Two
Only Of The Wells Afford Water That Can Be Called Sweet; But Even This
Is Considered Heavy, [Heavy And
Light, applied to water, are expressions
common in most languages of the East, where both natives and foreigners,
from the
Vast quantity which they consume, become more refined in their
taste regarding it than the people of our northern climates.] and, if
suffered to stand twenty-four hours in a vessel, it becomes full of
insects. The good water of these two wells being scarce and dear, cannot
always be procured without the assistance of powerful friends; in fact,
not more than from two to three hundred persons are ever able to obtain
it, while the rest of the inhabitants must content themselves with the
water supplied by other wells; and to this the constant ill-health of
the people may chiefly be ascribed. As Djidda has the name of a Turkish
fortress, we might suppose that the wells would have been protected by a
fort; but the Turks have neglected this precaution, and when, in
December, 1814, the people apprehended that the Wahabis were advancing
on the side of Gonfady, the Governor of Djidda, in great haste, filled
the few cisterns belonging to the government houses with water from the
wells, and for several days withheld that necessary of life from all the
inhabitants, as every water-camel was employed by him. Several of the
wells are private property, and yield to their owners a considerable
income.
The town of Djidda is without gardens, or vegetation of any kind except
a few date-trees adjoining one of the mosques; even outside the town the
whole country is a barren desert, covered
[p.13] on the sea-shore with a saline earth, and higher up with sand:
here are found some shrubs and a few low acacia trees.
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