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One of them was a Bedouin of the Shilouh nation, whose encampment, when he left it, was at twenty days' journey from Tombuctou. In the Moggrebyn caravan also are generally found some natives of the island of Djerba, or Girba, who are strongly suspected of being sectaries of Aly; and some of whom are often stationary at Cairo, But the far greater part of the caravan is from the kingdom of Marocco.
The last Moggrebyn caravan passed through Egypt in 1811; the Wahabys permitted them to visit Mekka, as they saw that they were free from those scandalous practices with which they upbraided the Egyptians and Syrians; but the caravan experienced many misfortunes on its return, from enemies, and from a want of guides, and provisions, in consequence of which many of its people died.
When the French invaded Egypt, a Moggrebyn saint at Mekka, called Sheikh el Djeylany, a distant relation of a wealthy merchant at Mekka, and who had for some time been in the habit of delivering lectures in the great mosque, mounted the pulpit, and preached a crusade against the infidels, who had seized upon the gate of the Kaaba, as Egypt is styled.
Close by it is excellent spring water; and there are likewise copious wells of tolerable water in the vicinity of the small bay which serves as a harbour to the castle, and is therefore called Mersa el Wodjeh. Some Moggrebyn soldiers garrison the castle, which was said to be well stocked with provisions.
An Englishman is justified in using "steed" for "horse;" thus the Moggrebyn calls a horse owd, the eastern Arab hoszan; but many poets use the word owd, which is at present unknown to the vulgar in Egypt. The Arabs spreading over conquered countries took their idioms with them, but the joint-stock of the language continued known to all who could read or write.
We learn from Asamy, that, in 1625, a sectary of Aly was impaled alive at Mekka, because he would not abjure his creed. The Moggrebyn Hadj caravan has for many years ceased to be regular. It is usually accompanied by a relative of the King of Morocco, and proceeds from his residence by slow marches towards Tunis and Tripoly, collecting additional pilgrims in every district through which it passes.
It has been said that the dialects of Arabic differ widely from each other; and Michaelis, one of the most learned orientalists, affirms that the Hedjazi is as different from the Moggrebyn dialect as Latin from Italian; and a noble Sherif traveller makes a strong distinction between Moorish and Arabic, pretending to understand the latter and not the former; and even the accurate and industrious Niebuhr seems to have entertained some erroneous notions on this subject.
The Arabs, however, of the eastern side of Mount Atlas, at Tafilelt, and Draa, pronounce their Moggrebyn tongue with much less harshness than their western neighbours. But I must acknowledge, that of all Arabic dialects, none appeared to me so disagreeable and so adulterated as that of the young Christian fops of Cairo and Aleppo.
As to pronunciation, the best is that of the Bedouins of Arabia, of the Mekkans, and people of the Hedjaz; that of Baghdad and of Yemen is next in purity. At Cairo the pronunciation is worse than in any other part of Egypt; after which I should rank the language of the Libyan Arabs, who have a tinge of the Moggrebyn pronunciation mixed with the Egyptian.
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