GOVERNMENT OP ARABIA. 155 



break the uniformity of colour, gives it the semblance 

 of being excavated from a quarry of marble. Over 

 the tabular line of flat roofs, the minarets of three 

 mosques rise to a considerable height, with several 

 circular domes of kubbets or chapels. The roadstead 

 is almost open, being only protected by two narrow 

 tongues of land, on one of which is a ruined castle, 

 and on the other an insignificant fort. A grove of 

 date-trees adjoins the city, and extends nearly two 

 miles along the southern beach ; a pleasing object 

 for the eye to repose upon, contrasted with the inter- 

 minable expanse in every other direction of brown 

 and desolate sterility. The wall, by which it is com- 

 pletely surrounded, is not more than sixteen feet high 

 towards the sea ; though, on the land side, it may 

 in some places be double that height. The two forts 

 that guard the harbour stand about a mile and a 

 half asunder ; a single broadside from an English 

 man-of-war would level the whole to the ground. 



The internal condition of the city corresponds not 

 with the imposing aspect of the exterior; and the 

 moment the traveller passes the gates, his romantic 

 ideas are put to flight by the filth that abounds in 

 every street. The houses of the lower class of the 

 people, who rarely change their under-dress un- 

 til it is worn to rags, are circular huts composed of 

 wickerwork, covered inside with mats, and some- 

 times on the outside with a little clay. The roofs 

 are uniformly thatched; and in front each has a 

 small area or yard fenced off. The inhabitants have 

 a singular fancy for crowding their dwellings in 

 clusters, though there is ample space within the 

 walls left unoccupied. All the principal buildings 

 face the sea, and consist chiefly of public edifices. 



