Page 95 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

A Turkish Report on the Red Sea <&c. 85
and possible to conquer. Should it be conquered it would be possible to
master the lands of India (VilSyet-i Hindustan) and send every year a
great amount of gold and jewels to Istanbul (Dcvlet-i Asitane). Yemen
also produces madder root (kiziJ boya) which is also grown in India and is
a great source of revenue from tax-farming.
12. On the further side of the port of Yemen lies the port which they call
Aden. It is said that not even in India docs there exist a similar harbour.
The revenue of the port alone is every year about two hundred thousand
sultanis (sikke-i sultaniye) but their governor (bey) is a certain ‘Abd
al-Malik24 who is very unjust. It is impossible to describe how much
injustice and oppression he practises upon the Muslims. Therefore it is
more important first to remove the evil of him from the Muslims than that
of the accursed Portuguese. He continuously does harm to the Muslims
and accumulates great quantities of merchandize and treasure. They say
that he is so unjust that it is a duty that he be killed (according to the
shari(ah). To the aforesaid port of Aden come fifty to sixty ships from
India. It takes two days to go overland from Zabld (to Aden).
13. Opposite to the port of Jedda, on the other side of the Red Sea, and
two hundred and fifty miles away from the land of Egypt, stands another
port known as Suakin (al-Sawakin). Merchants who come from India
often land at this port, fleeing from the excessive injustice at the port of
Jedda. There, too, come to each ship naked Arabs to collect at the proper
time the tithe (‘ushr) one by one from the aforesaid ships. They share out
the amount and then disperse again. It is related that the Sharif Barakat
(of Mecca) also takes his share, and nothing goes into the treasury of the
Sultan. If at the proper time a ship with fifty musketeers on board arrived
from the port of Jedda, this tithe might be seized for the State.
14. Four hundred miles further up beyond the port of Suakin stands a
place called Dahlak which is a port of the province of Abyssinia (habash).
They say that exquisite (a$ll) pearls are found at the aforesaid Dahlak but
there are no seekers (of pearls) there at all. So it is now empty and not
functioning. To the aforesaid port came an envoy with twenty Infidels
from accursed Portugal to construct a fortress. The aforesaid Infidels are
still kept there as prisoners. However if the accursed Portuguese were to
build a fortress at the aforesaid port (of Dahlak), they would be able to
control the sea as far as the port of Tawr. It is already known that they do
not let ships sail from Bab (al-Mandab). This place we call Bab occupies a
position (at the entrance to the Red Sea) and ships which come to this
place which we have called Bab are bound to call in there. The choicest of
the exquisite pearls are fished from the aforementioned port of Dahlak
and the production (of them) is moreover possible and easy.
15. Above the aforesaid port of Dahlak and near a port which is known as
Zayla* (Zayla‘ah) stands a city called Janasir." They call its rulers
(pidishah) Mujahid, and they are all very pious. Most of the learned
books are distributed from Zayla*. That province is the frontier of Islam.
Every year raids are carried out against the infidel Habash, on the path of
Allah, by way of the holy war, and they fight hard. To the port of Suakin
mentioned above come every year one thousand Arab horses from the