The other exports of Arabia are gum-arabic, myrrh, aloes, almonds, balm of Mecca, frankincense, and some aromatic and medicinal drugs. The Arabians obtain the gum-arabic, myrrh, and frankincense from Africa, but chiefly from the annual fair at Berbera, which continues from October till April. Tlie first caravan brings down about 15,000 habar, (each bahar is 320 lbs.) of gum arable, which sells at 15 dollars per bahar ; and about 2000 bahar of myrrh, which brings 22 dollars per bahar. The frankincense, which sells at 12 dollars per bahar, is produced near Cape Guardafui, and is exported from Bunder Cassim, a harbour of the Samaulies, near Cape Felix. The greater part of these articles is exported from Mocha to Egypt ; a small quantity is consumed in Arabia and Persia, and some is exported to Bombay. As the Arabian vessels are excluded from the ports of the Samaulies, who inhabit the coast from the straits to Cape Guardafui, the greater part of the myrrh and gum-arabic is carried in the (lows of the Samaulies, to Mocha and Aden, but principally to the latter place, where the Banians of Mocha have agents to manage their business. See ADEN, 2d edit. of this work. • The Arabians supply themselves at the fair of Ber bera, with ghee, slaves, camels, horses, mules, and asses; but the profits upon these articles are much less than those on the India goods which they exchange with the inhabitants of Africa, for their gum-arabic, frankin cense, &c. The manufactures of India are in such high estimation, that the interior chiefs, particularly the so vereign of Hanim, who lives twenty days journey from the coast, send caravans to Berbera to purchase these manufactures with ivory and gold.* As their own manufactures are very contemptible, their imports consist chiefly of articles of ornament and apparel, weapons of defence, and corn. Few European goods are used in Arabia; their principal imports from that quarter, therefore, are silver, iron, copper, lead, fire-arms, and gun-powder. They receive from Abys sinia, sheep, elephants' teeth, and musk ; from the east ern coast of Africa, gold, slaves, amber, and ivory, and a vast deal of cotton from Coromandel. Surat supplies them with plenty of linen, and Egypt with rice, lentils, sugar, and oil. But commerce meets with many vexa tious interruptions, from exorbitant imposts levied upon its commodities. At Mocha, a fourth part of the price of every ship load of coffee must be paid to the Imam before it can be put on ship-board for exportation, a cus tom as ancient as the time of Pliny, who mentions, that the Arabs granted a fourth of the value of their produc tions to their princes. At the port of Jidda, the imposts are very high, which arises from the mixed state of its government, the grand signior, and the sherriffe of Mecca, sharing the authority and the revenue between them. The Europeans pay 8 per cent., all other nations 13. This is generally discharged in goods, which the managers of the customs compel the merchants of the country to buy at a very exorbitant price : It is on ac count of these extortions that we find few of the branches of business carried on by natives. They are generally In the hands of foreigners, who retire from the country as soon as they have made their fortunes.
Notwithstanding the unavoidable inconveniences, the delay, the danger, the expense, and the fatigue of con veying the productions of one country to another by land, we find that the most valuable traffic of the Alt bians, is still carried on by the means of caravans. Those of Syria and Egypt are met at Mecca by cara vans from Yemen and Lachsa, and the collected multi tude which annually assemble at that city for merchan dise or devotion, have been computed at two hundred thousand. Though obedience to the dictates of their prophet may be the apparent object of their journey, yet commercial ideas mingle with those of devotion, and the greatest number visit the holy city, chiefly from mo tives of interest. Mecca is thus crowded, not only with devotees, but with opulent merchants, and, during the few days which they remain there, mercantile transac tions are carried on to an immense value. The muslin and chintzes of Bengal, the shawls of Cachemire, the diamonds of Golconda, the nutmeg and cloves of the Moluccas, and other Indian commodities, are brought upon the backs of camels to the fair of Mecca, and thence are disseminated by the return of the caravan, through the extensive continents of Asia and Africa. By this commercial intercourse, this city, though situated in a rocky and barren valley, has become the most flou rishing and wealthy in Arabia. The long and toilsome journies which these caravans perform through barren deserts and uninhabited wilds, and the fatigue and hard ships which the pilgrims must sometimes endure, appear to us almost incredible : water and provisions must be carried for many hundred miles. There are few wells
in these parched regions, and the travellers are every hour exposed to the whirlwinds, and the wandering rob bers of the desert. To accomplish such painful journies, Providence has furnished the inhabitants of these coun tries with a beast of burden peculiarly fitted for treading these burning wastes. From the persevering strength of the camel, which the Arabians emphatically called the Shift of the Desert ; from his moderation in the use of food, and from the singularity of his internal struc ture, by which he can lay up a supply of water for se veral days, he is enabled to traverse the most dreary regions under a heavy burden of seven hundred weight ; with a pound of food and a short rest, he will travel from 15 to 18 hours a day ; and will perform, with astonish ing dispatch, a journey impracticable by any other ani mal.
The current coins in the dominions of Sana, are the commesh and half commesh. The commesh is a small piece, less than a sixpence, of base adulterated silver. It is inscribed on one side with the name of the Imam ; on the other, with Emir el Moumeneen, " Prince of the Faithful." But the coin in which purchases of any amount are made, is the pataka, or imperial dollar, value 4s. 6d. sterling, and equal to 40 commeshes. The ducats of Venice, Germany, and Turky, are also current here. Their coins are all taken by weight, and valued accord ing to their fineness.
The weights of Yemen appear to be of Italian origin, and were probably borrowed from the Venetians, who once carried on a considerable trade in the Arabic Gulf. Their rates are shewn in the following table : At Loheia, the rotolo is of two sorts ; one of 140 drachms, used in selling fine, the other 160 drachms, for ordinary and coarser goods. The quintal of Yemen, carried to Jidda, is 113 rotolo; because the rotolo of this place is 144 drachms.
The long measure used in Yemen is 264 inches, which they call the peek of Stamboul; but it appears to be rather a distinct measure, for the Stambouline peek measures only 231 inches.
The Arabians, in common with all Mussulmen, com pute their time from the flight of Mahomet from Mecca. to Medina, which is supposed to have happened on the 16th of July, A. D. 622; but which in reality took place 59 clays posterior to that period, on the first day of the former Rabi ; and these days were anticipated in the computation, that the Arabian year might begin, as for merly, on the first of the month Al Moharranz. This epoch is called the Hegira, or " flight," and was first ap pointed in the caliphate or Omar. Certain remarkable events supplied them with epochs before that time; such as the inundation of Al Arm:, the war of the elephant, the impious war, Etc. The Arabian year consists of 354 days eight hours and 48 minutes, which they com pute by lunar months. The ancient Arabs, after the manner of the Jews, reduced their lunar into solar years, by intercalating a month every second or third year, making seven months in 19 years; by which means, their months were fixed to the same seasons ; and the pilgrimage to Mecca, (contrary to the original institu tion) was performed always at the same time of the year. But Mahomet considering such intercalations as absolutely unlawful, and contrary to the ordinance of the Deity, who, he supposed, had appointed the yearto con sist of 12 months only, prohibited in the Koran the in sertion of these months for the future. Hence, the be ginning of the Mahometan year is always variable, every year beginning eleven days sooner than the one preced ing, and thus circulating through all the seasons. In reckoning, therefore, according to the xra of the He gira, one year must be added to every 53, nearly, that it may correspond with the solar computation. In order, however, that their calculations may be strictly lunar, they intercalate 11 days, formed of the odd hours and minutes exceeding the annual complement of 354 days, every 30 years, adding a day every third or second year: The intcrcalary years are the second, fifth, seventh, tenth, thirteenth, fifteenth, eighteenth, twenty-first, twenty-fourth, twenty-sixth, and twenty-ninth. A table, with the names of their months, and the number of days in each, may be interesting to our readers. They re ceived their present names from Kelab, an ancestor of Mahomet, which he derived from some contingencies, which happened in each. They were afterwards sanc tioned by the prophet, and have continued as one of the distinguishing marks of his followers.