Mecca
In late summer, 1877, Keane travelled to Alexandria by Steamer, and from there to Jeddah. In Jeddah he was able to render some small service to an Indian Emir, who permitted him to join his party who were making pilgrimage to Mecca.
Some of Keane’s experiences in Mecca were quite extraordinary. He witnessed a great flood and the strange sight of pilgrims swimming around the Kabba. He was denounced as a suspected Christian by schoolchildren (he was actually a Muslim convert) and was stabbed during his pilgrimage to Medina. Most surprisingly of all, he discovered a supposedly British lady living alone in the middle of Mecca (in 1877!). Exactly who she was and how she got there is not entirely certain to this day.
Keane could speak Hindustani, but only rudimentary Arabic. He passed himself off in Mecca as a pilgrim from Bombay or, when this would not have passed muster, as a resident of a country called "North". He appeares to have mastered Islamic ritual and prayer by copying what he saw; although he claims to have made earlier preparation for this adventure by closely observing the various Muslim crews with whom he previously served. When he made errors he claimed to be a recent convert to Islam, which seems to have generated admiration and assistance rather than suspicion.
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