They have lived amongst
Easterns, and they know one Asiatic language, with many Asiatic
customs; and, chief merit of all, they have learned to assume a tone of
command, without which, whatever may be thought of it in England, it is
impossible to take the lead in the East. The “home-bred” diplomate is not
only unconscious of the thousand traps everywhere laid for him, he even
plays into the hands of his crafty antagonists by a ceremonious
politeness, which they interpret—taking ample care that the
interpretation should spread—to be the effect of fear or of fraud.
Jeddah[FN#8] has been often described by modern pens.
[p.268] Burckhardt (in A.D. 18[14]) devoted a hundred pages of his two
volumes to the unhappy capital of the Tihamat al-Hijaz, the lowlands of
the mountain region. Later still, MM. Mari and Chedufau wrote upon the
subject; and two other French travellers, MM. Galinier and Ferret,
published tables of the commerce in its present state, quoting as
authority the celebrated Arabicist M. Fresnel.[FN#9] These
[p.269] have been translated by the author of “Life in Abyssinia.” Abd
al-Karim, writing in 1742, informs us that the French had a factory at
Jeddah; and in 1760, when Bruce revisited the port, he found the East
India Company in possession of a post whence they dispersed their
merchandise over the adjoining regions. But though the English were at
an early epoch of their appearance in the East received here with
especial favour, I failed to procure a single ancient document.
Jeddah, when I visited it, was in a state of commotion, owing to the
perpetual passage of pilgrims, and provisions were for the same reason
scarce and dear. The two large Wakalahs, of which the place boasts,
were crowded with travellers, and many were reduced to encamping upon
the squares. Another subject of confusion was the state of the
soldiery. The Nizam, or Regulars, had not been paid for seven months,
and the Arnauts could scarcely sum up what was owing to them. Easterns
are wonderfully amenable to discipline; a European army, under the
circumstances, would probably have helped itself. But the Pasha knew
that there is a limit to a man’s endurance, and he was anxiously casting
about for some contrivance that would replenish the empty pouches of
his troops. The worried dignitary must have sighed for those beaux
jours when privily firing the town and allowing the soldiers to
plunder, was the Oriental style of settling arrears of pay.[FN#10]
[p.270] Jeddah displays all the license of a seaport and garrison town.
Fair Corinthians establish themselves even within earshot of the
Karakun, or guard-post; a symptom of excessive laxity in the
authorities, for it is the duty of the watch to visit all such
irregularities with a bastinado preparatory to confinement. My
guardians and attendants at the Wakalah used to fetch Araki in a clear
glass bottle, without even the decency of a cloth, and the messenger
twice returned from these errands decidedly drunk. More extraordinary
still, the people seemed to take no notice of the scandal.
The little “Dwarka” had been sent by the Bombay Steam Navigation Company to
convey pilgrims from Al-Hijaz to India. I was still hesitating about my
next voyage, not wishing to coast the Red Sea in this season without a
companion, when one morning Omar Effendi appeared at the door, weary,
and dragging after him an ass more weary than himself. We supplied him
with a pipe and a cup of hot tea, and, as he was fearful of pursuit, we
showed him a dark hole full of grass under which he might sleep
concealed.
The student’s fears were realised; his father appeared early the next
morning, and having ascertained from the porter that the fugitive was
in the house, politely called upon me. Whilst he plied all manner of
questions, his black slave furtively stared at everything in and about
the room. But we had found time to cover the runaway with grass, and
the old gentleman departed, after a fruitless search. There was,
however, a grim smile about his mouth which boded no good.
That evening, returning home from the Hammam, I found the house in an
uproar. The boy Mohammed, who had been miserably mauled, was furious
with rage; and Shaykh Nur was equally unmanageable, by reason of his
fear. In my absence the father had returned with a posse comitatus of
friends and relatives. They questioned the
[p.271] youth, who delivered himself of many circumstantial and
emphatic mis-statements. Then they proceeded to open the boxes; upon
which the boy Mohammed cast himself sprawling, with a vow to die rather
than to endure such a disgrace. This procured for him some scattered
slaps, which presently became a storm of blows, when a prying little
boy discovered Omar Effendi’s leg in the hiding-place. The student was
led away unresisting, but mildly swearing that he would allow no
opportunity of escape to pass. I examined the boy Mohammed, and was
pleased to find that he was not seriously hurt. To pacify his mind, I
offered to sally out with him, and to rescue Omar Effendi by main
force. This, which would only have brought us all into a brunt with
quarterstaves, and similar servile weapons, was declined, as had been
foreseen. But the youth recovered complacency, and a few well-merited
encomiums upon his “pluck” restored him to high spirits.
