Practically all the riding animals are of the one-hump or Arabian species. They are much larger and stronger than the two-hump animals. One variety is slim and comparatively light in weight. These animals, as a rule, are trained to a swift gait, and are used solely as riding animals. They are called dromedaries, a word that means swift-runner.
Most of the other species are reared for the same purpose as domestic cattle. Some are valuable as beasts of burden, others are shorn for their coating, still others are kept for their milk and flesh. A well-trained dromedary will sell for three hundred dollars and upward; a pack animal rarely brings more than one-fourth as much. The milk of the camel is equal to that of the best domestic cows and is greatly prized. The hair of several species surpasses sheep's wool in texture and is used in the finer kinds of cloth, and it is the most precious textile in high-priced Oriental rugs and shawls. Ordinarily, however, camel's hair is coarse and is used for the cheapest textiles. Arabia is the source from which a large proportion of the camels used in the caravan trade of Asia and Africa is obtained. Fermented camel's milk is much used all over western Asia.
The Arabian horse has been famous in literature and in song for more than two thousand years. The district of Nejd has been the chief breeding locality for these horses for many centuries. Contrary to tradition, however, even the finest animals are neither so large nor so swift as American thoroughbred horses. The qualities that have made the Arabian horse famous are its beautiful proportions, endurance, and intelligence. Young colts mingle freely with their owners and attendants, and they need, therefore, only the training to make them saddle-wise; they require no "breaking." Brought up with the family and treated with the greatest kindness from its birth the colt learns to regard his master as his best friend.
Ordinarily but little water is given them, and they are so well trained that a good animal will go a whole day in summer and two days in winter without drink. The pure, full-blood Arabian is never sold. It may be acquired only by gift, by capture in war, or by legacy. Animals of mixed breed, however, are freely sold, most of them going to Turkey and to India.
Mocha coffee is another product for which Arabia is renowned. The coffee berry bearing this name is of the peaberry variety—that is, only one of the two seeds within the husk comes to maturity. Most of the coffee is grown in Yemen and the adjoining vilayets, and it received its name because it was formerly marketed at the port of Mocha. Of late years it has been shipped from Hodeida.
The business is in the hands of Arab merchants, and the coffee is carried to Hodeida by caravans. On its way it is carefully sorted by hand into three or more grades. The finest grade is sold to wealthy Turkish customers at from three to five dollars per pound; the inferior grades command prices varying from thirty cents to twice or three times as much. Very little of the product ever passes outside of Turkey. All the Mocha coffee grown in Yemen would not much more than supply New York City.
The pearl fisheries along the Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf are also controlled by Arab traders. From there are obtained some of the finest pearls to be found, and also many tons of mother-of-pearl shells. The yearly product of the fisheries is thought to exceed more than two millions of dollars in value. The pearls are found in a species of oyster, and to obtain them the divers must go to the bottom in from thirty to ninety feet of water. Expert divers can remain under water as long as two minutes.
The oysters are taken ashore to be opened, and Turkish inspectors are on hand to levy a tax on the product. A few pearls may escape him, especially if he is temporarily blinded by the glare of several piasters; but the pearl industry is taxed for about all that it is worth.
Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, is the city to which every disciple of Islam is supposed to make a pilgrimage at least once in his lifetime. The chief income of the inhabitants of Mecca is obtained by renting rooms and entertaining the visiting pilgrims who flock thither.
In the centre of the city is the so-called Sacred Mosque, or area, which is entirely enclosed by a covered structure of colonnades having minarets and cupolas. Within the centre of this enclosed space is a cube-shaped building called the Kaaba, which contains the famous sacred Black Stone. This stone, probably of meteoric origin, gives to the building its sanctity, and is an object of the greatest veneration to every pious Moslem, who kisses it repeatedly. There is also within the enclosure a building containing the holy well, Zemzem, the only well in Mecca.