Much stronger in taste than
common tobacco; it is, therefore, previously washed to render it milder.
The tombak used in the Bury comes from Yemen, and is of the same species
as the other, but of an inferior quality. The trade in this article is
very considerable, its consumption in the Hedjaz being almost incredibly
great; large quantities are also shipped for Egypt. The common pipe is
little used in the Hedjaz, except by Turkish soldiers and Bedouins. The
tobacco is of Egyptian growth, or from Sennar, whence it is carried to
Sowakin. Very little good Syrian tobacco finds its way across the Red
Sea.
The coffee-houses are filled with people during the whole day; and in
front a shed is generally erected, under which persons also sit. The
rooms, benches, and small low chairs, are very filthy, and form a
contrast to the neatness and elegance observable in the coffee-houses of
Damascus. Respectable merchants are never seen in a coffee-house; but
those of the third class, and sea-faring people, make it their constant
resort. Every person has his particular house, where he meets those who
have business with him. An Arab, who cannot afford to ask his friend to
dine, invites him from the coffee-house, when he sees him pass, to enter
and take
[p.27] a cup, and is highly offended if the invitation be rejected. When
his friend enters, he orders the waiter to bring him a cup, and the
waiter, in presenting it, exclaims aloud, so that every one in the place
may hear him, djebba! (gratis). An Arab may cheat his creditors, or be
guilty of bad faith in his dealings, and yet escape public censure; but
he would be covered with infamy, if it were known that he had attempted
to cheat the coffee-house waiter of his due. The Turkish soldiers have
done their utmost in this respect to increase the contempt in which they
are held by the Arabs. I never saw in the coffee-houses of the Hedjaz
any of those story-tellers who are so common in Egypt, and still more in
Syria. The Mangal [See Niebuhr's Travels.] is generally played in all of
them, and the Dama, "a kind of draughts," differing somewhat from the
European game; but I never happened to see chess played in the Hedjaz,
though I heard that it is not uncommon, and that the sherifs in
particular are fond of it.
Near to almost every coffee-shop a person takes his stand, who sells
cooled water in small perfumed jars. [The Orientals often drink water
before coffee, but never immediately after. I was once recognised in
Syria as a foreigner or European, in consequence of having called for
water just after I had taken coffee. "If you were of this country ,"
said the waiter, "you would not spoil the taste of the coffee in your
mouth by washing it away with water."]
Twenty-one butter-sellers, who likewise retail honey, oil, and vinegar.
Butter forms the chief article in Arab cookery, which is more greasy
than even that of Italy. Fresh butter, called by the Arabs zebde, is
very rarely seen in the Hedjaz. It is a common practice amongst all
classes to drink every morning a coffee-cup full of melted butter or
ghee, after which coffee is taken. They regard it as a powerful tonic,
and are so much accustomed to it from their earliest youth, that they
would feel great inconvenience in discontinuing the use of it. The
higher classes content themselves
[p.28] with drinking the quantity of butter, but the lower orders add a
half-cup more, which they snuff up their nostrils, conceiving that they
prevent foul air from entering the body by that channel. The practice is
universal as well with the inhabitants of the town as with the Bedouins.
The lower classes are likewise in the habit of rubbing their breasts,
shoulders, arms, and legs, with butter, as the negroes do, to refresh
the skin. During the war, the import of this article from the interior
had almost entirely ceased; but even in time of peace, it is not
sufficient for the consumption of Djidda; some is, therefore, brought
also from Sowakin; but the best sort, and that which is in greatest
plenty, comes from Massowah, and is called here Dahlak butter: whole
ships' cargoes arrive from thence, the greater part of which is again
carried to Mekka. Butter is likewise imported from Cosseir; this comes
from Upper Egypt, and is made from buffaloes' milk; the Sowakin and
Dahlak ghee is from sheep's milk.
The Hedjaz abounds with honey in every part of the mountains. The best
comes from those which are inhabited by the Nowaszera Bedouins, to the
south of Tayf. Among the lower classes, a common breakfast is a mixture
of ghee and honey poured over crumbs of bread as they come quite hot
from the oven. The Arabs, who are very fond of paste, never eat it
without honey.
The oil used for lamps is that of Sesamum (Seeredj, brought from Egypt).
The Arabs do not use oil for culinary purposes, except in frying fish,
or with broken paste to be given to the poor. Salad, of which the
northern Turks are so fond, is never seen on an Arabian table.
Eighteen vegetable or fruit-stands. The number of these has now greatly
increased, on account of the Turkish troops, who are great devourers of
vegetables. All the fruits come from Tayf, behind Mekka, which is rich
in gardens. I found here in July grapes of the best kind, with which the
mountains behind Mekka
[p.29] abound; pomegranates of middling quality; quinces, which have not
the harsh taste of those in Europe, and may be eaten raw; peaches;
lemons of the smallest size only, like those of Cairo; bitter oranges;
bananas - these do not grow at Tayf, but are brought by the Medina road
principally from Safra, Djedeyda, and Kholeys.
