HISTORY OF TIIK WAIIABEES. 273 



mon necessaries of life. The turbulent state of that 

 country, and the insubordin;ition of the Manilouk 

 beys, for some time prevented Mohammed Ali, 

 who had been appointed pasha by the Porte in 

 1804, from adopting any warlike measures against 

 a foreign enemy. Much might have been done, 

 however, towards the reduction of Hcjaz, by merely 

 shutting the ports of Suez and Cosseir against the 

 Arabian shipping ; but the viceroy, notwithstanding 

 the firmans from Constantinople, had too deep an 

 interest in the traffic of the Red Sea to sanction a 

 prohibitory system, which would have cut off the 

 gains that flowed into his cofiers from that channel. 



Ambition at length overruled the passion of ava- 

 rice in the breast of Ali. The deliverance of the 

 sepulchres was likely to add a celebrity to his name 

 that would exalt him far above all the pashas in the 

 Turkish empire. To -stimulate his exertions the 

 sultan promised him the pashalic of Damascus for 

 one of his sons as soon as he should obtain posses- 

 sion of Mecca and Medina. As it was essential to 

 have a sufficient flotilla at his command for the con- 

 veyance of troops and provisions, he caused 28 large 

 and small vessels (from 100 to 250 tons burden) to 

 be built at Suez, which kept about 1000 workmen 

 for three years in constant employment. 



In August, 1811, this armada was ready for depar- 

 ture. Toussoun Bey, the second son of the pasha, a 

 youth of eighteen, v/ho had given proofs of extraor- 

 dinary courage in the Mamlouk war, was placed in 

 command. The expedition consisted of two parts, 

 cavalry and infantry ; the former amounting to a 

 body of about 800 men, Turks and Bedouins ; and 

 the latter, composed principally of Arnaout soldiers, 

 to the number of 1500 or 2000, under the direction 

 of Saleh Aga and Omar Aga. In October, the fleet 

 reached Yembo, which capitulated after a feeble 

 resistance of two days. The town was not gar- 

 risoned by Wahabees, but by some troops belonging 



