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The other road from Mekka to Yemen, close along the western foot of the great mountains, is much frequented in time of peace: there are weekly arrivals of caravans, chiefly from Mokhowa, which is distant fifteen hours from Doga, and one day from the district of Zohran in the mountains.
The country about Mokhowa is very fertile, and inhabited by the three tribes of Beni Selym, Beni Seydan, and Beni Aly: the two latter had submitted to the Wahabys, and were commanded by Tamy, the Sheikh of Asyr. There are likewise at Mokhowa many of the Beni Ghamed tribe.
Whenever the interior of Arabia is open to caravans, Bedouins from all the surrounding parts purchase their yearly provision of corn at Mekka; which itself also, in time of peace, receives a considerable quantity of corn from Yemen, especially Mokhowa, a town which is ten days' journey distant, at the western foot of the great chain, and the mart of the Arabs who cultivate those mountains.
The chief place of the Ghamed tribe is Mokhowa, a town not to be confounded with Mokha. El Roheyta, of the powerful tribe of Shomran. Adama, of the Shomran Arabs. Tabala, of the Shomran Arabs, who extend over both sides of the mountains in the W. and E. plain. El Hasba, market of the Shomran Arabs. El Asabely, a village of the Asabely tribe.
The Mesfale is tolerably well built, and, like the Shebeyka, contains a few new houses; but that part of it which lies towards the great castle-hill is now almost entirely in ruins. It is inhabited by Arab and Bedouin merchants, who travel in time of peace to Yemen, principally to Mokhowa, from whence they import grain, coffee-beans, and dried grapes.
Mokhowa is a large town, nine days' journey from Mekka, for caravans travelling slowly: it has stone buildings, and is the market where the husbandmen of Zohran and the neighbouring districts sell the produce of their labour to the merchants of Mokhowa, who send it to Mekka and Djidda.
In time of scarcity, or at the approach of the Hadj, from sixty to seventy piastres are paid. During my stay, the hire of an ass from Djidda to Mekka was twenty piastres. These prices would be considered enormous in any other part of the Levant. In time of peace, caravans are occasionally met with on the sea-coast, towards Yemen, and the interior of Tehama, to Mokhowa, whence corn is imported.
I must here repeat that Mokhowa is not to be confounded with Mokha. The two first days' journeys lie in the territory of the Djebadele tribe, whose boundary on the S. is Wady Lemlem, a fertile valley with springs.
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