JEDDAH TO SINGAPORE.

Waikato Times, Volume 109, Issue 18257, 19 February 1931, Page 11

JEDDAH TO SINGAPORE.

TRANSPORTING PILGRIMS

HAMILTON DOCTOR’S EXPERIENCES

AMUSING INTERLUDES. An interesting voyage with a shipload of Mohammedan pilgrims returning from Mecca to Singapore was dealt with by - Dr. E. G. Brewis at the Hamilton Luncheon Club, yesterday. Dr. Brewis, who joined the vessel as doctor at Birkenhead, England, in July 1925 stated that she was the oldest and smallest boat of a famous company, being only of some 4000 tons burthen. She was bound for the Far East via the Suez Canal. Little untoward occurred on the voyage to Port Said but when passing the coast of Spanish Morocco they saw Spanish and Riffian troops in action. The French navy was co-opcrating with the Spanish and the ship’s complement had the intense satisfaction of seeing a French destroyer limp by after having been riddled by the shell fire of the Rifflans. The satisfaction was prompted by the feeling of sympathy for the underdog who was fighting against great odds with few, and mostly obsolete, weapons. After a few hours on shore at Port Said he returned to the ship, to find an air of intense gloom about it she was under order for Jeddah to carry pilgrims from there to Singapore, Arrived at Jeddah they found 600 awaiting them, all that remained of 1000 brought these by a Japanese vessel in 1923, and stranded owing to the conflict between the Hejaz and Bedouin tribes that had been raging. The prospect was most unpleasant as the ship was not equipped for pilgrims and at any rate their conveyance generally meant trouble and disease. The,vessel was met at the mouth of the harbour by an 18-stone native pilot named Mahomet. This man was not in the least concerned about bringing Lh? ship to a safe anchorage, his main idea being to get some “ black draught ” for his wife and iodine for himself from the speaker.

Pilgrims Suffering From Disease. The pilgrims came off in Arab dhows without water and most of them without rations. Many were suffering from obnoxious complaints, but fought shy of the doctor, as they were quite convinced he was merely there to poison them. The usual crowd of Arab traders, accompanied by their harems and slaves, came aboard attracted by the cheap passage rates. They always caused trouble and the male* of the ship, wishing to show who was master right from the start waited until they had settled themselves on the hatches and then belted them off with the buckled end ol’ his belt. They gave no trouble after that.

It was amusing to see the pilgrims at certain hours of' the day endeavour to find in what direction Mecca lay so that they could bow in prayer towards it. Cheap pocket compasses would he brought out, all giving different bearings, and in the end after a lot of argument, when they had finally decided on a certain point, the captain would order the helmsman to port his helm four points.

Medioal Trials. The ship’s captain told the speaker that the only way to make tlie pilgrims get over their natural antipathy to a foreign doctor was to cure one who had been temporary blinded by trachoma. This he succeeded in doing ■and after that had the greatest difficulty in keeping pilgrims away.

One baby was born in a dhow coming off to the ship, and the speaker was not aw'are of the event until four days afterwards, because the mother, whenever he came near, would roll the baby in a carpet and sit on it. The pilgrims did not mind dying of their own diseases, as to die on a pilgrimage meant that they would enter Paradise without any preliminaries. One youth suffering from beri iberi refused treatment, stating that lie wished to lie down and await death. This Dr. Brewis refused to allow and told the ship’s quartermasters, four Irishmen, to see that the youth kept moving. This they did by kicking him around. The speaker forced treatment on him, and he arrived safely at Singapore, utterly disgusted -and resentful because he had not been allowed to die.

Only on one occasion did a serious matter 'take place. Tlie speaker was in the ’tween decks attending one of the wives of an Arab trader in a harem there. The mate who thought a primus stove was being used below contrary to orders was searching for it and when alongside the carpet walls of the women's quarters the ship lurched and he was thrown headlong into their midst. The Arab promptly drove a long dagger into the mate’s chest, pinning him like a fly to the deck,- for, according to the Koran, only the husband or doctors are allowed in a harem. The speaker expected serious Lrouble, but the mate merely pulled the dagger out, got up, and walked away. Later Dr. Brewis asked him what lie was going to do about it. “ Nothing," replied the mate, "it was my own silly fault; I should not have been there.”

i ‘if * Cruel to Their Slaves. The Arabs, continued Dr. Brewis, were very cruel to their slaves. One night lie and the mate came upon an Arab maltreating a slave for some trivial offence. The slave was face down on the deck and his owner was thrashing the soles of his feet with a thin cane. Asked what he was doing the Arab replied, “ Oh, only playing a game.” “ Right,” said the mate and doctor in unison, “ it’s your turn now,” and promptly gave the Arab 12 strokes of his own treatment. Arrived at Singapore, Dr. Brewis said that one could not but be struck by the fact that those among the pilgrims who. appeared to be the poorest were apparently the richest, as numbers of them wore met by luxurious motor cars. It was quite apparent, concluded Dr. Brewis, tliaL the pilgrims sacrificed a great deal, in some cases all, to make the journey, and that they were imbued with a high ideal.