MED 



*(. im pilgrims, is guarded by troops and artillery, and accom- 

 MeUuer- nnni.vl (>y a great number of women 



^^"^!l*' Of later year*, both the religious and political state of 

 Medina underwent an important alteration ; nor can its 

 condition at the present time be precisely ascertained. 

 The environs of the city gave birth to a Mahometan 

 sheik, named Abdoulwehhab, about the year 1720, who, 

 after pursuing his studies here, contemplated great in- 

 novations on certain principles of the Mussulman faith. 

 But finding Medina itself unsuitable to his views, he 

 If it it to make a proselyte of Ibn Saaoud, prince of 

 the Arabs, whose son Abdelaaziz endeavoured, in suc- 

 ceeding years, to subdue all the neighbouring countries. 

 The Sclieriff of Mecca, unable to resist his forces, reti- 

 red to Medina in 1802 ; but the city proving untenable, 

 he again withdrew. However, it withstood a body of 

 troops sent from Mecca, which had been pillaged pre- 

 viously, and their commander Saaoud was obliged to 

 retreat to Draaija, the capital of the sectaries, seven- 

 teen days journey east of Medina. But Saaoud having 

 renewed the attack after his father had been assassina- 

 ted in 1803, rendered himself master of Medina in 

 J804, where his followers shut and sealed the doors of 

 the temple, destroyed all the ornaments of the sepul. 

 chre, and took possession of the vast treasures which 

 superstition had accumulated. In 1805, the great ca- 

 ravan from Damascus obtained access to the city on- 

 ly by means of heavy sacrifices ; and the reformers sig- 

 nified to the pasha, that in future it should come no 

 longer under protection of the Turks, or accompanied 

 by troops, trophies, music, or women, but that it should 

 consist of pilgrims exclusively. The caravan having 

 attempted to travel thither next year, without strictly 

 conforming to these injunctions, had hardly reached 

 the gates of Medina when it was obliged to retire in 

 disorder, persecuted and annoyed by the sectaries. De- 

 votion to the person of the prophet being prohibited as 

 sinful, the reformers refrain from visiting his tomb ; and 

 they have destroyed the sepulchres, chapels, and temples 

 erected in honour of saints. In the year 1807, the 

 whole priests, servants, and slaves belonging to the 

 mosque of Mahomet's tomb at Medina, were command- 

 ed instantly to quit the city, as also all pilgrims and 

 soldiers, together with the Turkish judge. A com- 

 plete revolution, both religious and political, was thus 

 accomplished ; but we have understood, that in the 

 year 1817 or 1818 the Emperor of Turkey, in order to 

 regain his influence in Arabia, sent a large military 

 force against the reformers, by which they were de- 

 feated, and their leader being taken prisoner, was car- 

 ried to Constantinople, and there put to death. Lat. 

 24 North, Long. 40 10' East. 240 miles north of Mec- 

 ca, (c) 



MEDITERRANEAN SEA, is the largest inland sea 

 in the world, forming the southern limit of nearly the 

 whole of Europe. It is about 2000 miles long from 

 east to west, and has an average breadth of from 4CO 

 to 500 .miles. From the Eosphorus a strong current 

 sets into the Mediterranean; at the Straits of Gibraltar 

 another current flows in from the Atlantic ; two weak- 

 er currents flowing outwards along the northern and 

 southern shores. The tides in the Mediterranean are 

 very small and irregular. 



Dr. Marcet has lately shewn, that the water of the Me- 

 diterranean contains rather more salt than the ocean. 

 This fact has been explained, upon the supposition that 

 the Mediterranean is not supplied by the rivers which 

 flow into it with a quantity of fresh water sufficient to 

 replace what it loses by evaporation under a burning 



2 M E K 



sun, aided by a powerful radiation from the African 

 shores, and the parching winds blowing from the ad- ran 

 jacent desarts. Philosophers have, therefore, attempt- 

 ed to explain why this sea does not gradually increase 

 in saltness, and indeed be ultimately converted into sa. 

 titrated brine. This has been ascribed to an under cur- 

 rent of water, salter than the ocean, which runs out at 

 the Straits of Gibraltar, and unloads its waters of their 

 excess of salt. This idea of a submarine current ; 

 countenanced by the fact, communicated to Dr. Mar. 

 cet by Dr. Carmichael, on the authority of the British 

 consul at Valentia, that some years ago a vessel was 

 lost at Ceuta, on the African coast, and its wreck after- 

 wards thrown up at TarifTa, on the European shore, 

 fully two miles west of Ceuta. 



A similar fact is stated by Dr. Hudson. " In 1712, 

 M. de L'Aigle, of the Phoenix of Marseilles, giving 

 chace near Ceuta Point to a Dutch ship, came up with 

 her in -the middle of the Gut, between Tariftk and 

 Tangier, and then gave her one broadside, which sunk 

 her. A few days after the sunk ship, with her cargo 

 of brandy and oil, came on shore near Tangier, at 

 least four leagues to the west of the place where she 

 sunk, and directly against the strength of the current ; 

 which has persuaded many men that there is a recur- 

 rency in the deep water in the middle of the Gut, that 

 sets outward to the grand ocean, which this accident very 

 much demonstrates." Phil. Trans. 1724, vol. xxxiii. 

 p. 192. See also Phil. Trans. 1 8 1 9, p. 1 77 ; and Edin- 

 burgh Philosophical Journal, vol. i. p. 236, and vol. ii. 

 p. 358. 



MEDWAY. See ENGLAND, vol. viii. p. 688 ; and 

 KENT, vol. xii. p. 436. 



MEKRAN, or MECRAN, is a province of Persia, 

 stretching from Cape Jask to the frontiers of Scind, 

 along the Indian Ocean, which bounds it on the south. 

 On the north it is bounded by Seistan and Arokaje ; 

 on the east by Scind ; and on the west and north-west 

 by Kerman. Mekran is divided by a range of moun- 

 tains running from east to west. The northern part 

 has got the name of Balouchistan. To the east there 

 is a small independent state called Lus. Balouchistan 

 is again subdivided into the seven following provinces 

 or districts : Jhalaivan, the most southern, and Sara- 

 n-an, the most northern, both of which are extremely 

 mountainous, and in general barren, though some of 

 the vallies are capable of high cultivation, and produce, 

 in favourable seasons, very abundant crops. Cutch 

 Gandava, which is about 150 miles long, and 40 or 50 

 broad, is chiefly low country, having a rich black loam 

 soil, and producing all sorts of grain, besides cotton, 

 indigo, and madder. Aiiund Dejel, to the northward 

 of the former, whose climate and soil are excellent. 

 S'/ia/ and Muitung, which are of very inconsiderable ex- 

 tent, but distinguished for the excellence and cheap- 

 ness of their productions; and Zuhrce, which is well 

 peopled, and has the name of being the most civilized 

 district of Balouchistan. 



The province or district of Lus is of a circular form, 

 and nearly surrounded by mountains, which separate 

 it from western Mekran, Balouchistan, and Scind. The 

 country itself is flat and sandy, and remarkably fertile 

 in every description of grain. It has two small rivers, 

 H'udd and Pooratee, (the ancient Arabius, ) which, ris- 

 ing in the mountains near Bayla, falls into the ocean 

 at Sonmeany, the principal sea-port of Lus. In order 

 to obtain water, the inhabitants of this district, who are 

 chiefly fishers, are obliged to dig holes in the sand, and 

 having taken a supply, they fill them up immediately, 



ear. !v 



