Below The Castle-Hill, Upon A Small Plain Between The Mountain And The
Djebel Kobeys, Stands The Great Palace Of The Reigning
[P.115] sherif, called Beit es' Sade.
This, too, is said to have been
built by Serour; but I find it mentioned by Asamy in the account of
trans-actions that occurred two hundred years ago. Its walls are very
high and solid, and seem to have been intended for an outwork to the
castle above it, with which, according to the reports of the Mekkawys,
there is a subterranean communication. 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. In the adjacent plain, which was formerly the place of exercise
for the Sherif's troops, I found a herd of camels, with the encampment
of their drivers, who make a journey weekly to Djidda or Tayf. Here also
many poor hadjys, who could not pay for lodgings, had erected their
miserable tents, formed of a few rags spread upon sticks. The soldiers
were busily occupied in destroying all the remaining ceilings of the
palace, in quest of fire-wood.
In a narrow inlet in the mountain, to the north of the palace, and
adjoining the above-mentioned plain, are numerous low huts built of
brush-wood, the former abodes of Sherif Ghaleb's slaves, who served as
soldiers in his guard.
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