A Broad Piece Of Open Ground Extends The Whole Length Of The
Interior Of The Wall; And There Is, Besides, A Good Deal Of Waste Ground
Near The Bab El Medina, And On The Southern Extremity.
Having traversed
this open space in coming from the gate, you enter the suburbs,
comprising only huts formed of reeds, rushes, and brushwood, and
encircling the inner town, which consists of stone buildings.
The huts
are chiefly inhabited by Bedouins, or poor peasants and labourers, who
live here completely after the Bedouin fashion. Similar quarters for
people of this description may be found in every town of Arabia. The
interior of Djidda is divided into different districts. The people of
Sowakin, who frequent this place, reside near the Bab el Medina; their
quarters are called Haret e Sowakiny. Here they live in a few poor
houses, but principally under huts, to which the lowest class of people
frequently resort, as many public women reside here, and those who sell
the intoxicating beverage called Boosa. The most respectable inhabitants
have their quarters near the sea, where a long street, running parallel
to the shore, appears lined with shops, and affords many khans
constantly and exclusively frequented by the merchants. Djidda is well
built; indeed, better than any Turkish town of equal size that I had
hitherto seen. The streets are unpaved, but spacious and airy; the
houses high, constructed wholly of stone, brought for the greater part
from the sea-shore, and consisting of madrepores and other marine
[p.10] fossils.
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