Wodjeh, Which Is Usually Reckoned At Three Days'
Journey Northward From Djebel Hassany, Is A Castle On The Hadj Route,
About Three Miles Inland.
Close by it is excellent spring water; and
there are likewise copious wells of tolerable water in the vicinity of
the small bay which serves as a harbour to the castle, and is therefore
called Mersa el Wodjeh.
Some Moggrebyn soldiers garrison the castle,
which was said to be well stocked with provisions. Several of them were
married to Bedouin women, and carried on a trifling trade in provisions
with the ships that pass.
The neighbouring mountains of Wodjeh are inhabited by the Bedouin tribe
of Bily. To the north of Wodjeh, and about two days' journey south of
Moeyleh, lies the anchorage of Dhoba, renowned for its excellent wells.
The anchoring-place is in a large bay, one of the best harbours on this
coast, and the wells are about half an hour's distance inland, under a
grove of palm and Doum date-trees. The route of the Egyptian Hadj passes
here; and for its convenience, a birket, or reservoir, has been
constructed. The ships that sail from Cosseir to Yembo generally make
this point, and continue from thence their coasting voyage southwards.
North of Dhoba two days, lies the castle and small village of Moeyleh,
in the territory of the Howeytat and Omran Bedouins. We passed it at a
distance; but I could see considerable plantations of date-trees near
the shore. What is called the castle, appears to be a square building,
upon the plain close by the water-side.
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