The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-08-07

! expected; but at the last moment he appeared
and announced his intention Of going With US to
take care OF his horses, and of doing this, more
| over, at my expense If did not care to let him
go and to pay for the horse he rode he would not
carry out his contract to let ns have the two
horses we bad hired. And what course remained
but to submit with good graccy That is the
way things are done at Bagdad.
FROM BAsDAD TO HnLAH.
| Having cleared the date gardens OF Bagdad,
an hours ride brought us to Khur, small tribu-
tary of the Tigris, crossed by a ferryboat, which
Ia drawn by ropes from one bank to the other.
There is here good sized Arab village, the last
one until he gets to Hlah, distance of
nearly sixty miles No words, indeed, can con-
vey an adequate idea of the utter desolation Of
the country from Khur to Hillah. Hour after
hour we logged YEARLY on, along road worn,
partly by the rains and partly by passing traffic,
| into more Of huge ruts, scarcely as
wide as bride path but deep enough for a small
ditch. 90 either side of us bare expanse OF dark
brown earth stretched as far as the eye could
reach. No tree, no shrub OF any kind, broke
the monotony of the outlook, and very rarely in
deed did patch Of withered grass, cropping out
of the ground in scanty scattered tufts OF three or
| four sckly spikes each, meet the view. In front
| and behind there ever the same dreary reach
of beaten tracks, with a khan or caravanserai,
low-waed and unpromising, looming up at inter-
walls of ten or twelve miles, Here and there one
came upon a.stagnant pool of water, the haunt Of
long billed btterns and occasionally vulture or
two, flock of wild geese, or perhaps couple
OF partrdges or francoains challenged notice.
But for miles together. apart from the stream OF
travellers passing along the road, there was no.
thing whatever to be seen except dead level Of
| barren desert, that almost bewdered one by its
uniformity of absolute sterility.
| MUssULMAN uAJEES.
| Fortunately for the wayiarer, however, this
| road happens to be the main line of communica-
| ton between Bagdad and Meshed Hussein, or
| kerbela, for more than two-lhrds of the way to
! Hiilah, and all through the year, winter and sum-
| mer alike, constant stream OF "haJees," or pll.
! grms, to the shrine of the sainted grandson OF
the Prophet flows along this channel. Most OF the
| pilgrims are Persians, with high conical hats OF
| coarse felt; but no country in the Mussulman
| world is left unrepresented in the throng. Side
by side, con.pagnons de uoyd9e in the self-same
| party, may be seen Malay from Java or the
| Spice Islands, negro prince from the heart OF
| Central Africa, and an Indian nawab-each
| attired in his national dress--this one chewing
| betel, that one smoking sebee, the third MUNICH
| ing an Arab sweetmeat. The number of the
haees is legion for forty miles the various cara
vans form continuous, though somewhat strag-
Cling line of travellers. As a spectacle, ne pro-
| cession to an American eye could be more strik-
| ing. The strange costumes the curious retlnnes,
the unfamiliar means Of travelling, impress one
| very wildly. Here pious sage jogging steadily
along on white ass, audby coming The Koran
| there young man in vestDents OF silk and gold
| embroidered cloth, jewelled dagger in his belt
! and chain of pearls and golden beads flung round
| his neck-some near relation, probably, OF the
| Khan of Bokhara or Khiva-followed by numer-
| Gus company of spendidly attired dependents,
hon hans mil nf
eunuchs next an old man, shaking with disease,
Flooding painfully forward on mule, and kept
alive only by the hope that he may die
at the shrine to which two days more will,
lnshaab bring him; again, a fakeer or dervish
limping along foot, clad in rags, with long, dis
ordered beard and wild look in his eyes, sadly
suggestive of insanity, fanaticism, disease and
privation. These are the more conspicuous ele-
ments of the crowd. The general run Of pilgrims
are, Of course, less interesting, though they are
scarcely less picturesque. Most OF them ride
upon mules, the head Of the family seated on the
top of the baggage upon one, while his two wives
follow behind, Gagged in wooden frames, upon the
back of another. Donkeys are the next iavorite
| beast of burden then come horses, with large
native pack saddles, and there are a few camels.
The rate of travel is never pushed beyond walk,
and the days journey of the Bible, twenty miles,
| is still with these people the average standard OF
progress. Everything, indeed, connected with
| the pilgrimage is conducted on a very leisurely
| system these pious people are never in hurry
! they say their prayers and smoke and read the
Koran and cook and eat in a way prOvokingly
indolent as almost to rouse the indignation of
Caucasian. One reflection however more than
ALL is pressed forcibly upon the notice Of an
American spectator-that this long procession
is but copy Of WI at the companies OF pilgrims
and holy pamers, journeying to and from Rome
and the Holy Land in those old, medieval days of
European superstition and chivalry must have
looked like. Ambling past the long line OF hajees
he may imagine himself for the nonce contem-
porary of st. Bernard or Peter the Hermit. And
looking at the healthy faces and stalwart forms
of these modern pilgrims one begins to wonder
whether the discontinuance OF pligrimages IS not
grand mistake. The Mussulman, enfeebled by
! excuses debilltated by over-work, seeks
health ut the shrine Of Hussein, and in journey
| of perhaps four or five months in tue open air
| finds what he seeks. Let suppose the most
hopeless of dyspeptics going through similar
| course Of pous regimen-journeying say, from
| Paris to Jerusalem on horseback, eating but one
| meal day, and that mess Of rice or enteis, in-
! nocent Of meat, and washed down with simple
| water. Surely Heaven would be ~ kind 10 the
Christian a. il is TO theMosem and reward him with
perfect restoration Of his digestive organs
OUR KHAN.
Thanks to the piety of bygone times, splendid
khans have been erected all along the
road frequented by the hajees, and
| ordinary traveller also. We break'8sted in one
| somewhere near midday, after twenty-five miles
| of our Journey had been accomplished, and then
pushed on for our intended hating place for the
| night-Mahave Khsn-from the top of which the
| mounds of Babylon may be seen. II had space
| I might here tell how we missed our way, how in
trying to find it the horse Of my guide Elias, with
ali the baggage frying pan, kettle &C., included,
tumbed into ditch ten feet deep how we had
to follow the course of the ditch, two or three
miles, before we could get him mp again; how, Mt
last, we got him up on the wrong side, and how,
finally, it got to DO quite dark before We reached
the khan; and, to our dismay, when we ut last
arrived there, we found it occupied by regiment
of soldiers, on their way from Hillah to Bagdad.
I11I hat oil pbaV ,hDF Gftt
| khan were occupied by the women of the regi-
| ment but luckily, q Polish gentleman, surgeon to
the troops, happened to cspy Us, aud after we
| had exchanged few words in French he found US
! a vacant CELL and further, invited me to dinner.
Perhaps some intending pilgrim to Babylon may
| wish to know what we had to eat. Well,
| we had some soup, broiled chicken, rice,
| buttermilk, native bread (sapjacks as Eu-
Aar,.