JIDDA. 
321 
Thus situated, Ghalib, when besieged by Suud in Jidda, had 
determined to fly with his ill gotten treasures to India, and had, for 
that purpose, deposited them all on board his ships in the harbour. 
On the retreat of Suud, he carried back a large proportion of them 
to Mecca, which probably he would now find it difficult to reniove; 
and even his own escape to Jidda, where a considerable sum still 
remains, under the care of the Vizier, is an attempt of danger, now 
that the VVahabee cover the country between the two places. In 
this distress, it would seem that he looks anxiously for the arrival 
of a new Pacha from Egypt, as the only hope of safety ; though 
he must naturally dread, that the murder of two Pachas may call 
down the vengeance of their successor. Jelani informed me, that 
the new Pacha was supposed to have with him two thousand men, 
A much smaller force would protect Jidda and Mecca, but a much 
larger would be insufficient to recover the country. I suspect, how- 
ever, that the Wahabee are much less considered on this occasion 
than the Sheriffe, and that it is against him, in the first instance, that 
hostilities will be directed. If the holy places can only be pre- 
served by the Turks, they will naturally be inclined to secure them 
for themselves, instead of participating in the power of a man, who 
has already proved himself a secret enemy; and whose repeated 
murders, and insatiable avarice, have done more to undermine the 
power of the followers of the Prophet, than all the external attacks 
of the Wahabee. 
The Arab character seems to have declined rapidly in Hedjas; 
for in 1763, when Niebuhr was at Jidda, a Sheriffe was always 
Vizier there, because, as he says, no descendant of Mohammed 
could, in so holy a country, be judged by one of an inferior race. 
