houses, known by the appellation of Hareh, or the quarter El Djerouel.
It comprises an encampment to the right, in which the Bedouins live who
carry on the transport trade between Mekka and Djidda; they belong to
the tribes of Harb, Metrefy, and Lahawy.


Beyond the Djerouel, the name of the street changes to that of Haret el
Bab. This is a broad street, with several good houses, and leads into
the quarter of El Shebeyka, which extends principally to the right, and
is so called because the followers of Mohammed, in their wars with the
Koreysh, were here attacked and closely pressed by their enemies. There
are many good houses in Shebeyka, which is one of the cleanest and
airiest quarters in the town. Many of the people of Djidda reside in it;
and here also the Sherif Ghaleb has a good house, where his family,
consisting of several young children

[p.110] and a grown-up daughter, continued to dwell after his
deposition. The main street is lined with coffee-shops, from which the
post sets out every evening, on asses, with the letters for Djidda. This
is the only post for letters that I have seen in the East, besides that
esta-blished among the Europeans at Cairo, between that city and
Alex-andria; but the delivery of letters is there much less regular than
it is at Mekka, where it is duly performed, and at the trifling expense
of two paras upon each letter, and as much more for the person who
distributes the letters received from Djidda.

In the coffee-shops just mentioned, live also the caravan-brokers,
through whose agency the Bedouins let out their camels for the journey
to Djidda and Medina.