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i 
country, he receives only the contributions of Mecca 
and Djedda. The rest of the country pays the tenth to 
the Sultan Saaoud. 
I was told that at Medina the inhabitants pay no kind 
of impost. 
The Soherif is in possession of the contributions of 
Jenboa el Bahar, which, though without the Holy Land, 
Is under his jurisdiction; as also of the Island of Saou- 
aken, off the African coast; Messoua, upon the coast 
of Abyssinia; and several other islands, in the name of 
the Sultan of Constantinople. 
The lofty mountains of Hedjeaz, in which water is 
found, form an oblique line or angle with the coast of 
Arabia, bordering upon the Red Sea. From what I 
observed, I imagine that they commence at Taif, which 
is thirty leagues from the coast; that they bosder the 
Beled el Haram, and continue to Mohharr, in the neigh- 
bourhood of the Archipelago of the isles Ham a ra. 
The island called Djebel Hasen appears to me to have 
been a continuation of these mountains. It is between 
them that Taif, Medina, Djideida, El Hham a ra, and 
Jenboa in Nahal, are situated. 
Near this chain of mountains, which by analogy I J 
suppose to be of granite, is a second range, consisting 
of schist us, porphyry, and hornblende, between which 
Mecca is situated. There is hardly any water in these 
mountains; but I believe they are rich in minerals. The 
remainder of the country is flat, sandy, and calcareous, j 
abandoned by the Red Sea since the most distant pe- 
riods, and extending every day, in consequence of the 
further retreat of that sea. 
