amongst the Mahomedans, a term of similar import with heretics amongst Christians. The Jezides are a numerous sect inhabiting Turkey and Persia, and so called from their head, Jeziid, an Arabian prince, who slew the sons of Ali, Mahammed's father-in-law; for which reason he is reckoned a parricide, and his followers heretics. There are in Turkey and Persia many Jezides, who are of two sorts, black and white. The white are clad like Turks, and distinguished only by their shirts, which are not slit at the neck like those of others, but have a round hole to thrust their heads through. The black Jezides, though married, are the monks or religious persons of the order; and they are called Fakirs.

The Turks exact excessive taxes from the Jezides, who in their turn hate the Turks as their mortal enemies; and when, in their wrath, they curse any creature, they call it Moslemim. They are extremely ignorant, and believe both the Bible and the Koran without reading either. All the adoration they pay to God consists of some songs in honour of Jesus Christ, the virgin, Moses, and sometimes Mahammed; and it is a principal point of their religion never to speak ill of the devil, lest he should resent the injury if ever he were to come into favour with God again, which they think possible. They bury their dead in the first place they come at, rejoicing as at a festival, and celebrating the entry of the deceased into heaven. When they get wine, they drink it to excess; and it is said that they sometimes do this with a religious purpose, calling it the blood of Christ.

JEZIRA-UL-OMAR, a town of Koordistan, situated on a low sandy island in the Tigris, about three miles in circumference, and environed with mountains. It covers the greater part of the island, and is defended by a stone wall now fallen into decay. It occupies the site of the ancient Roman fortress of Bezabde.

JEZRAEL, or Jezreel, a town in the north of Samaria, towards Mount Carmel, where stood a palace of the kings of Israel, and upon the borders of Galilee. It was said to be one of the towns of Issachar. The valley of Jezreel, situated to the north of the town, runs from west to east for ten miles, between two mountains, the one to the north, commonly called Hermon, near Mount Tabor, the other Gilboa; and it was in breadth two miles.

JHALAWAN, a territory in the western part of Persia, forming the most southerly province of Beloochistan, and bordering on Mekran and Sinde. It is a very mountainous tract, divided into districts, which furnish each its quota of troops to the chief, Mahammed Khan.

JHANSI, a considerable town of Hindustan, in the province of Allahabad, district of Bundelcund. It has a strong citadel, situated on a hill which commands the town. It has a manufactory of bows, arrows, and spears, the weapons still in use among the barbarous tribes of the country. The surrounding district is valued at L50,000 per annum, and belongs to a Hindu chief, one of the British allies. Long. 71.45. E. Lat. 25.31. N.

JHANSU-JEUNG, a castle in Thibet, standing on a perpendicular rock, which, from its height, seems to be nearly impregnable. It is surrounded by a populous and well-cultivated valley, which is famous for the manufacture of woollens. Long. 89.23. E. Lat. 28.50. N.

JHINGWARA, a Coolee state in the province of Gujerat, and district of Chalawar, containing between 5000 and 6000 houses. It is chiefly ruled by different branches of the same family, of which that of Virajee is the most powerful. The inhabitants are mostly Coolees, who have been degraded from their original rank of rajpoots. It was formerly much larger than it is at present, and was celebrated for a temple dedicated to the sun. On the banks of the Run, near this, a large quantity of salt is prepared, which is also a source of revenue.

JHURJHOORY, a village in the dominions of Nepaul, to the south of which lies the Jhurjhoory Forest, which is about ten miles in breadth, and contains all the finest woods. It is a wretched village, consisting of a few herdsmen's huts, scattered on the south bank of the Bukkia, the bed of which is here of considerable breadth. Long. 85.20. E. Lat. 27.4. N.

JHYLUM, Jelum, Behut, or Vidusta, the ancient Hydaspes, a large river of Hindustan, which has its rise in the south-east corner of the valley of Cashmere, in the great Himalaya range of mountains. It is there called Vidusta, and passes through two lakes east and west of the town of Cashmere. It is joined, ten miles below the town, by the Little Sind, and receives many small rivulets in its course through the valley and hills, which it enters at Baramoola; and, four miles below Moozafferabad, it receives the Kishungunga from the north; its course thus far being nearly west. From this it takes a great curve to the south, and near Jelum it is little known, the country being so excessively mountainous that few travellers ever pass that way. In its course through the hills this river is very rapid, and from 100 to 200 yards broad. It is not fordable at any season, though in many places nearly so, as men and horses cross with ease, having only fifteen or twenty yards to swim. After a course of 450 miles, it joins the Chunab at Trimmoo Ghat, eighteen miles below Jhung, and ninety-five above Moultan, in which it loses its name. These joint streams, called the Chunab or Chunba, receive the Ravve forty-eight miles lower down, near Fazilshah and Ahmedpoor, from the eastward, and pass four miles north of Moultan, retaining the name of Chunab to within seven miles of Ooch, where they are joined at Sheeneehukree by the Gharra, or joint streams of the Beyah and Sutedj, 112 miles below Moultan, and sixty miles below Buhawulpore. From this point to Mittenda Khot, where they fall into the Indus, about seventy-six miles, these five streams take the name of the Punjab. The Indus, and the Punjab, or the five rivers, run parallel to each other for this distance, which is about ten and a half miles. The whole of this space is one complete sheet of water during the rains and hot season, and appears as one river. The greatest breadth between the Jhylum and the Indus appears to be 114 miles from Attock to Jellalapure Ghat. The whole course of the Jhylum, including its windings, may be estimated to exceed 400 miles. JIB, the foremost sail of a ship, being a large stay-sail, extended from the outer end of the boltsprit, and prolonged by the jib-boom, towards the fore-top mast head. See SAIL.

Jib-Boom, a boom run out from the extremity of the boltsprit, parallel to its length, and serving to extend the bottom of the jib, and the stay of the foretop-gallant mast. This boom, which is nothing more than a continuation of the boltsprit forward, to which it may be considered as a topmast, is usually attached to the boltsprit by means of two large boom-irons, or by one boom-iron, and a cap on the outer end of the boltsprit; or, finally, by the cap without and a strong lashing within, instead of a boom-iron, which is generally the method of securing it in small merchant ships.

JIDDA, or DJIDDA, a considerable commercial town, the port of Mecca, situated on the eastern shore of the Red Sea. It is built on a slightly rising ground, the lowest side of which is washed by the sea, and extends along the shore, in its greatest length, about 1500 paces, and is about half that space in breadth. It was encompassed with a wall in 1540; but as this ancient defence has long since fallen into a state of ruin, a new wall has been constructed on the land side, by the joint labours of the inhabitants, to guard against the incursions of the Wahhabees. It is in a tolerable state of repair, but is of no strength; though it is a sufficient barrier against the Arabs, who have no artillery. Watch-towers, with a few rusty guns, are erected at the distance of forty or fifty paces; a narrow ditch is carried round it to increase the means of defense; and it enjoys throughout Arabia the reputation of an impregnable fortress. At the northern extremity stands the governor's residence; and on the southern is a small castle, mounting eight or ten guns. The whole harbour is commanded by a battery, in which is mounted an immense old piece of ordnance, which carries a ball of 500 pounds, and, says Burckhardt, "is so celebrated all over the Red Sea, that the very name of it is a protection to the port." The approach to the town by the sea is by two quays, where small boats discharge the cargoes of large ships; these last being obliged to anchor in the roadstead, about two miles from the shore. The quays being shut every evening after sun-set, all communication is prevented at night between the town and the shipping. On the land-side Jidda has two gates, the Bab-Mekka on the east side, and the Bab-el-Medina on the north. Along the area enclosed by the modern wall, and by the sea on the west, a broad piece of open ground extends the whole length of the interior wall; there is also a good deal of waste ground near the Medina gate, and on the southern extremity. The suburbs consist of miserable huts of reeds, rushes, and brushwood, inhabited by Bedouins or poor peasants and labourers, who live after the Arab fashion. The most respectable inhabitants reside near the sea, where there is a long street parallel with the shore, lined with shops, and containing many khans, exclusively frequented by merchants. Jidda is well built; the streets, though unpaved, are spacious and airy; and the houses are high, consisting mostly of two stories, with many small windows and wooden shutters, and wholly constructed of stone, mostly brought from the sea-shore, but consisting of madrepores and other marine fossils. They have generally a spacious hall at the entrance, where, at noon, the master, with all his male attendants and slaves, may be seen enjoying a siesta. No attention is paid to uniformity of architecture. Some houses are built with small, others with large square stones; sometimes the walls are entirely of stone, whilst at other times layers of plank are placed at intervals in the wall. When the walls are plastered, the dazzling white, during the glare of the sun, is extremely distressing to the eye. There are no buildings of ancient date, owing to the rapid decay of the madrepore, of which they are constructed, when it is exposed to the rain and the moist atmosphere prevalent on the shores of the Red Sea. The town contains, besides many small mosques, two of considerable size. The governor's habitation is a paltry building, as also that of the collector of the customs. The khans are, many of them, well built, and have good accommodation for the foreign merchants, whose residence they are during their short stay in the town. Water is scarce in Jidda, as in most of the Arabian towns. Several of the wells are private property, and yield their owners a considerable income. Every town of moderate size has its cisterns; but the rains not falling in sufficient abundance to afford an adequate supply to the town, the inhabitants are forced to have recourse to pools formed outside of the town in the rainy season. This water is not so good as the rain-water, which is esteemed a delicacy; and though water is everywhere found at the depth of fifteen feet, it is of a bad quality, and scarcely fit for use. There are only two wells that afford sweet water, which is wholly consumed by the rich. The poorer classes use the water supplied by the other wells, to which, being of indifferent quality, their ill health is ascribed. The town of Jidda is surrounded by a barren desert, without gardens or vegetation of any kind, except a few date-trees adjoining one of the mosques, or a few shrubs and low acacia trees. Beyond the Mecca walls and on the road to this place, are huts inhabited by poor Bedouins, camel-drivers, and negro hadjis or pilgrims, who gain a livelihood by cutting wood in the mountains. About a mile beyond these huts, eastward of the town, is the principal burial-ground, containing the tombs of several sheikhs. There are also several cemeteries within the walls.

The inhabitants of Jidda, like those of Mecca and Medina, are almost exclusively foreigners, and consist, in many cases, of rich merchants, who come on their pilgrimage to Mecca with large adventures of goods, and, not being able to settle their accounts immediately, they wait another year. In the mean time, cohabiting with Abyssinian slaves, whom they marry, and finding themselves with a family, they at last settle in the country. Every pilgrimage thus adds to the population of Jidda, as of the other Arabian towns, and recruits the waste occasioned by the surplus of the deaths over the births. The natives of Jidda are only a few families of Sherifs, who are all of the learned order, and are attached to the mosques or the courts of justice. All the others are foreigners, or their descendants. Colonies from every town and province of Hadramaut and Yemen are settled in Jidda, and maintain an intercourse with their native places. There are upwards of a hundred Indian families from Surat, and a few from Bombay; also Malays, and people from Muskat. The settlers from Egypt, Syria, Barbary, European Turkey, and Anatolia, may be still recognised in the features of their descendants. No Christians are settled in Jidda; but a few Greeks from the islands of the archipelago occasionally bring merchandise to this market from Egypt. Jews were formerly the chief brokers of the town, but they were all expelled about fifty or sixty years ago by some of the governors.

Jidda is a great emporium of maritime commerce, and well merits the Arabian appellation of Djidda, or rich, being probably richer than any town of the same size in the Turkish dominions. The inhabitants are mostly all engaged in commerce, and pursue no manufactures or trades but those of immediate necessity. They are all either sea-faring people, traders by sea, or engaged in trading with Arabia. Jidda not only derives its riches from being the port of Mecca, through which numerous bands of pilgrims pass in their journey to the holy place, but it is an entrepot of eastern commerce, through which all the exports of India and Arabia destined for Egypt first pass. All bargains are chiefly for ready money, the bad faith of the Jigat Point eastern merchants not being favourable to credit. Sales and purchases are made of entire ships' cargoes in the course of half an hour, and the next day the money is paid down. Its commerce may be divided into two principal branches, namely, the coffee trade and the Indian trade. Ships laden with coffee arrive from Yemen all the year round, and dispose of their cargoes for cloths, linen stuffs, and beads, but chiefly for dollars, which they take back to their own country. The demand for Arabian coffee in European Turkey, Asia Minor, and Syria, has been in a great degree superseded, since the termination of the war in Europe, by West India coffee.

The fleets from India, from Calcutta, Surat, and Bombay, reach Jidda in the beginning of May; their cargoes of Indian goods are immediately bought up by the merchants of Jidda, or on account of Cairo merchants, who send money to Jidda for the purpose. The greater part of the merchandise is shipped for Suez, and sold at Cairo, whence it finds its way into the Mediterranean. The returns are made either in goods or in dollars and sequins, large quantities of which are carried off annually by the Indian fleet. There are several rich merchants in Jidda. Burckhardt, on whose accurate information this account is chiefly founded, mentions two merchants whose grandfathers were the original settlers, and who had each a capital of from L.150,000 to L.250,000. Several Indians, he adds, had acquired capitals nearly equal; and there were about a dozen of houses possessing from L.40,000 to L.50,000 sterling. The vessels belonging to Jidda amount to about 250. It trades by land only with Mecca and Medina. A caravan, of from sixty to a hundred camels, departs for Medina every forty or fifty days, principally with India goods and drugs, and is always augmented by a crowd of pilgrims, who wish to visit Mahomed's tomb. There is another caravan for Mecca every evening; or at least twice a week, with goods and provisions. During the pilgrimage these caravans set out regularly every evening after sun-set from the Mecca gate; also a caravan of asses, which perform the journey in fifteen or sixteen hours. It is by this caravan that letters are conveyed between the two towns. There are twenty-seven coffee-shops in Jidda, where coffee, as in most parts of Arabia, is drunk to excess, and various other shops for the sale of butter, which is a chief article of Arabian cookery; honey, oil, vinegar, fruits, dates, beans, &c.; sweet-meats, sugar-plums, bread, milk; corn, consisting of Egyptian wheat, beans, lentils, dhourra, Indian and Egyptian rice; biscuits, salt, tobacco, soap, drugs, spices, sugar, perfumery, incense, &c. There are also shops for articles of Indian manufacture, for the sale of clothes chiefly after the Turkish fashion, carpets, Indian piece goods. There are, besides, bankers, bakers, tailors, and one watch-maker. The number of inhabitants may be estimated in general at from 13,000 to 15,000; but during the months preceding the pilgrimage, and the summer months, when the Indian fleets arrive with the monsoons, the influx of strangers swells the population one half above its usual number. Long. 39. 15. E. Lat. 21. 29. N.

JIGAT POINT, a town and promontory at the south-west extremity of Gujerat, situated on the Goomty, which is an asylum for pirates, the people of this country being much addicted to piracy, in which they are encouraged by their chiefs. It has a Hindu temple dedicated to Krishna. Long. 69. 7. E. Lat. 22. 12. N.

JIHON. See Oxus.

JILLIFREY, a town of Africa, situated on the southern bank of the Gambia, near the mouth of that river. Although not the capital, it is the chief place of trade of the flourishing little kingdom of Barra; and the king has here a custom-house, by which duties on vessels passing up and down the river are levied. Long. 16. 7. W. Lat. 13. 16. N.

JIN. See Genii.

JIONPOOR, or Joanpoore, a district of Hindustan, in the province of Allahabad, included principally between the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth degrees of north latitude. It is situated between the river Gogra on the east, and the Ganges on the south; to the north it is bounded by the Gogra and part of Oude; and on the west it has the nibob of Oude's territories. It is well watered, and extremely fertile; and the soil is under good cultivation, and well covered with wood. The inhabitants are Mahomedans and Hindus, in nearly equal proportions. Of the Hindus there was one tribe amongst whom the practice of female infanticide greatly prevailed; but, by the humane influence of the British government, it has been in a great measure abolished. This district came into the possession of the British in 1775, as forming part of the Benares zemindary. The principal towns are Jionpoor, Gazypoor, and Azimgar.

Jionpoor, the chief town in the above district, and formerly the capital of an independent principality. It is situated upon the banks of the Goomty. The fort, which is built of solid stone-work, was founded in 1370, by Sultan Feroze III. of Delhi, and named after his uncle and predecessor, whose name was Joana. He ordered a Hindu temple to be levelled, and erected the fort around the ruins of it. After his return to the capital, he collected numerous artificers, and persons of every description, and sent them to inhabit the new city, which was completed in twelve years. On the subversion of the empire of Delhi by Timour or Tamerlane, Khuaje Jehan, a governor of the eastern districts, assumed the royal dignity, and he made Jionpoor his capital. He was succeeded in 1399 by his son Mobrik Shah, whose successor was Sultan Ibrahim. During his prosperous reign of forty years he spared no expense to strengthen and improve the fortress and city, and Jionpoor became one of the most celebrated cities of Hindustan, famed for religion and learning. Jionpoor was again annexed to the empire of Delhi in the year 1478, when the reigning prince was overthrown. Many of the mosques, and some of the caravanserais and colleges built at that period, are still in existence. The fortress is built upon a high bank of the river Goomty, so named from its meandering course. It is built of solid stone, and rises considerably above the level of the surrounding country. It was frequently taken in the contests between the Afghans and the Moguls, and much dilapidated; but about the year 1570 it was thoroughly repaired by a nobleman from the court of Akbar, who was governor of Bengal. It was also during his time that the celebrated bridge of Jionpoor was built, which has now stood 250 years, and still remains a monument of ancient magnificence and of architectural skill. In 1773, when this bridge was submerged during the rainy season, a brigade of British troops sailed over it. Such is the strength and solid construction of this bridge, that it suffered no damage from the violence of the current. The town surrounds the fort on three sides, and contains a good bazar and a number of brick houses. The surrounding country for several miles is covered with the ruins of tombs and mosques. Of the latter there are several in a good state of repair, namely, the Jamai Musjid, which is very handsome, and is built of stone. The travelling distance from Benares is forty-two miles, and from Lucknow 147 miles. Long. 82. 39. E. Lat. 25. 45. N.

JOAB, general of the army of King David, who defeated the Syrians and the other enemies of David, and took from the Jebusites the fort of Zion, considered by them as impregnable. He also signalized himself in all David's wars, but was guilty of basely murdering Abner and Amasa. He procured a reconciliation between Absalom and David; and afterwards slew Absalom, contrary to the express orders of the king. He at length joined Adonijah's party, and was put to death by the order of Solomon, in the year before Christ 1014.