If Suez were to participate in the direct Indian trade, the present
flourishing state of Djidda would, no doubt, be greatly diminished, and
the town would become merely what its position renders it, the harbour
of the Hedjaz, instead of being, as it now is, the port of Egypt. It was
natural that the sherifs of Mekka, who had the customs in their own
hands, should endeavour, by every means in their power, to make Djidda
an emporium for the Indian trade, the custom-duties on which formed the
principle source of their income. Suez, however, is not a place where
large capitals are always found ready to make purchases; even Cairo
could not, at least immediately, engage in this trade with advantage,
were it transferred to Suez; for, according to old customs, from which
Orientals seldom like to depart, ready money is almost unknown in the
commercial transactions of that city; India goods are in consequence
never sold there except at very long credit. Undoubtedly cash might in
time have found its way to Suez, as it now does to Djidda; but the
channel of trade was such, that a fleet of ships coming direct from
India to Suez, would hardly have been able to dispose of their cargoes
either with profit or within due time. Another cause also contributed to
favour the harbour of Djidda: the India ships, although most of them
sail under the English flag, are entirely manned and commanded by the
people of the country, Arabs and Lascars; [No English captain had been at
Djidda for five years, when, in 1814, the Resoul, Captain Boag, from
Bombay, arrived laden with rice. The ships are not navigated by
Englishmen, and very few English merchants resident in India have ever
speculated in the trade of the Red Sea, which is carried on almost
exclusively with the capitals of Muselman merchants of Djidda, Maskat,
Bombay, Surat, and Calcutta. The Americans seldom visit any other
harbour in this sea than that of Mekka.] and they have adopted the same
coasting navigation that is followed in every part of the Red