'Turkish Arabia: Being an Account of an Official Tour in Babylonia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia, 1886-87' [‎32r] (61/72)

45
c r , 4 , r ,l .. p wi. A„
or two of her companions confirmed what had been fathered at ShTtLfil tu
Muhammirl TKnnV Rooi-.?^ * • i • ® tnerea at onathatha as to how
Muhammad Ibnu r Rashid is carrying out his predecessors' policy of uniting into a confe-
eracy recognising im as its head all the Bedouin Shekhs between Naiaf and Madina
Among the other gifts with which this desert prince had been propitiated by tte Indian
maLT the A - V ' Slte t by the Way Was a Ge0rgian --'-. bought i'the Meccan
market, ^e Amirs retnrn present being a mare and foal! This the Begam mentioned
orevionsi ' CUrta1 "' wh ' ,e the animals were being looked at, A few minutes
A f'.r "T T, er ly had been remarking on the difficulty of fully living in
modern India the Islamitic life, so it can only be hoped in that ideal is not included the
pure, ase of Christian girls at Mecca, and barter of them for mares at H5yil! Cut oft as
( e Indians at Karbala may seem to be from India, they keep up an affectionate interest
■t^'ways knowing the name at least of the Viceroy and the Lieutenant-Governor of
the Nor h-Western Provinces, At the time referred to the Public Service Commission
and its cloud of witnesses were being canvassed : and once the question of what shall be
done when Russia actually moves into Afghanistan was put as pointedly as one can fancy
it sometimes is at Simla. *
The pilgrim-worn track between Karbali and Najaf holds over a desert plain of
Najaf. mixed sand and gravel occupying two days of hard
travelling. Skirting it are the Mid&n Arabs; hardy
and turbulent Shias; semi-amphibious owing to the numerous lakes, marshes, and cuttings
from the Euphrates with which their wastes are penetrated. Sheep and buffaloes are their
riches. With them the boat or balam takes the place of mare or camel. Formidable
elements in guerilla warfare they and their canoes would be. In summer the heat in all
these parts is said to be intolerable. When military movements are necessary, they are
always made by night. The latitude is about that of Central China and the Panjdb.
European soldiers would find it worse than Sindh, Half way between Karbali and Najaf
there is a substantial KMn,t having a small village round it. Into this at least a brigade
could be put. On the second day, while yet fully twenty miles off, the golden summit of
Ali's shrine, catching the sun's rays like the white sail of a distant schooner, afforded the
first glimpse of where the " Amiru'l Mominin " or " Prince of Believers" lies buried. At
the sight of it every Shia dismounted and spent some time in prayer and signs of grief;
the reward of which is supposed to be the attainment of the heart's desires. On a nearer
view the dome is seen to be in excellent proportion, in its way almost as much a thing of
beauty as the Agra TAj.
The compact little towu of Najaf, half hidden behind square and angular walls, is set
down in the desert as sharply as a diamond in a ring. Round it lie acres upon acres of
lowly but well-kept graves, representing the dust of millions. Nearer the sur ) or walls, large
cage-like vaults, half-subterranean, catch the eye; and the unearthly sounds proceeding
from them, the ear. These are the burial places of great Shia families in India, Persia
Ir^k, and the owners of the voices are partly professional mourners chanting requiems,
partly boys practising Muharram elegies. A more cheerful prospect the great blue lake
reminding one of the sea, and almost as salt, which lies between the town and the Euphrates
occupying a basin at least forty miles long, by from ten to twenty broad. The one rather
good street of which the town consists is so evidently the mere aditus of Ali's shrine, that
it is difficult to associate it with anything else. Nevertheless even Najaf provides Man
chester with an outlet, if a remote one, the Bedouin, once he comes among shops, being a
voracious buyer. It is curious to notice how both here and at Karbala the Arab coffee
retires before the Persian tea. The Ajami,^ not satisfied with compounding Muhammad's
religion, first disguises the black juice of the Mocha berry with sugar and cardamums;
and then discards it altogether. Indian could perhaps be made to drive out China tea in
all but the largest towns of Persia, if net even in them. In Najaf a Kaim Makam, support
ed by a small garrison, all mounted, represents the Government. Pilgrims, not peasants
are here the revenue-payers, and dead bodies, as has been seen, the principal imports.
By far the most interesting and considerable person in the town is the leading Mujtahid,
* Also called " Mashhad AH," or Ali's place of martyrdom ; not to be confounded with the to us still better
known Mashhad Im&m Raza, or, as it is more commonly referred to, simply Mashhad, the important strategical
town in Khor^sin, not far from Afghan frontier,
f Called " Khdn Hamdd" or the desert Kh^n.
i What we call Persia and its people themselves, Iran, Arabs call Ajarrii