Although There Are No Individuals Of Great Wealth In
The Town, Every Body Seems To Enjoy More Ease And Plenty Than Even At
Mekka.
Almost all the respectable families of Yembo have a country-house
in the fruitful valley called Yembo el Nakhel, or Gara Yembo, or Yembo
el Berr, about six or seven hours' distance from.
Hence, at the foot of
the mountains, in a N.E. direction. It is similar to the valleys of
Djedeyde [There is a road, of difficult passage, from Yembo el Nakhel to
Djedeyde, over the mountains to the north of the great road.] and
Szafra, where date-trees grow, and fields are cultivated. It extends
about seven hours in length, and contains upwards of a dozen hamlets,
scattered on the side of the mountain. The principal of these is
Soueyga, the market-place, where the great Sheikh of the Djeheyne
resides, who is acknowledged as such by the Bedouins of that tribe, as
well as by the people of Yembo.
The valley of Yembo is cultivated exclusively by Djeheyne, who have
either become settlers, and remain there the whole year, or keep a few
labourers in their plantations, while they themselves remain encamped in
the mountain, and reside in the valley only at the time of the date-
harvest, when all the Yembawys who possess gardens there, likewise
repair for a month to the same place. All kinds of fruits are cultivated
there, with which the market of Yembo is supplied. The houses, I heard,
are built of stone, and of a better appearance than those of Djedeyde.
The Yembawys consider this valley as their original place of abode, to
which the town and harbour belong as a colony. The Egyptian Hadj route
passes by Yembo el Nakhel, from whence it makes one night's journey to
Beder: this caravan, therefore, never touches the
[p.422] harbour of Yembo, although many individuals of it, in returning
from Mekka, take from Mastoura the road to Yembo, to transact some
business in the town, and rejoin the caravan at one day's journey north
of Yembo.
The trade of Yembo consists chiefly in provisions: no great warehouses
of goods are found here; but, in the shops, some Indian and Egyptian
articles of dress are exposed for sale. The ship-owners are not, as at
Djidda, merchants, but merely carriers; yet they always invest their
profits in some little mercantile speculation. The transport trade to
Medina occupies many people, and all the merchants of that town have
their agents among the Arabs of Yembo. In time of peace, the caravan for
Medina starts every fortnight; lately, from the want of camels, it
departed only every month. There are often conveyances by land for
Djidda and Mekka, and sometimes for Wodjeh and Moeyleh, the fortified
stations of the Egyptian caravan on the Red Sea. The people of Yembo are
very daring smugglers, and no ship of theirs enters the harbour without
a considerable part of its cargo being sent on shore by stealth, to
elude the heavy duties.
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