Smoking Nargyles, Or The Persian Pipe, Is As General Here As At Mekka;
Common Pipes Are More In Use Here Than In Other Parts Of The Hedjaz, The
Climate Being Colder.
The use of coffee is immoderate.
In the gardens
fruit can be bought with coffee-beans as well as with
[p.386] money; and the fondness for tea in England and Holland is not
equal to that of the Arabians for coffee.
The people of Medina keep no horses. Except those of the Sheikh el
Haram, and a few of his suite, I believe there is not one horse kept in
this town. In general, these parts of Arabia are poor in horses, because
there is no fine pasture for them: the Bedouins to the N. and E. of the
town, in the Desert, have, on the contrary, large breeds. The gardens of
Medina might afford pasturage; and formerly, when there were warlike
individuals in the town, horses were kept by them, and expeditions
planned against Bedouins with whom they happened to be at war. At
present the spirit of the Medinans is more pacific; and the few horses
yet kept when the Wahabys captured the town, were immediately sold by
their owners, to escape the military conscription to which principally
the horsemen in the Wahaby dominions were subjected. Some of the richer
families kept mules, and also dromedaries. Asses are very common,
especially among the cultivators, who bring to town upon them the
produce of their fields. They are of a smaller breed than those of Mekka
and the Hedjaz.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 545 of 669
Words from 148455 to 148716
of 182297
