Part of the Hedjaz, under the command
of the Sherif of Mekka.
Several respectable Arabian writers affirm, that Medina forms a part of
Nedjed, and not of the Hedjaz, situated as it is on the eastern side of
the great chain; and this opinion seems to be well founded,
[p.397] if the natural boundary be considered; but, in the common
acceptation of the word on the coast, and at Mekka and Medina, the
latter town is supposed to form part of the Hedjaz, although the
Bedouins of the interior give quite a different meaning to this
appellation.
[p.398] CLIMATE AND DISEASES OF MEDINA.
I FOUND the climate at Medina, during the winter months, much colder
than that of Mekka. Snow is unknown here, though I heard that some old
people remembered to have seen it in the neighbouring mountains. The
rains have no fixed period in winter, but fall at intervals, and usually
in violent storms, which last for one day, or perhaps two days, only:
sometimes a whole winter passes without more than one fall of rain,
excepting a few light showers; the consequence of which is a general
dearth. The Medinans say, that three or four gushes of rain are
necessary to irrigate their soil; the water of the torrents then
inundating many parts of the country, especially the pasturing grounds
of the Bedouins. Uninterrupted rains for a week, or longer, such as
often occur in Syria, are quite unknown here; and after every gush of
rain, which lasts for twenty-four hours, the sky clears up, and the
finest spring weather prevails for several weeks. The last storms are
usually in April, but occasional showers are not unfrequent even in the
middle of summer.
The Medinans, and many foreigners, assert, that the summer-heat is
greater here than in any other part of the Hedjaz: I was not able to
judge myself. I have already stated that the saline nature of the soil
and water, the stagnant pools of rain-water round the town, and perhaps
the exhalation and vapours produced by the thick date-groves
[p.399] in its neighbourhood, render the air of Medina little favourable
to health.
Fevers are the most common disease, to which many of the inhabitants
themselves are subject, and from which strangers who remain here any
time seldom escape, especially in spring. Yahya Effendi, the physician
of Tousoun Pasha, assured me, when I was sick, that he had eighty
persons ill of fever under his care; and it appeared that he was more
fortunate in their cure than in mine. The fevers are almost all
intermittent, and attended after their cure by great languor: relapses
are much dreaded. When I went out after my recovery, I found the streets
filled with convalescents, whose appearance but too clearly showed how
numerous were my fellow-sufferers in the town.
