Ships Coming From The East Indies Have
Cordage Made Of The Cocoa-Nut Tree, Of Which A Quantity Is Also Brought
For Sale.
That employed at Hadeyda and Mokha comes partly from Yemen,
and partly from the African coast.
Many ships are purchased at Bombay
and Maskat; but those built at Suez are most common in the sea north of
Yemen. There has been a great want of shipping at Djidda during the last
three years, as the Pasha had seized a great number of ships, and
obliged their owners to transport provisions, ammunition, and baggage,
from Egypt to the Hedjaz, for which he pays a very low freight. During
my stay at Djidda, scarcely a day passed without some arrival by sea,
chiefly from Yembo and Cosseir; and there were constantly forty or fifty
ships in the harbour. An officer, entitled Emir al Bahhr, acts as
harbour-master, and takes from each ship a certain sum for anchorage.
This was an office of considerable dignity in the time of the sherif,
but it has now sunk into insignificance. I was somewhat surprised to
find that, in so well-frequented a port as Djidda, there were no
pleasure-boats of any kind in the harbour, nor even any regular public
boatmen; but I learned that this proceeded from the jealousy
[p.24] of the custom-house officers, who forbid all craft of this
description, and even insist that the ships' boats should return to the
ships after sunset.
Djidda carries on no trade by land, except with Medina and Mekka. A
caravan departs for Medina once in forty or fifty days, principally with
India goods and drugs, and is always augmented by a crowd of pilgrims
who wish to visit Mohammed's tomb. These caravans consist of from sixty
to one hundred camels, and are conducted by the Harb Bedouins. The
intercourse, however, between Djidda and Medina is more commonly carried
on by the intermediate route of Yembo, whither merchandize is sent by
sea. Besides the caravans above mentioned, others depart for Mekka
almost every evening, and at least twice a week, with goods and
provisions; and during the four months preceding the Hadj, when every
ship that arrives brings pilgrims to Djidda, this intercourse farther
increases, and caravans then set out regularly from the gate called Bab
Mekka every evening after sunset. The loaded camels take two nights to
perform the journey, resting midway at Hadda during the day; but, in
addition to these, a small caravan of asses, lightly laden, starts also
every evening, and performs the journey of fifteen or sixteen hours in
one night, arriving regularly at Mekka early in the morning. [When camels
abound, the hire of one from Djidda to Mekka is from twenty to twenty-
five piastres. In time of scarcity, or at the approach of the Hadj, from
sixty to seventy piastres are paid. During my stay, the hire of an ass
from Djidda to Mekka was twenty piastres. These prices would be
considered enormous in any other part of the Levant.
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