The town of Djidda is without gardens, or vegetation of any kind except
a few date-trees adjoining one of the mosques; even outside the town the
whole country is a barren desert, covered
[p.13] on the sea-shore with a saline earth, and higher up with sand:
here are found some shrubs and a few low acacia trees. The number of
wells around the town might be considerably augmented, and water
obtained for the purposes of irrigation; but the inhabitants of Djidda
consider their residence as merely temporary, and, like all the other
people of the Hedjaz, devote their whole attention to commerce and the
acquisition of riches: on this account they are much less inclined to
rural enjoyments or occupations than any other race of Moslems that I
ever saw.