The interior of the Turkish empire is constantly traversed by large bodies of men, who proceed together for protection; and their object is either commerce or devotion. We have already given some account of the first−the second remains to be noticed.
In the sixteenth year of Mahomet’s mission, he ordained that every believer should engage in a pilgrimage, to visit the place of the Caaba, or sacred house of Abraham, which was taken up to heaven at the flood, but its model was left for true believers at Mecca. This ordinance was rigidly observed by his followers. The caliphs set the example; and all Mussulmans hold it an indispensable obligation at this day, when it is possible for them to perform it. Even women are not exempt. If they have no husband or brother, under whose protection they could leave the harem, they are bound to marry, for the express purpose of obtaining one to perform this duty. The only person in the empire exempt is the Sultan; and he only because the pilgrimage would occupy a longer period than he could be legally absent from the capital. He is bound, however, to send a substitute, called Surré Emmini, who always accompanies the caravan of pilgrims, and represents the sovereign. Thus it is that every year above one hundred thousand persons, of all ages and conditions, set out from various points, and traverse Europe, Asia, and Africa, to fulfil this indispensable duty.
The great European caravan assembles at Constantinople in the month of Regib, which, according to the Turkish calendar, falls at every season of the year. They cross the Bosphorus, and unite on the great plain of Scutari, from whence they take their departure. They exhibit a strange display of folly and fanaticism. Among the various groups are seen, at one place jugglers and buffoons exhibiting their light and often indecent mummery; in another, molhas and dervishes exhorting to piety, and tearing their limbs with disgusting lacerations: but the most conspicuous object is the sacred camel; this carries the mahhfil, or seat from which the Prophet preached and dispensed justice in his journeys. The race is religiously kept up in the stables of the seraglio; and some believe the camel of the mahhfil, at this day, is the actual animal on which the Prophet rode, and kept alive by a miracle, to perform this annual journey to his holy city.
Our illustration represents a group of a caravan of the faithful, proceeding from the northern to the southern extremity of the empire, to perform this pilgrimage. The venerable Moslem, who is ambitious of becoming a hadgee, is attended by his guards, distinguished by their fantastic dress, their glittering golden-hafted hanjars, stuck in their shawl-girdles, beside their silver-mounted pistols, and the grave turban replaced by a many-tasselled cap. Their accommodation is the stable of a khan, which their camel equally shares; and their refreshment is coffee, black, thick, and bitter, served by the khangee in small characteristic cups.