Pure And Ancient Arabs Still Have At
Least One Uncompounded Word To Express Every Object Familiar To Them,
And It
Is in this point that the genius of the language chiefly shows
itself.
[FN#15] The Arab superstition is, that
These flashes of light are
jewels made to adorn the necks and hair of the mermaids and mermen.
When removed from their native elements the gems fade and disappear. If
I remember right, there is some idea similar to this among the Scotch,
and other Northern people.
[FN#16] The word Jabal will frequently occur in these pages. It is
applied by the Arabs to any rising ground or heap of rocks, and,
therefore, must not always be translated "Mountain." In the latter
sense, it has found its way into some of the Mediterranean dialects.
Gibraltar is Jabal al-Tarik, and "Mt. Ethne that men clepen Mounte
Gybelle" is "Monte Gibello,"-the mountain, par excellence.
[FN#17] It was most probably a prickle of the "egg-fruit," or Echinus,
so common in these seas, generally supposed to be poisonous. I found it
impossible to cure my foot in Al-Hijaz, and every remedy seemed to make
it worse. This was as much the effect of the climate of Arabia, as of
the hardships and privations of a pilgrimage. After my return to Egypt
in the autumn, the wound healed readily without medical treatment.
[FN#18] Abu Bakr, Omar, and Osman.
[FN#19] I have found both these forms of writing the word in books;
Moresby, or rather Mr. Rassam, erroneously spells it "Ridwah."
[FN#20] In a future chapter, when describing a visit to Mt. 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. I met him in the great bazar; he is a fine young man of light
complexion and the usual high profile, handsomely dressed, with a
Cashmere turband, armed to the extent of sword and dagger, and followed
by two large, fierce-looking Negro slaves leaning upon enormous Nabbuts.
The town itself is in no wise remarkable. Built on the edge of a
sunburnt plain that extends between the mountains and the sea, it
fronts the northern extremity of a narrow winding creek. Viewed from
the harbour, it is a long line of buildings, whose painful whiteness is
set off by a sky-like cobalt and a sea-like indigo; behind it lies the
flat, here of a bistre-brown, there of a lively tawny; whilst the
background is formed by dismal Radhwah,
"Barren and bare, unsightly, unadorned."
Outside the walls are a few little domes and tombs, which by no means
merit attention. Inside, the streets are wide; and each habitation is
placed at an unsociable distance from its neighbour, except near the
port and the bazars, where ground is valuable. The houses are roughly
built of limestone and coralline, and their walls full of fossils
crumble like almond cake; they have huge
[p.227] hanging windows, and look mean after those in the Moslem
quarters of Cairo. There is a "Suk," or market-street of the usual
form, a long narrow lane darkened by a covering of palm leaves, with
little shops let into the walls of the houses on both sides. The cafes,
which abound here, have already been described in the last chapter;
they are rendered dirty in the extreme by travellers, and it is
impossible to sit in them without a fan to drive away the flies. The
custom-house fronts the landing-place upon the harbour; it is managed
by Turkish officials,-men dressed in Tarbushes, who repose the livelong
day upon the Diwans near the windows. In the case of us travellers they
had a very simple way of doing business, charging each person of the
party three piastres for each large box, but by no means troubling
themselves to meddle with the contents.[FN#4] Yambu' also boasts of a
Hammam or hot bath, a mere date-leaf shed, tenanted by an old Turk,
who, with his surly Albanian assistant, lives by "cleaning" pilgrims
and travellers. Some whitewashed Mosques and Minarets of exceedingly
simple form, a Wakalah or two for the reception of merchants, and a
saint's tomb, complete the list of public buildings.
In one point Yambu' claims superiority over most other towns in this
part of Al-Hijaz. Those who can afford the luxury drink sweet
rain-water, collected amongst the hills in tanks and cisterns, and
brought on camelback to the town.
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