246 tRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



or a hundred Christians, who have been fo protected: So 

 that when this Arab marries a daughter, he gives perhaps 

 his revenue from four or five protected Chriflians, as part 

 of his daughter's portion. I had, at that very time, a Gaf- 

 eer, called Ibn Talil, an Arab of Harb tribe, and I fhould 

 have been detained perhaps three days till he came from 

 near Medina, and carried me (had I been fb.ipwreck.ed) to 

 Yambo, where I was going. 



On the 15th we came to an anchor at El Har*, where 

 we faw high, craggy, and broken mountains, called the 

 Mountains of Ruddua. Thefe abound with fprings of wa- 

 ter ; all fort of Arabian and African fruits grow here in per- 

 fection, and every kind of vegetable that they will take 

 the pains to cultivate. It is the paradife of the people of 

 Yambo ; thofe of any fubftance have country houfes there ; 

 but, ftrange to tell, they Hay there but for a fhort time, and 

 prefer the bare, dry, and burning fands about Yambo, to one 

 of the fineft climates, and nioft verdant pleafant countries, 

 that exifts in the world. The people of the place have told 

 me, that water freezes there in winter, and that there are 

 fome of the inhabitants who have red hair, and blue eyes, 

 a thing fcarcely ever fecn but in the coldcit mountains in 

 the Eall. 



The 1 6th, about ten o'clock, we pafTed a mofque, or 

 Shekh's tomb on the main land, on our left hand, called 

 Kubbet Yambo, and before eleven we anchored in the mouth 



of 



* El Har fignifks extreme heat. 



