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. Two sources are especially praised,
the Ayn al-Birkat and the Ayn Ali, which suffice to supply the whole
population: the brackish water of the wells is confined to coarser
purposes. Some of the old people here, as at Suez, are said to prefer
the drink to which
[p.228] years of habit have accustomed them, and it is a standing joke
that, arrived at Cairo, they salt the water of the Nile to make it
palatable.
The population of Yambu'-one of the most bigoted and quarrelsome races
in Al-Hijaz-strikes the eye after arriving from Egypt, as decidedly a
new feature.
