Page 287 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

208 COAST OF ARABIA. [CH.

To evade this burden, the honest Nakhodas
do not scruple to use every artifice, and the
poor wretches are frequently enticed out of
the vessel, and left at the first place she may
touch at. If that is near any port having a
competent authority, he places them on board
the next vessel; but if, as more commonly
happens, they are landed on some unfre­
quented shore, a miserable death by thirst and
starvation awaits them.
As the largest vessels are not able to ap­

proach sufficiently near the town of Jiddah
to land their passengers, small boats come off
directly the bcigalas have passed the gateway.
Then it is that the scene becomes busy and
interesting to the stranger. Much wrangling
and quarrelling constantly occur between the
pilgrims and the boatmen ; for, as in every
other land, these consider the new comers to
be fair game, and evince a most laudable im­
patience to fleece them unmercifully.

Little deference seems paid the sex on
these occasions. All strive to reach the
shore as soon as possible, and the streets are
then crowded with a more motley assemblage
of human beings than it is probable were ever