Page 216 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

x.j COAST OF ARABIA. 197

inferior to those of Medina. A letter from
Sherif Serur, at Yembo’, to their Sheikh,
procured us promises of an escort to any part
of the interior we might feel disposed to visit;
but his departure up the coast, shortly after
our arrival, prevented our putting his sincerity
to the test. Though a distinct tribe, they bear
the general appellation of Joheinah: their
number, amounting formerly to two thousand
men, has been considerably thinned by the
ravages of the cholera, which lately visited
them in its passage up the coast. They fled
to the islands, but the disease followed them,
and numbers fell victims to it*.

On our second visit this fearful scourge was
at its height, and many were daily swept off.
When we anchored the surgeon left the ship in
order to afford them medical assistance. I
accompanied him. Oa landing we were con­
ducted to the village, and had not been long
seated in one of the huts before an emaciated
African boy staggered in through another en­
trance, and, reeling towards us, fell at our
feet in the sand. A group of Arabs were

* The JoheYnah is one of the most celebrated Arab tribes,
though little spoken of at the present day.