YEMBO TAIF. 179 



■Wees are all armed with a dagger and spear, although 

 they seldom appear so in public, and they usually 

 carry a heavy bludgeon in their hand. The situation 

 is healthy, and the markets cheap ; but as a resi- 

 dence it must be extremely disagreeable, from the 

 incredible quantity of flies that infest the coast. 

 The inhabitants never walk out without a fan to 

 drive oflf these troublesome vermin. 



Taif is under the government of a subordinate 

 officer, with little authority, appointed by the sheriff. 

 The town stands in the middle of a sandy circular 

 plain, encompassed by low mountains, called Gebel 

 Ghazoan. It is in the form of an irregular square, 

 of about two miles in circumference, surrounded by 

 a rampart and ditch, and defended by several towers. 

 The castle occupies a rocky elevated site ; but has 

 no claim to the title of a fortress, except that it is 

 larger than the other edifices, and has stronger walls. 

 The houses in general are small, but well built, and 

 supplied with two copious springs. Taif is cele- 

 brated over all Arabia for its beautiful gardens, 

 which are situated at the foot of the hills. In some 

 of them are neat pavilions, where the inhabitants 

 pass their festive hours, and to which the great 

 merchants of Mecca occasionally retire in summer. 

 Here the fruits of Syria bloom in the centre of the 

 Arabian desert ; and from this circumstance tra- 

 dition has assigned to it the fabulous origin of 

 having been detached from that country, either at 

 the general deluge, or by virtue of the prayers of 

 Abraham, who in this miraculous way obtained for 

 the natives and pilgrims at Mecca that subsistence 

 which their own barren hills refused them, 



Taif suffered much in the Wahabee war, and 

 since that period it has remained in a state of com- 

 parative ruin. Every thing has the aspect of mis- 

 ery; the principal streets swarm with beggars; 

 and the trade, which consists chiefly in drugs and 

 perfumes, cannot support above fifty shops. For- 



