Front matter (continued 11)

[p.425] to defend him against the fury of the populace. The relations of the Arab hastened to Medina to ask the life of the aggressor from Mohammed Aly Pasha; I left Yembo before the affair was settled.

The Yembawys are all armed, although they seldom appear so in public, and they carry usually a heavy bludgeon in their hand. A few of them keep horses; the Djeheyne established at Yembo el Nakhel have good breeds of Nedjed horses, though in small numbers. Asses are kept by every family, to bring water to the town. The want of servants and day- labourers is felt here still more than in the other towns of the Hedjaz. No Yembawy will engage in any menial labour, if he has the smallest chance of providing for his existence by other means. Egyptian peasants, left on this coast after their pilgrimage, and obliged to earn money for their passage home, engage themselves as porters and labourers, bring wood, water, &c. I have seen a piastre and a half paid to a man for carrying a load the distance of five hundred yards from the shore to a house.

Yembo is the cheapest place in the Hedjaz with regard to provisions; and as it possesses good water, and appears to be in a much more healthy situation than Djidda, a residence in it might be tolerable, were it not for the incredible quantity of flies that haunt this coast. No person walks out without a straw fan in his hand to drive off these vermin; and it is utterly impossible to eat, without swallowing some of them, which enter the mouth the moment it is opened. Clouds of them are seen passing over the town; they settle even upon the ships that sail out of the harbour, and remain on board during the whole voyage.

[p.426]FROM YEMBO TO CAIRO.

I EMBARKED at Yembo on the morning of the 15th of May, in an open sambouk, or large boat, bound to Cosseir, there to load with corn; the Reys or master was the son of the owner, a native of Yembo. I had agreed for my own and my slaves passage from hence to Cosseir at five dollars, two dollars being the usual charge paid by hadjys, and one dollar by poor people and servants. The government allowed the ship-owners only half a dollar per head for the transport of soldiers. As the partner of the commander of Yembo had a share in this boat, it was allowed to proceed without soldiers, and the Reys had told me that there were only a dozen Arab passengers on board. In making me pay two dollars more than the usual fare, he had agreed to let me have a small place behind the steerage to myself. When I came on board, however, I found that I had been deceived; above thirty passengers, principally Syrians and Egyptians, were crowded together in the boat, with about ten sailors. The Reys, his younger brother, the pilot, and the steward, had established themselves in the place behind the helm for which I had agreed. To revisit Yembo, the abode of death, was not advisable; and as I saw no appearance of plague on board, I submitted to my lot without any unavailing dispute. We immediately set sail, keeping close in shore. In the evening I saw that my situation was much worse than I had suspected it to be when I came on board; in the hold were lying half a dozen

[p.427] sick people, two of whom were in a violent delirium; the Reyss young brother, who had his seat close to me, was paid to attend the sick; one of them died on the following day, and the body was thrown overboard. Little doubt remained of the plague being actually in the ship, though the sailors insisted that it was a different malady. On the third day, the boy, the Reyss brother, felt great pains in his head, and, struck with the idea of the plague, he insisted on being set on shore. We were then in a small bay; the Reys yielded to his entreaties, and agreed with a Bedouin on shore to carry him back on his camel to Yembo. He was landed, and I am ignorant of his fate. The only precaution I could take against infection, was to place my baggage round me, so as to form an insulated spot in which I had just room enough to sit at my ease; but notwithstanding this, I was compelled to come in contact every moment with the ships company. Very luckily the disease did not spread; we had only another death, on the fifth day from our departure, though several of the passengers were seized with the malady, which I cannot possibly affirm to have been the plague, as I did not examine the corpses, but every thing led me to that belief. The continual sea- sickness and vomiting of the passengers were, perhaps, to them a salutary operation of nature. As to myself, I was in a very low state of health the whole of the voyage, and frequently tormented with my ague, which was increased by the utter want of comforts on board. I had taken a disgust to all food, excepting broths: whenever we entered a port, I bought a sheep of the Bedouins, in order to have a dish of soup; and by distributing the meat among the ships people, I obtained their good- will, so that in every instance I was well treated by them; and could command their assistance whenever I stood in need of it, either to raise a temporary awning every morning, or to fill my water-skins on shore.

The navigation is here the same as what I have already described in my voyage from Sowakin to Djidda. We went into a harbour every evening, never sailing during the night, and started again at day-break. If it was known that no small creek or harbour lay before us, near enough to be reached before sun-set with the then existing wind, we sometimes stopped at an anchoring-place soon after mid-day. Unfortunately,

[p.428] the ships boat had been carried away by a heavy sea, in a preceding voyage; we therefore could seldom get on shore, excepting at places where we found other vessels, whose boats we took, as we usually anchored in deep water. The sailors showed as great cowardice here, as those of Sowakin on a former occasion. Whenever it blew fresh, the sails were taken in; the dread of a storm made them take shelter in a harbour, and we never made longer courses than from twenty-five to thirty-five miles per day. A large square cask of water was the only one on board, and contained a supply for three days for the ships crew only. The passengers had each his own water-skin; and whenever we reached a watering-place, the Bedouins came to the beach, and sold us the contents of their full skins. As it sometimes happens that the ships are becalmed in a bay distant from any wells, or prevented from quitting it by adverse winds, the crew is exposed to great sufferings from thirst, for they have never more on board their boats than a supply for three or four days.

For the first three days we steered along a sandy shore, here entirely barren and uninhabited, the mountains continuing at a distance inland. At three days journey by land and by sea from Yembo, as it is generally computed, lies the mountain called Djebel Hassány, reaching close to the shore; and from thence northward the lower range of the mountains are, in the vicinity of the beach, thinly inhabited throughout by Bedouins. The encampments of the tribe of Djeheyne extend as far as these mountains: to the north of it, as far as the station of the Hadj called El Wodjeh, or as it is also pronounced, El Wosh, are the dwelling-places of the Heteym Bedouins. In front of Djebel Hassány are several islands; and the sea is here particularly full of shoals and coral rocks, rising nearly to the surface; from the various colours of which, the water, when viewed from a distance, assumes all the hues of the rainbow. In spring, after the rains, some of these little islands are inhabited by the Bedouins of the coast, who there pasture their cattle as long as food is found: they have small boats, and are all active fishers. They salt the fish, and either carry it in their own boats to Yembo and Cosseir, or sell it to the ships which pass. One of these islands, called El Harra, belongs to

[p.429] the Beni Abs, once a powerful Bedouin tribe, but now reduced to a few families, who live mixed with the Beni Heteym, and, like them, are held in great disrepute by all their neighbours. Upon another island stands the tomb of a saint, called Sheikh Hassan el Merábet, with a few low buildings and huts round it, where a Bedouin family of the Heteym tribe is stationary, to whom the guardianship of the tomb belongs. The course of the Arab ships being usually close by this island, the crews often despatch a boat with a few measures of corn to those people, or some butter, biscuits, and coffee-beans, because they consider Sheikh Hassan to be the patron of these seas. When we sailed by, our Reys made a large loaf of bread, which he baked in ashes, and distributed a morsel of it to every person on board, who eat it in honour of the saint, after which we were treated by him with a cup of coffee.

In general, the Arab sailors are very superstitious; they hold certain passages in great horror; not because they are more dangerous than others, but because they believe that evil spirits dwell among the coral rocks, and might possibly attract the ship towards the shoal, and cause her to founder. For the same reason they observe the constant practice of throwing, at every meal, a handful of dressed victuals into the sea, before they sit down themselves to the repast; saying that the inhabitants of the sea must also have their morsel, otherwise they will impede the vessels course. Our Reys once forgot this tribute; but on recollecting it, he ordered a fresh loaf to be baked, and threw it into the sea.

We met every day, during this voyage, ships coming from Egypt, and often lay in the same bay with three or four of them, in the evening. On such occasions quarrels frequently happen about water; and ships are often obliged to wait one or two days before the Bedouins bring a sufficient supply down to the coast. Butter, milk, honey, sheep, goats, salt fish, firewood, thin branches of the shrub Arak, of which the Arabians make their tooth-brushes, and which the Bedouins collect on this coast, are every where to be had in plenty, and are generally exchanged for corn or tobacco. These Bedouins are daring robbers, and often swim to the ships during the night, to watch for the opportunity

[p.430] of pilfering. The water on the whole coast is bad, except at Wodjeh and at Dhoba. Wodjeh, which is usually reckoned at three days journey northward from Djebel Hassány, is a castle on the Hadj route, about three miles inland. 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. Several of them were married to Bedouin women, and carried on a trifling trade in provisions with the ships that pass.

The neighbouring mountains of Wodjeh are inhabited by the Bedouin tribe of Bily. To the north of Wodjeh, and about two days journey south of Moeyleh, lies the anchorage of Dhoba, renowned for its excellent wells. The anchoring-place is in a large bay, one of the best harbours on this coast, and the wells are about half an hours distance inland, under a grove of palm and Doum date-trees. The route of the Egyptian Hadj passes here; and for its convenience, a birket, or reservoir, has been constructed. The ships that sail from Cosseir to Yembo generally make this point, and continue from thence their coasting voyage southwards. North of Dhoba two days, lies the castle and small village of Moeyleh, in the territory of the Howeytat and Omran Bedouins. We passed it at a distance; but I could see considerable plantations of date-trees near the shore. What is called the castle, appears to be a square building, upon the plain close by the water-side. The position of Moeyleh is distinguishable from afar by the high mountain just behind it; three pointed summits of which, overtopping the rest, are visible sixty to eighty miles off: I was told that in clear winter days they could be distinguished, from Cosseir, at the moment of sun-rise. Moeyleh is the principal position on this coast from Akaba down to Yembo. Its inhabitants, who are for the greater part Bedouins, become settlers, carry on a trade in cattle and fish with Tor and Yembo, and their market is visited by numerous Bedouins of the interior of the country. It is the only place on this coast where a regular market is kept, and where provisions are always to be found, and thus often affords timely relief to ships detained on their

[p.431] passage by contrary winds. Provisions being very dear in the Hedjaz, and very cheap in Egypt, ships, on leaving the Hedjaz harbours for Cosseir or Suez, never lay in more than is absolutely necessary; but the passage, which is usually calculated by them at twenty days, very often lasts a month, and sometimes even two months.

From off Moeyleh, the point of the peninsula of Sinai, called Ras Abou Mohammed, is clearly distinguished. Ships bound from Yembo to Cosseir generally make this promontory, or one of the islands lying before it, and thence steer south to Cosseir. They do this, in order to take advantage of the northerly winds that blow in these parts of the Red Sea for nine months of the year; and they prefer the tedious, but safer mode of a coasting voyage, during which they often enjoy a land-breeze, to the danger and fatigue of beating up, in open sea, against the wind, or of standing straight across from Djidda or Yembo to the African coast; with the harbours of which, south of Cosseir, very few Red Sea pilots are acquainted, and of the Bedouin inhabitants of which they all entertain great fears.

On reaching Ras Mohammed, they anchor near one of the small islands, or go into the harbour called Sherm, where they wait till a fair wind springs up, which usually carries them to Cosseir in one or two days.

As for ourselves, we had not during the whole voyage any sort of disagreeable occurrence, though the wind, which was seldom fair, obliged us once to remain three days at the same anchorage; and I often expected the vessel to be wrecked, on seeing the pilot steer among the shoals in shore: a practice in which these people have acquired great experience, and in which they display as much boldness as they do cowardice in the open sea.

After twenty days voyage we reached the neighbourhood of Ras Abou Mohammed, on the 4th of June: the boat was secured for the night with grapplings to some coral rocks, leeward of a small island ahead of the promontory; the pilot intending to strike across the next morning.

As I knew that Bedouins were always to be found in the harbour of Sherm, to transport passengers by land to Tor or Suez, I wished to be set on shore here. The road from hence to Cairo was much shorter

[p.432] than by way of Cosseir; and my low state of health rendered it desirable to leave the vessel where I had not the slightest accommodation, and where the fears of the plague had not yet subsided, though no person had died on board during the last fortnight. For the sum of four dollars given to the Reys, and one to the pilot, they were kind enough to go a little out of their course, and on the following morning, the 5th of June, we entered the harbour of Sherm.

Sherm is about four or five hours distant from the point called Ras Abou Mohammed, and is a good and spacious harbour, with anchorage for large ships; it lies at the entrance of the gulf of Akaba, and is the best harbour on the west side of that gulf. Under the name Sherm, or Sheroum, (the plural,) are included two harbours half a mile distant from each other, both equally good; but the southern is the most frequented. As a copious well is near, these harbours are often visited by ships coming from and going to the Hedjaz; and passengers who wish to save themselves a voyage up the Gulf of Suez, (which during the prevalence of the northerly winds is often of long duration,) land here, and are carried by the Bedouins upon camels to Tor and Suez. These Bedouins, living up in the mountains, see the ships from afar, and on their arrival hasten to the coast to offer their services. In former times, when the Pashas of Egypt exercised but a nominal power over the neighbouring Bedouins, the Arabs of Tor were much dreaded by the crews of ships; they enforced from them regular tributes whenever they entered their harbours, and conducted themselves in a very oppressive manner. At present, Mohammed Aly, through the means of the commander at Suez, has succeeded in overawing these Bedouins; their conduct is now very friendly, and travelling with them is perfectly safe: but if a ship happens to be wrecked on their coasts, or on the islands near them (no unfrequent occurrence), they still assert their ancient right of plundering the cargo.

In the evening a ship came in, laden with soldiers, which left Yembo six days before us; the commander of the soldiers, and four or five of his party, were set on shore, to proceed by land to Cairo, and both vessels continued their voyage the next morning for Cosseir.

[p.433] There was no difficulty in obtaining camels; more than thirty were ready to be hired; and we started, on the evening of our arrival, in two parties, the one in advance composed of the soldiers, and the other, at about two hours distance behind, composed of myself and slave, and two fellow passengers, men of Damascus, who were glad of this opportunity of shortening their journey home. We rode this evening about one hour and a half in a valley, and then rested for the night.

On the 6th of June we continued our road in barren valleys, among steep rocks, mostly of granite, till we halted, about noon, under a projecting rock that afforded us some shade. The Bedouins went to fetch water from a place up in the western mountains, called El Hamra, which proved to be of excellent quality. A poor woman with two goats lived in the valley quite alone. Among the Bedouins themselves the most perfect security prevails in this district, which is interrupted only by the scandalous behaviour of the Turkish soldiers who pass this way. I knew these men well from repeated experience, and therefore had declined joining their party. When we continued our route towards evening, we met on the road one of the Bedouin boys who served as camel-drivers to the party before us. His camel, upon which one of the soldiers was mounted, had not been able to keep up with the others, and its rider, furious at this delay, had drawn his sabre, and cut the animal to make it move at a quicker pace: when the boy remonstrated and seized the halter, he also received a cut on the shoulder; and as he persisted in keeping his hold, the ruffian discharged his gun at him; the boy then ran off, and waited for our coming up. At a few miles distance we heard from afar the soldiers loud cursing, and found him walking behind the camel. As I expected an affray, I had loaded my gun and pistols. When he saw me riding in front of our people, he immediately ran towards me, and cried out to me in Turkish to descend and to change camels with him. I laughed at him, and told him in Arabic I was no fellah, to be addressed in that manner. In the usual style of those soldiers, who think that every person who is not a soldier must yield to their commands, he then turned towards my slave and ordered him to alight, swearing

[p.434] that he would shoot one of us, if we did not obey. On hearing this I took up my gun, and assured him that it was loaded with good powder, and would send a bullet to his heart better than his would to mine. During this altercation his camel had strayed a little into the valley, and fearing for his baggage, he ran after it, and we rode on. Not being able to follow us in the sands, he discharged his gun at me, from a distance, which I immediately answered, and thus the battle ended. Farther on we came up with his companions, who had alighted. I told them, that their friend behind was embarrassed with his camel, upon which they dispatched one of their Bedouins to fetch him, while I myself rode on, and encamped that night in a side valley out of the road, where the Bedouin boy again joined us, not wishing to be seen by the other soldiers.

We now conducted our journey in such a manner as not to fall in again with the soldiers; but two days after I met the man again at Tor. The governor of Suez was then there, to whom I might have addressed my complaints: this he was afraid of, and therefore walked up to me with a smiling countenance, and said he hoped that no rancour subsisted between us; that as to the shot he fired, it was merely for the purpose of calling his companions to assist him with his camel. In reply, I assured him that my shot had quite a different object, and that I was sorry it had missed; upon which he laughed and went away. There are not on earth more insolent, haughty, and at the same time vile and cowardly beings than Turkish soldiers: wherever they expect to meet with no resistance, they act in the most overbearing, despotic manner, and think nothing of killing an inoffensive person, in the slightest fit of passion; but when they meet with a firm resistance, or apprehend any bad consequences from their conduct, there is no meanness to which they will not immediately submit. During my journey through Egypt from Cairo to Assouan, the whole of which was performed by land, I had several similar rencontres with soldiers; and I must lay it down as a rule for travellers, constantly to treat these fellows with great hauteur, as the most trifling condescension is attributed by them to fear, and their conduct becomes intolerable. We travelled this day about nine hours.

[p.435] June 7th. We continued our course in valleys for about two hours and a half, when we came to a high mountain, where I was obliged to dismount. It was with great difficulty that I could reach the summit, for my strength was exhausted; and I had been shivering with a fever the whole preceding night. It took us about two hours and a half to pass the mountain, and to descend into the valley on the other side. From the top we had a fine view of the Gulf of Akaba. The upper part of this mountain is granite, and its lower ridges grünstein. In the afternoon we issued from this chain into the western plain, which declines slowly towards the sea of Suez, and encamped in it after a ride of about ten hours.

June 8th. We reached Tor, in about three hours and a half from our resting-place. Here we found every thing in a great bustle. The lady of Mohammed Aly Pasha, whom I had met with at almost every station on this journey, had arrived here from Yembo a few days before, and, as it blew strong from the north, had come on shore, that she might proceed by land to Suez. The governor of Suez and Mustafa Beg, her own brother, one of the Pashas principal officers, had come to meet her, and her tents were pitched close by the little village of Tor. From four to five hundred camels were required to transport her suite and soldiers to Suez, and as that number could not soon be prepared, she had already been waiting here a whole week.

I had intended to stop at Tor a few days, merely to recover sufficient strength for my journey to Cairo; but when I learned that the plague was still at Suez, as well as at Cairo, I changed my plan, and determined to wait here some weeks, till the season for the disease should be passed. I soon found, however, that a residence at Tor was not very agreeable. This little village is built in a sandy plain, close to the beach, without any shelter from the sun; a few date-plantations are at some distance behind it. The houses are miserable, and swarms of flies and mosquitoes choke up the avenues of every dwelling. I remained at Tor for the night; and having heard from the Bedouins that at one hours distance was another small village, in an elevated situation, with abundance of gardens and excellent water, I resolved to take up my quarters there.

[p.436] It is surrounded by a half-ruined wall: the remains of a small castle are seen, said to have been constructed by Sultan Selym I., who fortified all the outposts of his empire. The French intended to rebuild it, but they left Egypt before the work was begun. Two small villages, about a mile distance, on both sides of Tor, are inhabited by Arabs, while in Tor itself none reside but Greeks, consisting of about twenty families, with a priest, who is under the Archbishop of Mount Sinai. They earn their livelihood by selling provisions to the ships that anchor here to take in water, which abounds in wells, and is of a good quality. Provisions are here twice as dear as at Cairo; and the people of Tor have their own small boats, in which they sail to Suez for those provisions. Were it not for the passage of Turkish soldiers, they would be rich, as they live very parsimoniously; but the rapacity of a few of these men often deprives them, in a single day, of the profits they have earned during a whole year. No garrison is kept here by the Pasha.

June 9th. In the morning I rode over the ascending plain to the above- mentioned village, which is called El Wady, after having laid in a sufficient stock of provisions at Tor. I easily found a lodging, and was glad to see that my expectations of the site of this village were not disappointed: it consists of about thirty houses, built in gardens, and among date-trees, almost every house having its own little garden. I hired a small half-open building, which I had covered with dateleaves, and enjoyed the immediate vicinity of a shady pleasure-ground, where grew palm, nebek, pomegranate, and apricot trees. A large well, in the midst of them, afforded a supply of excellent water, and I had nothing more to wish for at present. The people of the village, who are for the greater part Bedouins become settlers, could not suspect any motive I might have for residing here, as they saw that I was scarcely able to stand upon my legs: they treated me, in consequence, kindly; and little presents of meat and other provision, which I distributed among them, soon insured their good-will, and I had every reason to be satisfied with their conduct. Thus enjoying complete repose, and the good mountain air of this village, which lies so much higher than Tor, my strength soon returned.

[p.437] For the last four years, since I had left the society of my friends Mr. Barker and Mr. Masseyk, and the delightful gardens of Aleppo, I had not found myself so comfortable as I did here; and even the first day that I passed in this retreat produced a visible improvement in my health. As I thought that slight exercise might be useful, I rode over to the Hammám, a warm bath, round the corner of the mountain, situated to the north of Tor, and about half an hour distant from El Wady. Several warm springs issue from the calcareous mountain, the principal of which has a roof built over it, and is visited by all the surrounding Bedouins. Some half-ruined buildings, probably as old as the demolished castle of Tor, offered, in former times, accommodation to the visiters. The water is of a moderate heat, and appears to be strongly impregnated with nitre. Close by the springs are extensive date-plantations. I have never seen a richer and more luxurious growth of palm-trees than in this place; they form so thick a wood, that it is difficult to find ones way through it. These plantations belong to the Bedouins of the peninsula, who come here with their families at the date-harvest. The largest grove, however, is the property of the Greek priests of Mount Sinai, one of whom lives in an insulated tower in the midst of it, like a hermit, for he is the only constant resident in the place. The fear of the Bedouins keeps him shut up for months in this tower the entrance to which is by a ladder; and a waterman, who provides him every week with a supply of water, is the only individual who approaches him. The priest is placed here as gardener of the convent; but experience shows the inefficacy of all attempts to protect the trees from the pilfering Bedouins, and they have therefore given up the fruit to the first comer: so that this grove, the produce of which often amounts to the value of four or five thousand piastres, becomes public property.

I had some difficulty in providing myself with flesh-meat at Wady: sheep are very scarce in the whole peninsula, and no Arab is inclined to sell what he has. A flock had been sent from Suez to Tor, for the supply of Mohammed Alys lady and her suite. I was obliged to pay twelve piastres here for a small kid.

[p.438] The second weeks residence at El Wady considerably improved my health. I was not thoroughly recovered, but only wished., at present, to acquire sufficient strength for the journey to Cairo, where the means of a complete cure might be found. I was the more inclined to hasten my departure, as it was said that all the Bedouins who had camels to spare, and had not given them up for the transport of the Pashas women, were soon to leave this neighbourhood, with loads of coals for Cairo, when I should find it difficult to procure beasts of transport. I had been for eighteen months without any letters from Europe, and felt impatient to reach Cairo, where I knew that many awaited me. I knew too, that the plague would have nearly subsided by the time of my arrival, as about the end of June it always yields to the influence of the hot season. I therefore engaged two camels from hence to Cairo, for which I paid twelve dollars.

The Arabs of these parts have established particular transport customs: of those who inhabit this peninsula, the tribe of Sowaleha is entitled to one half of the transport, and the other half is shared by the two tribes of Mezeyne and Aleygat. As I wanted two camels, one was to be furnished to me by a Sowaleha, and the other either by a Mezeyne or Aleygat. If no individuals of those three tribes happen to be present, the business is easily settled with one of them, and the others have no after claim; but if several of them are on the spot, quarrels always arise among them, and he who conducts the traveller is obliged to give to the others a small sum of money, to silence their claims. The same custom or law marks out certain limits, which when the traveller and his guide have once passed, the countrymen of the latter have no more claims for the transport. The limit from Tor, northward, is half way between Tor and Wady. The Bedouin who had carried me from Tor to Wady passed this limit by stealth, none of his friends knowing of it: they pursued when they saw us on the road; but we had passed the limits before they came up with us, and I had thus fallen to the lot of this guide; when, on inquiring at Wady for a new guide to Cairo, I was told that no person could take the transport upon himself, without the knowledge or permission of the Bedouin

[p.439] who had brought me to Wady from Tor, and upon whose camel I had once crossed the limits. The man was therefore sent for, and as his own camels were not present, he ceded his right to another for two dollars; and with the latter I departed. These quarrels about transport are very curious, and sometimes very intricate to decide: in the mean while the traveller remains completely passive, but there is not much danger of imposition, for the amount of the hire is always publicly known, and one dollar is the largest sum he can lose.

I left Wady on the 17th of June. Our road lay upon an elevated plain, bounded on the east by the high summits of the Sinai mountains, and on the west by a low ridge of calcareous hills, which separate the plain from the sea, and run parallel with it for about five or six hours. This plain, which is completely barren, and of a gravelly soil, is called El Kaa, and is in bad repute with the Bedouins, from having no springs, and being extremely hot, from the nature of its position. Thus I found it myself. During this day we suffered much from one of the hottest winds I ever remember to have experienced. We alighted during the mid-day hours in the open plain, without finding any tree to afford shade. A Bedouin cloak, fastened to four poles, was erected as a tent, barely sheltering me from the sun, while my two guides and my slave wrapped themselves in their mantles, and lay down and slept in the sun. Instead of causing perspiration, the hot air of the Semoum chokes up every pore; and in the evening I again had the ague, which continued from hence, in irregular fits, till I arrived at Cairo. We encamped this night in El Kaa.

June 18th. We entered, in the morning, Wady Feiran, followed it down towards the sea, and then continued along shore for the rest of the day, till we reached the neighbourhood of the well called El Merkha, in front of the bay which bears the name of Birket Faraoun.

June 19th. From Merkha we again proceeded along shore, then entered the Wady Taybe, leaving to our left the mountains, which reach close to the shore, and in the midst of which lies the bath, called Hamam Seydna Mousa. Taybe is a valley full of trees, which were now withered for want of rain. Having reached its top, we

[p.440] continued over a high plain, passed Wady Osayt, and slept that night in Wady Gharendel.

June 20th. Passing by the brackish spring of Howara, we crossed a barren plain, reached Wady Wardan at mid-day, and encamped in the evening at Wady Seder. Our days journeys were very long, and we travelled some hours during the night, that we might reach Suez in time to join the caravan, which was preparing there to conduct the Pashas women to Cairo. As I shall speak in detail of this road in the journal of my visit to Mount Sinai, I forbear entering here into any particulars: the remarks I now made were, besides, very superficial.

June 26th. [sic] In the morning we passed Ayoun Mousa, and reached Suez in the afternoon. The caravan was just preparing to depart, and we started with it in the evening. There was a strong guard, and altogether we had about six hundred camels. We travelled the whole night without interruption, and on the morning of

June 22nd alighted at the place called El Hamra, the Hadj station between Cairo and Adjeroud. The ladies of the Pasha had brought two carriages with them from the Hedjaz, in which they had travelled all the way from Tor to Suez, the road being every where of easy passage. Two more carriages were sent for them from Cairo to Suez, one of which, an elegant English barouche, was drawn by four horses: they got into these at Suez, and quitted them occasionally for splendid litters or palanquins, carried by mules. We started again in the evening, and, travelling the whole night, reached Birket el Hadj on the morning of the 23rd, having thus made the whole journey from Tor in six days; a forced march which, from the heat of the season, had fatigued me extremely. At the Birket El Hadj the caravan was met by many grandees from Cairo: the ladies of the Pasha intended to encamp there for a few days among the date-groves. Being unable myself, from weakness, to proceed on the same day, (although Cairo is but four hours distant,) I slept here, and entered the city on the morning of the 24th of June, after an absence from thence of nearly two years and a half. I found that two letters, which I sent

[p.441]here from Medina, had not been received, and my acquaintances had supposed me lost. The plague had nearly subsided; some of the Christians had already re-opened their houses; but great gloom seemed to have overspread the town from the mortality that had taken place.

The joy I felt at my safe return to Cairo was considerably increased by flattering and encouraging letters from England; but my state of health was too low to admit of fully indulging in the pleasures of success. The physicians of Cairo are of the same set of European quacks so frequently found in other parts of the Levant: they made me swallow pounds of bark, and thus rendered my disease worse; and it was not till two months after that I regained my perfect health at Alexandria, whither I had gone to pay a visit to Colonel Missett, the British resident in Egypt, who had already laid me under so many obligations, and to whose kind attentions, added to regular exercise on horseback, more than to any thing else, I was indebted for my recovery. A delightful journey, in the winter months, through Lower Egypt, and by the Lake Menzaleh, restored me to my wonted strength, which I am happy to say has never since experienced any abatement.

[p.443] APPENDIX.

[p.445] APPENDIX.

No. I.

Stations of the Pilgrim Caravan, called the Hadj el Kebsy, through the mountainous country between Mekka and Sanaa in Yemen.

MEKKA.

1st day. Shedád; some coffee-huts.

2. Kura, a small village on the summit of the mountain so called.

3. Tayf.

4. Abbasa, in the district of the Thekyf Arabs.

5. Melawy Djedára, district of the Beni Sad Arabs.

6. Mekhra, district of the Naszera Arabs. The principal village of the Beni Sad tribe is Lagham, and of the Naszera tribe, Sour; distant one day N. of the farthest limits of Zohran. In this district is also the fortified village of Bedjeyle.

7. Esserrar, of the Thekyf Arabs.

8. Berahrah, on the N. extremity of Zohran, a district inhabited by Arabs of the same name. This Zohran is one of the most fertile countries in the mountainous chain, although its villages are separated from each other by intervals of barren rock. It is inhabited by the Zohran tribes of Beni Malek and Beni Ghamed. The Zohran chief, Bakhroudj, having bravely resisted Mohammed Aly Pasha, was taken by surprise, in March 1815, and cruelly cut to pieces by that Turkish generals order.

9. Wady Aly, in the same district.

10. Meshnye, on the S. borders of Zohran.

11. Raghdán, a market-place of the Ghamed Arabs.

12. Korn el Maghsal, of the Ghamed Arabs.

13. Al Záhera, of the same Arabs. These two tribes of Zohran and Ghamed possess the Hedjaz (viz. the mountains) and adjoining districts in Tehama, or the Western plain [p.446] towards the sea, as well as the Eastern upper plain. The chief place of the Ghamed tribe is Mokhowa, a town not to be confounded with Mokha.

14. El Roheyta, of the powerful tribe of Shomrán.

15. Adama, of the Shomrán Arabs.

16. Tabala, of the Shomrán Arabs, who extend over both sides of the mountains in the W. and E. plain.

17. El Hasba, market of the Shomrán Arabs.

18. El Asábely, a village of the Asábely tribe.

19. Beni Shefra, a market-place of the tribe so called, formerly united with the Asábelys, but formed by the Wahaby chief into a distinct tribe.

20. Shat Ibn Aryf.

21. Sedouán: this place and Shat Ibn Aryf are inhabited by Arabs of the tribe called Ahl Aryef.

22. El Matsa.

23. Ibn Maan, which with El Matsa belong to the Ibn Katlan Arabs.

24. Ibl, in the territory of the powerful tribe of Asyr.

25. Ibn el Shayr, of the Asyr tribe.

26. Dahban, of the Kahtan Arabs, one of the most powerful tribes of the Eastern Desert.

27. Derb Ibn el Okeyda, a wady inhabited by the Refeydha tribe, who belong to the Asyr. They are strong in horses.

28. Derb Selmán, of the Refeydha tribe.

29. Wakasha, of the Abyda Arabs. In the district of Abyda is the town of Aryn, in a very fertile territory. From Aryn southward the Arabs keep on the mountains a few camels, but many sheep and goats, and are what the Bedouins call Shouáwy, or Ahl Sháh, or Ahl Bul.

30. Wady Yaowd, of the Abyda Arabs.

31. Howd Ibn Zyad, of the Abyda Arabs.

32. Thohran, a district and market-place of the tribe of Wadaa.

33. Keradb, of the Wadaa tribe.

34. Rogháfa, of the Sahhar Arabs.

35. Dohyán, of the Sahhar Arabs.

36. Sada, of the Sahhar tribe. From Sada the caravan, or Hadj el Kebsy, takes its departure; it is so called from the Emir, or chief of the Hadj, who is styled Kebsy. The pilgrims from all the interior parts of Yemen assemble at Sada: it is a large town, but much decayed, famous in Arabia Felix as the birth-place of Yabya Ibn Hosseyn, chief promoter of the sect of Zeyd, which has numerous adherents in that country. Of late a new saint has appeared at Sada; he is called Seyd Ahmed, and is much revered by the Zyoud, or sect of Zeyd, who entitle him Woly, or Saint, even during his life. Sada is governed by Arabs: the Wahaby influence extended thus far. From Sada towards Sanaa the country is inhabited by Arabs, under the dominion of the Imám of Sanaa.

37. Aashemye, of the Sofyan tribe.

38. A market-place, or Souk, of the Bekyl Arabs.

[p.447]

39. Another market-place of the same tribe. The Bekyl and Háshed Arabs of this district serve in the army of the Imám of Sana; many of them go to India, and are preferred by the native princes there to any other class of soldiers: Tipoo Saheb had several hundred of them in his service. They generally embark at Shaher, in Hadramaut; and their chief destination at present is Guzerat and Cutch.

40. Ghoulet Adjyb, of the Háshed Arabs.

41. Reyda, of the Omran Arabs.

42. Ayal Soráh, of the Hamdan tribe.

43. Sanaa. From Mekka to Sanaa, forty-three days very slow travelling: for most of the pilgrims perform the whole journey on foot.

No. II.

Of the country through which the Kebsy pilgrims travel, and the extraordinary customs of some Arabian tribes.

THE route of this pilgrimage lies wholly along the mountains of the Hedjaz and Yemen, having the Eastern plain on one side, and Tehama, or the sea-coast, on the other. The road often leads through difficult passes on the very summit of the mountains. Water abounds, in wells, springs, and rivulets: the entire tract of country is well peopled, although not every where cultivated, enclosed fields and trees being only found in the vicinity of water. There is a village at every station of the Hadj: most of these villages are built of stone, and inhabited by Arab tribes, originally of these mountains, and now spread over the adjoining plains. Some are very considerable tribes, such as Zohran, Ghamed, Shomran, Asyr, and Abyda, of whom each can muster from six to eight thousand firelocks: their principal strength consists in matchlocks. Horses are but few in these mountains; yet the Kahtan, Refeydha, and Abyda tribes, who likewise spread over the plain, possess the good Koheyl breed. This country produces not only enough for the inhabitants, but enables them to export great quantities of coffee- beans, corn, beans, raisins, almonds, dried apricots, &c.

It is said that the coffee-tree does not grow northward beyond Meshnye, in the Zohran country; the tree improves in quality southward: the best coffee is produced in the neighbourhood of Sanaa. Grapes abound in these mountains. Raisins constitute a common article of food with the Arabs, and are exported to the towns on the sea-coast, and to Djidda and Mekka, where a kind of wine is made from them, as follows:—The raisins are put into

[p.448] earthen jars, which are then filled with water, buried in the ground, and left there for a whole month, during which the fermentation takes place. Most other fruits are cultivated in these mountains, where water is at all times abundant, and the climate temperate. Snow has sometimes fallen, and water been frozen as far as Sada. The Arabs purchase their cotton dresses in the market-places of Tehama, or on the coast: the passing pilgrims sell to them a few drugs, spices, and needles, and proceed on their way in perfect security, at least since the Wahabys have subjugated the whole country, by overpowering, after many sanguinary battles, the hostile Sheikhs, who were forced to pay an annual tribute.

Most of the Arab tribes south of Zohran belong to the sect of Zeyd: they live in villages, and are chiefly what the Arabs call Hadhar, or settlers, not Bedouins; but as they keep large herds of cattle, they descend, in time of rain, into the Eastern plain, which affords rich pasturage for cows, camels, and sheep. They procure clothes, drugs, utensils, &c. from the sea-ports of Yemen, where they sell dried fruits, dates, honey, butter, coffee-beans, &c. With the Bedouins of the Eastern plain they exchange durra for cattle. The Spanish dollar is current among them; but in their markets all things are valued by measures of corn. The dress of these Bedouins generally consists in cotton stuffs and leather.

Before the Wahabys taught them the true Mohammedan doctrines, they knew nothing more of their religion than the creed, La Illaha ill Allah, wa Mohammed rasoul Allah, (There is no God but God, and Mohammed is the prophet of God); nor did they ever perform the prescribed rites. The El Merekede, a branch of the great Asyr tribe, indulged in an ancient custom of their forefathers by assigning to the stranger, who alighted at their tents or houses, some female of the family to be his companion during the night, most commonly the hosts own wife; but to this barbarous system of hospitality young virgins were never sacrificed. If the stranger rendered himself agreeable to his fair partner, he was treated next morning with the utmost attention by his host, and furnished, on parting, with provisions sufficient for the remainder of his journey: but if, unfortunately, he did not please the lady, his cloak was found next day to want a piece, cut off by her as a signal of contempt. This circumstance being known, the unlucky traveller was driven away with disgrace by all the women and children of the village or encampment. It was not without much difficulty that the Wahabys forced them to renounce this custom; and as there was a scarcity of rain for two years after, the Merekedes regarded this misfortune as a punishment for having abandoned the laudable rites of hospitality, practised during so many centuries by their ancestors.

That this extraordinary custom prevailed in the Merekede tribe, I had often heard during my travels among the Syrian Bedouins, but could not readily believe a report so inconsistent with our established notions of the respect in which female honour is held by the Arabs; but I can no longer entertain a doubt on the subject, having received, both at Mekka and Tayf, from various persons who had actually witnessed the fact, most unequivocal evidence in confirmation of the statement.

Before the Wahaby conquest it was a custom among the Asyr Arabs, to take their marriageable daughters, attired in their best clothes, to the public market, and there, walking before them, to cry out, Man yshtery el Aadera? Who will buy the virgin? The match,

[p.449] sometimes previously settled, was always concluded in the market-place; and no girl was permitted to marry in any other manner.

I heard that tigers and wolves abound in these mountains, but that there are not any lions. The Arabs have here a fine breed of mules and asses.

No. III.

Route from Tayf to Sanaa.

This itinerary was communicated to me by a poor man who had travelled with his wife, in 1814, from Sada to Mekka. He was a native of some place near Sanaa; and as the pilgrimage or Hadj el Kebsy had been for some years interrupted, and he could not afford a passage by sea to Djidda, he undertook this route, which is practicable even in these critical times to those who can pass unsuspected in the character of pilgrims. He was every where treated with hospitality. On his arrival at a village he proceeded to the Mesdjed or mosque, and recited some chapter of the Koran: the Arab inhabitants then inquired who he was, and supplied him with plenty of flour, milk, raisins, meat, &c. He was never stopped by robbers until he reached the advanced posts of Mohammed Alys Turkish army; there he was plundered by some soldiers of all his provisions. He could not mark exactly each days journey, because he loitered about from one settlement to another, waiting often several days that he might have companions on the road. The journey occupied him altogether three months. He supported himself at Mekka by singing, during the night, before the houses of wealthy pilgrims, some verses in honour of the propbet and of the pilgrimage. His route was as follows:—

El Tayf—Beni Sad, Arabs—Naszera, Arabs—Begyle (or Bedjele), a market- place—Rebah, a market-place—El Mandak, in the Zohran country—El Bekaa, in the Zohran country—Raghdan, in the district of the Ghamed Arabs— Ghamed, Arabs—Sollebat, inhabited by Ghamed Arabs and those called Khotham, a very ancient tribe that flourished in the beginning of Islám— Shomran, Arabs—Bel Korn—Ibn Dohman, an Arab tribe so called—Ibn el Ahmar, another Arab tribe—Ibn el Asmar, an Arab tribe—The country here is called after the inhabitants, which my informer had not forgotten, although he did not always recollect the names of the villages through which he passed in the districts of each tribe—Asyr; this tribe is now united with the three former under one head—The Asyr chief, El Tamy, proved the steadiest antagonist of Mohammed Aly: his principal residence was the strong castle of El Tor, situated upon a high level surrounded by mountains; he

[p.450] had also a smaller castle, called El Tobab, with a town, from four to five days journey distant from Gonfode on the sea-coast.

In the Asyr district, the pilgrim passed the villages called Shekrateyn, Ed-dahye, Shohata, and Ed-djof. So far the road had always been on the very summit of the mountain: the traveller henceforward continuing along the valleys composing the lower chain of hills that intersect the Eastern plain.

Refeydha, Arabs—Abyda, Arabs—Harradja, a town in the district of the Senhán Arabs; which also contains the fertile wady called Ráha—Homra, a place inhabited by the Senhan Arabs: at one days journey eastward is Wady Nedjran, belonging to the tribe of Yam-Thohran, inhabited by the Wadaa tribe: this place is high in the mountain, but the Wadaa occupy also the low valleys—Bágem, a tribe of Arabs: eastward of them resides the powerful tribe of Kholán Arabs—Dohhyán, of the Sahhar tribe-Sada: from Sada the most usual stages to Sanaa are Beit Medjáhed—Djorf—Kheywan and Houth, two places in the district of the Háshed tribe—Zybein,—Omrán- Sanaa-Seven days from Sada to Sanaa.

No. IV.

Notices respecting the Country south of Mekka.

I HAVE already described the road from Mekka to Tayf. Four hours distant from Tayf, in a S.E. direction, is Lye, a wady with a rivulet, fine gardens, and many houses on the borders of the stream. About two hours S. of Lye, in the mountain, stands the celebrated castle of Byssel, built by the late chief of all the Hedjaz Arabs, Othman el Medhayfe, who was taken prisoner near it in autumn 1812. Here Mohammed Aly Pasha, in January 1815, fought his decisive battle with the united Wababy forces. From Lye the road leads over mountains for about two hours, and then descends into the great Eastern plain, where, at a distance of seven or eight hours from Lye, and twelve from Tayf, lies the small town of Kolákh: here were the head-quarters of the Turkish army for several months in 1814. It is an open place, without trees or enclosures, with many water-pits. It lies from Tayf in the direction of E.S.E. About Lye and Kolákh, live the Arabs of the Ossama tribe, who form part of the great Ateybe tribe. Between Kolákh and Taraba, off the straight road, lies Abyla, once the residence of the great chief Medhayfe. By Kolákh passes the most frequented road from Nedjed to Zohran, and from thence to the sea-ports of Yemen. Continuing over the plain from Kolákh in a more southern direction for about eighteen hours, we come to the town of Taraba, as the people of Tayf and Mekka call it, or Toroba according

[p.451] to the Bedouin pronunciation. A soldier who possessed a watch told me that he had counted three hours on the march between Tayf and Taraba. This is a considerable town, as large as Tayf, and remarkable for its plantations, that furnish all the surrounding country with dates; and famous for its resistance against the Turkish forces of Mohammed Aly, until January 1815, when its inhabitants were compelled to submit. Taraba is environed with palm-groves and gardens, watered by numerous rivulets; near it are some inconsiderable hills, at the foot of which the Arabs cultivate durra and barley: the inhabitants are of the Begoum tribe, and their Sheikh is Ibn Korshán. One Ghálye, the widow of a deceased Sheikh, had immortalised her name by devoting her property to the defence of the town, and taking an active part in the council of the chiefs. The country about Taraba, and thence to Kolákh, is inhabited by the Ateybe Arabs, the most numerous of the Hedjaz tribes. The Begoums had enclosed Taraba with a wall, and constructed some towers: at present a Turkish garrison is stationed here, this being a principal position and the grand thoroughfare between Nedjed and Yemen.

Pursuing the road from Taraba southwards to the east of the great chain of mountains, over an uneven ground intersected by many wadys, we come, at two days from Taraba, to the town of Ranye, inhabited by the Arab tribe of Sabya, whose Sheikh is Ibn Katnán, a personage distinguished for his bravery in the campaign against the Pashas Turkish troops. Three or four days from Ranye is the town of Beishe, the intermediate space being peopled by the Beni Oklob tribe. Beishe, the most important position between Tayf and Sanaa, is a very fertile district, extremely rich in date-trees. The Turkish army of Mohammed Aly, with its followers and allied Bedouins, amounting in all to ten or twelve thousand men, found here sufficient provisions for a fortnights halt, and for a supply on their march of several days towards the south. The Arabs entitle Beishe the key of Yemen: it lies on one of the great roads from Nedjed to Yemen; and it was said that heavy-laden camels from Mekka to Yemen could not come by any other way, and that on the sea-shore beyond Beishe is an easy passage westward through the great chain of mountains. At Beishe many battles were fought between Sherif Ghaleb and Saoud the Wahaby general, who being victorious erected two castles in the neighbourhood, and gave them in charge to Ibn Shokbán, whom he also made chief of the Beni Salem tribe, the inhabitants of Beishe, who could furnish from eight to ten thousand matchlocks. Ibn Shokbán afterwards gallantly opposed the Turkish army. I believe that in former times the Sherifs of Mekka possessed at least a nominal authority over all the country, from Tayf to Beishe. In Asamys history we find many instances of the Sherifs residing occasionally at Beishe, and having in their army auxiliaries of the Beni Salem tribe.

Beishe is a broad valley, from six to eight hours in length, abounding with rivulets, wells, and gardens. The houses here are better than those of Tayf, and irregularly scattered over the whole tract. The principal castle is very strong, with substantial and lofty walls, and surrounded by a ditch. About three or four days journey to the E. and S.E. of Beishe, the plain is covered with numerous encampments of the Kahtan Arabs, one of the most ancient tribes, that flourished long before Mohammed, in the idolatrous ages. Some of these Beni Kahtan emigrated to Egypt, where the historian Mesoudi knew them as inhabitants of Assouan. The Wahabys found great difficulty in subduing this tribe, which, however,

[p.452] subsequently became attached to the conquerors, and still continues so. The Beni Kahtan possess excellent pasturage, and breed many fine horses: the vast number of their camels have become proverbial in Arabia. The tribe is divided into two main branches, Es Saháma, and El Aasy. In December 1814 the Kahans made an incursion towards Djidda, and carried off the whole baggage of some Turkish cavalry, stationed to protect the road between Djidda and Mekka: large parties of them sometimes pasture their cattle in the province of Nedjed.

From Beishe to Aryn, in the country of the Abyda Arabs, is a journey of five days, according to the Bedouin mode of travelling, but six or seven days as the Kebsy pilgrims march. Beishe itself is about two days distant from the western mountain. It is a journey of at least four days from Beishe to the district of Zohran: all the Arabs from Taraba to Beishe, and from thence westward, are cultivators or agriculturists; those due south and east, are Bedouins, or wandering Nomades.

South-east of Beishe, four or five days, live the Dowáser Arabs during the winter; but in summer they remove to the more fertile pasture-lands of Nedjed, the nearest frontiers of which are only eight days distant. They have no horses, but furnish to the Wahabys in their wars about three thousand camel-riders. The Dowáser are said to be very tall men, and almost black. In former times they used to sell at Mekka ostrich feathers to the northern pilgrims, and many pedlars of Mekka came here in winter to exchange cotton stuffs for those feathers.

Adjoining the Dowáser, but I cannot exactly ascertain in what direction, are the Beni Kelb, Bedouins of whom many absurd fables are related in the Hedjaz: thus it is said, the men never speak Arabic, but bark like dogs; a notion, perhaps, arising from the name Kelb, which signifies a dog. Their women, however, it is allowed, can speak Arabic; but the truth is, that the stranger who alights at their tents is entertained by the women, and not by the men.

Half way between Wady Dowáser, or the winter pasture-land of the Dowáser tribe, and Sanaa the capital of Yemen, a short days journey east of Thohrán, (the territory of the Wadaa Arabs,) and four or five days from the town of Sada, lies the Wady Nedjrán, on the first of the great chain of mountains. It is a fertile valley between inaccessible mountains, in which the passes are so narrow that two camels cannot go abreast. The valley is watered by rivulets, and abounds with date-trees. Here reside the Beni Yam, an ancient tribe, distinguished lately by their opposition to the Wahabys: they consist of settlers and Bedouins; the former being Shyas, or heretics of the Persian sect, followers of Aly, while the Bedouins are mostly Sunne or orthodox Muselmans. The latter are subdivided into the tribes of Okmán and El Marra, weaker than the disciples of Aly, and often at variance with them, although both parties unite whenever Nedjrán is attacked by a foreign enemy. The settlers can muster about fifteen hundred firelocks. They twice repulsed the Wahaby chief Saoud, who had subdued all the other Arab tribes except the Beni Sobh, of the Harb race, in the northern parts of the Hedjaz. The Beni Yam made a kind of treaty with the Wahabys, and were allowed to perform the pilgrimage annually. Some of them visit the tomb of Aly, at Meshehed Aly, but under circumstances of great difficulty; for their lives would pay the forfeit of their religious zeal, should they be detected on the road; and this frequently happens,

[p.453] as they are betrayed by their peculiar accent or dialect: one who has performed his devotions at Alys tomb is regarded as a saint at Nedjrán.

When a man of this Beni Yam tribe undertakes a journey, he sends his wife to the house of a friend, who, it is understood, must in all respects supply the husbands place during his absence, and restore the lady to him at his return. It may be here remarked, that the name of Nedjran el Yemen is mentioned in the Catechism of the Druses; one of the questions being, Is Nedjran of Yemen in ruins or not? The tanneries of Nedjran are famous throughout Arabia.

The less mountainous districts mentioned here, south of Mekka, are even in time of peace accessible only to Bedouins, or Bedouin merchants, and have not any regular communication with Mekka by caravans—Taraba excepted, the inhabitants of which carry their dates in monthly caravans to Mekka and Djidda. The people of Nedjed pass continually through this district in search of coffee-beans, and during the Wahaby dominion there was no other intercourse between Yemen and the northern provinces of Arabia. This country seldom enjoys peace, the mountaineers being hostile to the pastoral inhabitants of the low districts, and often at variance among themselves. They are all very warlike, but the Wahabys have succeeded in checking their private feuds.

The country from Mekka southwards near the sea-shore, to the west of the chain of mountains, is flat, intersected with hills that gradually disappear as we approach the sea, of which the shore presents a level plain in almost every direction at the distance of several hours. In time of peace the land road is most frequented by caravans, which either proceed along the coast close to the barbour, or by the foot of the mountains. The former way affords but little water. The first inhabited place south of Djidda is Leyth, four days distant, a small harbour, which the people were now deserting through dread of the mountaineers. The inhabitants of Leyth are mostly of the Beni Harb tribe, numerous and powerful in the country between Mekka and Medina. On this coast are many encampments of the Heteym Arabs. From Leyth up the mountains to the district of Zohrán, is a journey of three days and a half: from Leyth to Shagga, a small town, is one days journey: from thence to Doga, the same distance. Doga lies near the mountainous region, and is a considerable market-place; but its houses, or rather huts, are constructed only of brush-wood and reeds, not of stone. The inhabitants are mostly Sherifs, connected in kindred with the Sherif families of Mekka, to whom they often granted an asylum in the late civil wars. It is a journey of one day from Doga to Gonfode, the well-known harbour. One day and a half south of Gonfode, is the small harbour of Haly: this was the southern limit of the territory belonging to the Sherif of Mekka, who kept custom-house officers at Gonfode and Haly. The Wahaby chieftain, Othman el Medhayfe, in 1805 (or 1806), took Gonfode from the Sherif, and the whole coast from thence to Djidda fell under the Wahaby dominion. In 1814 the Turkish troops of Mohammed Aly Pasha endeavoured to establish themselves there, but were soon dislodged with considerable loss by Tamy. Gonfode, however, was retaken in 1815 by Mohammed Aly himself, after his return from the expedition against Tamy, the Sheikh of Asyr.

The caravan distance from Djidda to Gonfode along the coast is seven days, easy travelling. From Djidda to Leyth, another more eastern road, somewhat mountainous, five

[p.454] days journey, yielding plenty of water: while on the coast road, but one well is found between the two towns.

The other road from Mekka to Yemen, close along the western foot of the great mountains, is much frequented in time of peace: there are weekly arrivals of caravans, chiefly from Mokhowa, which is distant fifteen hours from Doga, and one day from the district of Zohrán in the mountains. Mokhowa is a large town, nine days journey from Mekka, for caravans travelling slowly: it has stone buildings, and is the market where the husbandmen of Zohrán and the neighbouring districts sell the produce of their labour to the merchants of Mokhowa, who send it to Mekka and Djidda. The country about Mokhowa is very fertile, and inhabited by the three tribes of Beni Selym, Beni Seydán, and Beni Aly: the two latter had submitted to the Wahabys, and were commanded by Tamy, the Sheikh of Asyr. There are likewise at Mokhowa many of the Beni Ghamed tribe. In time of peace the intercourse between this town and Mekka is very considerable; perhaps one third of the supplies of Mekka in grain of different kinds come from this place. Between these towns the road lies chiefly through valleys, and crosses but few hills: on it are some villages, of which the huts are inhabited by Bedouins as well as agriculturists. I must here repeat that Mokhowa is not to be confounded with Mokha.

The two first days journeys lie in the territory of the Djebádele tribe, whose boundary on the S. is Wady Lemlem, a fertile valley with springs. Beyond that live the Beni Fahem, an ancient tribe, now much reduced in numbers: they are celebrated throughout the Hedjaz for having retained the purity of their language in a higher degree than other tribes; and those who hear one of their boys speak, will be convinced that they deserve thin praise.

The country west of the great mountainous chain down to the sea is called Tehama; an appellation not given, at least in this part of Arabia, to any particular province, but assigned generally to the comparatively low grounds towards the coast; and the Bedouins extend this appellation northwards as far as Yembo. The people of Tehama are poor, those excepted who engage in trade; for the country has few fertile spots, and less pasturage than the mountains, where rain falls more abundantly. In the lower Tehama there are sometimes, during a whole year, but three or four days of rain. The Tehama Bedouins south of Mekka had mostly retired up into the mountains, when Mohammed Aly invaded the Hedjaz, not from dread of the Turks, but because, in such an unsettled state of affairs, weak tribes were not secure, in the open country, from being surprised by straggling Bedouins from the more powerful hostile tribes, who during the power of the Wahabys did not venture to show their enmity, and now impatiently broke loose. Among the Bedouins of Tehama are many tribes of the Beni Heteym, a tribe more widely spread than any other in Arabia.

The Great Desert, east of Beishe and Wady Dowáser, and south of the province of Nedjed, extending eastwards to the frontiers of Oman, is called by the Bedouins Roba el Khaly, the empty or deserted abode. In summer it is wholly deserted, being without any wells. In winter, after rains, when the sands produce herbage, all the great tribes of the Nedjed, Hedjaz and Yemen pasture their flocks in the parts of this desert bordering respectively on their own countries. The sandy soil is much frequented by ostriches, which

[p.455] are killed by the Dowáser Arabs. Several Bedouins assured me, that in the Robá el Khály there are many parts which have never yet been explored; because towards the east it does not, even in winter time, afford the slightest vegetation. The only habitable spot on this dreary expanse of sand is the Wady Djebryn. There the road passes, by which, in winter, the Arabs of Nedjed travel to Hadramaut: it is a low ground with date-trees and wells; but the pestilential climate deters people from residing there. The dates are gathered by the passing travellers.

No. V.

Stations of the Hadj or Pilgrim Caravan from Cairo to Mekka.

THE following account refers to the route of the caravan in 1816; but formerly, as I learn from Arabian authors, the stations differed in many instances.

The caravan assembles for several days at a place eastward of the Gardens near Cairo, about one hour distant, called El Hassoua, and then proceeds to Birket el Hadj, four hours distant, where they remain two days. From this place the caravan starts on the 27th of the month Showál: it travels only by night, generally setting out at four oclock in the afternoon, and alighting soon after sun-rise at the station where they encamp, until evening.

From the Birket el Hadj—

1st night—To Dár el Hamra.

2. To Adjeroud: here they halt the whole day and following night. The caravan is supplied with water from Suez, that which Adjeroud furnishes being extremely bad.

4. To Roos el Nowatyr, a plain in the mountain, without water: here they halt only a few hours, and proceed

5. To Wady Tyh, the entrance to the Desert of Tyh: here they halt a few hours, but, not finding any water, go on

6. To the castle of Nakhel: here they repose, after their forced march, during the whole day and following night, supply themselves with water, and set out next evening.

8. To El Alaya, where they remain one hour, but find no water.

9. To Sath el Akaba, the summit of the western chain of Akaba: here is a small village. The road up and down the mountain is very difficult. From this station they march a whole night, to descend in the narrow passes to the plain and castle of Akaba.

10. Here they remain the day and night.

12. Thaher el Homar, a rocky ground, with bad water and numerous date- trees.

[p.456]

13. (Night,) To Shorafa, a barren long extended valley, without water.

14. To Moghayr Shayb: many wells of sweet water, date-plantations, and trees among the rocks, render this one of the most agreeable stations on the route; but it is infested by robbers.

15. To Ayoun el Kassab, a plain ground with date-trees, and water. It belongs to the territory of Moeyleh.

16. To El Moeyleh, where are fine pasture-grounds and good water: here the caravan halts for the night, and remains till the next evening.

18. To Selma, a place yielding water.

19. To Kalat Ezlam.

20. To El Astabel, or Astabel Antar: the only water here is in a few holes dug in the sands of the valley,

21. To Kalat el Wodjeh, where there is good water: they halt this night, and next evening proceed

23. To Akra; a very long march; they arrive at Akra in the evening: here the water is of a most offensive smell. The caravan halts one hour.

24. To El Houra, likewise called Dár el Ashreyn, because it is the twentieth station from Cairo. Between Akra and Houra lies El Hank, a valley without water. At Houra are many trees; also the shrub Arak, of which the pilgrims cut branches, to use as toothbrushes. The water here is bad, and of a strong aperient quality.

25. To Nabt.

26. To El Khedheyra, where the caravan stops one hour in the morning, and marches the rest of the day, the whole night, and next day till evening.

27. To Yembo el Nakhel, where they remain the night, and proceed

29. To Beder: here they remain that day and night; and set out early next morning, and arrive at El Kaa in the afternoon, where they halt till evening, and then proceed

31. To Rábegh.

32. To Djereynát.

33. To Akabet e Sukar.

34. To Kholeys.

35. To Asfán.

36. To Wady Fatme.

37. To Mekka.

Thirty-seven days on the road—thirty-one nights marching—seven days halt.

[p.457] No. VI.

Geographical Notices of the Country northward and eastward of Medina.

THE stations of the caravan between Damascus and Medina are well known. The most interesting spot on this road, within the limits of Arabia, appears to be Hedjer, or, as it is sometimes called, Medayen Saleb, seven days north of Medina. This place, according to many passages of the Koran, (which has a chapter entitled Hedjer,) was inhabited by a gigantic race of men, called Beni Thamoud, whose dwellings were destroyed because they refused to obey the admonitions of the prophet Saleh. In circumference Hedjer extends several miles; the soil is fertile, watered by many wells and a running stream: here are generally large encampments of Bedouins. The Wahaby chief, Saoud, intended to build a town on this spot; his olemas deterred him, by declaring that it would be impious to restore a place that the Almighty had visited with his wrath. An inconsiderable mountain bounds this fertile plain on the west, at about four miles distance from the ground where the pilgrim caravan usually encamps.

In that mountain are large caves or habitations cut out of the rock, with sculptured figures of men and various animals, small pillars on both sides of the entrances, and, if I may believe the testimony of Bedouins, numerous inscriptions over the doors; but I am inclined to think that the Arabs may have mistaken sculptured ornaments for letters. The rock is of a blackish colour, probably volcanic, for there is a lukewarm well in the vicinity. My illness at Medina, and subsequent weakness, prevented me from visiting this spot, from whence I might, in a straight direction, have proceeded to Akaba, on the extremity of the eastern gulf of the Red Sea.

The Bedouins call the whole country between Hedye and Oela (a more northern station of the pilgrims) the district of Sheffa. From thence to Akaba el Shám, or the Syrian Akaba, (likewise a Hadj station), the country is called Essafha. It is this Akaba that may be properly described as the boundary of Arabia towards Syria. Here a steep mountain extends for several days journey westward towards the Red Sea, and eastward towards the interior of the Desert. On the north of that mountain we enter the higher or upper plain, which continues to Damascus. Between the Syrian Akaba and the Egyptian Akaba is another pass through the same mountain, called Báb el Nedjed, or the Gate of Nedjed, because here the Bedouins of southern Syria (or, as they are called by the Arabian Bedouins, Ahl el Shemál, People of the North,) pass on their way to Nedjed. In those passes the Wahabys, when they make excursions against the Bedouins, leave strong guards, to secure their own retreat.

The Hadj route from Medina direct to Syria is not much frequented even in time of

[p.458] peace. Sometimes a few Bedouin merchants take camel-loads of coffee-beans by this road to Damascus; but it is infested by strolling parties of the Beni Omran and Howeytat tribes, who live in the western mountain, and frequently descend to rob travellers in the plain. The most frequented route to the north of Medina is towards the country of Kasym, which, as I have already mentioned, supplies Medina in time of peace with all sorts of provisions. The route to Kasym lies between the Hadj route on one side, and the straight road to Derayeh (the Wahaby capital) on the other. The direction of the province of Kasym, as well as of Nedjed, was often pointed out to me at Medina, and I always found. it to be

E. ½ N. for Kasym E. by S. for Derayeh bearing from Medina.

Between the Hadj road and that to Kasym lies a third route, leading straight from Medina to the province of Djebel Shammar, which in peaceable times is much frequented; but the most common way from Medina to Djebel Shammar is by Kasym, two days longer than the last route, but less fatiguing for camels, because there is abundance of water on this road, and very little on the other.

Caravans going from Medina to Kasym visit the following stations:

Medina.—At one hours walk beyond the gardens (the road passing E. of Djebel Ohod) is an open space called El Areydh, with the tomb of a sheikh, having a cupola over it. Near this is a well, named Byr Rasheyd.

3 hours from thence is El Hafná, with the bed of a torrent.

19 hours. Soweyder. The road from Hafná to this place is rocky, with two ascents, difficult for camels, and wholly without water. Soweyder lies between two mountains, and has some wells of brackish water dug in the ground; also Doum date-trees. The road from Medina to this place is inhabited by Mezeyne (or Omzeyne) Arabs, of the Beni Harb tribe, and by the Heteym and Beni Safar Arabs, also of the same tribe.

4 hours. A valley, with wells and Doum date-trees.

7 hours. Hanakye, in the plain, with many ponds and wells of sweet water dug in the ground. At a certain depth water is always found here. The ruins of an ancient castle, in the Saracen style, are visible; and here date-trees grow. This important position is frequently visited by the Bedouin tribes.

6 hours. Abou Khesheyb. The road from Hanakye to this place is on a sandy plain. Abou Khesheyb lies between two mountains, and affords good well-water.

12 hours. El Heymedj, a station having sweet and saltish water.

8 hours. El Mawát. The road from Heymedj to this place is sandy, with low mountains, no trees; the herb called adjref grows here. The pasture- ground of the Beni Harb tribe extends as far as Heymedj: then begin the pastures of the Meteyr Arabs. El Máwát has the best water on the whole route: it is a sandy spot in an inlet of the mountains.

16 hours. El Badje. The road from Mawát to this place is without water, on a sandy plain, having mountains on both sides: the chain on the left is called Taâye. Badje is an extensive tract, with trees and herbage, and wells both of sweet and brackish water.

3 hours. Neffoud, or, as it is called from the soil, Gherek-ed-Dessem, a plain of deep

[p.459] sand, four hours long, after which the road becomes less sandy and difficult, being covered with small stones.

14 hours. Djerdáwye, a plain with wells of good water; from thence in

7 hours, to Dát, the first town of Kasym.—In all, one hundred hours.

From Dát to Rass, one of the chief towns of Kasym, is four or five hours. From Rass to a place called Khabara, five hours; and from Khabara to Shebeybe, four hours. According to the night journies of the Bedouins, one hundred hours are equal to ten or eleven marches by day. The journey here detailed was performed by Tousoun Pashas army at night. Three days from Medina to Hanakye, and eight days from thence to Dát. A person belonging to the court of Tousoun Pasha measured the distance by his watch. The caravans, loaded with corn, are generally ten or eleven days on the road between Medina and Rass.

Kasym, which is the most fertile district in the province of Nedjed, begins at Dát. The name of Nedjed, signifying high or elevated ground, is given to this country in opposition to Tehama or low lands, applied to the sea-coast. It seems to be an oblong tract, extending between three and four days journies from west to east, and two journies in breadth south to north. Within this space are above twenty-six small towns or villages, well peopled, in a cultivated territory, irrigated by water from numerous wells. The chief town is Bereyda, where resides the Sheikh of Kasym, an old man named El Hedjeylan, once an enemy to the Wahabys, now a convert to their doctrine. The neighbourhood of Rass produces the most corn; and that part of Kasym about Dát and Rass lies nearest to Medina. In time of peace, regular caravans arrive every month at Medina from Rass. Tousoun Pashas army found plenty of provisions in the few villages of Kasym which they occupied.

The most considerable place in Kasym is Aneyzy, said to be equal in size to Siout in Upper Egypt, which contained, according to the French computation, three thousand houses. Aneyzy has bazars, and is inhabited by respectable Arab merchants. Of the other towns and villages, the following are most noted:—Es Shenáne, Balgha, Heshashye, El Helalye, El Bekeyrye, Batah el Nebhanye, Ashebeybe, Ayoun, Kowár, and Mozneb.

Small tribes of the Aenezes, of Ateybe (whose chief seat is on the Hedjaz mountains inhabited by the Beni Harb), of Meteyr, and others, encamp during the whole year among the plains of Kasym, which afford excellent pasturage.

Between Kasym and Derayeh, the capital of Nedjed, the intermediate district, mostly a desert, is called El Woshem: from the eastern extremity of the district of Kasym to Derayeh is a distance of five days. The last place in Kasym, on this side, is Mozneb then begins Wady Sarr, a broad sandy valley with pasturage, which continues for several days towards Derayeh through the district of Woshem.

Nedjed, near Derayeh, assumes the name of El Aredh, a district once separate from Nedjed, but now considered as belonging to it. El Aredh is less fertile than El Kasym, from which, in fact, it is partly supplied with provisions. Its principal town, Derayeb, has always been a place of note, but much increased since it has become the capital of the Wahaby power and sect. Its direction was often indicated to me; and I found it to bear from Medina E. by S. (variation not computed); the bearing of Kasym from Medina,

[p.460] E. ½ N. Derayeh is situated in a valley, the inlets and outlets of which on the N. and S. sides are very narrow, admitting only one camel at a time. The houses (many built of stone) are placed on the declivities of both mountains, the valley itself being throughout very narrow. The town is not walled. The number of inhabitants may be estimated, according to the report of the Bedouins, who state that the town furnished three thousand men armed with firelocks to the Wahaby chief: they are composed of different tribes, principally the Mekren, a branch of the Messalykh, part of the great Aeneze race. All the inhabitants of Nedjed trace their pedigrees to some ancient Bedouin tribe; thus the people of Rass claim descent from the Beni Yam, who now reside at Nedjran, in Yemen. The smaller tribe of Beni Lam (related to those of the same name on the river Tigris, but not, like them, of the sect of Aly), and the small tribe of Essehoun, dwell in the Aredh, and seldom encamp beyond its limits. Derayeh is supplied with water from wells. Ibn Saoud, the late Wahaby chief, discovered a spring behind this house, which he built, and wished to persuade the people that God had inspired him on the occasion. The mansion of the Wahaby chief stands on the mountain, at about ten minutes walk from the town: it is spacious, but without any splendid apartments: all the married members of the reigning family have their own chambers; and there are many rooms for guests, with whom the house is constantly filled; for all the chiefs of tribes who come to Derayeh on business are invited to the mansion or palace of the great Sheikh. There are not any khans or public inns, so that every stranger quarters himself upon some inhabitant; and the people of Derayeh are proverbially hospitable. The immediate neighbourhood is barren, yielding only some date-trees. Derayeh is supplied with provisions chiefly from Dhoroma, a large and populous village, one days journey towards the E. or N.E., which has gardens and orchards well watered from copious wells.

From Derayeh to Mekka is a distance of eleven or twelve long caravan days journies. For three days beyond Derayeh are found cultivated spots and small settlements of Arabs; the rest of the road is through a desert country, as far as Wady Zeyme, two days from Mekka. The distance from Rass (in Kasym) to Mekka is also computed at twelve days journey. This latter road abounds more with water than the former, and likewise passes by Wady Zeyme.

A straight road from Nedjed to the mountains of Hedjaz (I use this word here in the Bedouin sense, meaning the mountains south of Tayf), and to the country of Beishe and Yemen, passes by the village of Derye, on the southern extremity of Nedjed, on the great road from Kasym to Mekka. The road from Derye to Beishe lies four or five days east of Mekka. Between Derye and Taraba (above mentioned) is a pasture-land, with many wells, called El Bakarra, a well-known halting-place of all the Bedouins of these countries. It belongs to the Kereyshát tribe, a branch of the Sabya Arabs inhabiting Ranye.

Nedjed is celebrated throughout Arabia for its excellent pastures, which abound even in its deserts after rain: its plains are frequented by innumerable Bedouins, who continue there for most of the year, and purchase corn and barley from the inhabitants. During the rainy season these Bedouins retire towards the interior of the Desert, where they remain until the rain-water collected in the hollow grounds is consumed by their cattle. Previous to the Wahaby establishment, the pasturage of Nedjed belonged exclusively to the Aenezes,

[p.461] which I have already mentioned as the largest of all the Bedouin tribes of Arabia. Great numbers of them frequented this territory in spring, and kept off all the other tribes, except the powerful Meteyr, who reside in the Desert between Kasym and Medina. These strengthened their party by an alliance with the Kahtan Arabs, while the Aenezes were assisted by the Beni Shaman. Between these tribes an inveterate hatred subsisted, which every spring was the cause of much bloodshed, and checked the commercial intercourse with the Hedjaz; and both parties levied contributions on the settled inhabitants of Nedjed: but this custom has been abolished by the Wahabys, whose chief, instead, receives a regular tribute, and has reconciled the hostile parties, and opened the pastures of Nedjed to any tribes of Wahabys who may choose to frequent them. A Bedouin assured me that twenty encampments of different tribes may now be seen here in the course of one days march—such is the security maintained by the Wahaby chief, who is inexorable in the punishment of robbers.

The fine pastures of Nedjed have produced an excellent breed of camels, more numerous here than in any other Arabian province of equal extent. The Arabs call this country Om el Bel, or the mother of camels, and resort to it from all quarters for the supply of their own herds; and it constantly furnishes not only Hedjaz, but Syria and Yemen, with camels, of which useful creatures an ordinary one is sold for about ten dollars in Nedjed. In this country there is also a most excellent breed of horses, so remarkable that the finest blood Arabs are properly denominated Kheyl Nedjade, or Nedjed horses. But the Wahaby power has caused a diminution of this breed; for many Arabs have sold their best horses in foreign parts, lest they should be forced to attend the Wahaby chief, who, in his wars, frequently required cavalry.

Nedjed, however, is often subject to scarcity, caused by the failure of rain, and consequently of herbage: this soon affects the cattle of the Bedouins, who seldom expect, in this country, more than three or four successive years of plenty, although absolute famine does not occur above once in ten, or perhaps fifteen years. It is generally accompanied by epidemical diseases, much like the plague, consisting of violent fevers (but without biles or buboes,) that prove fatal to great numbers. Nedjed is peopled by small tribes of Bedouins, who never leave it, and by settlers intermarried with them, and often travelling as merchants to Damascus, Baghdad, Medina, Mekka, and Yemen: they export camels and woollen cloaks (abbas), of which the best are manufactured at El Hassa; and from Baghdad they receive rice, (the produce of the banks of the Tigris), and articles of dress, especially the keffies, or handkerchiefs, striped green and yellow, of cotton, wool, or silk: these the Bedouins wear over their bonnets. From Mekka they get coffee, drugs, and perfumes, much used among them, particularly the perfume called Arez, which comes from Mokha. In general there is a spirit of commerce very prevalent in Nedjed, where the merchants are wealthy and of better repute for honesty than most of the Eastern traders. The settlers here are armed with matchlocks, and constitute the best portion of the Wababy infantry: they are generally successful against the Bedouins who invade their crops or pastures; and, as saltpetre is found in Nedjed, every family makes its own yearly provision of gunpowder.

In Nedjed are many ancient wells, lined with stone, and ascribed by the inhabitants to a primeval race of giants. They are generally from twenty-five to thirty fathoms deep, and

[p.462] mostly the property of individuals, who exact a certain contribution from the tribes whose cattle they supply with water. Here likewise are numerous remains of ancient buildings, of very massive structure and large dimensions, but in a state of complete ruin. These are attributed to a primitive (or perhaps a fabulous) tribe of Arabs, the Beni Tamour, of whose supposed works some vestiges are likewise seen in the Syrian deserts eastward of the plains of Hauran.

Of all the Bedouin tribes that exist in Arabia, some few families at least may be found in Nedjed, to which refugees fly for security against their enemies. This country, in fact, is not only the seat of the Wahaby government, but seems the most important of the interior districts of Arabia, from its fertility and population, its central position, and facility of intercourse with other provinces. To acquire a perfect knowledge of the Bedouins, it would be necessary to examine them in Nedjed, where their manners continue unaltered by conquest, and retaining all their original purity: nor have they been contaminated by an influx of strangers; for, except the Hadj caravan coming from Baghdad, no foreigners ever pass through Nedjed. For this reason I consider Nedjed and the mountains between Tayf and Sanaa as the most interesting portion of Arabia, affording more objects of inquiry to a traveller than any other part of the peninsula.

From Derayeh eastward towards the Persian Gulf, the country is called Zedeyr, as far as the limits of the province of El Hassa, six days distant from Derayeh, of which three days are without water. The district of Hassa (or, as it is sometimes written, El Ahsa) is celebrated for its numerous wells, and extends for about two days journey parallel with the sea-coast, from which it is distant, inland, fifty or sixty miles. In breadth it is about thirty-five miles. The abundance of water enables the Arabs to cultivate clover, which serves to feed their finest horses. The Wahaby chief sends all his horses to this place every season.

The town of El Hassa (built by the Karmates in the tenth century) is populous; in it reside some wealthy merchants. It has walls and towers, and was successfully defended against the Pasha of Baghdad in 1797. It is one of the principal strongholds of the Wahabys; and their chief derives from this fertile district the greater part of his income. The sea-port for El Hassa is Akyr, a small town on the Persian Gulf, much frequented by the Arabs of Maskat and the pirates of the Kowasem (qy. Jowasem) tribe, who inhabit the port of Ras el Kheyme. The woollen cloaks, of abbas, made at El Hassa are in great demand all over Arabia and Mesopotamia: they cost from ten to fifty dollars each.

The territory of Hassa contains about twenty villages: the principal Bedouins that inhabit it are the Beni Khaled (a tribe extended over many parts of Arabia), the Bisher Arabs, a tribe of the Benezes, and the El Zab tribe. Here also, as well as in Nedjed, are some of the Beni Hosseyn, a tribe belonging to the Persian sect of Moslims.

Between El Hassa and. Basra, water abounds. The road from Derayeh to Baghdad leads through the provinces of Kasym and Djebel Shammar, taking a western direction, because in a direct line no water is found in the Desert. Having reached Kowar, a small town on the frontiers of Kasym, towards Djebel Shammar (eight days from Derayeh), the traveller proceeds one days journey to Kahfe, a village within the territory of Djebel Shammar. The road continues two days in the cultivated parts of this province as far as the well of

[p.463] Shebeyke, which bounds Shammar on this side. From thence is one days journey to Lyne, famous for its numerous and abundant wells, that supplied the whole Wababy army with water: this place is much frequented by the Aeneze Arabs. Between Nedjed and the Euphrates a well in the Desert furnishes sulphur to the powder manufactories of Nedjed.

From Lyne three days journey, in a desert without water, brings the traveller to the well of Shebekka, and from that one day to the town of Meshehd Aly. This is the summer route in winter, when the rain-water is collected in ponds on the way, the Arabs travel from the well of Shebekka by the road called Derb Bereydha, the ancient Hadj route of the Khalifes when they went on pilgrimage. Here are many tanks, cased with stone, constructed by the Khalifes to supply the pilgrims with water; and the road passes straight on from Meshehd Aly towards Djebel Shammar, without touching at Lyne. From Meshehd Aly to Djebel Shammar the distance is reckoned eight days, and the traveller from Baghdad to Nedjed always passes by the tomb of Aly. This route is much frequented, especially by the Ageyl Arabs of Baghdad, of whom many are from Nedjed, which they often visit as pedlars. All the Arabian Bedouins settled in the suburbs of Baghdad are comprised under the name of Ageyl. This was once a powerful tribe, but it has much degenerated.