75 
A caravan from Tripoli in Barbary; another from 
Yemen; a great number of Negro pilgrims from Sou- 
dan, or Abyssinia; several hundred Turks from Suez; 
a great many Mogrebins, who came by sea; a caravan 
from Bassora; others from the East; Arabs from Upper 
and Lower Egypt; those of the country in which we 
were; and the Wehhabites; were now all assembled, 
and encamped together, or rather one upon the other, 
in this little plain; where the pilgrims are obliged to 
encamp, because tradition relates, that the holy Pro- 
phet always encamped here, when he went to Arafat. 
The caravan from Damascus had not arrived; how- 
ever, 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 sepulchre 
of the Prophet at Medina; which present the Weh- 
habites look upon as a sin. 
This caravan was close to Medina, when the Weh- 
habites went and met it, and signified to the Pacha of 
Damascus, Emir el Hage, that they could not receive 
the carpet, which was destined for the sepulchre, and 
that if he wished to continue his journey to Mecca, he 
must previously send back his soldiers, his artillery, 
and the women; so that by transforming themselves 
into true pilgrims, they would experience no impedi- 
ment to the continuation of their journey. The Pacha, 
not willing to conform to these conditions, was desired 
to retrace his steps. Some pretend to say that they 
required a large sum of money from him, but others 
deny this fact. 
On Tuesday the 17th February 1807, 9th Doul- 
hagea, in the year 1221 of the Hegira, at six o'clock 
in the morning, we all set out towards the S. E. § E. 
At a short distance we passed a house of the Scherif; 
