Page 456 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

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XXII.] SOUTHERN ARABIA. 427

the Beni Gorab, formerly possessed both the
hill and neighbouring district. -
The town of Makullah, situated in latitude
14° 31' N., longitude 49° 13' E., is built on a
low projecting point, indented on two of its
sides by small bays. Many of the houses,
though far inferior to those of Jiddah and
Mokha, are lofty and substantial, and in their
style of architecture strongly remind me of

the Moorish edifices in Spain. Some of the
best are wholly covered with cement, applied
merely in broad bands, carried along at the
same height as the windows, so that they
have the dark appearance of ports in a ship’s
side. The doorways are so low that you re­
quire to stoop nearly double to pass through
them: the staircases are dark and narrow,
and the visitor feels his way in the best way
lie can to the upper part, where there is a
second door, at which a Nubian boy usually
officiates as janitor. The large houses have
wells and tanks within their walls, with an

enclosed space from thence to the upper
part of the building, so that the inhabitant
can at all times supply himself with water,
independent of any assistance from below.