(in Arabic hairawan, from karun to follow, to proceed from place to place; or derived from the Persian keran or edrana, a trader or dealer), is an organized company, either of merchants or of pilgrims, or both, who associate together for the purpose of travelling in greater security. In Eastern countries it is necessary to resort to this mode of travelling in order to escape the dangers arising from the vast deserts that intersect these regions, as well as from wild beasts and bands of marauding Arabs, which are too numerous for single traders or solitary travellers to encounter. Through this kind of intercourse, at once cheap and expeditious, most of the inland commerce of the East is carried on; and the possession of the camel affords facilities for journeying over barren and sandy regions which are inaccessible to wheel-carriges, and the difficulties and privations of which no other beast of burden could endure. The company composing a caravan often consists of several hundred persons, and as many as a thousand camels; and the packing and unpacking of the camels employ a great many hands, some of whom often raise themselves from the condition of servants to the status of merchants who travel on their own account. Any person can, under certain regulations, form a caravan at any time; but generally there are stated periods, which are well known as the regular starting-times for the mercantile journeys. In the hot season the travelling is performed at night. About eight o'clock the whole party put themselves in motion, and continue their journey without interruption till midnight or later. At other seasons they travel all day, only halting for rest and refreshment during the heat of noon. The distances are measured by a day's journey; and from seven to eight hours seem to have been a usual day's journey for caravans (Hornemann, p. 150); so that, estimating the slow and unwieldy gait of a camel at $2\frac{1}{2}$ miles an hour, the average rate of travel will be from seventeen to twenty miles a day.

The earliest caravan of merchants we read of is the itinerant company to which Joseph was sold by his brethren. This caravan was a mixed one, consisting of three classes, Ishmaelites, Midianites, and Medanites, who would seem, like the nomad tribes of Africa in the present day, to have engaged themselves as commercial travellers, and were then on the high caravan-road for the market of Egypt.

Besides these communities of travelling merchants in the East, there are caravans of pilgrims, i.e., of those who go for religious purposes to Mecca, comprising vastly greater multitudes of people. Four of these start regularly every year; one from Cairo, consisting of Mohammedans from Barbary; a second from Damascus, conveying the Turks; a third from Babylon, for the accommodation of the Persians; and a fourth from Zibith, at the mouth of the Red Sea, which is the rendezvous for those coming from Arabia and India. The organization of the immense hordes which, on such occasions, assemble to undertake a distant expedition is accomplished in the East by a few simple arrangements, which are the result of long experience. When travelling by night and through extensive deserts, the songs of the Arab servants, and the incessant jingling of innumerable bells fastened to the necks of the camels, enliven the patient beasts, frighten animals of prey, and keep the party together. To meet all the exigencies of the journey, the caravan is placed under the charge of a caravan bashi, the chief who presides over all, and under whom there are five leading officers appointed to different departments—one who regulates the march; a second, whose duties only commence at halting time; a third who superintends the servants and cattle; a fourth who takes charge of the baggage; a fifth who acts as paymaster, &c.; and besides these, there are the officers of the military escort that always accompanies it. The highest functionary is the hybeer or guide (from the Arabic verb hubbar, to inform or direct), whose services are indispensable in crossing the great deserts, such as that along the coast of the Red Sea, or on the western extremities of Africa. For this office a person of influence is generally chosen, who, besides his known truth and fidelity, possesses an extensive and accurate acquaintance with the whole features of the land. As he has the lives and property of the whole caravan in his power, it is absolutely necessary that he understand the prognostics of the weather, the tracks exposed to the sirocco or shifting sands, the exact locality and qualities of the wells, the cases that afford the refreshment and pasture, the situation of hostile or treacherous tribes, and the means of escaping those threatened dangers.

In addition to the overland caravans, there are several naval companies of merchant-pilgrims, which sail from the western ports of the Red Sea to Djidda, and thence travel by land to Mecca.