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They are inhabited by the tribe of Ateybe, which in the seventeenth century, according to Asamy, also inhabited Wady Fatme. In the morning some Bedouin women appeared, with a few starved herds of sheep and goats, which were searching for the scanty herbage.
They appeared to be people of very sober habits and quiet demeanour, but avaricious in the extreme; and their want of charity was sufficiently proved by their treatment of the destitute fugitives who had joined the caravan at Wady Fatme.
The Wahabys are accused of having defaced the tombs; and in proof of this, the ruins of small domes and buildings are pointed out, which formerly covered the tombs of Othman, Abbas, Setna Fatme, and the aunts of Mohammed, which owed their destruction to those sectaries: but they would certainly not have annihilated every other simple tomb built of stone here, which they did neither at Mekka nor any other place.
A small rivulet, tepid, like that in Wady Fatme, rises near the Souk, and is collected At that time, Kholeys had its own Emir, who was a very powerful person in the Hedjaz. I saw plenty of cattle, cows, and sheep; but the Arabs complained that their plantations suffered from drought, no rain having yet fallen, though the season was far advanced.
By the Arabian historians it is usually called Wady Merr. The cultivated grounds in Wady Fatme contain principally date-trees, which supply the markets of the two neighbouring towns; and vegetables, which are carried every night, on small droves of asses, to Mekka and Djidda. Wheat and barley are also cultivated in small quantities.
Wady Lymoun is a fertile valley, which extends for several hours in the direction of Wady Fatme; it has many date-plantations, and formerly the ground was cultivated; but this, I believe, has ceased since the Wahaby invasion: its fruit-gardens, too, have been ruined.
It is usual for the Syrian Hadj to stop two or three days, on its return, in Wady Fatme, the first station from Mekka, to allow the camels some fine pasturage in that neighbourhood; but Soleyman Pasha, who entertained a great distrust of Mohammed Aly, and was particularly fearful lest he should make some further demand upon his caravan for camels, performed an uninterrupted march for two stations, and passed Wady Fatme; thus disappointing many Mekkan shopkeepers, who had repaired thither in hopes of establishing a market for the time.
These fruits last till November. In March, water melons are brought from Wady Fatme, which are said to be small, but of a good flavour. The Arabs eat little fruit except grapes; they say it produces bile, and occasions flatulency, in which they are probably not mistaken.
To Beder: here they remain that day and night; and set out early next morning, and arrive at El Kaa in the afternoon, where they halt till evening, and then proceed To Rabegh. To Djereynat. To Akabet e' Sukar. To Kholeys. To Asfan. To Wady Fatme. To Mekka. Thirty-seven days on the road thirty-one nights marching seven days halt.
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