JIDDA. 197 



of his mother. By this hardy education he becomes 

 familiar with all the perils and vicissitudes of the 

 desert life ; his body is inured to fatigue and pri- 

 vation ; and he acquires an influence among the Be- 

 douins which afterwards becomes of much import- 

 ance to him. He acquires for his foster-parents all 

 the affection of relationship ; and sometimes the 

 sheriff boys steal away from their own homes to 

 rejoin the friends and associates of their infancy. 



At Mecca, and in every town throughout Hejaz, 

 justice is administered by the cadi. The fees are enor- 

 mous, and generally swallow up one-fourth of the sum 

 in litigation. The most barefaced acts of corruption, 

 bribery, and oppression, occur daily in the Mehkames 

 (halls of judgment), and these disorders are counte*- 

 nanced by the Turkish sultan, who had long been 

 in the habit of paying the judges 100 purses per 

 annum out of his treasury, in consideration of the 

 emoluments he received from the office. In lawsuits 

 of importance, the muftis of the four orthodox sects 

 have considerable influence on the decisions. 



Within the dominions of the sheriff are compre- 

 hended, as has already been noticed, the cities of 

 Mecca, Medina, Yembo, Ta'if, Jidda, Gonfode, Hali, 

 and several other places less considerable. 



Jidda, views of which are given by Head and 

 Niebuhr, is described by travellers as a pretty 

 town, built upon a slightly-rising ground, the lower 

 part of which is washed by the sea. It extends 

 along the shore more than half a mile. On the 

 land-side it is surrounded by a wall in a tolera- 

 ble state of repair, but of no strength. Its watch- 

 towers are mounted with a few rusty guns, one of 

 which is famous over all the Red Sea, and may 

 be called the Mons Meg of Arabia, as it is said to 



