Page 306 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

XIII.] COAST OF ARABIA. 287

period. Among the latter were between five
and six hundred Albanians, the remnant of
two regiments which had served in the cam­
paigns against the Wahhabis. Kourshid

Bey, unable to satisfy them without permis­
sion, referred the matter to the decision of the
Pasha, by whom he was directed to temporise
with the chiefs until he could send them to
Cairo. The messenger was seized with this
dispatch on his person.
The rebels had now gone too far to recede,
and they therefore at once came to the reso­
lution of seizing the treasure at both cities,
and paying themselves. At the same time

they took possession of the Pasha’s ships in
the harbour. Aware how much his success
would depend on the good or ill feeling of the
Arabs, Turkey-bel-Mass immediately issued
the most peremptory instructions to his fol­
lowers to commit no outrages against them;
and Jiddah and Mecca presented the singular
spectacle of two cities rich in commercial
wealth and offering every facility for plunder
to a needy soldiery, yet existing for several
weeks in perfect tranquillity and good order.
Some skirmishing at length took place be-