Chapter XX: Front Matter (20)

The first well that we saw was that of birds embalm’d; when we had caused the sand that stops the well’s mouth to be removed, through which we were to go down, and from thence to enter into the cave, we caused ourselves to be let down one after another, by tying a double rope about our middles. As soon as we were at the bottom, and that every one had lighted his taper, and several matches that we had brought, we went into the cave creeping upon our bellies. The cave is an alley in the rock, about the height of a man, and about the breadth of a perch, and of an extraordinary length. We found there many other allies on both hands, cut in the rock, where were many large stores full of earthen pots, covered over with coverings of the same substance. In these pots were embalm’d birds of all kinds, every bird in it’s own pot. And as I thought that the remembrance of a custom so ancient and superstitious was worthy of our notice, I brought about half a dozen with me, some I have sent to the King’s library. We found also some hens-eggs empty, but entire, without any ill smell or crack.

When we had view’d sufficiently this cave, we returned up in the same manner that we went down, and found another open’d, called the _Virgin_, which is that was never opened before. According to our orders to the _Arabians_, Monsieur _Tiger_ and the others went down in the same manner as into the former, I alone could not follow them, because of a _quartan_ fever, which had troubled me fourteen months, and took me at that very moment; but I lost nothing by that; for these gentlemen told me at their return, that they found an horrid stench and a close air, that put out their candles and their matches also, every time that they endeavour’d to light them, which caused them to get up again without entring farther. They told me that this well was much deeper than the former.

We caused another to be opened, which was not a Virgin-well, as the former, because it was not so deep. I ventured into that, notwithstanding my indisposition.

We found there two Mummies, a great one and a little one of a child, both in coffins; the greatest was of marble, upon the covering it had the likeness of the person for whom it was made. We caused these biers or coffins to be open’d, but found nothing extraordinary, therefore we made no account of them, and left them where we found them.

We went down next into a cave, call’d _The Church_, which was not so deep as the former. It was nothing but a long alley under ground, well plaistered, and painted all over with hieroglyphic figures round about the sides. It was almost all full of sand, which caused us to creep along upon our knees.

If the reader desires a prospect, and a description of this ancient burying-place, let him think upon a boundless champain, even and covered over with sand, where neither trees, nor grass, nor houses, nor any such thing is to be seen; let him represent to himself the superficies of this large field full of dry bones of arms, legs, feet, and heads; full of scattered pieces of wood of coffins, of little idols, some of wood, others of plaister embolish’d with green, and mark’d before and behind with hieroglyphic letters. These idols the _Arabians_ have taken from the broken Mummies, which they have cast away. In some places you may see great tomb-stones, full of cyphers and enigmatical figures, that represent something of chymistry, and of other sciences and mysteries, and full of strange characters that are no Hieroglyphics. Whilst I was looking upon this spectacle, the _Arabians_ brought me two, whereof I caused the copies to be drawn as soon as I was returned to _Cairo_.

You have here a description of some relicts of the grandeur and vanity of the ancient _Egyptians_, and the mournful signs of man’s mortality. The first sight is able to dash a person newly arrived out of countenance, and to affright him; I mean the sight of so many bones all scattered up and down, one would think that here hath been a grievous fight.

In this champain or field here are fifteen Pyramids; three are of an extraordinary bigness, which seem to have been favoured by time; for they appear entire without much decay. Here is also an entrance into every one, that shews a long alley which leads to a chamber; Monsieur _de Tiger_ went into that which is farthest from the village, commonly named _The Pyramid of Rodope_, where he found nothing in the chamber.

This Pyramid is built as a pavillion. The _Franks_ say, that _Rodope_, a famous strumpet, caused it to be built with the money that she had gotten with the loss of her honour. But this is doubtless an error, if it be true what _Pliny_ saith, that the Pyramid of _Rodope_ was but small, though very beautiful; therefore this, which is one of the greatest in all _Egypt_, cannot be that of _Rodope_. These are the words of _Pliny_: _Supremumque illud ne quis Regum opes miretur, minimam extitisse laudatissimam à Rodope meretricula factam. Æsopi fabularum Philosophi conserva quondam, & contubirnalis hæc fuit, majore miraculo tantas opes meretricio esse conquisitas quæstu._

For the others that are in the same field, time hath almost worn them out; for they are but so many heaps of sand, which have scarce the shape and shadow of what they have been heretofore.

Here is also a square heap of very great hewn stones. The _Arabians_ name it _Mastabet Faraoun_; for they say, that when the _Pharaohs_, Kings of _Egypt_, were to declare and give a new law to the people, they stood on the top of this heap. But these are the traditions of the poor _Arabians_ that have nothing of certainty.

To return to the wells of the Mummies; as soon as the _Franks_ have visited any, the wind, or the _Arabians_ fill the entry again full of sand, to get a little money at the second opening: This is the greatest gain of these wretches. The least they take for to open a Virgin-well is thirty piasters, because they that cause the well to be opened, have the liberty to carry away all the curiosities and Mummies that he finds there.

_A description of an entire body of a ~Mummy~._

This was a long and large body, in a very thick coffin of wood, shut close on all sides; the timber was not at all rotten, and we found it to be Sycamore-wood, which in _Egypt_ they call _Pharaoh_’s fig-tree, that does not rot so soon as other wood. Upon the coffin the face of him that was within it was cut in embossed work. Some coffins there are also of stone, with the face of the person within, cut in boss, and Hieroglyphics all along the length of it. There are two of these stones in the house of Monsieur _Fouquet_ at St _Mande_, and I had two of them also, of which one was broken at _Alexandria_, and the other, I brought home with me very whole, which weighs betwixt seven and eight hundred weight. Some of these coffins are made of several pieces of cloth pasted together, which are as strong as the wooden ones. I have one of this kind in my closet, made of above forty cloths glew’d or pasted together in thickness, which are not in the least rotten; it is cover’d all over with Idols and Hieroglyphics, painted on a very thin plaister, with which the outside cloth is daub’d over, but it is a little spoil’d, the plaister in some places being rubbed off. Among these figures there is a compartment at the lower end, two inches broad, and a foot long, being painted cross-ways over the coffin, wherein may be seen the manner how the ancient _Egyptians_ embalm’d dead bodies. In the middle of this compartment there is a long table shaped like a lion, on the back of which the body that is to be embalm’d is laid at length, and hard by there is a man with a knife in his hand opening the body; this man hath on a vizard mask, shaped like the beak of a sparrow-hawk, which without doubt was the custom of their embalmers, who made use of that kind of mask, that they might not breathe in the corruption that might evaporate from the death bodies, as the Physicians of _Italy_ do at present, who in time of a plague never stir abroad without a mask of this kind, in the long nose of which they put perfumes; though I make no doubt, but the mask I speak of is the head of _Osiris_, which the _Egyptians_ represented with the head of a sparrow-hawk, as they did _Anubis_ with the head of a dog, the _Nile_ with a lion’s head, _&c._ But as a surer mark that it is an embalming, there are four vessels without handles upon the aforesaid table, which could be nothing else but the vessels wherein the necessary drugs were kept not only for embalming, as _Balm_, _Cedria_, _&c._ but also for the wrapping up and incrustation of the body, as _Bitumen_ and others; by the sides of the table there are several persons standing and sitting in divers postures. Within this coffin is the figure of a naked maid with her arms stretched out.

But to return to my first discourse. This wooden coffin I mention’d being broken to pieces with hatchets, we found an entire body in it, which lay in this manner: The face was cover’d, as commonly all the rest are, with a kind of head-piece of cloth fitted with plaister, on which the countenance of that person was represented in gold, and when we took off the helmet, we found nothing of the face remaining, which is commonly reduced to ashes; I believe it is, because it will not admit of gumming so well as the other parts of the body. However, I brought to _Paris_ the head of a Mummy whole and entire, but it is all covered with fillets of cloth, so neatly fitted, that they hinder not, but one may see the shape of the eyes, nose, and mouth. The rest of the body was swathed with little bands of cloth very neatly made, but wrapped about with so many casts and turnings, that I believe there were a thousand ells in it; and certainly it is so rare a way of swathing and binding, that I think it cannot be imitated at present, as many Chirurgions have acknowledged to me. Along the brest and belly there was a band of cloth three good fingers broad, and a large foot and an half long, it was fastened to the other bands, and upon it were several Hieroglyphics done in gold. I took this writing and folded it up, that I might the more conveniently carry it up with me. I hoped to have found idols in that coffin, knowing that they interred many with their dead, either of stone, copper, or green earth, as I have several that have been found in these bodies, but finding none, I thought there might be some within his body; for after they had embowel’d them, they often enclosed idols within their bellies; for that end I had it broken up, but we could find nothing. I considered then that balm which is now quite lost, it is black, hard, and shines like pitch, having much such a smell, but more pleasant, that kept bodies entire, and, I believe, the sand contributed not a little thereto, for even in the greatest desarts of _Arabia_, sometimes the dead bodies of men and dogs, are found entire, who falling asleep, and staying behind the caravans, are covered over with an ocean of sand driven by the high winds in which the bodies being bury’d, are by the dryness and salt that is in the sand, which dries up all the humidity of them, preserved entire, and are afterwards found, when another wind blowing, carries off the sand again. Many think that the bodies so dry’d are the true Mummy; it is a mistake, and that which Merchants bring into Christendom, to be used in medicine, is the Mummy we first described. Near the room I went into there were several other full of bodies, but seeing the entries into them were full of sand, I call’d to them above to pull me up again by the same rope, with which I was let down, being much dissatisfy’d with my _Moors_, who had open’d so sorry a pit for me. When I was got up I look’d upon my cloth, whereon were characters of gold, but was much vex’d to see that all the letters disappeared, and that by my own fault, because I had folded it together when it was very humid, and so all the gold and paint stuck to the opposite sides; whereas I should have brought it up open and dry’d it in the sun. But I have others that are finer, which are only a little spoiled in the bringing. I brought with me also some hands of Mummies, which are as entire at present as ever they were. I had also the good fortune to buy upon the place some idols of the _Moors_, who come and sell them to the _Franks_ in the city. These idols are of several sorts, and in many postures, there are of them of copper, of several sorts of stone, and several sorts of earth also; at least I have some of all these kinds, all which I am very sure have been taken out of Mummies, and cannot be said to be counterfeit, for besides that they have not the art to do it, they sell them at so easy a rate, that the very materials are worth more. This is all I could observe of the Pyramids and Mummies; and hence it appears, that the ancient _Egyptians_ spent more in their tombs than during their whole lives; and one reason they gave for that was, that their houses were only for living a short time in, and their tombs the palaces that were to be inhabited by their souls for many ages. Not far from these Mummies, towards the _Nile_, are some remains of a large town, which was _Memphis_, the inhabitants whereof were buried there, the ancients never burying their dead within towns, for fear of infecting the air, none but Christians, who mind not that, bury their dead any where. Now, to prove that these great ruins are the remains of _Memphis_, _Pliny_ affirms it, when he says, that the Pyramids are betwixt the _Delta_ of _Egypt_ and the city of _Memphis_ on the side of _Africa_. At length we returned by old _Cairo_, and saw all that is curious, or worth being seen in it.

_A Letter from ~Dublin~, concerning the ~Porphyry Pillars~ in ~Egypt~. By Dr ~Huntingdon~._

_SIR_,

You engage me after a very undeniable manner, as I perceive by the minutes of your philosophical society, to send you some account of the porphyry pillars in _Egypt_; and though I could have satisfied your curiosity much better in this matter, had you thought of it when I was amongst my papers in _Oxford_, yet rather than hazard your good opinion, or give the least pretence of disrespect to your worthy company, for whose persons and designs I have so just an esteem and veneration: I here send not what’s fit for me to write, or you to read, but what I can remember upon this subject.

Nor do I intend to speak concerning the nature or composition of stones in general, or of porphyry more particularly, but meerly as to matter of fact, so far chiefly as it fell under my own cognizance, _i. e._ if you please, rather like an Historian than a Philosopher.

In the first place then, I think it may be taken for granted, that there is no such quarry, or rock of stone rather, in all the lower parts of _Egypt_; for so far as the _Nile_ overflows is perfect soil. A sample whereof I hope you still retain, and let me entreat you to be very exact in weighing it this year, that you may be sure whether it be heavier in the time of the inundation, as is generally believed, than before or after: And when, and in what proportion it increases.

The boundaries of this overflow, which are never ten miles from the channel, that I saw, generally scarce half of it, and in some places but a mile or two (the _Delta_ still excepted, which is universally covered, all but the north side to the sea, and a little to the east for some miles above _Damiata_) are rising hills of sand, beyond which is perfect desart, upon the _Afric_ side, the _Lybian_. [Higher south I have been told, there are rocks nearer the river, and in some places straiten it.] But under those sands is a yielding stone, not much harder than chalk, though not so white, and very easily managed, as at the _Mummies_ deep spacious vaults, which were the old repositories for the dead. And the like also may be said of those cells or sepulchres which are hewn purely out of the rocky earth three quarters of a mile on the south of _Alexandria_. Albeit nearer the sea there are stones of a harder kind, and with which they build; but by their mouldering away, as appears by the remains of houses within the walls of the city, ’tis plain they can’t endure the weather, which is sufficiently corroding there. The iron which once plated their thick wooden gates being mostly eaten away, and the deep characters upon the sides of these very porphyry pillars exceedingly defaced. Indeed about _Memphis_, _i. e._ by the Pyramids, they have a milder air, and the hieroglyphics cut in those stones will last well enough, till they shall be removed into a rougher: But then they’ll crizle and scale, as I found by sad experience. For having procured four stones, the best marked with those figures of antiquity I could meet with, and sent them down to _Alexandria_, in order to their transportation for _England_, I found them, upon my second voyage into _Egypt_, very much injured, being put into the custom-house-yard (where they lie still embargo’d) by the _Aga_, who demanded an intolerable sum for liberty to ship them, as you may remember I told you the story.

But yet farther in the country there are mountains of harder stone: In the _Nitrian_, now the desart of St _Macarius_, and not far from the lake where the latroon or true nitre incrustates upon the top of the water, there are many, and some of them not utterly unlike porphyry. That which nearest resembles it’s colour, though not it’s consistence, is the vein that produces the eagle-stone, of which there are many in the _Bahr Batama_, a great sandy valley: But these stones are of a different complexion from porphyry, as you may perceive by those I sent you, which also will assist your conjectures of their original.

However, I can’t pronounce that there is no porphyry hereabouts; for in the chief monastery of the four now remaining (of 366, as many as are days in the longest year) dedicated to the Blessed Virgin; the two stones which secure their entrance are of the like, if not the very same substance; which I more particularly observed upon the account of their ingenious contrivance; for these poor people, lying otherwise at the mercy of the roving _Arabs_, with these two mill-stones (for that’s their make) thus make good their gate against them, (or rather their passage) into which they run them, and then drive a great wooden wedge between them on the inside, which so fastens them, that they cannot be loosed, but upon the inside neither. And of such a sort of porphyry is the noted _Sphynx_ (a mighty head and shoulders one hundred and ten feet in compass) yet standing by the northern Pyramids.

I have indeed been told of the place upon mount _Sinai_, whence this porphyry came, but so they shew the very rock where the two excellent double rows of pillars in the church of _Bethlehem_ were hewn; though I went away satisfy’d that it was a quite different sort of stone. Another tells of a pillar of the same make yet lying there; and if this be certain you need seek no farther. Albeit, I must tell you, that the stones brought thence with the representation of a buck (it must needs be call’d) upon them, some of which you had, though reddish, are of a much finer and more even texture.

_Wansleben_ writes of a great many more southerly; but I know him to well to believe all that he says for Gospel. And a more sober man, Father _Carlo Francisco d’Orleans_, now superior of the _Capucines_ at _Cairo_, who went three hundred leagues up the _Nile_ in the year 1569, told me of many temples, statues, and pillars at that distance; though I cannot be sure he said there were any of porphyry. But since it was in _Thebais_, why may we not suppose them of that black, white, and red speckled _Thebaic_ marble, famous in the world, and wherewith the lesser Pyramid perhaps was crusted, yet to be seen upon the ground about it, and when polish’d looks finely.

Those which I have myself seen, are one of them at the _Matarea_, three or four miles east of Grand _Cairo_, and two at _Alexandria_, just within the wall upon the north side of the city; for _Pompey_’s Pillar, as they call it, half a mile without the gate to the south, is quite of another make and matter; one of these is thrown down and broken into pieces, but was of the same dimensions for breadth and thickness with the other. The _Franks_ call them _Aguglia_’s, the _English_ particularly _Cleopatra_’s needles, but the inhabitants content themselves with the general name of Pillars. They have no Basis nor Pedestals above ground; and if they never had, they must needs be very deep in the earth. The draughts I here send you will excuse all farther description. One of them was very well taken by Monsieur _Brute_ a _French Druggerman_, the other by a _Dutch_ Painter, who, you will see, has but little commended his art.

If you have a fancy, upon the sight of them, to sift out the Hieroglyphic character with which they are engraven, perhaps you will find it to be the ab-original _Egyptian_ letter, long since worn out of common use in the country, as the _Samaritan_ (so it is now generally call’d) was amongst the Jews; and that it bears proportion with the _China_ now in use, where each note represents a word, or rather an entire signification. And moreover, that it is wrought the same way too, from the top to the bottom; as you have seen in the board I brought from a door in the village _Succara_, which is next to the Mummies, the largest piece of _Egyptian_ writing, perhaps at this day in _Europe_. I confess that in the vaults or Priests chambers cut out of the rock, close by the second Pyramid, the whole walls are inscribed therewith, but I speak of an original. And if all that is there written were but exactly copy’d, it might be then lawful to hope, that the language so long since dead and bury’d in the house of bondage, might have it’s resurrection in the land of liberty.

That such vast monuments might be removed from place to place, is difficult indeed, but not impossible. And if one _Archimedes_ (as _Athenæus_ preserves the story for us) could launch the vast ship of _Hiero_, which all the strength of _Syracuse_ was not able to bring to sea; what might not many great masters in the same art perform, and upon their own dunghill too? For I may call _Egypt_ the mother of the Mathematics.

Besides, some of these mountains are near the Red Sea, and _Suss_ from _Cairo_ but two or three days, from _Nile_ less; and how possible it is to convey mighty weights by water, let the Obelisks at _Rome_ declare; which were all of them brought from this very country; and that such things may be done by land too, tho’ not by every one, is plain enough, because we see they have been done. At _Baalbec_, which is fourteen hours from _Damascus_, for thence I went, accompany’d with Mr _Anth. Balam_ and Mr. _Jo. Verney_, both now in _England_, whom I thought fit to name for my Compurgators, if you should question the credit of the story; there is a stone about sixty six foot long on the north side of the castle-wall, and two more of sixty each; and I believe we saw the way they travel’d, having left one of their company, tho’ not quite so big in the road, as a monument thereof to this very day.

If you have got the piece of this _Aguglia_, (for I have nothing here) you will thereby best discern it’s colour and composition. It is something more lively than the Porphyry of St _John_’s font (for by that name it is known) at _Ephesus_, much more vived than those four tall square pillars at _Tadmore_ (in it’s middle age _Palmyra_) which are each of them but of, I think, one piece, whilst all the rest, exceeding many, of another sort of stone, are of several pieces, and round. If you will attribute the clearness of their complexion in part to the air, which corrodes them especially upon the north and east; I impose not upon the liberty of your reason.

If the _Ichnography_ of them (which I desire you to reserve for me) won’t excuse me from any farther description, I beg your pardon that I have said thus much, and hazarded my judgment to demonstrate my affection, how much I am, and endeavour to be,

_Your faithful Friend_,

_And humble Servant_,

R. H.

_The cuts of these pillars are not prefixt to this paper, because engraven and publish’d elsewhere. See ~Philosophical Transactions, Nᵒ 178. p. 1252~._

‘Monsieur _Cuper_, in his letter to _l’Abbe Nicaise_, informs the world, that he had received letters from _Aleppo_, which say, that some _English_ Gentlemen, out of curiosity, going to visit the ruins of _Palmyra_, had found four hundred marble columns, of a sort of Porphyry, and also observed some temples, yet entire with tombs, monuments, _Greek_ and _Latin_ inscriptions, of all which he hopes to get copies. _Journal des Sçavans_, Nᵒ 25, _Anno 1692_.’

_A journey from ~Grand Cairo~ to ~Mecca~._

The day that the _Emir-Adge_ parted from _Cairo_, he encamped in tents, close by the city, and a few days after he encamped at the _Birque_, which is a great pond about twelve miles from _Cairo_, near to which they encamp. This place is the rendezvouz of all the Caravans. The _Emir-Adge_ parted from thence with the whole Caravan, Wednesday the eighth of _August_, it being the custom for the Caravan of _Cairo_ to set out fifty seven days after the beginning of the _Ramadam_, that so it may be there punctually at the time. It is very pretty to see them encamped in the night time, because of the infinite number of lamps that are in the tents and pavilions. Next day, the ninth of _August_, the Caravan of the _Magrebins_ parted also from the _Birque_, and there all of _Barbary_, who intend to make the journey, meet, and make a distinct Caravan; which depends not on the _Emir-Adge_ of _Cairo_, but have a chief of their own. That Caravan never sets out, but a day after the Caravan of _Cairo_; they travel commonly by night, and rest in the day time, as all other Caravans do, that go to other places, that so they may avoid the heat, which is almost insupportable; and when the moon does not shine, there are men who carry links before the Caravan. In all Caravans, the camels are ty’d tail to tail, so that let them but go, and there is no trouble of leading them.

Here I will give the reader an account, how many stages there are betwixt _Cairo_ and _Mecca_, how many days they stay in them, how many hours travelling there is betwixt them, and at what stages the waters are sweet or bitter, all along the way. This little itinerary I had from a Prince of _Tunis_, who made that journey whilst I was at _Cairo_. From _Cairo_ to the _Birque_ it is reckon’d four hours journey; there is fresh water there. From the _Birque_ to _Misana_, that is to say _Cistern_, ten hours; no water there. From _Misana_ to _Kalaat Aadgeroud_, which, is to say, the _Castle of Sand-pits_, twelve hours and an half; there is bitter water there. From the _Castle of Aadgeroud_ to _Navatir_, seven hours and an half, no water there. From _Navatir_ to _Rastagara_, ten hours; no water there, and the way bad. From _Rastagara_ to _Kalaat el Nahhal_, that is to say, the _Castel of Palmes_, fifteen hours; there they stay a day, and have fresh water. From the _Castle of Nahhal_ to _Abiar Alaina_, fourteen hours; only bitter water there. From _Abiar Alaina_ to _Sath el Acaba_, that is to say, the _Plain of the Hill_, fifteen hours; no water there. From _Sath el Acaba_ to _Kalaat el Acaba_, that is to say, the _Castle of the Hill_, (that is upon the side of the Red Sea) sixteen hours, there they stay two days and an half, the way is very bad, but they have fresh water. From the _Castle el Akabe_ to _Dar el Hhamar_, six hours and an half; no water there, (_Dar el Hhamar_ signifies _Asses Back_, and it is like the mountain in _Italy_, where there is an inn call’d _Scarga l’asino_.) From _Dar el Hhamar_ to _Scharafe Benigateie_, fourteen hours; no water there. From _Scharafe Benigateie_ to _Magare Chouaib_, that is to say, the _Grott of Jethro_, fourteen hours; fresh water there; that is the country of the _Midionites_. From _Magare Chouaib_ to _Eyoun el Kaseb_, fourteen hours and an half; fresh water there. It was in that place where _Jethro_’s daughters going to water their cattel, and the shepherds offering to hinder them, _Moses_ protected and defended them against those who would have hindred them to draw water. From _Eyoun el Kaseb_ to _Kalaat el Moilah_, which is by the sea side, fifteen hours; there they rest two days and a half, and have fresh water. From _Kalaat el Moilah_ to _Castel_, eleven hours; bitter water there. From _Castel_ to _Kalaat Ezlem_, fifteen hours and an half; bitter water there. From _Kalaat Ezlem_ to _Istanbel antir_, fourteen hours; fresh water there. From _Istanbel antir_ to _Kalaat el Voudge_, that is to say, the _Castle of the Face_, thirteen hours and an half; fresh water there. From _Kalaat el Voudge_ to _Ekre_, sixteen hours; no water there but what is bitter. From _Ekre_ to _Hank Krue_, that is to say, _Gulph_, twelve hours and an half; no water there. From _Hank Krue_ (going to _Hhawre_, they enter into the territory of _Mecca_) to _Hhawre_, it is thirteen hours; only bitter water there. From _Hhawre_ to _Nabte_, fifteen hours; fresh water there. From thence come the _Nabathean Arabs_, _Eurus ad auroram Nabathæaque regna recessit_. From _Nabte_ to _Hazire_, thirteen hours and an half; no water there. From _Hazire_ to _Yanbouh_, that is to say _Fountain_, fourteen hours and an half; there they stay two days and an half, and have fresh water. From _Yanbouh_ to _Soucaif_, thirteen hours; no water there. From _Soucaif_ to _Bedar Hunein_, that is to say, the moon of _Hunein_, eight hours; fresh water there. _Hunein_ was a man that shew’d the moon in his well. From _Bedar Hunein_ to _Ssbil el Mouhsin_, that is to say, the _way of Benefaction_, or _Benefit_, fourteen hours; fresh water there. _Rabii_ is a sacred place, that is to say, not to be entered into, without being well prepared and purged from all sin. Hence it is that there are two places which are call’d _Haramein_, _Sacred Places_, to wit, _Mecca_ and _Medina_, that is to say, which are two holy places, where one should take heed not to set his foot, unless he be well wash’d from all sin. From _Rabii_ to _Kawdire_, fifteen hours, no water there. From _Kawdire_ to _Bir el fan_, fourteen hours, fresh water there. From _Bir el fan_ to _Vadi fatima_, fourteen hours, fresh water there. From _Vadi fatima_ to _Mecca_ six hours.

_Of the ~Aga~ sent to meet the Caravan upon their return._

About six weeks after the setting out of the Caravan of _Cairo_, when they know that it is ready to return from _Mecca_, an _Aga_ goes from _Cairo_ to guard the fresh provisions that the people of the country send to their friends and relations in the Caravan, every one sending according to their abilities and friendship, all which are well sealed up, and delivered to those they belong unto. For this effect the _Aga_ has many camels with him, and gets considerably by the Caravan, which he meets half way. This year it returned on Tuesday the thirteenth of _November_, and encamped at the _Birque_, where the Caravan of the _Magrebins_ arrived the day before. Several come to _Cairo_ the same day, and their friends go as far as the _Birque_ to welcome them; whereupon meeting, they kiss again and again five or six times, and all who know them salute and kiss them in the same manner; and indeed, for some days after there is nothing to be seen in the city, but people kissing one another, or lamenting their relations who dy’d in the journey, men, women and children, who howl and make fearful gestures, when they hear the news from the first of the Caravan whom they meet. These Pilgrims are forty five days in going, and as much in coming back to _Cairo_, besides some days they stay there; but they make but easy journeys, it being impossible that so great a body should march fast, for they must often stop to load the camels whose loads have fallen off, to unload those that fall or die, or to bury their dead, and a thousand such other accidents; and when one camel stops, all the rest must wait. They travel commonly, as I said, in the night time with links, that they may avoid the heat. In this journey they find but little water, and that exceeding bad too; as for fresh provisions, they find none, and eat only what they carry along with them; but the worst thing they meet with in the journey, are certain hot winds, which stifle the breath, and in a short time kill a great many people. The Prince of _Tunis_ told me, that in one day several hundreds died of that wind, and that he himself was much afraid, that he should have been one of the number. In fine, in this expedition there died six thousand, what of fatigue, thirst, and these hot winds. In that journey people are to be seen riding on camels, and singing verses of the _Koran_, who suddenly fall down dead. Those who return with life are so altered and extenuated, that they can hardly be known; and nevertheless vast numbers of people from all parts yearly perform that pilgrimage, and there passes not a year wherein women and little children do not make it. They who have performed that journey are call’d _Adgi_, that is to say, Pilgrims, meaning tho’ only the pilgrimage of the _Kiaabe_, and they are much respected by all as long as they live, and highly credited. The _Emir-Adge_ gains much by this journey, for the goods of all that die belong to him, besides a vast deal of other profits that he makes on several occasions; and it is thought, that every expedition he gets above an hundred thousand piasters, but this year he got above three hundred thousand, for many people died. The greatest prerogative of this office is, that during the whole expedition he is absolute master of the field, and administers justice as he thinks fit.

Having in my hands an exact description of _Mecca_, and considering that few or no travellers have spoken of it with any certainty, I thought it would not be amiss to add it, and make a particular chapter thereof.

_Of ~Mecca~ and ~Medina~._

_Mecca_ is thirty seven days journey from _Cairo_, and all over desarts; it is a days journey from the Red sea; the port of it is call’d _Gidde_, which is a little town, wherein are two castles on the two sides of the port, one on each side, and the _Turks_ say that _Eve_ lies bury’d there; they shew her sepulchre, which is in length thirty eight or forty steps of a man’s walk, and hath no other ornament but a stone at each end.

_Mecca_ is about the bigness of _Marseilles_, in the middle whereof is the _Kiaabe_ or _Beytullah_, that is to say, the _House of God_, which the _Turks_ say, was first built by the Patriarch _Abraham_. This house is about fifteen foot in length, eleven or twelve in breadth, and about five fathom high. The threshold of the door is as high from the ground as a man can reach his hand, being within filled up even with the threshold. The door is about a fathom and an half high, and a fathom wide, and is in the corner to the left hand, when one faces the house. This door is of beaten silver, and opens with two leaves; they go up to it by a ladder supported by four wheels, two whereof are fastened to the lower end of the ladder; and the other two to two wooden posts about the middle of it, by means of which wheels the ladder is run to the wall, when any body is to enter into the _Beytullah_.

This house has a flat roof, supported by three pillars of an octagon figure, which are of Aloës-wood, as big as the body of a man, and about three fathom and a half long; they are of one entire piece each, and yet run in a straight line the length of the building, which is hung with red and white stuff, having here and there these words upon them, _La Illah Illallah, Mouhammed Resoul allah_.

At the same corner where the door is (but on the other side of the wall) is the black stone, which they call _Hadgiar Asuad_, and is had in veneration by them, because (as they say) _Abraham_ stood upon it when he built that house, and that it served him for a scaffold, to the end he might make no hole in the wall, it rising higher or lower as he pleased, and being for that purpose brought him by the angel _Gabriel_.

There is a court about this house, which the _Turks_ call _Haram_, and it is encompassed with walls, with three rows of pillars, and arches on the inside of it. The four sects of _Mahometanism_ have their places of prayer in this court, which are the _Hanifi_, _Chafii_, _Maliki_, and _Hambeli_, each in one of the four parts of the court, with their faces turned always towards the _Beytullah_, or _House of God_.

This house is begirt with two belts of gold, one below, and the other on high. On one side of the terrass that covers the _Beytullah_ there is a spout of beaten gold, about a fathom long, that jets out, to carry off the rain-water that falls upon the terrass.

The same house is covered on the outside with hangings of black silk, which is a kind of damask, and every year there are new ones sent from _Cairo_, at the charge of the Grand Signior.

Ten days journey from _Mecca_, upon the road to _Damascus_, is the city of _Medina_, three days journey from the Red Sea; the port of it is call’d _Iambo_, which is a little town of the same shape and bigness as _Gidde_.

_Medina_ is about half as big as _Mecca_, but it hath a suburb as big as the town itself; much about the middle of that town there is a Mosque, in a corner whereof is the sepulchre of _Mahomet_, covered in the same manner as the monuments of the _Turkish_ Emperors are at _Constantinople_. The sepulchre is in a little tower, or round building, covered with a dome, which the _Turks_ call _Turbe_. This building is quite open, from the middle up to the dome, and all round it there is a little gallery, of which the out-side wall has several windows with silver grates to them, and the in-side wall, which is that of the little tower, is adorned with a great number of precious stones, and that place which answers to the head of the tomb. There are rich things there also, of an inestimable value, sent by the _Mahometan_ Kings, during so many ages, which are fasten’d within this gallery, all round the said turret. Among others, at the place which answers to the head of the tomb, there is a great diamond, half as long as ones fore finger, and two fingers broad, over which is the diamond which Sultan _Osman_, the son of Sultan _Ashmet_, sent thither, and is equal to that which the _Ottoman_ Emperors wear on their finger. These two diamonds were heretofore but one, which Sultan _Osman_ caused to be saw’d in two in the middle. Lower down there is a half moon of gold, set with diamonds of great worth.

The Pilgrims see not _Mahomet_’s tomb, because that turret wherein it is enclosed hath no windows, being only open above, as hath been said; but such as make any stay at _Medina_ have liberty and leisure to enter into the _Turbe_, and see it, when there is no clutter of strangers there, that is to say, three or four months after the departure of the Pilgrims, who see no more but the aforesaid gallery, and the riches that are within it, thro’ the silver grates of the windows, which we mention’d before. Those then who enter into the _Turbe_, see that the tomb hangs not in the air, as many have falsly written, and (which is more) never did hang so, but is upon the flat ground raised and cover’d like the tombs of _Turkish_ Emperors and Bashaws.

The _Turbe_ is hung all round with hangings of red and white silk, like damask, which cover all the wall, except at the place where the great diamonds are, for there they are tuck’d aside, that the diamonds may not be cover’d. Round all these hangings are the aforemention’d words in characters of gold, _La Illah Illallah, Mouhammed Resoul allah_. These hangings are renew’d every seven years by the _Ottoman_ Emperors, unless when a new Emperor succeeds, before the seven years be accomplish’d, for in that case the Emperor renews them so soon as he comes to the throne.

The door by which they enter into the gallery is of silver, and so is the other that goes out of the gallery into the _Turbe_.

When the Pilgrims (to the number of two hundred thousand souls) are come to _Mecca_ at the usual time, which is a short while before the little _Bairam_, and that it is the day before the vigil of the said _Bairam_, they go and lie at a place call’d _Myne_, half a league from _Mecca_, and next day being the vigil of _Bairam_, they go half a league farther off, to another place call’d _Arafa_, which is a great plain, in the middle whereof there is a rock, or rising hillock, and on the top of it a _Member_, or place for preaching in, into which steps a _Scheikh_, who preaches to all the people about in the plain.

The Pilgrims being return’d to _Mecca_, divide themselves in several Caravans, because of the different countries they come from, and are to go back to them again. The Caravan that met at _Damascus_, upon their return pass by _Medina_, and visit _Mahomet_’s tomb, seeing it is upon their road. Of the rest, those who are prompted by devotion go thither, but a great part return back to their several countries, without turning out of their way to visit the said sepulchre, their law not obliging them to that, as it does to visit the other places above mention’d; so that they are grosly mistaken, who have affirm’d, that the pilgramage of the _Turks_ is to the sepulchre of _Mahomet_, who oblig’d them to it. For that false Prophet told his followers, when he drew near his death, that if any one returning from _Mecca_, had the curiosity to come and see his sepulchre, he should say a _Fatha_ for his soul (which is a prayer taken out of the _Koran_, resembling in some manner our _Pater Noster_) and be gone. _Mecca_ is the place of _Mahomet_’s birth, _Medina_ of his burial.

_An Extract of a Journey thro’ part of ~Arabia Felix~, from the copy in ~Ramusio~’s collection._

We travell’d in most places of _Arabia_ by the help of a compass, and were forty days and forty nights in going between _Damascus_ and _Mecca_; port _Ziden_ is forty miles distant from _Mecca_, from whence it receives the greatest part of it’s provisions by the Red Sea, from _Egypt_, _Æthiopia_, and _Arabia Felix_, the numbers of Pilgrims and camels being incredible, and fresh water very scarce, and as dear as wine in _Europe_.

I stole away secretly from _Mecca_ in the disguise of a _Mammaluck_, to _Ziden_, in order to pass round _Arabia_ by sea into _Persia_. _Ziden_ contains about 500 houses; there lay at anchor almost 100 brigantines and foysts, with divers barks of sundry sorts, both with and without oars. After six days sailing we came to _Gezan_, a fair commodious port full of vessels; the soil is very fruitful and delicious, abounding with many rare fruits and flowers; the inhabitants for the most part go naked. Leaving _Gezan_, in the space of five or six days, we reach’d an island named _Camaran_, ten miles in circuit; in it is a town of 200 houses, the inhabitants are _Mahometans_; it hath great store of flesh and fresh water; the haven is eight miles from the continent, and is subject to the Sultan of _Arabia Felix_. In two days sailing we came to the mouth of the Red Sea.

The day after our arrival at _Aden_, I being suspected for a _Portuguese_ spy, was cast into heavy chains, and thrown into Prison: After fifty five days Imprisonment, I was set upon a camel with my shackles, and in eight days journey came to _Rhada_, a city where the Sultan then lay with 30000 men, to make war against the Sultan of _Sana_ three days distant from _Rhada_. The Sultan’s guard were _Æthiopians_, with short broad swords, painted targets and darts, slings and ropes made of cotton. Having obtained my liberty, I pass’d through _Almacaran_ and _Laghi_, to _Aden_, where I embark’d for _Persia_.

In this journey I observed many monkeys, lyons, sheep with prodigious great tails; variety of spices, sugars, and a sort of grape without stones, very delicious; many strange gum-trees, as the Balsam, the Myrrhe, Frankincense, Coffee, Cocoes, _&c._

_Some observations made by Sir ~Henry Middleton~ and other ~Englishmen~, in ~Arabia Felix~, when they were most treacherously seized, and led prisoners from ~Moha~ and ~Aden~ up to ~Zenan~. Also Captain ~Payton~’s and Captain ~Heyn~’s observations in some parts of ~Arabia Felix~._

We were fifteen days in going from _Moha_ to _Zenan_, which is about 180 miles distant N. N. W. it lies in 16 degrees and 15 min. Lat. We were carried about our Christmass-time, and were almost starved with cold, there being hoary frosts and ice at _Zenan_; some of our men got furrs, this was wonderful in such a latitude; we fed much upon _Dates_ and _Plantanes_.

_Zenan_ appeared to me bigger than _Bristol_, it’s situation is in a stony valley, encompass’d with high hills, with many gardens and places of pleasure. The buildings are of good stone and lime.

_February_ the seventeenth, we obtain’d our liberty, and began on the eighteenth our journey from _Zenan_ to _Moha_; that night we came to _Siam_, 16 miles, some on asses, others on camels; on the nineteenth to _Surage_, 18 miles; on the twentieth to the city _Damare_, in a plentiful country 20 miles from _Surage_; on the twenty first we arrived at _Ermin_, 15 miles, here we staid the twenty second; on the twenty third we came to _Nagual Samare_; the twenty fourth to _Mohader_, 13 miles from _Nackelsamar_; on the twenty fifth to _Rabattamain_, 16 miles from _Mohader_; here they make opium of a poppy, but it is not good. The twenty sixth we came to _Coughe_, call’d _Meisadine_, 16 miles from _Rabattamain_. On the twenty seventh we were at _Tayes_, half as large as _Zenan_, here they make _Indigo_ out of an herb. _March_ the first, we travell’d from _Tayes_ to _Eufras_, 16 miles distant; the second to _Assambine_ 11 miles; on the third to _Accomoth_; on the fourth to _Mousa_, 17 miles; here we observed them steeping the _Indigo_ plant; on the fifth we got to _Moha_.

_Moha_ is less than _Tayes_, but very populous, it stands close by the sea in a salt and sandy soil, unwall’d; yet it hath platforms and forts; abundance of shipping resort thither from _India_, and great Caravans by land from _Syria_ and _Mecca_, to trade and exchange commodities.

_Aden_ is the greatest port of _Arabia Felix_, it is situated at the foot of vast high mountains, which rise up with pikes, and run with great promontories into the sea; these hills were call’d _Cabubarre_, according to the journal of Don _John_ of _Castro_ the _Portuguese_. Captain _Dunton_, of Sir _Henry Middleton_’s fleet, observed _Aden_ to lie in 12° 35′ of N. Lat. The variation westerly was 12° 40′. It flows upright between 6 and 7 foot water on the change day. The canoes came about the _English_ ships with _Indigo_, _Olibanum_, and _Myrrhe_, but none trade with them by reason of their treachery. _Aden_ has been a great city of above 6000 houses, but Captain _Dunton_ found the buildings much decay’d, and many of them sunk. Captain _Sharpeigh_ was the first _Englishman_ that ever landed at _Aden_, he had been there 16 months before, in the year 1610.

The afore-mention’d parts of _Arabia Felix_ were at that time under the subjection of the _Turks_, who had got possession of them from the _Arabians_, by tricks and treachery, whom they kept in awe by many castles built on hills and passes, and by the many captives they always kept as pledges. Sir _Henry Middleton_ observed many of the mountainous parts to be under the dominion of the _Arabians_, who are very populous in all the places where he passed, and are at frequent wars with the insolent _Turks_, who pretended secret orders from the Grand Signior, to destroy all Christians that came ashore, lest they should go up to _Mecca_ and _Medina_, to ransack and burn them.

Capt. _Walter Payton_, in the year 1613, found great hospitality and ingenuity in some parts of _Arabia Felix_, nearer the _Persian_ gulph, especially at _Doffar_, a very good road for ships, and a fair city, where the _Arabians_ presented his crew with bullocks, sheep, hens, goats, sugar-canes, plantanes and cocoes. This _Cape_ stands in 16° 38′ of N. Lat. and is free from the _Turkish_ yoke.

Capt. _Edward Heyns_ anchored before _Moha_ or _Mocha_, in _Arabia Felix_, _An. Dom. 1618_, the governor sent him, as presents, a young bullock, two goats, mangoes, limes, cucumbers, water-melons, quinces, rack made of rice, _&c._ He went freely ashore, and found it a very neat, populous and flourishing town, built of brick and stone, curiously plaister’d over like _Paris_, two stories high with flat roofs and terrasses on the top, whereon they build summer-houses with canes and matts, wherein they sleep and receive the fresh breezes in the great heats. They excus’d the cruelty to Sir _H. Middleton_, laying it on the cruel governor at that time.

_Of the ways and roads between ~Egypt~ and ~Ethiopia~._