Two Of The Largest Of His
Vessels (One An English-Built Ship Of Three Or Four Hundred Tons,
Purchased At
Bombay,) made a voyage annually to the East Indies, and the
cargoes which they brought home were either sold to
The Hadj at Mekka,
or were divided among the merchants of Djidda, who were forced to
purchase them.
Besides the port of Djidda, that of Yembo, where the Sherif kept a
governor, was subjected to similar duties. He also levied a tax as well
upon all cattle and provisions carried from the interior of the country
into Djidda, as upon those carried into Mekka, Tayf, and Yembo, except
what came with the two great hadj-caravans from the north, which passed
every where duty-free. The inhabitants of Mekka and Djidda pay no other
taxes than those just mentioned, their houses, persons, and property
being free from all other imposts; an advantage which they have never
sufficiently acknowledged, though they might have readily drawn a
comparison between themselves and their neighbours of Syria and Egypt.
The other branches of the Sherif's revenues were the profits derived
from the sale of provisions at Mekka, of which, although he did not
monopolize them like Mohammed Aly, yet he had always such a considerable
stock on hand, as enabled him to
[p.236] influence the daily prices; the capitation-tax on all Persian
hadjys, whether coming by land from Baghdad, or by the way of the Red
Sea and Yemen; and presents to a considerable amount, either offered to
him gratuitously, or extorted from the rich hadjys of all
countries.
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