272 HISTORY OF THE WAHABEtS. 



check till his death in 1809. Sanaa, however, does 

 not seem to have been made the object of attack. 

 Saoud had repeatedly offered the plunder of that rich 

 city to Hamoud and Abu Nokta, by way of attaching 

 them to his interest ; but he never actually ordered 

 either of them to undertake the conquest of it, proba- 

 bly from a wish to reserve that enterprise for him- 

 self. The extensive districts of Hadramaut and 

 Oman offered a tempting booty, and were harassed 

 by frequent plundering incursions. The sovereigns 

 of these principalities had tendered their homage to 

 the Wahabee chief, and agreed to pay an annual 

 tribute ; but in a single year they threw off their 

 submission to him, and his arms were then too much 

 occupied in another quarter to effect their reduction. 

 The isles of Bahrein and the Joassamee pirates had 

 embraced the new doctrines, and carried them into 

 profitable operation by harassing the commerce on 

 the Gulf; but the power of Saoud on that coast 

 sustained an irreparable loss in the destruction of 

 Ras el Khyma, by the English expedition from 

 Bombay. 



Although the Wahabees had come to open hostil- 

 ities with the Turkish government since they had 

 interrupted the haj-caravans, and forbidden the peo- 

 ple to pray in their mosques for the welfare of the 

 sultan, yet the Porte had hitherto remained almost 

 inactive. Yussuf, pasha of Damascus, in 1809, made 

 indeed some faint preparations for attacking the 

 district of Jof. But this was merely a vain demon- 

 stration of his zeal, as the expedition never took 

 place. The immense deserts that extended between 

 the Syrian and Arabian capitals rendered it impos- 

 sible to transport sufficient provisions and ammuni- 

 tion for a regular campaign ; and made it obvious 

 that, if ever the Turkish influence was to be restored 

 over the holy cities, the effort for dispossessing the 

 Wahabees must proceed from Egypt, on which the 

 Hejazees almost exclusively depended for the com- 



