Most Of Them Have An
Establishment At Djidda, And The Trade Of Both Towns Is Closely
Connected.
During the time of the Wahabys, the interior of Arabia was
opened to Mekka; but the foreign imports, by sea and land, were reduced
to what was wanted for the use of the inhabitants.
The great fair of the
pilgrimage no longer took place; and although some foreign hadjys still
visited the holy city, they did not trust their goods to the chance of
being seized by the Wahabys. Under these circumstances, the principal
inducement with the Mekkawys to remain in the town, namely, their
unceasing gains, no longer existed. The rich waited for a renewal of the
Hadj caravans; but many of the poor, unable longer to find subsistence,
retired from Mekka, and settled at Djidda, or other harbours on the Red
Sea; whither they have been followed by many of the more respectable
traders.
Trade is carried on by means of brokers, many of whom are Indians: in
general, the community of Indians is the wealthiest in
[p.191] Mekka. They are in direct intercourse with all the harbours of
Hindostan, and can often afford to undersell their competitors.
Many of them, as has been already observed, are stationary here, while
others are constantly travelling backward and forward between India and
the Hedjaz. They all retain their native language, which they teach
their children, and also many merchants of Mekka superficially, so that
most of the latter understand, at least, the Hindostanee numerals, and
the most ordinary phrases employed in buying and selling. The Indians
labour under great difficulties in learning Arabic; I never heard any of
them, however long resident in the Hedjaz, speak it with a tolerable
accent: in this respect they are inferior to the Turks, whose
pronunciation of Arabic so often affords subject of ridicule to the
Arabian mob. The children of Indians, born at Mekka, of course speak
Arabic as their native language. The Indians have the custom of writing
Arabic with Hindostanee characters.
They are said to be extremely parsimonious; and, from what I saw of them
in the houses of some of their first merchants, they seem to deserve the
character. They are shrewd traders, and an overmatch, sometimes, even
for the Arabians. They are despicable, from their want of charity; but
they display among themselves a spirited manner, which makes them
respected, and even sometimes dreaded, at Mekka. Many of them have
partners in India; consequently they receive their goods cheaper than
they can be bought from the Indian ships at Djidda: hence the inferior
dealers and shopkeepers at Mekka often find it more convenient to
purchase from them at short credit, than to go to Djidda, where every
thing must be paid for in ready money. With the exception of one or two
houses, no Arabian merchants of Mekka receive their goods direct from
India, but purchase them from the India fleet. Of all the people at
Mekka none are more strict in the performance of their religious rites
than the Indians.
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