Beyond the Báb Mekka, and close to the town, are several huts, through
the midst of which lies the road to Mekka. These huts are inhabited by
the camel-drivers who traffic between that city and Djidda; by poor
Bedouins, who earn a livelihood by cutting wood at a considerable
distance in the mountains; and by Negro Hadjis, who adopt the same means
of supporting themselves during their stay at Djidda. Here is held the
market for live cattle, wood and charcoal, fruits and vegetables in
wholesale. Coffee also is sold in many booths in this place, frequented
for a short time, at an early hour, by the inferior class of merchants,
who resort hither to learn the news from Mekka, whence the post arrives
every morning soon after sunrise. About a mile beyond these huts,
eastward of the town, is the principal burial-ground, containing the
tombs of several sheikhs; but there are smaller cemeteries within the
walls. About two miles northward of the town, is shown the tomb of Howa
(Eve), the mother of mankind; it is, as I was informed, a rude structure
of stone, about four feet in length, two or three feet in height, and as
many in breadth; thus resembling the tomb of Noah, seen in the valley of
Bekaa, in Syria.
During the predominance of the Wahabis, Djidda had been in a declining
state; many of its buildings had gone to ruin; no one constructed a new
house; trade was much depressed, in consequence of the pilgrimage from
Turkey having been discontinued, and the unwillingness of the merchants
to bring their goods hither