[Formerly, When The Sherifs Of Mekka Were More Powerful, They
Levied A Tribute Upon The Two Great Pilgrim-Caravans, Similar To That
Exacted By The Bedouins On The Road.
Abou Nima, in A.H. 654, took from
every camel of the Yemen caravan thirty dirhems, and fifty upon every
one in the Egyptian caravan.]
Of the money sent from Constantinople to the holy city, temple, &c. a
large portion was appropriated by the Sherif to his own treasury; and it
is said that he regularly shared in all the presents which were made to
the mosque. Ghaleb possessed considerable landed property; many of the
gardens round Tayf, and of the plantations in the valley of Hosseynye,
Wady Fatme, Wady Lymoun, and Wady Medyk, belonged to him. At Djidda he
had many houses and caravansaries, which he let out to foreigners; and
so far resembled his successor Mohammed Aly, that the most trifling
profit became a matter of consideration with him, his attention being
constantly directed towards the acquiring of wealth. The annual revenue
of Ghaleb, during the plenitude of his power, may have amounted to about
three hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling; but, since the
occupation of the Hedjaz by the Wahabys, it has probably not exceeded
half that sum.
As Ghaleb was a merchant and land-owner, and procured all the articles
of consumption at the first hand, the maintenance of his household, with
his women and slaves, did not, I should imagine, require above twenty
thousand pounds sterling per annum.
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