162 
equinox, at which time it is so abundant that all the 
cisterns are filled. 
The winds which prevail in the Red Sea, almost al- 
ways blow from the north, except during the months 
of August, September, and October, at which period 
they shift to the south. The disbanded Turkish soldiers 
at Djedda and Mecca were quitting the Holy Land. At 
Djedda the gunners alone remained. I saw two hundred 
soldiers, whom the Scherif sent to the coast of Africa 
to collect the contributions, embark with colours flying 
and drums beating. 
The Scherif possesses the Isle of Saouaken, which 
the geographers call Suakem, upon the coast of Africa; 
in which there is a good port. He also governs Mes- 
soua upon the coast of Abyssinia, and some other 
islands in the name of the Sultan of Turkey. 
They have suppressed, by order of Saaoud, the name 
of the Sultan of Constantinople in the prayer of Friday 
at Djedda, as well as at Mecca. 
The Wehhabite Kadi had arrived at Djedda to ad- 
minister justice in the name of Saaoud, and at the same 
time the negro governor of the Scherif continued to 
govern the city in the name of his master. This mixture 
of authorities did not fail to produce the evil effect 
which the Sultan Saaoud expected. I was assured that 
the Kadi belonged to the Hanbeli rite, notwithstanding 
some persons pretend that the Wehhabites do not ad- 
mit this difference of rites. Such is the uncertainty of 
the information obtained from the inhabitants of the 
country. 
In addition to the muddens or public criers, who 
summon the people to prayers from the tops of the 
minarets of the mosques, the Wehhabites have es- 
