SUEZ. 239 



pecunniry business of the mosque,. and of all eccle- 

 siastical affairs. Next to hiui in importance is the 

 cadi, though many of the native sheiks still enjoy 

 great respect and consideration. 



After a stay of three days at the City of the Pro- 

 phet, the caravans take their departure — the Syrian 

 returns to Damascus, and the Egyptian to Cairo, by 

 way of Bedr, Akaba, and across the desert to Suez. 

 The entire route of the former from Mecca occu- 

 pies forty days, that of the latter thirty-seven : the 

 caravan to Sanaa requires forty-three days. Bedr, 

 famous for the battle fought by Mohammed in the 

 second year of the Hejira, contains upwards of five 

 hundred' houses, and still boasts many relics of that 

 miraculous engagement. Tlie celebrated field which 

 laid- the foundation of the Moslem empire lies south 

 of the town about a mile distant, at the foot of the 

 hills. 



Suez, about seventy miles from Cairo, and once a 

 city of considerable wealth and splendour, is now 

 reduced to a paltry half-ruined village — a state of 

 desolation chiefly owing to the ravages committed 

 by the French, who thus avenged the opposition 

 they experienced from the beys of Egypt. The 

 walls and fortifications, which never were of much 

 strength, are rapidly falling into decay. The har- 

 bour is spacious and safe, and near the shore are 

 some well-built khans. The water is brackish and 

 the air bad, occasioned by the extensive salt-marshes, 

 which are filled with stagnant waters.* The influ- 

 ence of this malaria the inhabitants endeavour to 

 counteract by drinking brandy ; but the mortality is 



* A well was discovered in 1831, near Suez, by two English 

 engineers, who made several experimental borings before they 

 succeeded. A reservoir containing 1200 cubic feet of good water 

 is now resorted to by the Bedouin and the pilgrim. By the ap^ 

 phcation of science, the deserts of Arabia might perhaps be ren- 

 tiered habitable — Transact, of the Royal Asiat. Soc. Capt. Head's 

 Journey, p. 44. 



