JIDDA, JEDDA, Z1•TA, or DaCIIEDA, is a small trading town of Arabia Felix, situated in the district of Tahamah, about 40 miles distant from Mecca, north lati tude 20° 28' I", and cast longitude from Greemv ich 39" 16' 45". It is defended by a fort, and surrounded by a ruinous wall, built in the scar 1514. Its harbour is very extensive, formed by numberless reefs of Madrapore, extending about four miles from the shore, and full of small islands and sunken rocks. The entrance is sufficiently dangerous, but the pilots are expert, steering safely by the eye alone, and easily perceiving the rocks below the smooth surface, espe cially when the sun is behind the vessel. Between these shoals and islands are deep channels, with a good bottom, where ships may lie at anchorage in six or twelve fathoms, and where the water is as smooth as glass, in the heaviest gales. The surrounding country is sandy, barren, and destitute of water, and the town is very ill supplied with provisions. A desert plain to the eastward is occupied by Bedouins, or country Arabs, who live in huts made of long bundles of bent grass, or spartum, and who supply the in habitants of Jidda with milk and butter. The situation is as unwholesome as it is unproductive ; and, besides several stagnant pools in the ticinity, the north-west wind, which chiefly prevails, blowing along the direction of the gulf, brings a great dampness through the greater part of the year. The highest degree of the thermometer observed by Mr. Bruce in July was 97°, and the lowest 78°. The barometer in June was between 26° 6', and 25° 7'; wind north-west. The town of Jidda derives all its celebrity, and even its ex istence, from its vicinity to the city of Mecca, to which it is the nearest sea-port, and the great receptacle of the India trade, which arrives once a-year. The inhabitants of the place, indeed, derive little advantage from this rich traffic, which passes on to Mecca, and for which the payments re turn to the ships, without leaving much profit by the way to the townsmen. The influx of strangers, on the con trary, raises the price of m ovisions ; and the native traders, after the market is over, which does not last above six weeks, retire to Yemen and the neighbouring countries, where every' article of subsistence is found in abundance. Jidda,
however, is also the great depot of all merchandize intend ed to be carried to Suez for the demands of Egypt ; and great multitudes of the inhabitants find employment in land ing and re-shipping these goods, in providing warehouses for their safe deposit, and in acting as factors in receiving and disposing of them. The English traders, in 1777, made an attempt to carry their cargoes directly to Suez, without passing them through Jidda into native vessels; and this trade, which continued about three years, was encouraged by the Egyptian Beys, as the English mer chants paid them twice as much impost as the Jidda im porters. But the Sheriffe of Mecca, who draws the customs of the port of Jidda, procured an order from the Grand Seignior, that all vessels bound for Egypt should stop at Jidda, and pay duty there ; and obliged the merchants, when once in his harbour, to unship their gcods, and send them forward to Suez in other vessels. The Sultan secured a share of these profits, and regularly appointed a pasha, who resided in the citadel of Jidda, and divided the receipts of the custom-house with the Sheriffe's Vizier. During the convulsions of Egypt, and the insur rections of the Wachabees, the Sheriffe contrived to expel the representative of the Sultan, and to appropriate the whole duties to himself. I lis extortions, however, in the name of presents to himself and his servants, have caus ed a great diminution of the trade formerly carried on by the English with Jidda ; and many of the richest merchants have retired from the place. The Sheriffe, made aware of his folly' by the reduction of his revenues, has become more moderate in his demands. The duties recently pro posed amount to about eight pc] cent. and the presents to about half as much ; but it irei chant, when once in the har bour, from which he could scarcely escape without a native pilot, could never be secure against further demands. See Bruce's Travels, vol. ii. ; Parson's Travels; and Valentia's Travels, vol. iii. (q)