country not producing a sufficiency, the Pasha sold the grain at Djidda
for the price of

[p.33] from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and sixty piastres per
erdeb, and every other kind of provision in proportion; the corn cost
him twelve piastres by the erdeb in Upper Egypt, and including the
expense of carriage from Genne to Cosseir, and freight thence to Djidda,
twenty-five or thirty piastres. This enormous profit was alone
sufficient to defray his expenses in carrying on the Wahaby war; but it
was little calculated to conciliate the good-will of the people. His
partisans, however, excused him, by alleging that, in keeping grain at
high prices, he secured the Bedouins of the Hedjaz in his interest, as
they depend upon Mekka and Djidda for provisions, and they were thus
compelled to enter into his service, and receive his pay, to escape
starvation. The common people of the Hedjaz use very little wheat; their
bread is made either of durra or barley-flour, both of which are one-
third cheaper than wheat; or they live entirely upon rice and butter.
This is the case also with most of the Bedouins of Tehama, on the coast.
The Yemen people in Djidda eat nothing but durra. Most of the rice used
at Djidda is brought as ballast by the ships from India. The best sort
comes from Guzerat and Cutch: it forms the chief article of food among
the people of the Hedjaz, who prefer it to the rice from Egypt, because
they think it more wholesome than the former, which is used exclusively
by the Turks and other strangers from the north-ward. The grain of the
Indian rice is larger and longer than the common sort of Egypt, and is
of a yellowish colour; whereas the latter has a reddish tint; but the
best sorts of both are snow-white. The Indian rice swells more in
boiling than the Egyptian, and is for this reason preferred by the
Arabs, as a smaller quantity of it will fill a dish; but the Egyptian
rice is more nutritive. The Indian rice is rather cheaper, and is