After This,
Serour Applied Himself To Re-Establish The Administration Of Justice;
And Numerous Acts Are Related Of Him, Which Reflect Equal Honour Upon
His Love Of Equity And His Sagacity.
He drove the Jews from Djidda,
where they had acquired considerable riches by their brokerage and
fraudulent dealings; protected the pilgrims in their progress through
the Hedjaz; and regulated the receipt of customs and taxes, which had
previously been levied in a very arbitrary manner.
When he died, the
whole population of Mekka followed his remains to the grave. He is still
considered by the Mekkawys as a kind of saint, and his name is venerated
even by the Wahabys.
1785, or 86. After the death of Serour, Abd el Mayn, one of his
brothers, succeeded for four or five days, when his younger brother
Ghaleb, by his superior skill in intrigue, and by the great popularity
which his valour, understanding, and engaging address had acquired for
him in the time of Serour, dispossessed Abd el Mayn, and suffered him
quietly to retire. During the first years of his reign, Ghaleb was the
tool of Serour's powerful slaves and eunuchs, who were completely
masters of the town, and indulged in the same disorderly behaviour,
injustice, and oppression which had formerly characterized the Sherifs.
Ghaleb, however, soon freed himself from their influence, and acquired
at length a firmer authority over the Hedjaz than any of his
predecessors
[p.225] had possessed, and which he retained till the wars of the
Wahabys, and the treachery of Mohammed Aly put an end to his reign.
Ghaleb's government was milder than that of Serour, though far from
being so just.
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