7

Ali Bey al-Abbasi

Spain

1807

Unlike Varthema and Joseph Pitts, the Spanish noble Domingo Badia y Leyblich was both European and a Muslim. He signed his books as Ali Bey al-Abbasi, spoke various Arabic dialects, and read the Quran; he was also fluent in Spanish and Italian and passionately devoted to the Enlightenment. His five-year round-trip journey between Europe and Mecca was, on one level, a scientific expedition, and he later lectured on his travels before the Institut de France. This blend of Western science with Islam is one of his most fascinating aspects. His political allegiance, however, remains an enigma.

Although he seems to have been an intelligence operative for some Western power, no one can say exactly whose interests he was serving. Most commentators imply that he was in Napoleon’s pay, but he was probably engaged with Britain, too. Near the start of his journey, in 1802, he visited the botanist Sir Joseph Banks in London. As president of the African Association88 and the Royal Society, Banks groomed and financed numerous other African explorers, including the famous Mungo Park and, later, Burckhardt, whose own Hajj record follows al-Abbasi’s in this collection. Whether Britain benefited, scientifically or politically, from information supplied by al-Abbasi is not clear. We do know that the two men were friendly enough for him to leave a portrait of himself in Sir Joseph’s study. Shortly after, he was on his way to Morocco and points east.

Al-Abbasi’s two-volume account is an eccentric, meticulous record of the regions and great cities through which he passed. The following excerpts treat his stays in the principal centers of Morocco and northern Egypt. They conclude with longer passages concerning the Hijaz.

Al-Abbasi arrived in North Africa in grand-tour style, with a carriage and steward. This assumption of high privilege was natural to him; a person of lesser station could not have managed it. In Tangier, he endowed a fountain at the mosque and immediately succeeded in placing himself at the center of affairs. The Governor provided him a house, where he unpacked his instruments: thermometers, barometers, hygrometers, an achromatic telescope, chronometers, compasses, and sextants, paraphernalia for preserving specimens, chemistry equipment, and a camera obscura. In Tangier, he busied himself for weeks with problems of geology, topography, meteorology, and the successful prediction of an eclipse. By the time the royal court arrived in August, he was a personage. He met the Sultan and quickly won his favor.

The scholars of Fez, where he traveled next, did not impress this Enlightenment traveler. Their city had been a great center of learning in Ibn Battuta’s time, but the present court philosophers were incurious, superstitious, and shallow. Weary of Fez, al-Abbasi traveled south under royal escort. In Marrakesh, the Sultan deeded him a villa, where he passed the idyllic months excerpted here. In the end, however, he overstayed his welcome. The causal facts are cloudy. Either the Sultan came to resent him, or a chagrined astrologer intrigued against him. Or perhaps it is true, as some sources imply, that during his stay he had traded a scientific relationship with England for a political one with France and that he planned to found a colony between Morocco and Algeria. For whatever reasons, after two years of celebrity, al-Abbasi was abruptly expelled, forced onto a royal ship and bustled off to Libya pondering the fickleness of sultans.

With the sprawling Ottoman Empire coming unraveled at its edges, 1807 proved a hard year to make the Hajj. From Algeria to the Sudan, local tribes were rising against their deys and governors, and the land routes to Egypt were in chaos. Al-Abbasi docked long enough in Tripoli to visit the court and befriend the navy’s Admiral. In Alexandria, he mingled with North African grandees and so obtained letters of introduction for the Hijaz. He went to Cairo next but kept his distance from its new pasha, Muhammad Ali, who after prolonged skirmishing had finally unseated the long established Mamluks and chased them upriver. Egypt’s first modernizing ruler, Muhammad Ali was himself Albanian and an admirer of French engineering. He would have appreciated meeting a scientific Muslim from the West, but al-Abbasi’s expulsion from Morocco made the traveler cautious. After a few weeks, he dismissed Cairo in an epigram: “The soldier tyrannizes. The people suffer. The great endure no evil. The machine runs on as it can.” With Ramadan over, he joined a caravan of five thousand pilgrims and sailed from Suez to the Hijaz.

In Mecca, al-Abbasi presented his letters to Sharif Ghalib, fiftieth ruler in the old Qitada line and the wealthiest man in the territory. Because several of our authors comment on him, Ghalib’s reign is important here. He had already governed Mecca for twenty years in a lucrative alliance with the Turks. He was oppressive with his people but evenhanded with the British. As the principal voice in the India trade at Jidda, he set the rates at which goods flowed west to Europe. Just now, however, Sharif Ghalib’s regime (like so many others) was facing an internal revolution—this one based on an alliance between the Saudis, a preeminent tribal family from eastern Arabia, and the followers of a radical religious reformer named Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (died 1792). United by marriage, the goal of this secular-religious alliance was to free the whole peninsula from the Turks. Saʿud al-Saʿud, its current leader, or Amir, had already harried Mecca (1802) and Medina (1804) with tens of thousands of militant adherents. Now they were returning for the Hajj of 1807, and Ghalib and his Turkish troops were on the spot. Al-Abbasi had arrived at a critical moment, a turning point for the Hijaz. His is the first eyewitness account of the Saudis and their army of believers.

Sharif Ghalib accepted al-Abbasi’s letters and permitted him to measure the Haram. It took courage to use his instruments, however, under the scrupulous gaze of forty-five thousand Wahhabi soldiers. These vigorous, rough-hewn puritans with their own strict version of Islam believed that science meant anathema and writing was for spies. Al-Abbasi, to his credit, remained unflustered. At Arafat, against his guides’ advice, he conducted personal interviews among the rough battalions surrounding al-Saʿud’s tents.

Al-Abbasi’s failed attempt to reach Medina rounds out these selections. It may interest readers to know, that a little later, in Aleppo, he crossed paths with the Swiss explorer Burckhardt, whose letters contain the only surviving description of the man: a Tunisian of average size with a long, thin head, black eyes, narrow beard, prominent nose, and feet that showed he had once worn European shoes. Al-Abbasi continued home through eastern Europe. Reaching Spain at the time of the French invasion, he declared himself for Bonaparte and held office under Napoleon’s brother Joseph. When the French were expelled from Spain in 1813, he retreated to Paris and saw his book through publication. The two-volume set, with maps and plates, went quickly into English. In 1816, a deluxe edition appeared in Philadelphia.

Ali Bey al-Abbasi seems to have traveled by four rules: (1) Spread money liberally from the moment you enter a new region. (2) Always address the ruling class as your equals. (3) Speak your mind. (4) Depart with as many letters of introduction as possible. His adherence to these rules and to the privileges they brought allowed him to cut a wide swath through elite Muslim society. Throughout his travels, this haughty nobleman formed real relationships with real people. He neither smiled on what displeased him nor flattered those in power. Unlike many Europeans traveling east, he did not dismiss the Arabs as infantile, nor freight them with old Crusader propaganda. His four ground rules of travel won him protection, respect, and gifts. In the end, they may have cost his life as well. Al-Abbasi left for Mecca again in 1818 but died on the road in Syria, of dysentery or poisoning, perhaps at British hands.

from The Travels of Ali Bey al-Abbasi

AUTHOR’S NOTE After having spent many years in the Christian states, studying the sciences of nature, and the arts most useful to man in society, (whatever be his faith or the religion of his heart), I determined at last to visit the Muslim countries; and, while engaged in performing the pilgrimage to Mecca, to observe the manners, customs, and nature of the countries through which I should pass, in order that I might make the laborious journey of some utility to the country which I at last select for my abode.

AFFAIRS AT TANGIER, 1803 Soon after my arrival at Tangier my situation became sufficiently agreeable. The first visit which was paid to me by the Qadi Sidi-Abderrahman Mfarrash; my prediction of the eclipse of the sun, which was to take place on the seventeenth of August, and of which I had traced the figure as it would be seen in its greatest darkness; the appearance of my carriages and my instruments, which arrived from Europe in a vessel; my presents to the Qadi, to the Caid, as also to the principal characters there; my liberality toward others; all these circumstances contributed to fix on me the general attention, and in a very short time I attained a decided superiority over all the strangers, and even over all the persons of distinction in the town. . . .

The cannon of the batteries of Tangier announced, on the fifth of October, the arrival of the Sultan Moulay Suleyman, Emperor of Morocco, who dismounted at the castle of the town called al-Kasbah. As I had not been yet presented to the Emperor, I did not go out, but remained at home waiting his orders, as I had settled with the Caid and Qadi; hence I could not witness the ceremony of his arrival.

The next morning the Caid apprised me that I might get the customary presents ready for the following day; I did so immediately, and on the morning of the appointed day I had an interview with the Caid and Qadi, to prepare for my presentation. The Caid asked me for the rest of the presents which I intended for the Sultan; I gave them to him, and we soon agreed upon the subject.

As it was Friday I went to the great mosque to make my noon prayers, as this was an indispensable duty; the Sultan was also to be there.

Soon after entering the mosque, a Moor came to me and told me that the Sultan had just sent one of his servants to let me know that I might repair to the Kasbah at four o’clock, in order to be presented to him.

Previous to the Sultan’s arrival at the mosque, some Negro soldiers entered it, but without order; they were armed, but yet placed themselves promiscuously on either side, without observing rank or file.

The Sultan was not long behind; he entered at the head of a small retinue of grandees and officers, who were all so plainly dressed that we could not distinguish them from the rest of the company. The mosque was crowded; it contained about two thousand people. While I stayed there, I kept myself rather retired.

The prayer was performed as usual on every Friday, but the sermon was preached by one of the Sultan’s faqihs,89 who insisted with energy on the point that it was a great sin to cultivate any commerce with Christians, or to sell or give them any sort of food or nourishment; with many such topics.

As soon as the prayers were over, I had a passage opened for me by my servants and went out. About a hundred black soldiers were formed out of doors in a semicircle; a numerous assembly of spectators were around them. I went home, and a few minutes after, a servant of the Sultan came to bring me a personal order from his master, and to receive the usual presents.

At three o’clock in the afternoon, the Caid sent to me some men, in order to assist in carrying my presents, which consisted of the following articles:

20 English musquets, with bayonets

2 blunderbusses of a large size

15 pairs of English pistols

Several thousands gun flints

2 sacks of shot for hunting, and a complete hunting equipage

A barrel of the best English gunpowder

Several pieces of rich muslin, both plain and embroidered

Some trinkets

A handsome umbrella

Sweetmeats and essences

The firearms were packed up in boxes, which were locked; all the other objects were placed on large dishes, covered with pieces of red damask, bordered with silver lace. The keys of the boxes, tied together with a large ribband, were placed on a dish.

I went up to the Kasbah, marching at the head of the men and servants who were carrying my presents. The Caid was waiting for me at the door, and paid me many compliments. We crossed a portico, under which a number of officers belonging to the court were assembled, and entered into a small mosque close by, where we performed our afternoon prayers, at which the Sultan also assisted.

After prayer we left the mosque, at the door of which a mule was waiting ready for the Sultan; it was surrounded with a great number of servants and officers of high rank belonging to the court. Two men in advance were armed with pikes or lances about fourteen feet long, which they held in a perpendicular direction. The retinue was followed by about seven hundred black soldiers, armed with musquets; they were closely grouped, but without regard to order or rank, and were surrounded by a great throng.

The Caid and myself placed ourselves in the middle of the passage, close to the two lancers. At our sides were the presents, carried on the shoulders of my servants and of the men who had been sent to me.

The Sultan came out soon after and mounted his mule; when he came to the center of the circle, the Caid and myself advanced a few steps; the Sultan stopped his mule. The Caid presented me; I made an inclination with my head toward him, putting my hand on my breast. The Sultan answered by a similar inclination, and said, “You are welcome.” Then turning his head toward the crowd, he invited them to salute me. “Tell him,” said he, “that he is welcome,” and instantly all the crowd exclaimed, “Welcome.” . . . I found this Sovereign very favorably disposed toward me, at which I was the more surprised, as I had as yet done nothing to merit it.

The Sultan asked me in what countries I had traveled, what languages I spoke, and if I could write them; what were the sciences which I had studied in the Christian schools, and how long I had resided in Europe? He praised God for having caused me to leave the country of the infidels, and regretted that a man like me had deferred so long his visit to Morocco; much satisfied that I had preferred his country to Algiers, Tunis, or Tripoli, he repeated me the assurance of his protection and friendship. He then asked me whether I had any instruments to make observations, and having answered him in the affirmative, he told me that he wished to see them, and that I might bring them to him. He had hardly uttered this word, when the Caid took me by the hand in order to conduct me home; but without stirring, I observed to the Sultan that it would be necessary to wait until the next day, as it was too late to prepare them for any observations. The Caid looked at me with astonishment, as no one dares to contradict the Sultan; but this Sovereign only said, “Well, bring them tomorrow.” At what o’clock? “At eight in the morning”; I shall not fail, said I, and taking leave of the Sultan, I went away with the Caid.

TEA AT THE PALACE The next day I went to the castle at the appointed hour. The Sultan was waiting for me on the same place with his principal faqih or mufti,90 and another favorite. He was served with tea. . . .

The tea-things consisted of a gold sugar box, a teapot, a milk pot, and three cups of white china, gilt; they were all placed on a gilt dish. The sugar was put in the teapot, according to the custom of the country, a method not very convenient, as it compels you most frequently to take it either too much or too little sweetened.

The Sultan repeated to me several times indications of his regard to me. He desired me to produce my instruments, and examined them one after another with much attention, asking me an explanation of everything that was new to him. He showed great pleasure in what he saw, and commanded me to make some astronomical observations in his presence. To satisfy him I took two heights of the sun with my multiplying circle. I showed him several astronomical tables and logarithms which I had brought with me, in order to convince him that these instruments would be of no use to anyone who did not understand these books and many others. He was very much surprised at the sight of so many figures. I then offered him my instruments; his answer was that I ought to keep them as I only knew how to use them, and that we should have plenty of days and nights to amuse ourselves in contemplating the sky. I saw from these and the former expressions that his intention was to keep me near his person, and to attach me to his service; he added that he desired to see my other instruments. I proposed to bring them the next morning, and took my leave.

The next day I attended the Sultan, and went into his chamber; he was lying on a small mattress and cushion; his high faqih and two of his favorites were sitting before him on a small carpet. The moment he saw me, he raised himself upright, and ordered another small blue velvet cushion, like his own, to be brought for me; he had it placed at his side, and made me sit down.

After some compliments on both sides, I ordered my electrical machine and a camera obscura to be brought in. I presented these to him as objects of mere amusement, which had no scientifical application. Having prepared these two machines, I placed the camera obscura near the window. The Sultan got up and went twice into the camera; I covered him with the baize all the while that he amused himself in contemplating the objects transmitted by it. That he permitted me to do so was a mark of his high confidence in me. He afterward amused himself with seeing the electric jar discharged, and had it often repeated; but what surprised him most was the experiment of the electric shock, which I was obliged to repeat a great many times, all of us holding ourselves by the hands in order to form the chain. He asked me many and various explications of these machines, as also of the influence of electricity.

I had sent the day before to the Sultan a telescope, and asked for it now, in order to adapt it to his sight, which I immediately did, and marked the exact place on the tube, after he had found the suitable distance.

I wore very long whiskers; the Sultan asked me why I did not cut them like other Moors; I told him that it was the custom in the East to wear them at full length. He answered, “Well, well, but this is not the fashion here.” He had some scissors brought in and cut a little from his own; he then laid hold of mine, and showed me what I ought to cut and what to preserve; perhaps his first intention was to clip them himself, but as I did not answer he put down the scissors.

Continuing our conversation, he asked me whether I had a proper instrument for measuring heat. I promised to send one, and took leave, carrying along with me my instruments. I sent him the same day a thermometer.

In the evening being at home, and in company with some of my friends, a servant arrived from the Sultan and brought me a present from him. In delivering it to me, he fell on his knees, and laid before me something covered with a cloth wrought with gold and silver. The curiosity of seeing the Emperor of Morocco’s present made me uncover it eagerly, and I found two black loaves. As I was by no means prepared for such a present, I could not, at the moment, make any conjecture of its meaning, and was for a time so much staggered that I knew not what to answer. But those who were about me began eagerly to wish me joy, saying, “How happy you are: what good fortune! You are now the brother of the Sultan; the Sultan is your brother.” I then began to recollect that among the Arabians the most sacred sign of fraternity consists in presenting each other with a piece of bread; and both eating of it; and therefore these two loaves sent me by the Sultan were his token of fraternity with me. They were black, because the bread made for the Sultan is baked in portable ovens of iron, which gives this black color to their outside, but they are very white and very good within. . . .

AFFAIRS AT FEZ, 1804 Fez is surrounded by vast chains of walls, which are very old and in a state of utter decay. In this enclosure New Fez and a number of large gardens are comprised. On two of the elevations on the east and west of the town two strong castles very ancient are to be seen; they consist of some square walls about sixty feet in front. It is said that there are subterraneous passages which communicate between them and the town. Whenever the people revolt against the Sultan, cannon are planted on the castles with a hundred soldiers as their guard, though this would be but a miserable defense.

The town contains a great number of schools. The most distinguished are established at the mosques of Karaouyine and of Moulay Idris, in a small house and mosque called a madersa, or academy.

In order to form an idea of the manner of instruction, imagine a man sitting down on the ground with his legs crossed, uttering frightful cries or singing in a tone of lamentation. He is surrounded by fifteen or twenty youths, who sit in a circle with their books or writing tables in hand and repeat the cries and songs of their master, but in complete discordance. This will give an exact notion of these Moorish schools. As to the subjects which are treated here, I can assert that, though disguised by various names, morality and legislation identified with worship and dogmas are the sole topics; that is to say, all their studies are confined to the Quran and its commentations, and to some trifling principles of grammar and logic, which are indispensable for reading and understanding even a little of the venerated text. From what I have seen, I believe that most of the commentators do not understand [these subjects] themselves. They drown their meaning in an ocean of subtleties or pretended metaphysical reasoning and entangle themselves often in such a manner that they are unable to extricate themselves. They then invoke predestination, or the absolute will of God, and thus reconcile everything.

This learned class are eternal disputers in verba magistri; as their understandings are not strong enough to understand the thesis which they defend, they have no other foundation on which they can support themselves, but the word of the master or of the book which they cite, right or wrong. Setting out from this principle, they are never to be convinced, because no reason can be equal, in their minds, to the word of their master or the sentence of their book.

Several of the most learned men of Fez frequented much my little circle, and I have too often been witness of these tedious and endless disputes. Frequently I availed myself of my ascendancy over them to put a stop to their debates; but wishing to produce a greater and better effect, I undertook to inspire them with doubts both on their masters and their books. In fact, having gained this point, I opened a new career to the minds of these men, whose improvable talents had been paralyzed by a sort of spiritual stagnation.

Having thus prepared my plan, I often entered into a discussion with them, and when, after some arguments which they could not refute, I had put them to silence, they had no way of answering me but by presenting me with the book, and making me read the sentence which was in favor of their opinion. I asked them who wrote that? “Such and such a one.” And what was he? “A man like other men.” “After this acknowledgment I shall not estimate him more than another. When he ceases to be reasonable, I shall leave him as soon as he abandons good sense to hunt after sophistry.”

This manner of speaking was so new to them that in the beginning they were struck dumb with astonishment, and alternatively looked at each other and at me. At last I accustomed them to reason, a thing which they had never thought of in the whole course of their studies. By degrees they left off their silly answers to which they had accustomed themselves. I observed, however, that these doctors fell into another inconvenience not less troublesome, and that was that they began to support themselves on my words, so that they only changed their colors; their tactics were still the same.

I repeated to them a thousand times that they should not maintain a point because Ali Bey had said so but that, before they began to dispute, they should examine with their own reason whether the thing was probable, whether it was possible, or had ever occurred, and then they might discuss it. At last I obtained this result; and I hope that the spark of light may in time produce good consequences among them.

The study of astronomy is confounded with astrology here, too. Everyone who looks into the skies to know the time of day, or of the new moon, is considered by the people as an astrologer or prophet, who can foretell the fate of the king, of the empire, and of individuals. They have some astrological books, and this talent is very much respected with them. It opens the road to high places at court, on account of the influence which the astrologers exert in public and private affairs. As I declared deadly war against astrology and alchemy, I was happy enough, by force of reasoning, to convince some of them of the ridiculous pretensions of astrologers and alchemists.

I had a very striking opportunity of proving that they confounded astronomy with astrology; when the chief of these astronomers of Fez entreated me to give him the longitude and the latitude of every planet, on the first day of the year, in order to form a calculation and to foretell whether the year would prove a good one or a bad one. I answered him with firmness, that the science of astronomy being almost a divine one, ought never to be prostituted to the reveries and quackeries of astrology; and treating divination with contempt, I convinced him that the arbitrary beginning of the year, in the various almanacs, has no connection with nature.91 I finished my philippics by showing him by the Quran, that the practice of astrology is a sin. This sentence was confirmed by several doctors of [religous law], and I was proclaimed as one of their fellows.

AN ESTATE IN MARRAKESH The Sultan was highly satisfied with my arrival at Marrakesh; so were [Prince] Moulay Abd al-Salem and all my friends at court. Soon after my arrival, the Sultan sent me a quantity of milk from his table, as a sign of his affection; and Moulay Abd al-Salem did the same. Next day I waited on them, and received new tokens of their friendship and esteem, which seemed to increase daily.

Some days afterward, the Sultan made me a present of some considerable estates, which, independently of my own funds, enabled me to maintain the expenses which my rank required. I was at home when one of the Sultan’s ministers was introduced, presenting me a firman, by which the Sultan made me an absolute donation of a villa called Semelalia, with estates belonging to it and consisting of lands, palm trees, olive tree plantations, kitchen gardens, etc. And besides this, a house in the town was attached to them, known by the name of Sidi ben Ahmad Dukkala.

The chateau and the plantations of Semelalia had been constructed by the Sultan Sidi Muhammad, father to Moulay Suleyman, who made of it his favorite habitation. The choicest fruit trees were planted there, and the gardens were in a very agreeable state. Abundant .s, brought to them from Mount Atlas, improved the charms of this estate, which was nearly a mile in extent. It was surrounded by walls. The large fields and palm tree plantations were without the walls; and within them the pleasure garden, kitchen garden, and olive plantations had each separate individual enclosures.

The house in the city was large. It was built by Ben Ahmad Dukkala, who was a favorite minister and who governed the empire a long while. A part of the house and the baths were of a regular and handsome construction; but the remainder, though very spacious, was but of a mean appearance. These donations are still my property. . . .

As the Sultan was to go a few days afterward to Meknes, and wished to make my stay in the empire as agreeable as possible, he desired that I should proceed to Essaouira, or Mogador, to partake of a party of pleasure there. He therefore ordered the three pashas of the provinces of Haha, Scherma, and Sous, to join all their troops at Mogador.

During the ten days that I stayed there, the weather was very changeable; I made, however, some excellent observations, by which I was able to ascertain the latitude at 31º 32’ 40” N and the longitude 11º 55’ 45” W from the Parisian observatory.

During these ten days the pashas of Haha, of Scherma, and of Sous, who were here with their troops, gave me the spectacle of some horse races, of sham fights representing their battles, and of some exercises with firearms, in which they squandered a deal of gunpowder, and made much noise. On one of these days they gave me a sumptuous dinner in one of the sultan’s mansions, situated in a wood on the mountains; at our return from it we were accompanied by more than a thousand horsemen, who amused themselves with horse racing and sham fighting. We went afterward to a palace which the sultan Sidi Muhammad had been constructing in the sand plain; I found in one of its rooms a falcon, which had been hiding itself; I took it along with me.

Some moments afterward, as we were crossing a shallow river, one of the soldiers, who was not far from me, discovered a large fish about two feet and a half long, which was stunned with the noise of the passage of the horses. The soldier therefore found it easy to thrust his sword through it and presented it to me. It is impossible to describe the happy omens which the capture of the bird and of the fish afforded my companions. . . .

Having settled at Semelalia, I was taken with a terrible disease, which threatened my life; and in three months I relapsed five times, in a very serious manner. Three months more I passed in a very weak state of health, and during this period I was unable to make any observations whatsoever. I remained all this time at my mansion of Semelalia. I had no physician, as I did not wish to consult any of that country, and there were no European physicians. I was therefore obliged to prescribe for myself and to make use of such medicines as I thought proper, and of which, fortunately, I had a good choice. It was happy for me that my senses were preserved. When I could make use of my legs I made some astronomical observations. . . .

At the end of the month of August the storks commonly migrate for Sudan. I had three of them in my summer garden, with their wings cut; they were very quiet and tame. They always followed me when I dined in a pavilion or in an arbor. When their wings grew again to their original size, they continued to stay with me, and seemed to have no desire to emigrate. . . .

I also had in my garden four antelopes that were become very tame. The play of these animals, when they are at liberty, is really attractive; they jump and canter in an astonishing manner. My gardeners were always at war with them, because they destroyed the plants; but I took them under my protection, as the garden was large enough to make their consumption either of no importance, or hardly perceptible. As tame as the storks, they always came about me at dinner and supper; and these seven companions became my best friends.

As I wished to keep the circuit of my dominion free from all bloodshed, I gave strict orders not to fire off a gun, or to kill any animal, by any means whatsoever. My intention was to give the birds a sacred asylum. And I can say that the warbling of these many various kinds made a real earthly paradise of my Semelalia; so much so that when I walked within the limits of my territory, though without the walls, whole bands of partridges came about me, and the rabbits ran almost over my feet. I did my utmost to attract and tame all those animals, and they answered my friendly intentions more cordially than many men who call themselves civilized . . . One might fancy that the immunity of my residence became known to a class which is called unreasonable by man, for the antelopes came in bands of hundreds to the walls of Semelalia to play their tricks, and seemed to ask for admittance.

I formed a fine collection of plants, insects, and fossils at Semelalia. Among the insects I have some aranea galleopedes, of a very scarce kind, with regard to their size. The first of them I saw frightened me very much, as it was passing over my chest when I was sitting on my canopy. Among the fossils, the collection of the porphyries and of rolled pebbles from the Atlas is valuable.

As I had foretold that an eclipse of the moon would take place in the night of the fifteenth of January 1805, several pashas and other men of rank assembled at my house to observe it; but unfortunately the weather was so thick, chiefly during the night, and it rained so hard, with continual gusts of wind, that it was impossible to discover the least thing.

At length I declared that I should set off for Mecca, and had, upon this subject, several discussions with the Sultan, with Moulay Abd al-Salem, and with my friends, who all united to dissuade me from this journey. They observed that even the Sultan had never made it; that their religion did not require it to be made personally; and that I might hire a pilgrim, who, making it in my name, would confer on me the same merit as if I had performed it myself. All these objections, and others useless to mention, did not alter my determination. . . .

The day on which I took my leave of the Sultan, he renewed his entreaties for me to stay. He represented to me the fatigues and dangers of so long a journey, and at last, embracing me, we parted with tears in our eyes. My leave from Moulay Abd al-Salem was really affecting, and to my last breath I shall bear in my heart the image of this beloved Prince.

The Sultan made me a present of a very magnificent tent, lined with red cloth, and adorned with silk fringes. Before he sent it to me he had it put up in his presence, and twelve faqihs said prayers in it, in order to draw down on me the blessings of heaven and every possible success on my journey. He added to this present some leather bags to contain the necessary provision of water for the journey, which is a matter of great importance. . . .

A FAILED ATTEMPT TO TRAVEL EAST, 1805 On my arrival at Oujda, the chief and the principal inhabitants of the village told me that I could not proceed, as they had received that very day the news of a revolution which had broken out in the kingdom of Algiers, and that much blood had been shed between the Turks and Arabs at Tlemcen, to which I was going.

I asked the chief of the village to furnish me with an escort. He told me that he had not forces enough, but that he would try and arrange things to my satisfaction.

Two days after, the chief and the principal inhabitants of Oujda requested the Shaykh al-Boanani, who is the chief of an immediate tribe, to conduct me to Tlemcen. . . . Several days passed in useless negociations. The rebels approached to the walls of Oujda and fired several shots at the inhabitants, which killed two of them. My situation became worse and worse, for on the one side my means of subsistence were exhausted, and on the other I heard that my enemies at Marrakesh had endeavored to make me suspected in the eyes of the Sultan, on account of the prolongation of my stay at Fez. . . .

I observed a mysterious behavior in my conducting officers, and some signs of intelligence among them; but as they continued to treat me with the most profound respect, I could not make any remarks to them upon it, nor form any doubts as to the nature of their secret conversations. The tribes which lived on the road where I passed continued to show me every civility and provided me with victuals and forage. I assumed the right of using an umbrella;92 and everyone treated me as a brother of the Sultan. But this state of things was not of long duration. . . .

SATURDAY, AUGUST 17 Today the great mystery of my officers was unveiled to me; for they apprised me that we were going to Larache instead of Tangier, as I had been told. This behavior displeased me very much; however, after some reflection, it seemed as indifferent to me to go to one place as to another.

After this discussion we proceeded at six in the morning toward the west. An hour after we turned to the north and northwest and got into a wood of very high holm oak, much intermixed with fern. We were out of this wood at twelve, after having made numberless windings in it. We crossed a small river, and entered Larache at one in the afternoon. . . .

Larache is a small town of about four hundred houses. It is situated on the north side of the steep descent of a hill, and its houses extend to the banks of the river, the mouth of which forms a port for large vessels. Those which do not exceed two hundred tons can get into the river, but they are obliged to unload in order to pass the bar. . . .

By order of the Sultan, the Pasha of the town, Sidi Muhammad Salani, assigned me the best house in the town; it was situated in the marketplace, near the principal mosque.

Notwithstanding these advantages, I could not make any lunary observations, as I dared not get on the top of the house. My longitude, however, was well established, by the eclipses of the satellites; and I found it to be at 8º 21’ 45” W from the Parisian observatory. The latitude I computed to be 35º 13’ 15” N; my magnetical declination 21º 39’ 15” W. The climate was very mild, and the same as in Andalusia. . . .

In consequence of the violent journey from Oujda, I was taken ill for ten days. Some of my people and cattle were also indisposed and lame; however, we had none dead except one mule. I took some sea bathing, upon which occasion I did not forget my collections, for I gathered several maritime productions.

A corvette from Tripoli was in this port, where it had laid several months. The Sultan ordered it to be fitted out at his cost, and the cabin in the stern was assigned to me for my passage to the East. I examined this vessel, which was in fact going to Tripoli, and I had the cabin fitted out properly for this long voyage.

Sunday, 13 December 1805, being fixed for my departure, I called in the morning on the Pasha and took leave of him. He received me with all possible demonstrations of esteem and consideration, and engaged me to delay my departure till three in the afternoon, in order to have the pleasure of being himself present at it. I could not but accept of so kind an offer. As my equipages had been brought on board, I went at the appointed hour to the port in order to embark myself with all my people.

I asked for the Pasha, and they told me that he was coming. In the meanwhile I waited the arrival of the boat. . . . The boat arrived, but the Pasha did not come. I therefore determined to go on board, when all of a sudden two detachments of soldiers came up to me on both sides, and a third detachment from the . . . lane. The two first ones laid hold of my people, and the third, surrounding me, ordered me to embark alone and to depart that very moment. I asked for the reason of so strange a treatment; they answered, “It is the order of the Sultan.” I wished to speak to the Pasha, and they said bluntly, “Embark.” This was enough to prove to me the bad intentions of the Sultan and the Pasha, who to the last moment had ordered all possible honors to be conferred on me as well by the troops as by the people, while they had been meditating a blow which was to affect me most deeply, as the fate and welfare of my people interested me as much as my own.

I went into the boat with a broken heart, hearing the cries of some of my people, and got down the river. My rage and despair was only interrupted by the passage over the bar of the river, where the motion of the water caused me a severe seasickness. Exhausted by this violent moral and physical exhaustion, I arrived, almost in a senseless state, at the corvette, which was lying at anchor at some distance from the bar. I was taken into the cabin, and went to bed.

In this manner I left the empire of Morocco. I suppress now the reflections which they excited; perhaps one day I may have an occasion to express them. . . .

CAIRO, 1806 Several Christian travelers have represented the streets of Cairo as being extremely dirty and of a dull appearance. I can certify that I have seen few cities in Europe whose streets were cleaner. The ground is extremely soft, without stones, and appears like a watered walk. If there are some streets narrow, there is a much greater number broad, although all of them appear narrower than they really are, on account of the projection of the first floors over the streets, as at Alexandria, which advance so far that in some narrow streets they are only a few inches distant from the houses in front of them. Notwithstanding, this form of the streets, in a country so hot, is very agreeable.

Far from the streets of Cairo exhibiting a dull appearance, they present as gay and agreeable a view as those of the large cities of Europe, on account of the number of shops and warehouses, and the immense multitude of people who parade them at every moment. The quarter of the Franks, or Europeans, situated in a hollow, is solitary, and separated from the great commerce, which may have given rise to this description. I do not deny that the abode of the Europeans at Cairo is disagreeable to them, shut up as they are in their quarter, and obstinately persevering in preserving the costume and the manners of their country. When they go out, the natives stare at them; and they walk as if they were scared. Can the Arabs be reproached for this conduct, when at London the civilized English may be seen doing the same thing, and insulting the poor stranger who may present himself in a coat two fingers longer or shorter than their own? . . .

The largest suburb of Cairo is Bulaq. The city being at some distance from the Nile, Bulaq is the port. It has some good buildings, and, by its position, is not likely to sink into neglect like Giza and Old Cairo. It is a large place, and the port is enlivened by a number of vessels which carry on a trade with the banks of the Nile that occupies many hands. The customs produce considerable sums. The road from Bulaq to Cairo is superb, since it has been repaired and embellished by the French.

In speaking of the commerce of Bulaq, it may be imagined that it is hardly the shadow of what it ought to be, since the insurrection of Upper Egypt, to which place the Mamluks with Ibrahim Bey and Osman Bey Bardissi have retired, makes Cairo lose all the trade of the interior of Africa. The revolutions in Barbary prevent the arrival or departure of caravans for Morocco, Algiers, and the whole of the western countries.

The wandering Arabs of the desert repair to the environs of Suez to rob the caravans, which convey effects from Arabia and the Indies that arrive by the Red Sea. The war with England suspends the commerce with the Mediterranean. These are the causes which have diminished the exterior commerce of Egypt.

The interior commerce is not more flourishing. The Mamluks reign over all Upper Egypt; Elfi Bey, in the province of Beheira; the Arabs of the province of Sharqiya are in rebellion; partial revolutions occur continually in the Delta; in short, it may be said that it is almost impossible to perform the least journey in Egypt without running the greatest risks.

When I see Cairo carrying on so great trade as it does under such fatal circumstances, I say Egypt is a great country. But what would it be under more favorable circumstances, and a tutelary government!

JIDDA TO MECCA, 1807 Being a little recovered, though very weak, I set out for Mecca on Wednesday the twenty-first of January, at three o’clock in the afternoon.

I traveled in a machine made of sticks and covered with cushions, of the form of a sofa or cabriolet, roofed with boughs upon arches, which they placed upon the back of a camel, and called a shevria. It was very convenient, as I was enabled to sit up or lie down in it, but the motion of the camel, which I felt for the first time in my life, completely exhausted me in the feeble state that I was in. My Arabs began to dispute before they left the town, and continued during a whole hour, shouting and stunning everybody. I thought they had finished; but new disputes and cries arose when we were outside the walls, which lasted another hour. At last a calm succeeded to the storm, and the camels being loaded, we set out upon our way at five in an easterly direction, across a large desert plain terminated at the horizon by groups of small detached mountains, the aspect of which gave a little variety to the picture.

At half-past eight in the evening we arrived at the mountains, which are composed of bare stone, and do not produce any vegetation.

The serene atmosphere, and the moon, which shone bright above our heads, rendered our journey very agreeable. My Arabs sang and danced around me. For my part, I was far from being at my ease; the motion of the camel was insupportable. At length, stunned by their noise, exhausted by fatigue, and my weak state, I fell asleep during two hours. When I awoke my fever was increased, and I vomited some blood.

My Arabs having fallen sleep, we lost our way; but discovering about midnight that we directed our course to Mocha, we changed it to the north-east, passing between woody mountains of a certain height, and having found our road again, we continued eastward until six o’clock in the morning, when we halted at a small hamlet called Hadda, where there was a well of briny water.

I could not exactly estimate the distance we had gone, but I think we were about eight leagues to the east of Jidda. . . .

At midnight, between Thursday and Friday the twenty-third of January 1807, I arrived through the favor of divine mercy at the first houses of the holy city of Mecca, fifteen months after my departure from Morocco.

There were at the entrance of the town several North African Arabs, who were waiting my arrival with little pitchers of the water from the Well of Zamzam, which they presented me to drink, begging me not to take it of any other person, and offering to supply my house. They told me secretly never to drink the water which the chief of the wells should offer to me.

Several other persons, who were also waiting, disputed between themselves which should have me for a lodger, for the lodgings are one of the principal speculations of the inhabitants. But the persons who were charged with providing everything for me during my stay at Jidda soon put an end to these disputes, by taking me to a house that had been prepared for me. It was situated near the temple, and the house inhabited by the Sultan Sharif.

Pilgrims ought to enter on foot into Mecca, but in consequence of my illness I remained upon my camel until I arrived at my lodging.

The moment I entered, I performed a general ablution, after which I was conducted in procession toward the temple, with all my people, by a person appointed for that purpose, who as he walked along recited different prayers in a loud voice, which we repeated altogether word for word in the same tone. I was supported by two persons, on account of my extreme weakness.

In this manner we arrived at the temple, making a tour by the principal street to enter at the Bab al-Salaam, or Gate of Health, which they look upon as a happy auspice. After having taken off our sandals, we entered in at this blessed gate, which is placed near the northern angle of the temple. We had already traversed the portal, or gallery, and were upon the point of entering the great space where the House of God, or Kaʿba, is situated, when our guide arrested our steps and, pointing with his finger toward it, said with emphasis, “Shouf, shouf, al-Bayt Allah al-Haram.” “Look, look, the House of God, the Prohibited.” The crowd that surrounded me; the portico of columns half-hidden from view; the immense size of the temple; the Kaʿba, or House of God, covered with the black cloth from top to bottom and surrounded with a circle of lamps or lanterns; the hour; the silence of the night; and this man speaking in a solemn tone, as if he had been inspired; all served to form an imposing picture, which will never be effaced from my memory.

We entered into the court by a path a foot high, bordering diagonally upon the northern angle of the Kaʿba, which is nearly in the center of the temple. Before we arrived at it, we passed under a sort of isolated triumphal arch, called Bab al-Salaam, like the gate by which we had entered. Being arrived at the House of God, we repeated a little prayer, kissed the sacred Black Stone brought by the angel Gabriel, named Hajar al-Aswad, or the Heavenly Stone; and, having the guide at our head, we performed the first tour round the Kaʿba, reciting prayers at the same time.

The Kaʿba is a quadrilateral tower, entirely covered with an immense black cloth, except the base. The Black Stone is revealed through an opening in the cloth. It is encrusted on the eastern angle. A similar opening to the former at the southern angle discovers a part of it, which is of common marble. On the northwest side rises a parapet about a leaning height, forming nearly a semicircle, separated from the building, called the Stone of Ishmael.

The following is a detail of the ulterior ceremonies which are observed in this religious act, such as I performed them myself at this period.

The pilgrims go seven times round the Kaʿba, beginning at the Black Stone, or the eastern angle, and passing the principal front, in which is the door; from whence turning to the west and south, outside of the Stone of Ishmael. Being arrived at the southern angle, they stretch out the right arm; when, having touched the angular marble with the hand, taking great care that the lower part of their garment does not touch the uncovered base, they pass it over the face and beard, saying, “In the name of God, the greatest God, praises be to God,” and they continue to walk toward the northeast, saying, “Oh great God! be with me! Give me the good things of this world, and those of the next.” Being returned to the eastern angle, they raise their hands as at the beginning of the canonical prayer, and cry, “In the name of God, the greatest God.” They afterward say, with their hands down, “Praises be to God,” and kiss the Black Stone. Thus terminates the first tour.

The second is like the first, except that the prayers are different from the angle of the Black Stone to that of the south; but they are the same from the latter to the former, and are repeated with the same forms during the seven rounds. The traditional law orders that the last rounds should be made in a quick step; but in consequence of my weak state we went very slowly.

At the end of the seventh, and after having kissed the Black Stone, they recite in common a short prayer, standing near the door of the Kaʿba, from whence they go to a sort of cradle called Maqam Ibrahim, or the place of Abraham, situated between the Kaʿba and the arch Bab al-Salaam, when they recite a common prayer. They then go to the Well Zamzam, and draw buckets of water, of which they drink as much as they can swallow. After this they leave the temple by Bab al-Safa, or the Gate of Safa, from whence they go up a small street facing, which forms what is called the Hill of Safa.

At the end of this street, which is terminated by a portico composed of three arches upon columns, ascended by steps, is the sacred place called Safa. When the pilgrims have arrived there, they turn their faces toward the gate of the temple and recite a short prayer standing.

The procession then directs its course through the principal street and passes a part of the Hill of Marwa, the pilgrims reciting some prayers at the end of the street, which is terminated by a great wall. They then ascend some steps and, turning their faces toward the temple, the view of which is interrupted by the intervening houses, recite a short prayer standing and continue to go from the one hill to the other seven times, repeating prayers in a loud voice as they proceed, and short ones at the two sacred places, which constitute the seven journeys between the two hills.

These being completed, there are a number of barbers in waiting to shave the pilgrims’ heads, which they do very quickly, at the same time saying prayers in a loud tone, which the former repeat after them word for word. This operation terminates the first ceremonies of the pilgrimage to Mecca. . . .

The day beginning to dawn when I had finished these first ceremonies, they told me I might retire to take a little rest; but as the hour for morning prayer was not far distant, I preferred to return to the temple, notwithstanding my weakness, which was increased by fatigue; and I did not return home until six o’clock in the morning, after prayers. . . .

A VISIT WITH THE SHARIF I received an order in the afternoon to hold myself in readiness to present myself to the Sultan Sharif.

The chief [assistant] of the Sharifs came to conduct me to the palace. He entered, but I waited at the door for the order to go in. A moment after, the chief of the well, who was already my friend, came to meet me. We ascended the staircase, in the middle of which was a door that stopped our passage. My guide knocked at it, when two armed servants opened it. We continued to ascend; we traversed a dark gallery; and, after having left our sandals in this place, we entered into a fine saloon, in which was the Sultan Sharif (named Sharif Ghalib), seated near a window, surrounded by six persons who were standing.

After I had saluted him, he asked me the following questions:

“Do you speak Arabic?”93

“Yes, sire.”

“And Turkish?”

“No, sire.”

“Arabic only?”

“Yes, sire.”

“Do you speak any Christian languages?”

“Some.”

“Of what country are you?”

“Haleb, or Alep [Aleppo, Syria].”

“Did you leave it when young?”

“Yes, sire.”

“Where have you been since?”

I related my history to him. The Sharif then said to him who was on his left, “He speaks Arabic very well; his accent is pure,” and addressing himself to me, he cried, “Come near to me.” I approached a little. He repeated, “Come near to me.” I then went close to him. He said, “Sit down.” I hastened to comply, and immediately he made the person upon his left sit down. “You have without doubt,” said the Sharif, “some news from the Christian lands. Tell me the last you have heard.” I related to him briefly the actual state of Europe. He asked me if I could read and write French. “A little, sire,” I replied. “A little, or well?” “A little, and incorrectly, sire.” “Which are the languages that you speak and write the best?” “Italian and Spanish.” We continued this conversation during an hour. At length, after having made him my present, and delivered the firman of the Captain Pasha, I retired, accompanied by my friend the chief of Zamzam, who conducted me to my house. . . .

The Sultan Sharif of Mecca is the son of Sharif Mas’ad, his predecessor. Many years have elapsed since his family obtained possession of the Hijaz. The same custom prevails here as at Morocco upon the death of the Sultan, in regard to the obtaining of the throne, for the right of succession is not established.

The Sharif Ghalib is a man of sense, cunning, political, and brave, but completely ignorant. Led away by his passions, he is transformed into a vile egotist, so that there is not any species of vexation which he does not exercise upon the inhabitants, strangers, or pilgrims. His inclination for rapine is such that he does not even spare his most intimate friends or faithful servants, when he thinks he can obtain a sum from them. During my stay, I observed him commit an injury to a merchant of Jidda, who was one of his greatest favorites, which occasioned a loss of one hundred thousand francs to the latter. The imposts leveled upon commerce, as also upon the inhabitants, are entirely arbitrary and increase every day, because he invents new methods of stripping them of their money. He reduces the people to the last extremity, so that I did not find one person in the whole Holy Land who spoke well of him, except the merchant above mentioned.

Besides overloading commerce by arbitrary taxes, he injures the merchant and puts fetters upon him, because he himself takes an active part in commerce by means of his own ships. No private ship can be loaded or unloaded until his are completed; and as these are the largest, best built, and best manned, they absorb the greatest part of the trade of the Red Sea, to the ruin of the merchants, who find themselves reduced by these means to a state of slavery.

The English are looked upon as the best friends of the Sharif, on account of the direct interest he enjoys by his traffic with the Indies through their means, notwithstanding which he does not spare them, when he can oppress them. Last year an English ship loaded with rice put into Jidda. The captain, having landed, found this article very cheap in the country. He therefore resolved to go to another port, but the Sharif pretended that the captain ought to pay all the dues, as if he had landed and sold his cargo. After some very warm discussions, the captain was obliged to leave the port, in order to escape the rapacity of the Sharif. . . .

THE WAHHABIS One day a part of the army of the Wahhabis entered Mecca to fulfill the duties of pilgrimage, and to take possession of this holy city. It was by chance I saw them enter.

I was in the principal street, about nine o’clock, when I saw a crowd of men coming; but what men! We must imagine a crowd of individuals thronged together without any other covering than a small piece of cloth round their waist, except some few who had a napkin placed upon the left shoulder that passed under the right arm, being naked in every other respect, with their matchlocks upon their shoulders, and their large knives hung to their girdles.

All the people fled at the sight of this torrent of men and left them the whole street to themselves. I determined to keep my post, not being in the least alarmed, and I mounted upon a heap of rubbish to observe them better.

I saw a column of them defile, which appeared composed of five or six thousand men, so pressed together in the whole width of the street that it would not have been possible to have moved a hand. The column was preceded by three or four horsemen armed with lances twelve feet long, and followed by fifteen or twenty men mounted upon horses, camels, and dromedaries, with lances like the others; but they had neither flags, drums, nor any other instrument or military trophy during their march. Some uttered cries of holy joy; others recited prayers in a confused and loud voice.

They marched in this manner to the upper part of the town, where they began to file off in parties, to enter the temple by the Bab al-Salaam.

A great number of children belonging to the city, who generally serve as guides to strangers, came to meet them and presented themselves successively to the different parties, to assist them as guides in the sacred ceremonies. I remarked that among these benevolent guides there was not one man. Already had the first parties begun their turns round the Kaʿba and were pressing toward the Black Stone to kiss it, when the others, impatient no doubt at being kept waiting, advanced in a tumult, mixing among the first, and, confusion being soon at its height, prevented them from hearing the voices of their young guides. Tumult succeeded to confusion. All wishing to kiss the stone, precipitated themselves upon the spot, and many of them made their way with their sticks in their hands. In vain did their chiefs mount the base near the stone, with a view to enforce order: their cries and signs were useless, for the holy zeal for the House of God which devoured them would not permit them to listen to reason, nor to the voice of their chiefs.

The movement of the circle increased by mutual impulse. They resembled at last a swarm of bees which flutter confusedly round their hive, circulating rapidly and without order round the Kaʿba. By their tumultuous pressure they broke all the lamps which surrounded it with their guns, which they carried upon their shoulders.

After the different ceremonies round the House of God, every party ought to have drunk and sprinkled themselves with the water of the miraculous well, but they rushed to it in such crowds and with so much precipitation that in a few moments the ropes, the buckets, and pulleys were ruined. The chief, and those employed at the Zamzam, abandoned their post: the Wahhabis alone remained masters of the well and, giving each other their hands, formed a chain to descend to the bottom, and obtained the water how they could.

The well required alms, the House of God offerings, the guides demanded their pay, but the greater part of the Wahhabis had not brought any money with them. They acquitted themselves of this obligation of conscience by giving twenty or thirty grains of a very coarse gunpowder, small pieces of lead, or some grains of coffee.

These ceremonies being finished, they commenced shaving their heads, for they all had hair an inch long. This operation took place in the street, and they paid the barbers in the same coin that they had paid the guides, the officers of the temple, etc.

These Wahhabis, who are from Dirʿiyya, the principal place of the reformers, are of a copper color. They are in general well made and very well proportioned, but of a short stature. I particularly remarked some of their heads, which were so handsome that they might have been compared with those of Apollo, Antinous, or the gladiator. They have very lively eyes, the nose and mouth well formed, fine teeth, and very expressive countenances.

When we represent to ourselves a crowd of naked armed men without any idea of civilization and speaking a barbarous language, the picture terrifies the imagination and appears disgusting; but if we overcome this first impression, we find in them some commendable qualities. They never rob either by force or stratagem, except when they know the object belongs to an enemy or an infidel. They pay with their money all their purchases, and every service that is rendered them. Being blindly subservient to their chiefs, they support in silence every fatigue and would allow themselves to be led to the opposite side of the globe. In short, it may be perceived that they are men the most disposed to civilization, if they were to receive proper instruction.

Having returned home, I found that fresh bodies of Wahhabis were continually arriving, to fulfill the duties of their pilgrimage. But what was the conduct of the Sultan Sharif during this period? Being unable to resist these forces, he hid himself, fearing an attack from them. The fortresses were provisioned and prepared for defense. The Arabian, Turkish, Maghribi, and Negro soldiers were at their posts. I saw several guards and sentinels upon the forts; several gates were walled up. All was ready, in short, in case of aggression, but the moderation of the Wahhabis, and the negociations of the Sharif, rendered these precautions useless.

PILGRIMAGE TO ARAFAT The grand day of the pilgrimage to Mount Arafat being fixed for Tuesday the seventeenth of February, I left the city the preceding afternoon, in a shevria placed upon a camel.

At two o’clock I passed the barracks of the Negro and Maghribi guards, which are situated at the northern extremity of the town. Afterward, turning to the east, I saw a large country house belonging to the Sharif and soon obtained a view of the celebrated Jabal Nur, or Mountain of Light. It was upon this spot that the angel Gabriel brought the first chapter of the Quran to the greatest of prophets. This mountain, which presents the appearance of a sugar loaf, rises alone above the others that surround it. There was a chapel formerly upon its summit, which was an object that the pilgrims visited, but the Wahhabis, having destroyed it, have placed a guard at the foot of the mountain, to prevent them from ascending and saying their prayers, which Abd al-Wahhab94 has declared to be superstitious. It is said there is a staircase cut in the rock to facilitate the ascent. As it was situated a quarter of a league to our left, I only looked at it in passing with the crowd of pilgrims, but I took a sketch of it.

Upon turning the road to the east southeast about three o’clock, I saw a small spring of fresh water with stone basins; and shortly after I entered Mina, where the first thing I perceived was a fountain, in front of which is an ancient edifice said to have been built by the devil.

The town of Mina, called by some Muna, is composed of a single street, which is so long that it took me twenty minutes to pass through it. There are several handsome houses in it; but the greater number are in ruins and without roofs. There are several dwellings of dry stone about five feet high, which they let to pilgrims during the time of pilgrimage.

About four o’clock we pitched my camp upon the eastern side of Mina, in a little plain, where there was a mosque surrounded by a wall that resembled a fortification.

The country lies in a valley, between mountains of granite rocks that are perfectly bare. The road, which was very level upon a sandy bottom, was covered with camels, with persons on foot or on horseback and with a great number of shevrias, of the same form as my own.

A detachment of Wahhabis, mounted upon dromedaries, which I saw first at the foot of Jabal Nur, arrived, and encamped also before the door of the mosque. This was followed by several others, also mounted, so that in a short time the plain was covered. About sunset, the Sultan of the Wahhabis, named Saʿud al-Saʿud,95 arrived, and his tents were pitched at the foot of a mountain, at a short distance from mine.

A caravan from Tripoli in Barbary, another from Yemen, a great number of Negro pilgrims from Sudan or Abyssinia, several hundred Turks from Suez, a great many Maghribi, who came by sea; a caravan from Basra, others from the East, Arabs from Upper and Lower Egypt, those of the country in which we were, and the Wahhabis were now all assembled and encamped together, or rather one upon the other, in this little plain. Here the pilgrims are obliged to camp, because tradition relates that the holy Prophet always did so when he went to Arafat.

The caravan from Damascus had not arrived; however, it had set out with troops, artillery and a great number of women to convey the rich carpet which is sent every year from Constantinople to the sepulcher of the Prophet at Medina. This present the Wahhabis look upon as a sin. The caravan was close to Medina when the Wahhabis went and met it and signified to the Pasha of Damascus, who that year was the acting Amir al-Hajj, that they could not receive the carpet which was destined for the sepulcher, and that if he wished to continue his journey to Mecca, he must first send back his soldiers, his artillery, and the women, so that by transforming themselves into true pilgrims, they would experience no impediment to the continuation of their journey. The Pasha, not willing to conform to these conditions, was desired to retrace his steps. Some pretend to say that the Wahhabis required a large sum of money from him, but others deny this fact.

On Tuesday the seventeenth of February 1807, the ninth of Dhu al-Hijja, at six o’clock in the morning, we all set out toward the southeast one-quarter east. At a short distance we passed a house of the Sharif; and at seven we arrived at Muzdalifa, a small chapel with a high minaret situated in a small valley. After leaving this, we defiled through a very narrow passage between the mountains and traversed a second valley to the southeast, which lay at the foot of Mount Arafat, where we arrived at nine.

Mount Arafat is the principal object of the pilgrimage of the Musselmen; and several doctors of Islamic law assert, that if the House of God ceased to exist, the pilgrimage to the former would be completely meritorious, and would produce the same degree of satisfaction. This is my opinion likewise.

It is here that the grand spectacle of the pilgrimage of the Musselmen must be seen—an innumerable crowd of men from all nations and of all colors, coming from the extremities of the earth through a thousand dangers, and encountering fatigues of every description, to adore together the same God, the God of nature. The native of Circassia presents his hand in a friendly manner to the Ethiopian, or the Negro of Guinea. The Indian and the Persian embrace the inhabitant of Barbary and Morocco. All look upon each other as brothers, or individuals of the same family united by the bands of religion, and the greater part speak or understand more or less the same language, the language of Arabia. No, there is not any religion that presents to the senses a spectacle more simple, affecting, and majestic! Philosophers of the earth! permit me, Ali Bey, to defend my religion (and the necessary existence of the Creation), as one defends spiritual things from those which are material, the plenum against a vacuum.

(Here, as I remarked in the narrative of my voyage to Morocco, is no intermediary between man and the Divinity. All individuals are equal before their Creator, all are intimately persuaded that their works alone reconcile them to, or separate them from, the Supreme Being, without any foreign hand being able to change the order of immutable justice. What a curb to sin! What an encouragement to virtue! But what a misfortune that, with so many advantages, we should not be better than the Calvinists.)

Arafat is a small mountain of granite rock, the same as those that surround it. It is about 150 feet high and is situated at the foot of a higher mountain to the east-southeast, in a plain about three quarters of a league in diameter, surrounded by barren mountains.

It is enclosed by a wall, and is ascended by staircases partly cut in the rock and partly composed of masonry. There is a chapel upon its summit, which the Wahhabis were then in the act of pulling to pieces in the interior. It was impossible for me to visit it, because individuals who follow the same rite as myself, that is to say, the Malikites, are forbidden to ascend the top, according to the instructions of the imam, the founder of the rite. It was therefore that we stopped when we were halfway up, to recite our prayer. At the foot of the mountain there is a platform erected for this purpose, called the Mosque of Mercy, upon which, according to tradition, the Prophet used to say his prayer.

Near the mountain are fourteen large basins which the Sultan Saʿud has put in repair. They furnish a great abundance of excellent water, very good to drink, and which serves also for the pilgrims to wash themselves with upon this solemn day. The Sharif has a house close to the southwest side of the mountain. Toward the northwest there is a second platform for offering up prayers, which is situated about a quarter of a league from the first and is called Jemaa Ibrahim, or the Mosque of Abraham.

It was upon Mount Arafat that the common father of all mankind met Eve after a long separation; and it is on that account that it is called Arafat, that is to say, Gratitude. It is believed that it was Adam himself who built this chapel.

Ritual commands that after having repeated the afternoon prayer, which we did in our tents, we should repair to the foot of the mountain and await there the setting of the sun. The Wahhabis, who were encamped at great distances, with a view to obeying this precept, began to approach, having at their head the Sultan Saʿud, and Abu Noqta, their second chief. In a short time I saw an army of forty-five thousand men pass before me, almost all of whom were mounted upon camels and dromedaries, with a thousand camels carrying water, tents, firewood, and dry grass for the camels of the chiefs. A body of two hundred men on horseback carried colors of different kinds, fixed upon lances. This cavalry, I was informed, belonged to Abu Noqta. There were also eight or ten colors among the camels, but without any other customary appendage. All this body of men, almost naked, marched in the same order that I have formerly remarked.

It was impossible for me exactly to distinguish the Sultan and the second chief, for they were attired like the rest. However, I believe that a venerable old man with a long white beard, who was preceded by the royal standard, was Saʿud. This standard was green, and had, as a mark of distinction, the profession of his faith, “La illaha ila Allah,” “There is no other god but God,” embroidered upon it in large white characters.

I distinguished perfectly one of Saʿud’s sons, a boy about seven or eight years old, with long and flowing hair. He was brown like the rest and dressed in a large white shirt. He was mounted on a superb white horse, upon a sort of pannel without stirrups, according to their custom, for they are not acquainted with any other kind of saddle, and he was escorted by a chosen troop. The pannel was covered with a red cloth richly embroidered and spangled with gold stars.

The mountain and its environs were soon covered with Wahhabis. The caravans and detached pilgrims afterward approached it. Notwithstanding the remonstrances of my people, I penetrated among the Wahhabis to their center, to be able to obtain a nearer view of the Sultan. (Several of them with whom I conversed assured me that this was impossible, since the apprehension of a similar death to that which occurred to the unfortunate Abd al-Aziz,96 who was assassinated, had occasioned Saʿud to multiply the number of his guard.)

I must allow that I discovered much reason and moderation among the Wahhabis to whom I spoke, and from whom I obtained the greater part of the information which I have given concerning their nation. However, notwithstanding this moderation, neither the natives of the country nor the pilgrims could hear their name pronounced without trembling and never pronounced it themselves but in murmurs. Thus they fly from them as much as possible, and shun conversation with them; in consequence of which I had to encounter and overcome the different scruples of my people who surrounded me whenever I wished to converse with any of them.

The Sultan Sharif had sent, according to annual custom, a part of his troops with four small pieces of artillery. It was reported even that he would come in person, but I did not see him.

It is customary also, that an imam of the Sharif should come every year and preach a sermon upon the mountain. The one that came this day was sent back by Saʿud before he commenced, and one of his own imams preached in his stead, but I was too far off to be able to hear anything. The sermon being over, I observed the Wahhabis make signs of approbation, and they cried outrageously.

I could easily have found means to introduce myself to Sultan Saʿud, which I very much desired, so that I might have known him perfectly; but as it would have compromised me with the Sultan Sharif, who would have attributed this simple action of curiosity to some political motive, I abstained from effecting it.

We waited upon the mountain for the period of the sun’s setting. The instant it occurred, what a tremendous noise! Let us imagine an assemblage of eighty thousand men, two thousand women, and a thousand little children, sixty or seventy thousand camels, asses, and horses, which at the commencement of night began to move in a quick pace along a narrow valley, according to the ritual, marching one after the other in a cloud of sand and delayed by a forest of lances, guns, swords, etc., in short, forcing their passage as they could. Pressed and hurried on by those behind, we only took an hour and a half to return to Muzdalifa, notwithstanding it had taken us more than two hours to arrive in the morning. The motive of this precipitation ordered by the ritual is that the prayer of the setting sun ought not to be said at Arafat, but at Muzdalifa, at the same time as the night prayer, which ought to be said at the last moment of twilight, that is, an hour and a half after sunset. These prayers are repeated by each group or family privately. We hastened to say them upon our arrival, before we pitched our tents, and the day was terminated by mutual felicitations upon the happiness of our sanctification by the pilgrimage to Arafat.

THE RETURN TO MINA We set out the next day . . . at five o’clock in the morning, to go to encamp at Mina.

We alighted immediately after our arrival, and went precipitately to the pillar of the devil, which is facing the fountain. We had each seven small stones of the size of gray peas, which we had picked up expressly the evening before at Muzdalifa to throw against the pillar. Musselmen of the rite of Maliki, like myself, throw them one after the other, pronouncing after every one these words, “Bismillah Allahu akbar!” which interpreted are “In the name of God, very great God!” As the devil has had the malice to build his house in a very narrow place, not above thirty-four feet broad, occupied also in part by rocks, which it was requisite to climb to make sure of our aim when we threw the stones over the wall that surrounded it, and as the pilgrims all desired to perform this ceremony immediately upon their arrival, there was a most terrible confusion. However, I soon succeeded in accomplishing this holy duty through the aid of my people, but I came off with two wounds in my left leg. I retired afterward to my tent, to repose myself after these fatigues. The Wahhabis came and threw their little stones also, because the Prophet used to do so. We offered up the paschal sacrifice this day.

I must praise the moderation and good order which reigned amidst this number of individuals, belonging to different nations. Two thousand women who were among them did not occasion the least disorder; and though there were more than forty or fifty thousand guns, there was only one let off, which happened near me. At the same instant one of the chiefs ran to the man who had fired and reprimanded him, saying, “Why did you do this? Are we going to make war here?”

I met the eldest son of Saʿud upon my way, in the morning. He was on horseback, at the head of a body of dromedaries, and arrived at Mina at the same time I did. At the moment of passing by my side, he cried to his company, “Come, children, let us approach.” Then turning to the left, he galloped off, followed by his suite, to his father’s tent, which was pitched as before at the foot of the mountain. Mine were situated opposite those belonging to the troops of the Sharif.

Having risen at break of day on Thursday the nineteenth to say my prayer, I perceived that my writing desk, books, papers, and some clothes had been stolen. My writing desk contained my chronometer, some jewels and other trifles, my great seal, and several astronomical observations and drawings.

My servants began to hunt on all sides, fearing the consequences of this robbery, because they had neglected to mount guard according to my desire; but being much fatigued on the preceding days, and the guard of the Turkish and Maghribi soldiers being close to my tents, they had been induced to take repose.

I finished my prayer, surrounded by my people; and when it was completely daylight, they discovered papers scattered over the mountain. They ran to the spot, and found my writing desk open, with the lock forced, and all my papers and books scattered about. The chronometer, jewels, and the tables of logarithms, which were bound, and which the thieves mistook for a Quran in the dark, were missing. . . .

A FAILED ATTEMPT TO REACH MEDINA I had a great desire to go to Medina to visit the sepulcher of the Prophet, notwithstanding the express order of the Wahhabis to the contrary. The thing was hazardous, but I succeeded in encouraging several Turkish and Arab pilgrims to undertake the risk of the journey with me.

As the Captain had his family at Yanbu, where the fleet was going to stay several days, we engaged with him that we would return within eight or nine, to which he consented. . . .

I sent for some dromedaries immediately, to enable us to traverse the country as quickly as possible, but with all my diligence, I was not able to set out before the next evening. I took with me nothing but a small trunk, with my instruments. Three servants alone accompanied me. I left the others, with my effects, on board the vessel. . . .

Two hours after we had set out, two Wahhabis coming from the mountains stopped my camels and asked me whither I was going. I told them to Medina. I received for answer that I could not continue my journey. A chief then presented himself, accompanied by two officers mounted upon camels, and interrogated me anew. The chief, believing me to be a Turk, threatened to cut off my head. I answered his questions very coolly, without being at all alarmed by his menaces. My answers were attested by my servants. In vain my imagination recalled to me at this moment the news which had circulated at Jidda, that all the Turks leaving Mecca had been strangled: my demeanor was in no degree less calm. They ordered me to give them my money; I gave them four Spanish piastres which I had in my pocket. They insisted upon having more. I declared to them I had not anymore, and told them they might search my effects if they pleased. They pretended that I had money hidden in my belt (an ordinary custom in the East). I said not. They insisted: I then threw my cloak upon the ground, and began to undress myself to satisfy them. They prevented me; but seeing the chain of my watch, they took it by force, and repeated their menaces. After having robbed me, they desired us to proceed, and indicated to the camel driver a spot very near, where we were to dismount and wait their orders.

Being arrived at the appointed spot, I immediately destroyed a case which contained the insects I had collected in Arabia, and threw it far from me, as also the plants and fossils collected in the journey from Yanbu. I swallowed a letter from Prince Moulay Abd al-Salem, which might have compromised me in the eyes of these fanatics. I gave to my house steward some piastres that I had in my little trunk, and remained perfectly quiet. My servants hid the tobacco they had under some stones, and we awaited their orders.

A moment afterward, two Wahhabis came to establish themselves near us, to keep us in sight. Happily this arrangement was tardy, for we were already disencumbered of everything that might have compromised us. I am persuaded that we owed these precious moments to the cupidity of these men, who had withdrawn to divide the booty, which they were at a loss to do equally among five persons.

Two more Wahhabis arrived two hours afterward, saying they were sent by the Amir, who demanded from me five hundred francs for my deliverance. I told them I had no money, and they withdrew.

Another Wahhabi soon after presented himself, with an order to conduct us to another place. We went with him behind a neighboring mountain, where I found the whole of my caravan equally made prisoners.

All my companions, who were surrounded by a strong guard, were pale, trembling, and unhappy concerning their fate. I seated myself beside the Arabs. The Turks were separated from us at a distance.

A Wahhabi arrived and announced that every pilgrim, whether Turk or Maghribi Arab, was to pay five hundred francs. At this demand all my unfortunate companions uttered cries and asked for mercy with tears in their eyes. As for myself, I said quietly that my answer had been already given, but I spoke in favor of my comrades.

The sun was nearly setting when a messenger came to inform us that the Amir had granted a diminution of the contribution, and that every pilgrim must pay two hundred francs. This produced fresh sorrow and tears among my fellow travelers, who had really no money.

At sunset they led us to a hollow, where they made us sit down in two separate groups. A great number of Wahhabis arrived soon afterward, which filled my companions with terror. I must own I was much afraid myself that I should soon witness a bloody scene, to which our poor Turks would furnish victims. I feared not for my own safety, because I was considered as a Maghribi Arab, and the Turks could not assert the contrary: however, I was not the less deeply afflicted for the uncertainty of the fate of these unfortunate people, who, had it not been for me, would never have undertaken the journey, and unfortunately I had not any influence or means to guarantee them from calamity.

An hour passed in this anguish, and some more soldiers arrived. They ordered us to mount and conducted us to another spot, giving us to understand that the Amir wished to examine each of us in private. We retraced our steps. The night was exceedingly dark. We passed Jidida, and shortly afterward halted for the remainder of this unhappy night.

The next morning, Friday the third of April, a little before sunrise, we were ordered to mount, and we continued our retrograde route, escorted only by three Wahhabi soldiers.

Two hours afterward I perceived an encampment composed of handsome tents. I thought we were going to be presented to the Amir, but I soon perceived that this assemblage of people consisted of the priests, servants, and slaves of the temple of the Prophet’s sepulcher [in Medina], whom Saʿud had sent out of Arabia.

Being arrived at the encampment, they ordered us to fill our pitchers with water from a fine spring, and we continued our march.

Whilst we were getting the water, the servant who led my camel by the halter was so distracted with fright that he began to run, leading my camel, to put himself and me under the protection of the caravan of those belonging to the temple; but one of the Wahhabis ran immediately after us and, forcing the halter out of his hand, struck him to the earth and, after having kicked him a hundred times, conducted me back to the caravan without saying a word to me. We passed by Hamra, a village thinly peopled, as well as Jidida, in a better situation, surrounded with gardens and superb palm trees in the middle of an extensive valley, and at a short distance from a fine spring, where we filled our pitchers. This spring is hot, but it produces an abundance of excellent water.

We left the road half an hour afterward, when they made us alight among the mountains, where new discussions arose concerning the payment of the contribution, which lasted till three in the afternoon. The Wahhabis examined our effects and at length made each Turk pay twenty francs. They took a ha’ik and a sack of biscuit from the Maghribis and seized upon three Spanish piastres which I had forgotten in my writing desk, as also the caftan belonging to my steward. They exacted fifteen francs from each camel driver. Mine refused to pay, and set out to speak to the Amir, from which moment I did not see him again. We were then informed of the positive order of Saʿud, which forbade any pilgrim to go to Medina, and were conducted back to the encampment of those belonging to the temple, who shortly after began to march with us escorted by other soldiers.

Thus terminated, happily I may say, this disagreeable event, though I had to regret the relinquishment of an interesting journey, and the loss of my watch, which served for my astronomical observations.

Five or six peals of thunder took place during the time the Wahhabis were collecting the contributions. It was about noon, and there was not the least cloud in the heavens.

In regard to this conduct of the Wahhabis, it must be observed that we knew as well as the Arabs the express order against going to Medina to visit the sepulcher. We therefore broke the order willfully. But I had determined to attempt the journey, hoping that chance might perhaps second me in my efforts in this enterprise. The Wahhabis, in stopping us, only put in execution the general order established.

The contribution they exacted was only a fine, which we had incurred in consequence of our infraction of the standing order, though the manner of collecting it was certainly rather harsh; but much may be said for uncivilized men. They took from me, it is true, my watch and other things, but why did they not take all I had?

These Arabs, though Wahhabis, and subjects of Saʿud, are natives of the Hijaz, which has been newly subjected; consequently, they differ much from the brilliant Wahhabi youths of the East that I had seen at Mecca. Therefore, when they took my watch, etc., from me, I pardoned them willingly for these remains of the ancient vice of their country, and gave thanks to Abd al-Wahhab for effecting this reform, since they left me my other effects and my astronomical instruments. Their menace and bad conduct to the Turks are only the consequences of their resentment and hatred to that nation, the name of which alone suffices to rouse them to a fury. . . .

There was in this caravan, the new Qadi of Constantinople, destined to Medina, with whom I was in particular friendship during my stay at Mecca. I became acquainted at the same time with the Treasurer and the principal people employed in the temple at Medina.

They informed me that the Wahhabis had destroyed all the ornaments of the sepulcher of the Prophet, and that there remained absolutely nothing, that they had shut and sealed the doors of the temple, and that Saʿud had taken possession of the immense treasures which had been accumulating for so many ages. The Treasurer assured me that the value of the pearls and precious stones was above all estimation.

The caravan had a safe passport from Saʿud, to be respected during its journey; however, . . . it had been obliged to quit the road after leaving the Holy City, and a heavy contribution had been laid upon it; so much so that the agha, or Chief, of the Negroes had been obliged to pay for his share the value of three thousand francs, and the others in proportion. I learned also that the caravan of the Turks at Mecca had been robbed of everything immediately after its passage to Medina, and that they even took the provisions; so that it was doubtful whether these unhappy creatures escaped hunger and thirst in the midst of these deserts.

The same day, the fourth of April, at three in the afternoon, we took a west-southwest direction. In about an hour afterward I discovered the sea at a great distance, and after having marched the whole night, we arrived in sight of Yanbu at break of day. I proceeded to the head of my caravan, and entered the town at sunrise, on Sunday the fifth of April. I returned immediately on board the vessel, where I found my people very uneasy on account of the unpleasant news which had spread concerning me. Such was the end of this journey, which was unfortunate without doubt: notwithstanding this, my friends in misfortune, and myself, congratulated each other at being liberated so cheaply.

88 The Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior of Africa.

89 faqih: an expert in Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh). [Ed.]

90 mufti: doctor of Islamic law (Sharia). [Ed.]

91 no connection with nature: That is, no influence upon seasonal weather, the success of crops, or human events. [Ed.]

92 a symbolic gesture usually reserved for royalty.

93 The Sharif thought that I was a Turk.

94 Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (died 1792), founder of their movement.

95 Saʿud al-Saʿud: the third Saudi Amir (reigned 1803–1814), who extended the control of his predecessors into the Hijaz.

96 Abd al-Aziz: the second Saudi Amir (reigned 1765–1803), who extended the control of his father, Ibn Saʿid, through the interior of Arabia.