The Madani, Who, As Usual With Orientals, Take A
Personal Pride In Their Castle, Speak Of It With Much Exaggeration.
Commanded by a high line of rocks on the North-West, and built as it is
in most places without
Moat, glacis, earthwork, or outworks, a few
shells and a single battery of siege guns would soon render it
untenable. In ancient times it has more than once been held by a party
at feud with the town, for whose mimic battles the Barr al-Manakhah was
a fitting field. Northward from the fort, on the road to Ohod, but
still within fire, is a long many-windowed building, formerly Da'ud
Pasha's palace. In my time it had been bought by Abbas Pasha of Egypt.
[p.395]The suburbs lie to the South and West of the town. Southwards
they are separated from the enceinte by a wide road, called the Darb
al-Janazah, the Road of Biers, so called because the corpses of certain
schismatics, who may not pass through the city, are carried this way to
their own cemetery near the Bab al-Jumah, or Eastern Gate. Westwards,
between Al-Madinah and its faubourg, lies the plain of Al-Manakhah,
about three-quarters of a mile long, by three hundred yards broad. The
straggling suburbs occupy more ground than the city: fronting the
enceinte they are without walls; towards the West, where open country
lies, they are enclosed by mud or raw brick ramparts, with little round
towers, all falling to decay.
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