SOCIAL STATE OF THE ARABS. 343 



single shoemaker in Hejaz. In Yemen there are 

 workers in glass, gold, and silver ; but the artificers 

 in the precious metals are all Jews and Banians. 



The want of home manufactures obliges the na- 

 tives to supply their markets by means of foreign 

 trade. Though their ports have long lost their 

 celebrity as the grand entrepdts for the commodities 

 of the East, they still continue to enjoy a portion 

 of the commerce between India and Europe. Jidda 

 has become the principal emporium of the Arabian 

 trade. It is perhaps the wealthiest town of the 

 same extent in the Turkish dominions ; hence its 

 name, which means " rich," is well bestowed. A 

 few years ago it employed about 250 ships in the 

 Red Sea. The two main branches of its commerce 

 are coffee and Indian produce. In May the annual 

 fleets from Calcutta, Surat, and Bombay make 

 their appearance, bringing different kinds of goods, 

 — Cashmere shawls, cocoanuts, rice, sugar, drugs 

 of all sorts, china and hardware, pipes, glass beads, 

 rosaries, mirrors, and cards. These commodities 

 are mostly sold for cash to India merchants, some 

 of whom possess capital to the amount of 150,000^. 

 •or 200,000Z. sterling ; while several inferior houses 

 Ihave capitals of 40,000/. or 50,000/. Sales of entire 

 •cargoes are often made in the course of half an hour, 

 and the money paid down next day. Trade is there 

 carried on chiefly by barter, or by cash transactions. 

 Credit is with difficulty obtained ; hence no Arabian 

 merchant can contract debts which he is unable to 

 pay, and consequently there are no mercantile fail- 

 ures in speculations such as daily occur in Europe. 

 From Jidda the India goods are sent to Suez and 

 Cairo, whence they are dispersed over Egypt and 

 the ports of the Mediterranean. The returns from 

 these countries are made either in dollars or sequins, 

 or in produce, such as wheat and barley, for which 

 Arabia depends on Egypt; an inferior sort of to- 

 bacco, which is called tambak; Bedouin cloaks, 



