On the 29th of October they arrived at Jidda, where the usual attempts were made to defraud the custom-house. In this praiseworthy design some succeeded to the extent of their desires; but others, less adroit, or more unfortunate, were detected and compelled to pay the duties, no such atrocity as the confiscation of the whole property being ever practised. A duty of two or two and a half _per cent._ being levied upon all specie, people were most anxious to conceal their wealth: but by endeavouring to effect this, one of Niebuhr’s companions suffered severely; for in stepping from the ship into the boat, his purse, which he had tied round his body, opened accidentally, and about a hundred crowns fell into the sea. The common cash of the expedition was conveyed on shore in the bottoms of their boxes of drugs, which were not searched, it being in Arabia a general opinion that physicians, having no need of money, seldom carry any about with them. Niebuhr had observed in Egypt that the populace looked with inexpressible contempt upon Christians, and thence inferred that in proportion as they approached the Holy City they should find this inhospitable bigotry on the increase; but his apprehensions were unfounded, for the people of Jidda, long accustomed to the sight of Europeans, and constantly experiencing the humanizing influence of commerce, were peculiarly refined, allowing strangers to do almost what they pleased. It was merely forbidden them to approach the Mecca gate; which, like the city to which it leads, is reputed holy. Our traveller, during his residence at Cairo, had formed an acquaintance with a poor sheïkh, who, for a Mohammedan, might be said to be as highly favoured by science as he was neglected by fortune; and this man, in gratitude for the knowledge he had derived from him, besides furnishing him with letters of recommendation to the Kihaya and Pasha of Jidda, had privately written to those important personages, who had honoured him for his knowledge, earnestly requesting them to show every possible mark of kindness and attention to his European friends. These were the letters from which they had least expectations, and presented last; nevertheless, when the recommendations of all their other friends had failed even to procure them a lodging, those of the poor sheïkh introduced them to powerful protectors. Niebuhr was here witness of the curious mode of catching wild ducks noticed by Pococke in Upper Egypt, and by another English traveller in China. When a number of these birds were observed in the water, the sportsman undressed, covered his head with seaweed, and then crept quietly into the water. By this means the ducks were deceived, so that they allowed the man to come near and catch them by the legs.