234 THE MOHAMMEDAN PILGRIMAGE. 



along the shore of the Red Sea, through the terri- 

 tories of wild and warlike tribes, who frequently 

 attack it by open force. The Persian haj departs 

 from Bagdad, and traverses Nejed by Deraiah. As 

 the Persians are reckoned notorious heretics, and 

 are generally persons of property, they are subject- 

 ed to severe impositions, and have occasionally been 

 prohibited from entering the Holy City. The Mog- 

 grebin caravan brings the pilgrims from Barbary 

 and Morocco. It is usually accompanied by a rela- 

 tive of the king, and proceeds from his capital by 

 slow marches towards Tunis and Tripoli, thence 

 along the Mediterranean shores to Alexandria or 

 Cairo, collecting the hajjis in every district through 

 which it passes. Yemen sent two caravans ; one 

 from Saade, which took its course along the moun, 

 tains to Tai'f, and the other travelled by the coast, 

 taking up such of the Persians and Indians as had 

 arrived in the harbours of the country. A caravan 

 of Indian pilgrims is said to have started from Mus- 

 cat and travelled through Nejed ; but this route, it 

 appears, has been long discontinued. Of late the 

 greater portion of the hajjis do not travel with the 

 regular caravans, but arrive by sea at Jidda. Those 

 from the north, including Turks, Tartars, Syrians, 

 Moors, and Africans, embark at Suez or Cosseir ; but 

 the wretched and crowded state of the vessels ren- 

 ders the passage disagreeable and often dangerous. 

 Crowds of devotees arrive in the opposite direction 

 from Yemen, the borders of Persia, Java, Sumatra, 

 and the distant realms watered by the Indus : these 

 comprise Hindoos and Malays, people from Cash- 

 mere and Guzerat, Arabs from Bussora, Oman, 

 and Hadramaut, natives of Nubia and Upper 



