Then We Mounted And Started, Which Was A
Signal For All Our Party To Disperse Once More.
Some heard the report
of a vessel having arrived from Suez, with Mohammed Shiklibha and other
friends on board;
These hurried down to the harbour for a parting word.
Others, declaring they had forgotten some necessaries for the way, ran
off to spend one last hour in gossip at the coffee-house. Then the sun
set, and prayers must be said. The brief twilight had almost faded away
before all had mounted. With loud cries of "Wassit, ya hu!-
[p.242] Go in the middle of the road, O He!" and "Jannib, y'al
Jammal[FN#34]!-Keep to the side, O camel-man!" we threaded our way
through long, dusty, narrow streets, flanked with white-washed
habitations at considerable intervals, and large heaps of rubbish,
sometimes higher than the houses. We were stopped at the gate to
ascertain if we were strangers, in which case, the guard would have
done his best to extract a few piastres before allowing our luggage to
pass; but he soon perceived by my companions' accent, that they were
Sons of the Holy City,-consequently, that the case was hopeless. While
standing here, Shaykh Hamid vaunted the strong walls and turrets of
Yambu', which he said were superior to those of Jeddah[FN#35]: they
kept Sa'ud, the Wahhabi, at bay in A.D. 1802, but would scarcely, I
should say, resist a field battery in A.D. 1853.
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