Travels in Arabia Part 21

Szafra appeared to me better peopled, and to contain more houses, than are now in Djedeyde. In speaking of this pa.s.s, the Arabs generally join the two names, and say, "the valley of Szafra and Djedeyde." Beyond El Kheyf the valley widens, and forms many windings. Our caravan was here in constant fear of robbers, which kept us awake, though the severe cold during the night would not have suffered us to sleep. Our main direction from Kheyf was N. 40 E. At twelve hours, gently ascending through the valley, we entered a plain, situated in the midst of the mountains, about ten miles in length, called El Nazye, where we alighted.

January 26th. We remained encamped here the whole day, some pa.s.sengers having acquainted us that disturbances had broken out on the road before us, which we did not discover to be a false report till the next day.

The rocks surrounding this plain are partly of granite, and partly of lime-stone. The plain is thickly covered with acacia-trees.

[p.314] Good water is found on the side of the mountains, but not in the plain itself. Some Bedouins of Beni Salem, to which tribe the inhabitants of Djedeyde also belong, pastured their flocks here: they were chiefly occupied in collecting food for their camels from the acacia-trees; for this purpose, they spread a straw mat under the tree, and beat its boughs with long sticks, when the youngest and freshest leaves, from the extremities of the twigs, fall down: these are esteemed the best food for camels. I saw them sold in measures, in the market at Szafra. We exchanged some biscuits for milk with these Bedouins; and one, to whom I had given a small dose of rhubarb, brought me some fresh b.u.t.ter in return.

January 26th. We started at two P.M., and an hour and a half's march over the plain brought us to the mountain. The whole breadth of this plain is about six miles. We then entered the mountain in the direction N. 50 E. The mixed rocks of granite and lime-stone present no regular strata. We next pa.s.sed through a short defile, and, at the end of two hours and a half, entered a small plain called Shab el Hal, between the mountains, where were several encampments of Bedouins. At five hours, we entered a broad valley, running in a straight line, and covered with white sand. The night was cold, and the moon shone beautifully; I therefore walked in front of the caravan, whose pace being slow, I soon advanced, without perceiving it, to a considerable distance a-head.

Finding that it did not come up, I sat down under a tree, and was going to light a fire, when I heard the tread of horses advancing towards me.

I kept hidden behind the trees, and presently saw some Bedouins of very suspicious appearance pa.s.s by. After waiting a long time for the caravan, and unable to account for its delay, I retraced my steps, and found the camels standing at rest, and taking breath, and every soul upon them fast asleep, the foot-pa.s.sengers being still behind. This happened to us several times during our journey. When the camel hears no voices about it, and is not urged by the leader, it slackens its pace, and at last stands still to rest; and if the leading camel once stops, all the rest do the same. I roused the Arabs, and we proceeded. The next day, we learnt that some travellers had been plundered this night on the road--no doubt by the hors.e.m.e.n

[p.315] who pa.s.sed me, and who probably dispersed when they saw a large caravan approaching.

The valley in which we were travelling is called Wady es' Shohada, or the "Valley of Martyrs," where many followers of Mohammed are said to have been killed in battle: their remains are covered by rude heaps of stones in different parts of the valley. Here also are seen several tombs of hadjys; and I observed some walls, much ruined, where a small chapel or mosque appeared to have stood: no water is found here. This is a station of the Hadj caravan. At the end of nine hours, we issued from this wady, which is on a very slight ascent; and then taking a direction E.N.E. we crossed a rocky ground, and entered a wide plain called El Fereysh, where two small caravans from Medina bound to Yembo pa.s.sed us.

At the end of eleven hours and a half we alighted.

The plain of Fereysh, according to the historian Asamy, was the scene of a sanguinary battle, between the Sherif of Mekka and the Bedouin tribes of Dhofyr and Aeneze, in A.H. 1063. The Dhofyr, who are now settled in Mesopotamia, towards Baghdad, were at that time pasturing their herds in the neighbourhood of Medina.

January 27th. The rocks here are all of red granite. A party of Bedouins, with their women, children, and tents pa.s.sed us; they belonged to the tribe of Harb, called El Hamede, and had left the upper country, where no rain had yet fallen, to seek better pasturage in the lower mountains. While we were encamped, a heavy storm, with thunder and lightning, overtook us, and the rain poured down: as it threatened to be of long duration, and we had no tents, it was thought advisable to proceed. We started in the afternoon; and it continued to rain during the rest of the day and the whole night, which, joined to the cold climate in these elevated regions, was severely felt by all of us. Our road ascended through rocky valleys full of th.o.r.n.y trees; it was crossed by several torrents that had rapidly swollen, and which we pa.s.sed with difficulty. After seven hours' march we reached the summit of this chain of mountains, when the immense eastern plain lay stretched before us: we pa.s.sed several insulated hills. The ground is covered with black and brown flints. In nine hours we pa.s.sed at

[p.316] some distance to the west of the date-plantations, and the few houses built round the well called Bir Aly. At the end of ten hours, in the middle of the night, just as the weather had cleared up, and a severe frost succeeded the rain, we arrived before the gate of Medina.

It was shut, and we had to wait till day-light before it could be opened. Being unable to light a fire on the wet ground with wet fuel, and being all completely soaked with the rain, the sharp frost of the morning became distressing to us, and was probably the cause of the fever which confined me so long in this town; for I had enjoyed perfect health during the whole journey.

We entered Medina at sun-rise on the 28th of January, the thirteenth day after our leaving Mekka, having halted two days on the road. The Hadj caravan usually performs the journey in eleven days, and, if pressed for time, in ten.

The Bedouins apply to the whole country between Mekka and Medina, west of the mountains, the name of El Djohfe, which, however, is sometimes understood to mean the country from Mekka to Beder only.

[p.317]MEDINA.

THE caravan alighted in a large court-yard in the suburb, where the loads were deposited; and all the travellers who had come with it immediately dispersed in quest of lodgings. With the help of a Mezowar, a professional cla.s.s of men, similar to the delyls at Mekka, I procured, after some trouble, a good apartment in the princ.i.p.al market-street of the town, about fifty yards from the great mosque. I transported my baggage to those lodgings, where I was called upon by the Mezowar to visit the mosque and the holy tomb of Mohammed; it being a law here, as at Mekka, that a traveller arriving in the town must fulfil this duty, before he undertakes the most trifling business.

The ceremonies are here much easier and shorter than at Mekka, as will be presently seen. In a quarter of an hour I had gone through them, when I was at liberty to return home to arrange my domestic affairs. My Mezowar a.s.sisted me in the purchase of all necessary provisions, which were not obtained without difficulty; Tousoun Pasha, the governor of the town, having, by his inconsiderate measures, frightened away the Bedouins and camel-drivers, who used to bring in provisions. Flour and b.u.t.ter, however, those prime articles in an Eastern kitchen, were to be had before sunset, though not found in the public market; but it was three days before I could procure any coal, the want of which was sensibly felt at this cold season of the year. Hearing that Yahya Efendi, the physician of Tousoun Pasha, the same person who

[p.318] in July last had taken my bill upon Djidda, was here. I paid him a visit next day, and showed him a letter received at Mekka, before I had left that town, from my Cairo banker, mentioning the payment of the bill, no news of which had yet reached Yahya himself. Much as this gentleman's acquaintance had been of service to me on that occasion, a good deal took place now to detract from it. At a visit which he paid me soon after, he happened to see my small stock of medicines, the same that I had in my Nubian journey, during which it never was touched, some emetics and purges only having been used whilst I staid at Djidda and Mekka; I had therefore half a pound of good bark in my medicine sack, untouched. Several persons of the Pasha's court were at this time ill of fevers; Tousoun Pasha himself was in an indifferent state of health, and his physician had few medicines fit for such cases. He begged of me the bark, which I gave him, as I was then in good health, and thought myself already in the vicinity of Egypt, where I hoped to arrive in about two months. I owed him, moreover, some obligations, and was glad to testify my grat.i.tude. Two days after I had cause to repent of my liberality; for I was attacked by a fever, which soon took a very serious turn. As it was intermittent, I wished to take bark; but when I asked the physician for some of it, he a.s.sured me that he had already distributed the last dram, and he brought me, instead of it, some of the powder of the Gentiana, which had lost all its virtue from age. My fever thus increased, accompanied by daily and repeated vomiting, and profuse sweats, being for the whole first month quotidian. The emetics I took proved of no service; and after having from want of bark gone through the course of medicines I thought applicable to the case, and being very seldom favoured with a visit from my friend Yahya Effendi, I left my disease to nature. After the first month, there was an interval of a week's repose, of which had I been able to profit by taking bark, my disorder would, no doubt, have been overcome; but it had abated only to return with greater violence, and now became a tertian fever, while the vomiting still continued, accompanied by occasional faintings, and ended in a total prostration of strength. I was now unable to rise from my carpet, without the a.s.sistance of my slave, a poor fellow, who by habit

[p.319] and nature was more fitted to take care of a camel, than to nurse his drooping master.

I had by this time lost all hope of returning to Egypt, and had prepared myself for dying here. Despondency had seized me, from an apprehension that, if the news of my death should arrive in England, my whole Hedjaz journey would, perhaps, be condemned as the unauthorised act of an imprudent, or at least over-zealous missionary; and I had neither books, nor any society, to divert my mind from such reflections: one book only was in my possession, a pocket edition of Milton, which Captain Boag, at Djidda, had kindly permitted me to take from his cabin-library, and this I must admit was now worth a whole shelf full of others. The mistress of my lodgings, an old infirm woman, by birth an Egyptian, who during my stay took up her quarters in an upper story, from which she could speak to me without being seen, as it opened into my own room below, used to converse with me for half an hour every evening; and my cicerone, or Mezowar, paid me occasional visits, in order, as I strongly suspected, to seize upon part of my baggage in case of my death. Yahya Effendi left the town in the month of March, with the army of Tousoun Pasha, which marched against the Wababys.

About the beginning of April, the returning warmth of the spring put a stop to my illness; but it was nearly a fortnight before I could venture to walk out, and every breeze made me dread a return of the fever. The bad climate of the town, its detestable water, and the great number of diseases now prevalent, made me extremely desirous to leave Medina. My original intention was, to remain here, at most, one month, then to take some Bedouin guides, and with them to cross the Desert to Akaba, at the extremity of the Red Sea, in a straight direction, from whence I might easily have found my way to Cairo. In this route I wished to visit Hedjer, on the Syrian Hadj road, where I expected to find some remains of the remotest antiquity, that had not been described by any other traveller, while the interior of the country might have offered many other objects of research and curiosity. It was, however, utterly impossible for me to perform this journey in my convalescent state; nor had I any hopes of recovering, in

[p.320] two months, strength sufficient for a journey of such fatigue.

To wait so long, continually exposed to suffer again from the climate, was highly unadvisable; and I panted for a change of air, being convinced that, without it, my fever would soon return. With these feelings I abandoned the long-projected design of my journey, and now determined on going to Yembo, on the sea-coast, and from thence to embark for Egypt; a decision in some degree rendered necessary by the state of my purse, which a long stay at Medina had greatly reduced. When I found myself strong enough to mount a camel, I looked out for some conveyance to Yembo, and contracted with a Bedouin, who, together with his companions, forming a small caravan, started for that place on the 1st of April, within six days of three months after my arrival at Medina, eight weeks of which time I had been confined to my couch. My remarks on Medina are but scanty; with good health, I should have added to them: but as this town is totally unknown to Europeans, they may contain some acceptable information. The plan of the town was made by me during the first days of my stay; and I can vouch for the correctness of its outlines; but I had not the same leisure to trace it in all its details, as I had that of Mekka.

[p.321] DESCRIPTION OF MEDINA.[EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN OF MEDINA. [Not included]]

MEDINA is situated on the edge of the great Arabian Desert, close to the chain of mountains which traverses that country from north to south, and is a continuation of Libanon. I have already stated in my Journal through Arabia Petraea, that the chain on the east of the Dead Sea runs down towards Akaba. From thence, it extends along the sh.o.r.e of the Red Sea as far as Yemen, sometimes close to the sea,

[p.322] at others having an intervening plain called by the Arabs Tahama, a name which, in Yemen, is also bestowed upon a particular part of it. I have likewise mentioned in that Journal, that the eastern descent of these mountains, all along the Jordan, the Dead Sea, and the valley called Araba, down to Akaba, is much less than the western, and that therefore the great plain of Arabia, which begins eastward of these mountains, is considerably elevated above the level of the sea. I made the same remark in going to Tayf, after having crossed the mountain called Djebel Kura, which forms part of that chain; and the same is to be observed at Medina. The mountain which we had ascended in coming from Mekka, when seen from the coast, presents peaks of considerable height; when we reached the upper plain, in the neighbourhood of Medina, these summits appeared on our left like mere hills, their elevation above the eastern plain being not more than one-third of that from the western sea-sh.o.r.e.

The last undulations of these mountains touch the town on the north side; on its other side, the country is flat, though not always a completely even plain. A branch of the chain, called Djebel Ohod, projects a little into the plain, at one hour's distance from the town, bearing from the latter N.N.E. to N.E. [In these bearings the variation of the needle is not computed.] At eight or ten hours' distance, (E. 6 N.-E. 6 S.) a chain of low hills rises in an eastern direction, across which lies the road to Nedjed. Similar hills, at the same distance, are to the S.E. The country to the south extends on a perfect level as far as can be seen. On the S.W., about an hour, or an hour and a half distant, a branch called Djebel Ayra projects, like Djebel Ohod, from the main chain, into the plain.

The town itself is built on the lowest part of the plain; for it receives the torrents from the western mountains, as well as the currents from the S. and S.E. quarters; and they produce in the rainy season numerous pools of stagnant water, which is left to evaporate gradually; the gardens, trees, and walls, with which the plain abounds, interrupting the free current of air. These gardens, and date- plantations, interspersed with fields, enclose the town on three sides, leaving

[p.323] only that part of the plain open to the view, which is on the side of the road towards Mekka, where the rocky nature of the ground renders cultivation impossible.

Medina is divided into the interior town, and the suburbs; the interior forms an oval, of about two thousand eight hundred paces in total circuit, ending in a point. The castle is built at the point, upon a small rocky elevation; and the whole is enclosed by a thick stone wall, between thirty-five and forty feet high, flanked by about thirty towers, and surrounded by a ditch, (the work of the Wahabys,) which is in many places nearly filled up. The wall is in complete repair, forming, in Arabia, a very respectable defence; so that Medina has always been considered as the princ.i.p.al fortress of the Hedjaz. The wall was built A.H. 860; and till that time the town was quite open, and daily exposed to the incursions of the neighbouring Bedouins. It was subsequently rebuilt at different times, but princ.i.p.ally in A.H. 900, a ditch having been previously carried round it in 751 (v. S.) According to Asamy, it was built as it now stands, with its gates, by order of Solyman ibn Selym, at the close of the sixteenth century of our era. Three fine gates lead into the town: Bab el Masry, on the south side, (which, next to Bab el Fatouh, at Cairo, is the finest town-gate I have seen in the East); Bab es' Shamy, on the north side; and Bab el Ujoma, on the east side: a smaller by-gate, called Bab es' Soghyr, in the south wall, had been closed up by the Wahabys. Near the Bab es' Shamy, close to the castle, is a niche in the town-wall, where, it is related, a small chapel once stood, called Mesdjed es' Sabak, from whence the warlike adherents of Mohammed used to start in their exercise of running.

Medina is well built, entirely of stone; its houses are generally two stories high, with flat roofs. As they are not white-washed, and the stone is of a dark colour, the streets have rather a gloomy aspect; and are, for the most part, very narrow, often only two or three paces across: a few of the princ.i.p.al streets are paved with large blocks of stone; a comfort which a traveller little expects to find in Arabia. It is, on the whole, one of the best-built towns I have seen in the East, ranking, in this respect, next to Aleppo. At present, it has a desolate

[p.324] appearance: the houses are suffered to decay; their owners, who formerly derived great profits from the crowd of visiters which arrived here at all times of the year, now find their income diminished, and decline the heavy expense of building, as they know they cannot be reimbursed by the letting out of apartments. Ruined houses, and walls wanting repair, are seen in every part of the town; and Medina presents the same disheartening view as most of the Eastern towns, which now afford but faint images of their ancient splendour.

The princ.i.p.al street of Medina is also the broadest, and leads from the Cairo gate to the great mosque: in this street are most of the shops.

Another considerable street, called El Belat, runs from the mosque to the Syrian gate; but many of its houses are in ruins: this contains also a few shops, but none are found in other parts of the town; thus differing from Mekka, which is one continued market. In general, the latter is much more like an Arab town than Medina, which resembles more a Syrian city. I had no time to trace all the different quarters of the town; but I shall here give the names by which they are at present known.

The quarter comprised between the two main streets leading from the Egyptian and Syrian gates to the mosque, are, Es-Saha, Komet Hasheyfe, El Belat, Zogag el Towal, (here is situated the Mekkam, or house of the Kadhy, and several pleasant gardens are attached to the larger buildings;) Zogag el Dhorra, Sakyfet Shakhy, Zogag el Bakar.

The quarters lying to the north of the street El Belat, extending to the north of the mosque, as far as the gate El Djoma, are:--El Hamata, Zogag el Habs, Zogag Ankyny, Zogag es' Semahedy, Haret el Meyda, Haret es'

Shershoura, Zogag el Bedour, Haret el Agowat, where the eunuchs of the mosque live.

The quarters from the gate El Djoma, along the southern parts of the town, as far as the Egyptian gate, and the great market-street, are: Derwan, Es-Salehye, Zogag Yahou, Haret Ahmed Heydar, Haret Beni Hosseyn, the tribe of Beni Hosseyn living here; Haret el Besough, Haret Sakyfet, Er-Resas, Zogag el Zerendy, Zogag el Kibreit,

[p.325] Zogag el Hadjamyn, Haret Sydy Malek, where Malek ibn Anes, the founder of the Malekite sect, had his house, and Haret el Kamashyn.

Very few large buildings, or public edifices, are found in the precincts of the town. The great mosque, containing the tomb of Mohammed, is the only temple. A fine public school, called Medrese el Hamdye, in the street El Belat; a similar one, near the mosque, where the Sheikh el Haram, or its guardian, lives; a large corn-magazine, enclosing a wide yard, in the southern quarter of the town; a bath, (the only one,) not far distant from it, built in A.H. 973, by Mohammed Pasha, vizier of Sultan Soleyman, are all the public buildings which fell under my observation. [The historian of Medina mentions several Okals, or public khans, in this town; but I saw none, nor do I believe that they now exist] This want of splendid monuments was likewise remarked by me at Mekka. The Arabians, in general, have little taste for architecture; and even their chiefs content themselves in their mansions with what is merely necessary. Whatever public edifices are still found in Mekka and Medina, are the work of the Sultans of Egypt or of Constantinople; and the necessary expenses incurred annually by these distant sovereigns, for the sake of the two holy cities, were too great to allow of any augmentation for mere show. For the want of public buildings, however, in the town, a compensation is made by the number of pretty private habitations, having small gardens, with wells, the water of which is used in irrigation, and fills marble basins, round which, in summer- time, the owners pa.s.s the hours of noon under lofty sheds.

The castle, which I have mentioned above, is surrounded by very strong walls, and several high and solid towers. I was not permitted to enter it, on applying at the gate. It contains sufficient s.p.a.ce for six or eight hundred men; has many arched rooms, bomb-proof; and, if well garrisoned, and furnished with provisions, may be deemed impregnable by an Arabian force, as it is built upon a rock, and therefore cannot be undermined. To European artillery, however, it would appear an insignificant fort. It contains a deep well of good water.

[p.326] Two or three, guns only are at present mounted on its towers; nor were there more than a dozen serviceable guns to defend the whole town.

On the west and south of the town extend the suburbs, which cover more ground than the town itself. They are separated from it by an open s.p.a.ce, narrow on the south side, but widening on the west, before the Cairo gate, where it forms a large public place, called Monakh; a name implying that caravans alight there, which is really the case, as it is always crowded with camels and Bedouins. Several rows of small huts and sheds are erected here, in which provisions are sold, princ.i.p.ally corn, dates, vegetables, and b.u.t.ter; and a number of coffee-huts, which are beset the whole day with visiters. The side of the suburbs fronting the Monakh has no walls; but on the outside, to the west and south, they are enclosed by a wall, of inferior size and strength to the interior town wall. In several parts it is completely ruined; on the south side only it is defended by small towers. Four gates lead from the suburbs into the open country; they are small wooden doors, of no strength, except that leading from the Cairo gate, which is larger and better built than the rest.

The greater part of the suburbs consists in large court-yards, with low apartments built round them, on the ground-floor, and separated from each other by gardens and plantations. These are called Hosh, (plur.

Hyshan,) and are inhabited by all the lower cla.s.ses of the town, many Bedouins who have become settlers here, and all those who are engaged in agriculture. Each hosh contains thirty or forty families; thus forming so many small separate hamlets, which, in times of unsettled government, are frequently engaged in desperate feuds with each other. The cattle is kept in the midst of the court-yard, in each of which is a large well; and the only gate of entrance is regularly shut at night. On the S. and N.W. sides of the town, within the precincts of the wall, the suburbs consist entirely of similar court-yards, with extensive gardens between and behind them. On the west side, directly opposite the Cairo gate and the Monakh, the suburb consists of regular and well-built streets, with houses resembling those of the

[p.327] interior of the town. The broad street, called El Ambarye, crosses this part of the suburb, and has good buildings on both sides.

In this neighbourhood lived Tousoun Pasha, in a private dwelling; and near it, in the best house of the town, belonging to the rich merchant Abd el Shekour, lived the Pasha's mother, the wife of Mohammed Aly, and his own women, who had lately come on a visit.

The princ.i.p.al quarters of the suburbs are Haret el Ambarye, Haret el Wadjeha, Haret es' Sahh, Haret Abou Aysa, Haret Masr, Haret el Teyar, Haret Nefse, Haret el Hamdye, Haret el Shahrye, Haret el Kheybarye, Haret el Djafar. Many people of the interior town have their summer houses in these quarters, where they pa.s.s a month in the date-harvest.

Every garden is enclosed by mud walls, and several narrow by-lanes, just broad enough for a loaded camel to cross the suburbs in every direction.

There are two mosques in the Monakh: the one, called Mesdjed Aly, or the mosque of the Prophet's cousin, is said to be as old as the time of Mohammed; but the building, as it stands, was rebuilt in A.H. 876.

Mohammed is said to have often prayed here; and, for the convenience of the inhabitants of the suburbs who are at a distance from the great mosque, the Khotbe, or Friday's prayer, is likewise performed in it. The other mosque, called Mesdjed Omar, to which a public medrese, or school, was attached, serves at present as a magazine, and quarters for many soldiers. To both these mosques the historian of Mekka applies the name of Mesdjed el Fath: he calls the one Mesdjed el Aala, from standing on the highest part of the town. Two other mosques, the one called Mesdjed Aly Beker, and the other Mesdjed Zobab, stood in this neighbourhood in the sixteenth century; and the Monakh at that time bore the name of Djebel Sola, the Arabians applying the name of Djebel (or mountain) to any slightly elevated spot of ground. In the same author's time there were fifteen mosques in this town and its neighbourhood, all now ruined; and he gives the names and history of thirty-seven that were erected in the former ages of Islam.

I was told, that in the quarter El Ambarye the house where Mohammed lived is still shown; but many doubt this tradition, and the spot is not visited as one of the holy places. Here, as in Mekka, no

[p.328] ancient buildings are found. The winter rains, the nitrous, damp atmosphere during the rainy season, and the intense heat which follows it, are destructive to buildings; and the cement employed in their construction being of a very indifferent quality, the stones soon become loosened and the walls decay.

The town is supplied with sweet water by a fine subterraneous ca.n.a.l, carried hither from the village of Koba, about three quarters of an hour distant, in a southern direction, at the expense of Sultan Solyman, the son of Selym I. The water is abundant, and, in several parts of the town, steps are made down to the ca.n.a.l, where the inhabitants supply themselves with water, but are not, like the people of Mekka, obliged to pay for it. On the skirts of the Monakh, a large reservoir, cased with stone, has also been made, on a level with the ca.n.a.l, which is constantly kept full. The water in the ca.n.a.l runs at the depth of between twenty and twenty-five feet below the surface; it is derived from several springs at Koba, and, though not disagreeable to the taste, is nevertheless of bad quality. If left for half an hour in a vessel, it covers the sides of it with a white nitrous crust; and all foreigners, who are not accustomed to it from their earliest youth, complain of its producing indigestion. It is tepid at its source in Koba, and even at Medina slightly preserves its temperature. There are also many wells scattered over the town; every garden has one, by which it is irrigated; and wherever the ground is bored to the depth of twenty-five or thirty feet, water is found in plenty. Of some wells the water is sweet enough for drinking; of others quite brackish. The fertility of the fields and gardens is in proportion to the quality of the well-water; those irrigated with brackish water, repay badly the labour of their owners; the date-trees alone thriving equally well in any place.