Page 253 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat
P. 253

234             COAST OF ARABIA.             [ch.


                           ornament. During the season, which is from
                           the commencement of July to the latter end

                           of September, they hold an annual fair, to
                           which the inhabitants of the neighbouring
                            parts resort in great numbers, exchanging for
                            this surplus, salt-fish cured on the coast, and
                           grain, cloth, &c., procured from Jiddah. These
                            articles are retailed again to the Arabs of the
                            interior, so that the whole of the Harb tribes
                            are supplied from this port with the very few
                            foreign articles which they require. Many
                            others, attracted also by the cheapness of

                            food, reside here, during these months, on the
                            profits obtained from their fishing and the
                            pearls they may have collected, returning at
                            the close of the season to their former occu­
                            pation. It was computed they amounted to
                            about five thousand men at the period of our
                            first visit. On our second arrival, in Septem­
                            ber, there were not more than a fifth of that
                            number.
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