Coffee Also Is Sold In Many Booths In This Place, Frequented
For A Short Time, At An Early Hour, By The Inferior Class Of Merchants,
Who Resort Hither To Learn The News From Mekka, Whence The Post Arrives
Every Morning Soon After Sunrise.
About a mile beyond these huts,
eastward of the town, is the principal burial-ground, containing the
tombs of several sheikhs; but there are smaller cemeteries within the
walls.
About two miles northward of the town, is shown the tomb of Howa
(Eve), the mother of mankind; it is, as I was informed, a rude structure
of stone, about four feet in length, two or three feet in height, and as
many in breadth; thus resembling the tomb of Noah, seen in the valley of
Bekaa, in Syria.
During the predominance of the Wahabis, Djidda had been in a declining
state; many of its buildings had gone to ruin; no one constructed a new
house; trade was much depressed, in consequence of the pilgrimage from
Turkey having been discontinued, and the unwillingness of the merchants
to bring their goods hither
[p.14] for sale. Since the recovery of the holy cities, however, and the
re-establishment of the pilgrimage, together with the daily arrival of
soldiers, and a number of merchants and followers of the army, the town
has quickly recovered its former condition, and is now as flourishing as
at any former period. The number of its inhabitants may be estimated,
generally, at from twelve to fifteen thousand; but in the months
preceding the pilgrimage, and again during the summer months
corresponding with the monsoon winds, there is a great influx of
strangers, which increases the above number perhaps one-half.
The inhabitants of Djidda, like those of Mekka and Medina, are almost
exclusively foreigners. The descendants of the ancient Arabs who once
peopled the town, have perished by the hands of the governors, or have
retired to other countries. Those who can be truly called natives are
only a few families of sherifs, who are all learned men, and attached to
the mosques or the courts of justice; all the other Djiddawys (people of
Ddjidda) are foreigners or their descendants. Of the latter, those from
Hadramaut and Yemen are the most numerous: colonies from every town and
province of those countries are settled in Djidda, and keep up an active
commerce with their native places. Upwards of a hundred Indian families
(chiefly from Surat, and a few from Bombay,) have also established
themselves here; and to these may be added some Malays and people of
Maskat. The settlers from Egypt, Syria, Barbary, European Turkey, and
Anatolia, may be still recognised in the features of their descendants,
who are all mixed in one general mass, and live and dress in the same
Arab manner. The Indians alone remain a distinct race in manners, dress,
and employment. There are no Christians settled in Djidda; but a few
Greeks from the islands of the Archipelago occasionally bring
merchandize to this market from Egypt.
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