The summit commands a
very extensive and singular prospect. I brought my compass to take a
circle of bearings; but the crowd was so great that I could not use it.
Towards the western extremity of the plain are seen Bir Bazan and the
Aalameyn; somewhat nearer, southwards, the mosque called Djama Nimre,
or Djama Seydna Ibrahim; and on the south-east, a small house where the
Sherif used to lodge during the pilgrimage. From thence an elevated
rocky ground in the plain extends towards Arafat. On the eastern side
of the mountain, and close to its foot, are the ruins of a small mosque,
built on rocky ground, called Djama el Szakhrat, where Mohammed was
accustomed to pray, and where the pilgrims make four prostrations in
memory of the prophet. Several large reservoirs lined with stone are
dispersed over the plain; two or three are close to the foot of Arafat,
and there are some near the house of the Sherifs: they are filled from
the same fine aqueduct which supplies Mekka, and the head of which is
about one hour and a half distant, in the eastern mountains. The canal
is left open here for the convenience of pilgrims, and is conducted
round the three sides of the mountains, passing by Modaa Seydna Adam.[5]
From the summit of Arafat, I counted about three thousand tents
dispersed over the plain, of which two-thirds belonged to the two Hadj
caravans, and to the suite and soldiers of Mohammed Aly; the rest to the
Arabs of the Sherif, the Bedouin hadjys, and the people of Mekka and
Djidda.
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