The Moon Rose Fair And
Clear, Dazzling Us With Light As We Emerged From The Shadowy Streets;
And When We Launched Into The Desert, The Sweet Air Delightfully
Contrasted With The Close Offensive Atmosphere Of The Town.
My
companions, as Arabs will do on such occasions, began to sing.
[FN#1] Yanbu'a in Arabic is "a Fountain." Yanbu'a of the Sea is so
called to distinguish it from "Yanbu'a of the Palm-Grounds," a village
at the foot of the mountains, about 18 or 20 miles distant from the
sea-port. Ali Bey places it one day's journey E.1/4N.E. from Yanbu'a
al-Bahr, and describes it as a pleasant place in a fertile valley. It
is now known as Yambu'a al-Nakhil. See "The Land of Midian (Revisited)."
[FN#2] The first quarter of the Cairo caravan is Al-Akabah; the second
is the Manhal Salmah (Salmah's place for watering camels); the third is
Yambu'; and the fourth Meccah.
[FN#3] The Nizam, as Europeans now know, is the regular Turkish
infantry. In Al-Hijaz, these troops are not stationed in small towns
like Yambu'. At such places a party of Irregular horse, for the purpose
of escorting travellers, is deemed sufficient. The Yambu' police seems
to consist of the Sharif's sturdy negroes. In Ali Bey's time Yambu'
belonged to the Sharif of Meccah, and was garrisoned by him.
[FN#4] This, as far as I could learn, is the only tax which the
Sultan's government derives from the northern Hijaz; the people declare
it to be, as one might expect at this distance from the capital, liable
to gross peculation.
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