Page 251 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

232 COAST OF ARABIA. [CH,

hence to Jiddah, the Zobeideh and Tuwal
being merely branches of the same race.
I: Their force is calculated at fifty thousand
-
■p. matchlocks, which marks them as one of the
3
m most powerful tribes in Arabia. Their habits
are predatory and warlike, and their disposi­
tion bold and sagacious. In appearance they
m are taller and more fleshy than their neigh­
bours of the plains, but in the form and ex­

pression of face no difference is discernible.
Alike the objects of dread and suspicion to
the pilgrims, to the mariners who visit the
coast, and to the neighbouring tribes, they
appear to be equally shunned and feared by
all. But amidst the mountains, which fur­
nish an abundant supply of fresh water, they
are rich in their own resources, possessing
numerous flocks of sheep, fertile pastures, a

considerable quantity of corn, which they
1 compel their slaves to cultivate, and extensive
date-groves. These mountains produce the
far-famed balsam of Mecca, which even at
Yembo’ is with difficulty obtained free from
adulteration. The measures which the P&-
sh& has successfully adopted as a means of
quieting the other tribes, by stopping the