I was at Mekka in December, and at Medina in the April following, when
the Pasha was at both places; but I did not think it necessary or
advisable to wait upon him at either place, where I was otherwise wholly
unknown. My practice in travelling has been to live as retired as
possible; and, except during my short visit to Tayf, where circumstances
forced me to appear somewhat conspicuously, I was known only in the
Hedjaz as a hadjy, or pilgrim, a private gentleman from Egypt, one with
whom no person was acquainted but the few officers of the Pasha whom I
had seen at Tayf.
My information respecting Tayf is very scanty, and was not
[p.84] committed to paper until after I had left the town. I was never
suffered to be alone during my stay there. I had no acquaintances from
whom much could be learned; and during the fast of Ramadhan, few
individuals of the higher classes, among whom I lived, stir out of their
houses in the day-time.