The morning times., 1897-03-07
Seeking Paradise
By Way of Mecca

Observation-Disclosures
suez, Feb. ls.-The most picturesque
Nuisance OF the world is attracting thls
year rather more than usual attention
FL Id el Kebir, or Big Eeiram, as the
Turks know it, fails this year on the
18TH OF May. by which time Arabia viii
he intensely hot Because of the cli-
mate and because of tie presence in
the East OF plague about ten times
worse than cholera, the great annual
pilgrimage of the faithful to Mecca is
giving rise, in advance, to mingled emo
tions
Christians are not supposed TO know
anything atout Mecca, hut 10y hearsa Y
they DO. without riSking ones neck 30
enter Mecca in disguise as Burton did,
one finds out that it hasn't sufficient
ho.cl accommodation for a convention
town. From sG.au0 10 eco ,OC0 M1ham-
medans are likely 10 tmn up there each
year, hoide which il wotid puzzle any
American CITY 20 Louse. Mecca doesn't
house them. They camp in tie suburbs
under such conditions that the trouble
which smote John Jones and his sister
Sue is theirs. a win he related
Every male Mohammedan-w women don't
cognt-mHst some time Ia his life make
the pilgrimage. Any time before he
dies will answer: ir business is pretty
good, he doesn't like 10 leave it; if busi-
ness is bad, money is scarce. SO the not
-
off the duty until he gets a stroke OF
paralysis OF other iutimatiua OF the finite
ness OF man; when, with one foot in the
grare. he starts on q journey that would
kill wei man.
Take hut one step toward Mecca and
salvation is yours-that is the comfortable
doctrine which sets men upon beginning
the pilgrimage who can't even take the
one step, hut are borne from their doors
grosning ia the grip or death. Others,
less Sorely siuitten, recover on the way.
More do not.
Resides these remnants. there are few
fairly rich men making the journey with
reasonable degree Of comfort, by rail and
boar, To DicidIh thence overland. with
only two days AMI halr of caravan life,
TO tae sacred city. There are fewer rich
pilgrims than formerly. because faith de
Gays by contact with The Frank and by lsu-
ropean education. \ good many nch Mo-
nammedaUs now ~ by proxy. II is cheap
er, rs the subStit NJ" can cet along with
steeraec ticket.
1t picturesque feat urc OF modern travel.
these pilgrims on train and boat Five
times q day they must find temporary
mosque and prCstTate themselves toward
Mecca. on ship5card they go either to the
PROV ur stern. kick off their slippers and
bow and rub their fcreheads on the deck.
on 6he trains have seen them get out on
tie car platforms, spread down their robes
for praye rugs, bare their feet and prus-
trate themselves.
That's quite comfortable travelling while
Il lasts. It's different for the poor man.
This pilgrim travel is like no other
on earth. The boats have neither set
tied times Of starting nor settled rates
Of fare. Tie owner furnishes neither food
nor bedding, sometimes not even water,
SO that few extra passengers mean al
most clear profit. 4 l.5OO-ton boat will
be licensed 10 carry about $40 paying
passengers After the inspector has meas
ured her deck space four hospital pens
VIII he builU cut of it Instead of sub
tracing these they are added on the old
Tweed rule Uf addition, division and 81
lcnce. Then two or three hundred more
passengers are crowded On and entered
or the books destitute pilgrims whom
the boat Is obliged by the government to
carry free Really they pay from five
to eight Turkish pounds each, SO that for
the illegal ovcrladiug there may be sew
eral thousand dollars TO divide between
the inspectors. the slips crew for their
extra work. the shore officials, the agent
OF the ship and her owners. And if the
latter do not always Get tie larger share.
what they do get is as good as money
found in the street. Consider thatthere are
twenty or thirty sgch ships each year and
it is not to be wondered at that the
officials, quarantine and others, are able
to pay considerable sums to their supe-
riors and retire after a few years in the
service.
/ have said that there are no settled
prices. II a man hasn't money he puts
down for his ticket a ieweled dagger or
other trinket. And Of course the steam
ships do carry, are compelled to carry,
q good many passengers who have paid
no fare at all. Such passengers get no
either the ship or some charitable Mo
hamnedans supply them with small
quantity Forty or fifty men who have
voyaged from Bombay to Djeddah on
water alone are in fine condition to eat
ten pounds each of mutton at Reiram
feast.
Mecca travel tends constantly TO be-
come more exclusively Of the poorer
people; whether this fact is apt to make
the abuses Of which have spoken better
or worse is open TO conjecture or over
CrowdinG on steamboats, there will be
probably less this year, as the volume of
traffic VIII be decreased somewhat by
the plague restrictions. II, fter the
pilgrimage, the plague starts northwest
better quarantine arrangements may be
made in European ports, but a really
virulUnt disease has many means of spread
ing. It's like a loon. While you are
watching for II with a gun it bobs up be-
hind you, laughs and dives again before
you can turn.
THc pilgrimage. by one OF life's little
ironies, starts with greatest official eclat,
from Egypt, which is practically under
Christian rule. Ramadaa, or Mobanmedan
Lent. began this year on February3. Little
Bciram, or the lesser feast, is on the st, I'd,
and Sd OF Chawal, the tenth Mohammedan
month. A fter that the pieces OF the Kiswa,
the sacred carpet or covering for the Mecca
sanctuaT come from Consiantiuopie, the
gift of the sultan. They are put together
IN Cairo, at the Citadel. Also the Egyptian
government, as part OF its annual tribute
10 Turkey, contracts for silk Of a certain
quality, ont OF which family in whom that