The Inhabitants Of Mekka Have But Two Kinds Of Employment, - Trade, And
The Service Of The Beitullah, Or Temple; But
The former has the
preference, and there are very few olemas, or persons employed in the
mosque, who are not
Engaged in some commercial affairs, though they are
too proud to pursue them openly. The reader has probably remarked, in
the foregoing description of Mekka, how few artisans inhabit its
streets; such as masons, carpenters, tailors, shoemakers, smiths, &c.,
and these are far inferior, in skill, to the same class in Egypt. With
the exception of a few potteries and dying-houses, the Mekkawys have not
a single manufactory; but, like the people of Djidda, are dependent upon
other countries for a supply of their wants. Mekka, therefore, has
necessarily a considerable degree of foreign commerce, which is chiefly
carried on, during the pilgrimage, and some months preceding it, by the
wealthy hadjys, who bring from every Muselman country its native
productions to Djidda, either by sea or across the Desert from Damascus,
exchanging them amongst each other; or receiving from the merchants of
Mekka the goods of India and Arabia, which the latter have accumulated
the whole year in
[p.188] their warehouses. At this period, Mekka becomes one of the
largest fairs of the East, and certainly the most interesting, from the
variety of nations which frequent it. The value of the exports from
Mekka is, however, greatly superior to that of the imports, and a
considerable sum of money, in dollars and sequins, required to balance
them.
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