of the right hand, the manipulation of the rosary, the abuse of the chair, — your genuine Oriental looks almost as comfortable in one as a sailor upon the back of a high-trotting horse — the rolling gait with the toes straight to the front, the grave look and the habit of pious ejaculations.

Our voyage over the " summer sea" was an eventless one.

The ship was in every way comfortable ; the cook, strange to say, was good, and the voyage lasted longenough, and not too long. On the evening of the thirteenth day after our start, the big-trowsered pilot, so lovely in his deformities to western eyes, made his appearance, and the good screw " Bengal" found herself at anchor off the Headland of Figs.

Having been invited to start fi*om the house of a kind friend, I disembarked with him, and rejoiced to see that by dint of a beard and a shaven head I had succeeded in misleading the inquisitive spirit of the populace. The mingled herd of spectators before whom we passed in review on the landing-place, hearing an audible " Alhamdulillah,"* whispered " Moslem !" The infant population spared me the compliments usually addressed to hatted heads ; and when a little boy, presuming that the occasion might possibly open the hand of generosity, looked in my face and

* "Praise be to Allah, Lord of the (three) worlds!'* a pious ejaculation, which leaves the lips of the True Believer on all occasions of concluding actions.

THE "kAIF." 23

exclaimed, " Bakhshish,"* he obtained in reply " Mafish ;"f Tvhich convinced the bystanders that the sheep-skin contained a real sheep. We then mounted a carriage, fought our way through the donkeys, and in half an hour found ourselves, chibouque in mouth and coffee-cup in hand, seated on divans in my Mend's hospitable house.

Wonderful was the contrast between the steamer and that villa on the Mahmudiyah canal ! Startling the sudden change from presto to adagio life! In thirteen days we had passed from the clammy grey fog, that atmosphere of industry which kept us at an anchor off the Isle of Wight, through the livehest air of the inland sea, whose sparkling blue and purple haze spread charms even on Africa's beldame features, and now we were sitting silent and still, listening to the monotonous melody of the East — the soft night-breeze wandering through starlight skies and tufted trees, with a voice of melancholy meaning.

And this is the Arab's Kaif. The savoring of animal existence ; the passive enjoyment of mere sense ; the pleasant languor, the dreamy tranquilhty, the airy castle-building, which in Asia stand in lieu of the vigorous, intensive, passionate life of Europe. It is the result of a lively, impressible, excitable nature, and exquisite sensibility of nerve, — a facility for voluptuousness unknown to northern regions ; where happiness is placed in the exertion of men-

* " Bakhshish" s&ja a modern writer, " is a fee or present which the Arabs (he here means the Egyptians, who got the word from the Persians through the Turks) claim on all occasions for services you render them, as well as for services they have rendered you. This bakhshish, in fact, is a sort of alms or tribute, which the poor Arab believes himself entitled to claim from every respectable-looking person."

f Mafish, " There is none," equivalent to, " I have left my purse at home." Ifothing takes the Oriental mind so much as a retort alliterative or jingling.

tal and physical powers ; where niggard earth commands ceaseless sweat of brow, and damp chill air demands perpetual excitement, exercise, or change, or adventure, or dissipation, for want of something better. In the East, man requires but rest and shade : upon the banks of a bubbling stream, or under the cool shelter of a perfumed tree, he is perfectly happy, smoking a pipe, or sipping a cup of coffee, or drinking a glass of sherbet, but, above all things, deranging body and mind as little as possible ; the trouble of conversations, the displeasures of memory, and the vanity of thought being the most unpleasant interruptions to his Kaif. No wonder that Kaif is a word untranslatable in our mother-tongue !*

The better to blind the inquisitive eyes of servants and visitors, my friend lodged me in an outhouse, where I could revel in the utmost freedom of Ufe and manners. And although some Armenian Dragoman, a restless spy like all his race, occasionally remarked that "voila un Persan diablement degage," none, except those who were entrusted with the secret, had any idea of the part I was playing. The domestics, devout Moslems, pronounced me to be an Ajemi,* a kind of Mohammedan, not a good one like themselves, but still, better than nothing. I lost no time in securing the assistance of a Shaykh,f and plunged once more into the intricacies of the Faith, revived my recollectians of religious ablution, read the Koran, and again became an adept in the art of prostration. My leisure hours were employed in visiting the baths and coffee-houses, in attend-

* In a coarser sense "kaif" is applied to all manner of intoxication. Sonnini is not wrong when he says, " the Arabs give the name of Kaif to the voluptuous relaxation, the dcHcious stupor, produced by the smoking of hemp."

f A Persian opposed to an Arab.

X A priest, elder, chieftain, language-master, <fec. <feo.

THE PILGKIM " PRACTISES" AS A DOCTOR. 25

ing the bazaars, and in shopping, — an operation which hereabouts consists of sitting upon a chapman's counter, smoking, sipping coffee, and telling your beads the while, to show that you are not of the slaves for whom time is made ; m fact, in pitting your patience against that of your adversary the shopman.

Careful of graver matters, I also attended the mosque, and visited the venerable locaHties in which modern Alexandria abounds.

It is not to be supposed that the people of Alexandria could look upon my phials and pill-boxes, without a yearning for their contents. An Indian doctor, too, was a novelty to them ; Franks they despised, but a man who had come so far from the West ! Then there was something infinitely seducing in the character of a magician, doctor, and fakir, each admirable of itself, thus combined to make " great medicine." Men, women, and children besieged my door, by which means I could see the people face to face, and especially the fair sex, of which Europeans, generally speaking, know only the worst specimens. Even respectable natives, after witnessing a performance of " Mandal " and the Magic mirror,* opined that the stranger was a holy man, gifted with supernatural powers, and knowing everything. One old person sent to offer me his daughter in marriage ; he said nothing about dowry, but on this occasion I thought proper to decline the honor. And a middle-aged lady proffered me the sum of 100 piastres, nearly one pound

* Form of Oriental divination which owes its present celebrity in Europe to Mr. Lane. Both it and the magic mirror are hackneyed subjects, but I have been tempted to a few words concerning them in another part of this volume. Meanwhile I request the reader not to set me down as a mere charlatan ; medicine in the East is so essentially united with superstitious practices, that he who would pass for an expert practitioner, must necessarily represent himself an " adept."

sterling, if I would stay at Alexandria, and superintend the restoration of her blind eye.

But the reader must not be led to suppose that I acted " Carabin," or " Sangrado," without any knowledge of my trade. From youth I have always been a dabbler in medical and mystical study. Moreover, the practice of physic is comparatively easy amongst dwellers in warm latitudes, uncivilised people, where there is not that complication of maladies which troubles more pohshed nations. And further, what simplifies extremely the treatment of the sick in these parts is, the undoubted periodicity of disease, reducing almost all to one type — ague.* Many of the complaints of tropical climates, as medical men well know, display palpably intermittent symptoms unknown to colder countries ; and speaking from individual experience, I may safely assert that in all cases of suffering, from a wound to ophthalmia, this phenomenon has forced itself into my notice. So much by way of excuse. I therefore considered myself as well qualified for the work as if I had taken out a buono per V ester o diploma at Padua.

After a month's hard work at Alexandria, I prepared to assume the character of a wandering Dervish, after reforming my title from " Mirsa " \ to " Shaykh " Abdullah.| A

* Hence the origin, I believe, of the chronothermal practice, a discovery which physic owes to Dr. Dickson.

\ The Persian " Mister." In future chapters the reader will see the uncomfortable consequences of my having appeared in Egypt as a Persian. Although I found out the mistake, and worked hard to correct it, the bad name stuck to me ; bazaar reports fly quicker and hit harder than newspaper paragraphs.