102 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 



half-naked Ethiopian or the negro of Guinea ; while 

 the poor hajjis cry their small stock, which they 

 carry on their heads, and dispose of for a few dol- 

 lars to carry them home. The mixture of nations 

 and tongues, of costumes and commodities, is more 

 striking here than at Mecca. At night the valley 

 blazes with illuminations, fireworks, discharges of 

 artillery, and honfires on the hills. The second day 

 of the feast ends the pilgrimage to Arafat, when the 

 devotees return to the city, testifying their delight 

 by songs, loud talking, and laughter. A repetition 

 of the same ceremonies already mentioned takes 

 place ; and before bidding adieu to the capital of 

 Islam, they must visit the holy places in the town 

 and suburbs, among which are the birth-places of 

 Mohammed and several of his kindred, the tomb of 

 his favourite wife, the spots where his chief miracles 

 were performed, and where he had some of his 

 interviews with the angel Gabriel. 



In all these religious exhibitions, Burckhardt was 

 either an actor or an eye-witness. His knowledge 

 of the Arabic language, and of Mohammedan man- 

 ners, enabled him to personate the Mussulman with 

 such success, that he mixed freely with the hajjis, 

 and passed through the various ceremonies of the 

 occasion without the smallest suspicion having arisen 

 as to his real character. On the 18th of January, 

 1815, he set out with a small caravan of pilgrims 

 who were going to visit the tomb of the Prophet at 

 Medina, a journey of ten or eleven days (about 270 

 miles), mostly through sandy deserts, interspersed 



