Ohod, Near Al-Madinah, I Shall Enter Into Some Details About These "Mountains Of Paradise." [FN21] The Translator, However, Erroneously Informs Us, In A Footnote, That Radhwah Is A Mountain Near Meccah.

[P.225]CHAPTER XII.

THE HALT AT YAMBU'.

THE heat of the sun, the heavy dews, and the frequent washings of the waves, had so affected my foot, that on landing at Yambu' I could scarcely place it upon the ground. But traveller's duty was to be done; so, leaning upon my "slave's" shoulder, I started at once to see the town, whilst Shaykh Hamid and the others of our party proceeded to the custom-house.

Yanbu'a al-Bahr, Yambu' or Fountain of the Sea,[FN#1] identified, by Abyssinian Bruce, with the Iambia village of Ptolemy, is a place of considerable importance, and shares with others the title of "Gate of the Holy City." It is the third quarter of the caravan road[FN#2] from Cairo to Meccah; and here, as well as at Al-Badr, pilgrims frequently leave behind them, in hired warehouses, goods too heavy to be transported in haste, or too valuable to risk in dangerous times. Yambu' being the port of Al-Madinah,

[p.226] as Jeddah is of Meccah, is supported by a considerable transport trade and extensive imports from the harbours on the Western coasts of the Red Sea; it supplies its chief town with grain, dates, and henna. Here the Sultan's dominion is supposed to begin, whilst the authority of the Pasha of Egypt ceases; there is no Nizam, or Regular Army, however, in the town,[FN#3] and the governor is a Sharif or Arab chief.

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