Even
The Kadhy Of Djidda, An Arab, Made His Escape To Mekka, With All His
Olemas; But Hassan Pasha, Then Governor Of The Holy City, Ordered Him,
Under Pain Of Death, To Return Immediately To His Post; And He Died On
The Road.
The principal marketstreet of Djidda was quite deserted, and
numbers of families were entirely destroyed.
As a great many foreign
merchants were then in Djidda, their property considerably increased
Mohammed Aly's treasure; and I heard from eye-witnesses, that the only
business then done in the town was the transport of corpses to the
burial-ground, and that of the deceased's valuable property to the house
of the commandant. Medina remained free from the plague, as did the open
country between Yembo and Djidda.
I shall mention here a particular custom of the Arabs. When the
[p.419] plague had reached its height at Yembo, the Arab inhabitants led
in procession through the town a she-camel, thickly covered with all
sorts of ornaments, feathers, bells, &c. &c.: when they reached the
burialground, they killed it, and threw its flesh to the vultures and
the dogs. They hoped that the plague, dispersed over the town, would
hasten to take refuge in the body of the camel, and that by slaughtering
the victim, they would get rid at once of the disease. Many of the more
sensible Arabs laughed at this; but it was so far of some use, that it
inspired the lower classes with courage.
The town of Yembo is built on the northern side of a deep bay, which
affords good anchorage for ships, and is protected from the violence of
the wind by an island at its entrance. The ships lie close in shore, and
the harbour is spacious enough to contain the largest fleet. The town is
divided by a creek of the bay into two parts; the largest division is
called exclusively Yembo; the other, on the western side, bears the name
of El Kad, and is principally inhabited by seafaring people. Both
divisions have the sea in front, and are enclosed on the other sides by
a common wall, of considerable strength, better built than those of
Djidda, Tayf, and Medina. It is flanked by many towers and was erected
by the joint labour of the inhabitants themselves, as a defence against
the Wahabys, the ancient wall being ruined, and enclosing only a part of
the town. The new wall comprises an area almost double the space
occupied by habitations, leaving between it and the latter, large open
squares, which are either used as burial-grounds, encamping-places for
caravans, for the exercising of troops, or are abandoned as waste
ground. The extent of the wall would require a large garrison to defend
it at all points; the whole armed population of Yembo is inadequate to
it: but Eastern engineers always estimate the strength of a
fortification by its size; and with the same view a thick wall and deep
ditch have been lately carried along the outskirts of the old town of
Alexandria, which it would require at least twenty-five thousand men to
defend.
Yembo has two gates towards the east and north; Bab el Medina, and Bab
el Masry. The houses of the town are worse built than those
[p.420] of any other town in the Hedjaz. Their structure is so coarse,
that few of the stones with which they are built have their surfaces
hewn smooth. The stone is calcareous, full of fossils, and of a glaring
white colour, which renders the view of the town particularly
distressing to the eyes. Most of the houses have only a ground-floor.
Except three or four badly-built mosques, a few half-ruined public
khans, and the house of the governor on the sea-side, (also a mean
building), there is no large edifice in the place.
Yembo is a complete Arab town; very few foreigners are settled here: of
Indians, who have such numerous colonies at Mekka, Djidda, and Medina,
two or three individuals only are found as shopkeepers; all the
merchants being Arabs, except a few Turks, who occasionally take up a
temporary residence. Most of the inhabitants belong to the Bedouin tribe
of Djeheyne, in this neighbourhood, (which extends northward along the
sea-shore), many of whom have become settlers: several families of
Sherifs, originally from Mekka, have mixed with them. The settlers in
this town, or, as they are called, the Yembawys, continue to live and
dress like Bedouins. They wear the keffie, or green and yellow striped
silk handkerchief, on the head, and a white abba on their shoulder, with
a gown of blue linen, or coloured cotton, or silk stuff, under it, which
they tie close with a leathern girdle. Their eating, and whole mode of
living, their manners and customs, are those of Bedouins. The different
branches of the Djeheyne tribe established here have each their sheikh:
they quarrel with each other as often as they might do if encamping in
the open country, and observe the same laws in their hostilities and
their blood-revenge as the Bedouins.
The principal occupation of the Yembawys is trade and navigation. The
town possesses about forty or fifty ships, engaged in all branches of
the Red Sea trade, and navigated by natives of the town, or slaves. The
intercourse between Yembo and Egypt is very frequent. Many Yembawys are
settled at Suez and Cosseir, and some at Cairo and Kenne in Upper Egypt,
from whence they trade with their native place. Others trade with the
Bedouins of the Hedjaz, and on the shores of the Red Sea, as far
Moeyleh, and exchange in their encampments the
[p.421] provisions brought to Yembo from Egypt, for cattle, butter, and
honey, which they sell again at a great profit upon their return to the
town.
The people of Yembo are less civil, and of more rude and sometimes wild
behaviour, than those of Djidda or Mekka, but, on the other hand, their
manners are much more orderly, and they are less addicted to vice than
the latter, and enjoy, generally, over the Hedjaz, all the advantages of
a respectable name.
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