in the course of his simulation he sometimes transgressed the bonds of decency, the freaks were not inconsistent with his assumed character; and his examination by two hermits, or sheikhs, who were sent for to decide on the case, would probably have resulted in a confirmation of his sanctity, but for the practical joke which he imprudently played on the persons of the venerable examiners, which sent them scampering from the prison, ex- claiming: “He is mad! He is mad! He is not holy!”
The amusement which these eccentricities afforded the Sultana and her attendants is so inconsistent with our notions of female modesty as to be almost incredible; nevertheless, if the inner life of many native harîms were similarly exposed to view, it would exhibit ladies of rank reveling in scenes far more revolting than those described in the “Chapter concerning the
1 It is a popular superstition throughout the East to attribute madness to the influence of a separate spirit acting upon the maniac.
xlvi INTRODUCTION.
Partiality of the Women of Arabia for White Men." What else, indeed, could reasonably be expected? Brought up without education, confined to the seclusion of the women’s apartments, and de- barred from sharing in public amusements, it is not surprising that the uncultivated mind of eastern females should follow its natural bent, and seek to satisfy the longing for enjoyment, inherent in us all, by kindred gratifications.
The queen was evidently convinced from the outset that our hero’s madness was merely a feint but he very discreetly resisted all her consequent blandishments, only availing himself of them as might best conduce to his own ends. Simulating sickness, he obtained her consent to visit a holy man at Aden renowned for miraculous cures, and was furnished, moreover, by her liberality with a camel and the very opportune gift of twenty-five ashrafi 1 for the journey. On reaching Aden, he forthwith engaged a passage on board a native ship which was to sail for India, via the Persian Gulf, in the course of a month, and, taking advantage of that interval to escape from the notice of the Adenites, he set out on an excursion into the interior.
In the subsequent pages, I have annotated so fully on the text of this part of our author’s wanderings, that it would be superfluous to notice any details here. The Arabic MS. Chronicles already men- tioned and Niebuhr’s Voyages, conjoined with per- sonal experience derived from natives of the country, have been my principal guides in illustrating his trip
1 The ashrafi appears to have been equivalent to a ducat, about 4s. 6d. of our money.
INTRODUCTION. xlvii
into Yemen; in fact, I am not aware that any others, in the shape of general travels, exist, unless it be the very meagre account given by Ibn Batuta in the fourteenth century. Varthema is undoubtedly the first European who has left us a description of this portion of Arabia, and between his time and the present, Niebuhr as far back as 1761, (with the exception of several brief personal narratives of the route between Mokha and Sanaa, and a trip from thence to Mareb by Mons. Arnaud in 1843) is the only European traveler who has penetrated into the country more than a few miles from the sea-coast. Even Niebuhr’s journey, performed in comparative security and luxury, does not embrace so large an extent of Yemen as that of our author but where- ever his testimony or that of others was available, it substantiates in a remark- able manner the accuracy of Varthema’s observations. The annexed abstract of his route conveys, in a tabular form, the different towns visited, with their approximate distances: —
General
Direction Miles
Aden to Damt,1 viâ Lahej and 'Az'az N.W. 120
Damt to Yerim, viâ, El-Makranah - E. 40
Yerim to Sanaa - N. 70
Sanaa to Ta'ez - S. 110
Ta'ez to Zebid - N. E. 70
Zebid to Dhamar - E.N.E. 65
Dhamar to Aden - S. 120
_______ Total 595
1 In a note on the text (p. 75) I have identified this place, which Varthema calls " Dante," with Niebuhr's Dimne; but on second thoughts I think it more likely that it represents his Denn, which he describes as "une petite ville, avec une bonne citadelle, et une place de foire." Voy. en Arabic, vol. iii. p. 214.
xlviii INTRODUCTION.
On his return to Aden, of which place he gives a very accurate description, Varthema again sought refuge in a mosque under pretence of sickness but when the time for departure arrived, he was smuggled on board by the conniving Arab skipper, who doubtless received some of the queen’s ashrafi which Her Majesty had given for a different purpose. Sailing towards the Persian Gulf, the vessel probably encountered one of those north-westerly gales which, at the season of the year when I have calculated the voyage to have been made, blow for several days together along the northeast coast of Arabia. Being obliged to veer, they ran with a fair wind for the northeast coast of Africa, anchoring first at Zaila, from whence they subsequently proceeded to the contiguous snug port of Berbera, Varthema’s account of Zaila comprises all that there is to be said of the place. He notices the large number of Abyssinian slaves which were ex- ported from thence to different parts,—a traffic which has only been arrested within the last few years; the various produce which found its way there from the interior some of the animals peculiar to the country and his description of the Somali inhabitants is true to life still. Except that he erroneously calls Berbera an island, (wherein he possibly translated from the Arabic jezirah, a term which the natives also apply to a peninsula, and sometimes conventionally to havens on the mainland) his brief account of that locality also, and of the pastoral habits of the people, is equally truthful.
INTRODUCTION. xlix
Though originally bound for the Persian Gulf, the Arab skipper most probably picked up some additional freight at the above-mentioned places for India, between which and the north-east coast of Africa a considerable trade is still carried on, chiefly by Borah merchants of Guzerat and Cutch. This commerce, which in more ancient times appears to have been conducted through the intermediate ports of Hadhramaut on the north-east coast of Arabia, eventually took the more direct route across the Indian ocean and was in full play when the Portuguese first found their way to the Red Sea. The fact of the skipper having made for Zaila proves that the voyage occurred during the northeast monsoon, which is the only season for foreign trade there, the coast being generally dangerous throughout the opposite or south-westerly monsoon.
In twelve days, the vessel reached the small island of Diu in Guzerat, which Varthema calls “Diu bander-er-rumi,” i.e., Diu the Port of the Rum, and describes with his usual accuracy. The suffix, which I have not met with elsewhere, was probably a conventional designation among the Arabs owing to so many “Turkish merchants,” (more correctly, Circassians, Afghans, and Persians) being resident there. The familiar intercourse which existed between that part of Western India and the opposite coast of Arabia is attested by incidental notices occurring in Arabian chronicles of the time.
From Diu, the ship proceeded up the Gulf of Cambay to Gogo, and from thence steered across
e
1 INTRODUCTION.
the Indian Ocean, doubling Mussendom, to Julfar, an Arab town on the western side of that pro- montory, which was subsequently occupied by the Portuguese as a
