The Para, Or Smallest Turkish Coin, (Here Called Diwany,) Is Current All
Over The Hedjaz, And In Great Request, From Its Being Of More Intrinsic
Value Than The Piastre, Though Coined Like Them At Cairo.
Forty paras
make a piastre; but in the time of the Hadj, when small change is
necessary for the immense daily traffic of the pilgrims, the serafs gave
twenty-five paras only in
[P.44] change for the piastre. A few Indian rupees are seen in the
Djidda market, but they have no currency. I never met with any money
coined by the Imam of Yemen.
In the same great street of shops are ten large okales, always full of
strangers and goods. Most of them were formerly the property of the
sherif; they now belong to the Pasha, who levies an annual rent on the
merchants. In Syria these buildings are called khans; in the Hedjaz
hosh, which, in the dialect of Egypt, means a court-yard.
In a street adjoining the great market-place live a few artisans,
blacksmiths, silversmiths, carpenters, some butchers, &c. most of them
natives of Egypt.
The reader will perceive, by the foregoing pages, that Djidda depends
for its commodities entirely on importations either from Egypt or the
East Indies; and this is the case even to the most trifling article. The
want of hands, and the high price of manual labour, but still more the
indolence and want of industry inherent in the natives of the Hedjaz,
have hitherto prevented them from establishing any kind of manufactory,
except of the most indispensable articles. In this respect they offer a
contrast to the Syrian and Egyptian Arabs, who in general are
industrious, and who, in spite of the obstacles often thrown in their
way by the government, have nevertheless established several
manufactures, which render them, in some parts of the country, entirely
independent of foreign supplies. The inhabitants of the Hedjaz appear to
have only two occupations; commerce, and the pasture of cattle. The
first engrosses the mind of almost every town-inhabitant, not excepting
even the olemas, or learned men. Every one endeavours to employ whatever
capital he possesses in some advantageous traffic, that he may live
without much bodily exertion; for these people seem to be as averse to
the latter as they are eager to endure all the anxieties and risks
inseparable from the former. It is even difficult to find persons who
will perform the common
[p.45] labour of porters, &c.: those who follow similar occupations are
for the most part foreigners from Egypt or Syria, and negro pilgrims,
who thus earn a very comfortable livelihood, and generally make but a
temporary stay at Djidda. The only race of Arabians whom I have found
more industrious than the others, are the people of Hadramaut, or, as
they are called, El Hadareme. Many of them act as servants in the
merchants' houses, as door-keepers, messengers, and porters, in which
latter character they are preferred to all others for their honesty and
industry. Almost every considerable town in the East has its particular
race of porters: at Aleppo, the Armenians of the mountains of Asia Minor
are in request for this office; at Damascus, the people of Mount
Libanus; at Cairo, the Berabera Nubians; at Mekka and Djidda, the
Hadareme, who, like those of Syria, are mountaineers. It is well known
that similar qualifications recommend my countrymen, the Alpine
mountaineers, to the same offices at Paris. There is another striking
similarity among the natives of all these countries; they generally
return home with their gains, and pass the remainder of their days with
their families. Notwithstanding this source, there is a great and almost
absolute want of free servants in the Hedjaz. No man who has been born
in one of the holy cities, will act as a menial servant, unless he be
driven to it by the fear of dying from want of food; and no sooner is he
in good condition, than he ceases to labour, and either turns pedlar or
beggar. The number of beggars at Mekka and Djidda is very great, and it
is a common remark among the merchants of the latter place, that a
Djiddawy will never work while he can possibly maintain himself by
begging. Mendicity is much encouraged by the pilgrims, who are fond of
displaying their charity on first touching holy ground at this place.
Respecting the people of Djidda and their character, I shall have
occasion to make further observations in describing the inhabitants of
Mekka, whom generally they resemble. In fact, all the
[p.46] respectable families have houses at both places, and frequently
pass from one to the other.
Djidda is governed by a pasha of three tails, who takes precedence of
most others, from the connexion of this place with the holy cities; but
the government of it is an honour little esteemed by the Turkish
grandees, who have always regarded Djidda as a place rather of exile
than of preferment, and it has often been conferred on disgraced
statesmen. The Pasha styles himself not only Waly or governor of Djidda,
but of Sowakin and Habesh; and in support of this title, keeps custom-
house officers at Sowakin and Massoua, which, prior to the government of
Mohammed Aly, were entirely dependent on the sherif.
The pashalik of Djidda was reduced to perfect insignificance by the
power of the sherif of Mekka; and the title had become merely an
honorary distinction, enjoyed by the individual on whom it had been
bestowed, while he resided in some provincial town of Turkey or at
Constantinople, without ever attempting to take possession of his
government. There was, however, an exception in 1803, when, after the
total evacuation of Egypt by the French, Sherif Pasha went to Djidda
with a body of four or five hundred soldiers; but like all his
predecessors, he became the mere instrument of Sherif Ghaleb, and in
1804 his career was terminated by sudden death-the fate of many former
Pashas both of Djidda and of Mekka.
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