'Southern Arabia, by Theodore Bent, F.R.G.S., F.S.A., Author of 'The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland' 'The Sacred City of the Ethiopians' 'The Cyclades, Or Life Among the Insular Greeks' etc. and Mrs Theodore Bent' [‎77] (118/552)

MAKALLA
77
here as short as possible. This ' palace' was a large
building; a very dirty staircase led to a quantity of rooms,
large and small, inhabited in rather a confusing manner, not
only by our own party, but by another, and to get at our
servants we had to pick our way between the prostrate
forms of an Arabian gentleman and his attendants. We
were the first arrivals, so we collected from the various
rooms as many bits of torn and rotten old matting as we
could find, to keep the dust down in our own room, which
was about 40 feet long by 30 feet wide, so very much covered
with dust that no pavement could be seen without digging.
It would have been necessary to have ' seven maids with
seven brooms to sweep for half a year' before they could
have cleared that room. Windows were all round, unglazed
of course, and quite shutterless. We set out our furniture and
had plenty of room to spread the baggage round us. An
enormous packing case from Kew Gardens had little besides
a great fork in it, so that case came no farther. Another
case, to which the botanist had to resort constantly, had
always to be tied up with rope, as it had neither lock nor
hinges.
We were six days at Makalla arranging about camels and
safe conduct, and wondering when we should get away; so
of course we had plenty of time to inspect the town, which
on account of the many Parsees had quite an Indian air
in some parts. Sometimes one comes upon a deliciously
scented part in the bazaars where myrrh and spices, attar of
roses, and rose leaves are sold in little grimy holes almost too
small to enter; but for the part near the fish market, I can
only say that awful stenches prevail, and the part where
dates and other fruits are sold is almost impassable from
flies.
For our journey inland we were entrusted by the sultan
to a tribe of Bedouin and their camels. Mokaik was the