DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0041
CAIRO AND THE MECCA PILGRIMAGE. 23
Sheik cl Bokree, who is a sort of Egyptian Archbishop
of Canterbury, and head of all the dervishes, came last,
riding a white Arab with gold-embroidered housings. He
was a placid-looking old man, and wore a violet robe and
an enormous red and green turban.
This very reverend personage was closely followed by the
chief of the carpet-makers'guild—a handsome man, sitting
sidewise on a camel.
Then happened another break in the procession —
an eager pause — a gathering murmur. And then,
riding a gaunt dromedary at a rapid trot, his fat
sides shaking and his head rolling in a drunken way
at every step, appeared a bloated, half-naked Silenus,
with long fuzzy black locks and triple chin, and no
other clothing than a pair of short white drawers and
red slippers. A shiver of delight ran through the crowd
at sight of this holy man —the famous Sheik of the
Camel (Sheik el-Gemel), the -'great, good priest"—the
idol of the people. We afterward learned that this was
his twentieth pilgrimage, and that he was supposed to fast,
roll his head and wear nothing but this pair of loose drawers
all the way to and from Mecca.
But the crowning excitement was yet to come and the
rapture witli which the crowd had greeted the Sheik el-
Gemel was as nothing compared with their ecstasy when
the mahmal, preceded by another group of mounted officers
and borne by a gigantic camel, was seen coming through the
gateway. The women held up their children; the men
swarmed up the scaffoldings of the swings and behind
the carriages. They screamed, they shouted, they waved
handkerchiefs and turbans; they were beside themselves with
excitement. Meanwhile the camel, as if conscious of the
dignity of his position and the splendor of his trappings,
came on slowly and ponderously with his nose in the air,
and passed close before our horses' heads. We could not
possibly have' had better view of the mahmal; which is
nothing but a sort of cage, or pagoda, of gilded tracery
very richly decorated. In the days of the Memlooks, the
mahmal represented the litter of the sultan, and went
empty, like a royal carriage at the public funeral;* but wo
*" It is related that the Saltan Ez-Zahir Beybars, King of Egypt,
was the first who sent a mahmal with the caravan of pilgrims to
Mecca, in the year of the flight 070 (a. d. 1372) or G75; but this
Sheik cl Bokree, who is a sort of Egyptian Archbishop
of Canterbury, and head of all the dervishes, came last,
riding a white Arab with gold-embroidered housings. He
was a placid-looking old man, and wore a violet robe and
an enormous red and green turban.
This very reverend personage was closely followed by the
chief of the carpet-makers'guild—a handsome man, sitting
sidewise on a camel.
Then happened another break in the procession —
an eager pause — a gathering murmur. And then,
riding a gaunt dromedary at a rapid trot, his fat
sides shaking and his head rolling in a drunken way
at every step, appeared a bloated, half-naked Silenus,
with long fuzzy black locks and triple chin, and no
other clothing than a pair of short white drawers and
red slippers. A shiver of delight ran through the crowd
at sight of this holy man —the famous Sheik of the
Camel (Sheik el-Gemel), the -'great, good priest"—the
idol of the people. We afterward learned that this was
his twentieth pilgrimage, and that he was supposed to fast,
roll his head and wear nothing but this pair of loose drawers
all the way to and from Mecca.
But the crowning excitement was yet to come and the
rapture witli which the crowd had greeted the Sheik el-
Gemel was as nothing compared with their ecstasy when
the mahmal, preceded by another group of mounted officers
and borne by a gigantic camel, was seen coming through the
gateway. The women held up their children; the men
swarmed up the scaffoldings of the swings and behind
the carriages. They screamed, they shouted, they waved
handkerchiefs and turbans; they were beside themselves with
excitement. Meanwhile the camel, as if conscious of the
dignity of his position and the splendor of his trappings,
came on slowly and ponderously with his nose in the air,
and passed close before our horses' heads. We could not
possibly have' had better view of the mahmal; which is
nothing but a sort of cage, or pagoda, of gilded tracery
very richly decorated. In the days of the Memlooks, the
mahmal represented the litter of the sultan, and went
empty, like a royal carriage at the public funeral;* but wo
*" It is related that the Saltan Ez-Zahir Beybars, King of Egypt,
was the first who sent a mahmal with the caravan of pilgrims to
Mecca, in the year of the flight 070 (a. d. 1372) or G75; but this