Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 31, 2025
As the invitation was very pressing, I left Djidda in the evening of the same day on which the messenger arrived, after supping with Seyd Aly, in company with a great number of Hadjis from all parts of the world; for the fast of Ramadhan had already commenced, and during this month everybody displays as much hospitality and splendour as he possibly can, particularly in the supper after sun-set.
He has been restored to his office by Mohammed Aly; but it is at present merely honorary. Several sherif families of Mekka are settled here; and the mode of living, the dress, and manners, appear to be the same as at Mekka; but I had few opportunities of making observations on this subject. September 7th. I set out early in the morning from Tayf for Mekka, by the same road which I had come.
Saw seven or eight hobaras, but too windy for the hawks to be flown. Captain B. chased a gazelle himself, and had the good fortune to catch him. We marched seventeen miles to a place called Aly Ben Own, the name of the saint buried close by. The plain we crossed must have been once thickly inhabited, as there were many remains. We were joined by more Arabs, and our force continued to augment.
Another branch of the Wold Aly inhabit the deserts near Hauran, south of Damascus. A colony of Jews formerly settled at Khaibar has wholly disappeared.
One day and a half south of Gonfode, is the small harbour of Haly: this was the southern limit of the territory belonging to the Sherif of Mekka, who kept custom-house officers at Gonfode and Haly. In 1814 the Turkish troops of Mohammed Aly Pasha endeavoured to establish themselves there, but were soon dislodged with considerable loss by Tamy.
Here reside the Beni Yam, an ancient tribe, distinguished lately by their opposition to the Wahabys: they consist of settlers and Bedouins; the former being Shyas, or heretics of the Persian sect, followers of Aly, while the Bedouins are mostly Sunne or orthodox Muselmans.
It is an irregular pile of building, and comprises many spacious courts and gloomy chambers, which have not been inhabited since Sherif Ghaleb fled before the enemy to Djidda: he then attempted to destroy it by fire; but it was too strongly built. The Turks, under Mohammed Aly, have converted it into a magazine of corn.
As to the Egyptian caravan, which, as I have already mentioned, contained no private hadjys, it was wholly detained by Mohammed Aly, who ordered all The Mahmal, or sacred camel, was sent back by sea to Suez, a circumstance which had never before occurred.
The latter are subdivided into the tribes of Okman and El Marra, weaker than the disciples of Aly, and often at variance with them, although both parties unite whenever Nedjran is attacked by a foreign enemy. The settlers can muster about fifteen hundred firelocks.
On the inside of the great wall which encloses the colonnades, a single Arabic inscription is seen, in large characters, but containing merely the names of Mohammed and his immediate successors: Abou Beker, Omar, Othman, and Aly. The name of Allah, in large characters, occurs also in several places.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking