THE JOURIs^EY TO INDIA. 17 



raised beaches, trimmed up as ordinary building stone, and used 

 in the construction of houses. Blocks of limestone full of very 

 perfect Madreporoe were common, and sometimes we found foui* 

 or five species of coral in a single wall. Owing to the purely cor- 

 alline nature of the building material, the houses of Jeddah are of 

 dazzling whiteness when fairly viewed. In the suburbs, the houses 

 are mere huts of reeds and brushwood. 



Taken altogether, Jeddah is a fine httle city. The houses are 

 built quite solidly, in a pecuhar style of architecture, half Moor- 

 ish, half Saracenic, which is both unique and beautiful. Each 

 upper window is a square latticed casement of brown wood, pro- 

 jecting fi-om one to two feet beyond the wall. The city is entirely 

 surrounded, on the landward side, by a high wall, and, owing to its 

 close proximity to Mecca, and the presence of so many pilgrims, it 

 is a perfect little hot-bed of fanaticism, ready for a religious (!) dis- 

 turbance upon very short notice. One occurred in 1858, during 

 which the meek and lowly followers of the Prophet massacred all 

 the white Chiistiaus in the place, including the British and French 

 consuls. In return for this, the Biitish Government, with its 

 usual promptness, taught them the gospel of peace by bombard- 

 ing the place. That lesson has had its effect, and until it is for- 

 gotten, every white man in Jeddah will be safe. And yet I fancy 

 it must be very much like li\ing in a powder magazine to hold a 

 consulship there. 



In the cemetery, a quarter of a mile northeast of the city, is 

 the celebrated tomb of Eve. "Whether the dust of the great moth- 

 er of mankind really reposes there or not, no man can say : but 

 all true Mohammedans beUeve that such is the case, and reverence 

 the spot accordingly. In fact, they hold it as very sacred indeed, 

 but the guardian angels of the tomb are not proof against the se- 

 ductive power of backsheesh, and for about fifteen piastres each, we 

 were cheerfiilly admitted to all the rights and privileges of the j^lace. 



If Eve was, when living, as long as this tomb, then she was in- 

 deed a woman fit to start a world with. Her tomb is about two 

 hundred and twenty feet long, but vers' narrow, enclosed by a white- 

 washed stone wall. Across the centre stands a small building, in 

 which is a shrine, and under this is supposed to lie the dust of 

 Adam's wife, the first woman, who came direct fi'om the hand of the 

 Creator. It gives one's head a turn to think of it. 



There is one thing about the tomb, which is both strange and 

 pitiful. At the southern end of the enclosure is a sort of tower, 

 2 



