Page 383 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

350 COAST OF NUBIA. [CH.

is the less remarkable, since the Arabs from
the opposite coast were formerly in the habit
of landing whenever an opportunity offered
itself, and carrying off their flocks. In some
instances they did not scruple to include
the inhabitants, who were subsequently dis­

v posed of in the market at Jiddah as slaves.
All that has hitherto been published concern­

ing this part of the coast from the reports of
travellers, none of whom, however, have
visited it, represents the neighbouring tribes
as fierce and treacherous. As far as our
slight intercourse enables me to judge, I
should conclude them to be decidedly the re­
verse in both respects; for while wandering
alone at the distance of several miles from the
beach, I have frequently fallen in with parties
of strangers, whose behaviour was invariably
kind and attentive ; had it been otherwise,
it must be recollected we had no means of

punishing them; for their nearest dwelling-
places were distant ten or twelve miles, and
those on the sea-shore could have decamped
with their flocks at a moment’s notice.
I observed their burial places to be on the
summit of moderately-elevated hills, sur-