In The
Time Of The Sherif It Was Well Garrisoned, And During His Wars With The
Wahabys He Often Resided Here, As He Could Set Out From Hence Upon A
[P.130] secret attack or expedition, without its becoming immediately
known in the city.
The building now serves as a barrack for the Turkish
soldiers.
To the north of this palace lies the quarter or suburb called Moabede,
which consists partly of low and ill-built stone houses, and partly of
huts constructed of brushwood; it is wholly inhabited by Bedouins, who
have become settlers here, for the purpose of carrying on a traffic,
principally in corn, dates, and cattle, between the town and their
native tribes. I have seen among them Arabs of the tribes of Koreysh,
Thekyf, Hodheyl, and Ateybe; and it was said that, in time of peace,
individuals of all the great tribes of the Desert, and of Nedjed, are
occasionally found here. They live, as I have already observed in
speaking of those who occupy another part of Mekka, much in the same
manner as they would do in the Desert. Their houses contain no furniture
but such as is to be found under the tent of a wealthy Bedouin. Being at
a distance from the great mosque, they have en-closed a square space
with low walls, where such of them as pretend to any regularity in their
devotions (which seldom happens among Bedouins), recite their prayers
upon the sand, according to the custom of the Desert.
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