[p.242] Go in the middle of the road, O He!” and “Jannib, y’al Jammal[FN#34]!-Keep to the side, O camel-man!” we threaded our way through long, dusty, narrow streets, flanked with white-washed habitations at considerable intervals, and large heaps of rubbish, sometimes higher than the houses.  We were stopped at the gate to ascertain if we were strangers, in which case, the guard would have done his best to extract a few piastres before allowing our luggage to pass; but he soon perceived by my companions’ accent, that they were Sons of the Holy City,-consequently, that the case was hopeless.  While standing here, Shaykh Hamid vaunted the strong walls and turrets of Yambu’, which he said were superior to those of Jeddah[FN#35]:  they kept Sa’ud, the Wahhabi, at bay in A.D. 1802, but would scarcely, I should say, resist a field battery in A.D. 1853.  The moon rose fair and clear, dazzling us with light as we emerged from the shadowy streets; and when we launched into the Desert, the sweet air delightfully contrasted with the close offensive atmosphere of the town.  My companions, as Arabs will do on such occasions, began to sing.

[FN#1] Yanbu’a in Arabic is “a Fountain.”  Yanbu’a of the Sea is so called to distinguish it from “Yanbu’a of the Palm-Grounds,” a village at the foot of the mountains, about 18 or 20 miles distant from the sea-port.  Ali Bey places it one day’s journey E.1/4N.E. from Yanbu’a al-Bahr, and describes it as a pleasant place in a fertile valley.  It is now known as Yambu’a al-Nakhil.  See “The Land of Midian (Revisited).” [FN#2] The first quarter of the Cairo caravan is Al-Akabah; the second is the Manhal Salmah (Salmah’s place for watering camels); the third is Yambu’; and the fourth Meccah. [FN#3] The Nizam, as Europeans now know, is the regular Turkish infantry.  In Al-Hijaz, these troops are not stationed in small towns like Yambu’.  At such places a party of Irregular horse, for the purpose of escorting travellers, is deemed sufficient.  The Yambu’ police seems to consist of the Sharif’s sturdy negroes.  In Ali Bey’s time Yambu’ belonged to the Sharif of Meccah, and was garrisoned by him. [FN#4] This, as far as I could learn, is the only tax which the Sultan’s government derives from the northern Hijaz; the people declare it to be, as one might expect at this distance from the capital, liable to gross peculation.  When the Wahhabis held Yambu’, they assessed it, like all other places; for which reason their name is held in the liveliest abhorrence. [FN#5] Civilians usually stick one pistol in the belt; soldiers and fighting men two, or more, with all the necessary concomitants of pouches, turnscrews, and long iron ramrods, which, opening with a screw, disclose a long thin pair of pincers, wherewith fire is put upon the chibuk. [FN#6] The weapons with which nations are to be managed form a curious consideration.  The Englishman tamely endures a staff, which would make a Frenchman mad with anger; and a Frenchman respects