Part 35

Between the Hadj road and that to Kasym lies a third route, leading straight from Medina to the province of Djebel Shammar, which in peaceable times is much frequented; but the most common way from Medina to Djebel Shammar is by Kasym, two days longer than the last route, but less fatiguing for camels, because there is abundance of water on this road, and very little on the other.

Caravans going from Medina to Kasym visit the following stations:

Medina.--At one hour’s walk beyond the gardens (the road passing E. of Djebel Ohod) is an open space called El Areydh, with the tomb of a sheikh, having a cupola over it. Near this is a well, named Byr Rasheyd.

3 hours from thence is El Hafná, with the bed of a torrent.

19 hours. Soweyder. The road from Hafná to this place is rocky, with two ascents, difficult for camels, and wholly without water. Soweyder lies between two mountains, and has some wells of brackish water dug in the ground; also Doum date-trees. The road from Medina to this place is inhabited by Mezeyne (or Omzeyne) Arabs, of the Beni Harb tribe, and by the Heteym and Beni Safar Arabs, also of the same tribe.

4 hours. A valley, with wells and Doum date-trees.

7 hours. Hanakye, in the plain, with many ponds and wells of sweet water dug in the ground. At a certain depth water is always found here. The ruins of an ancient castle, in the Saracen style, are visible; and here date-trees grow. This important position is frequently visited by the Bedouin tribes.

6 hours. Abou Khesheyb. The road from Hanakye to this place is on a sandy plain. Abou Khesheyb lies between two mountains, and affords good well-water.

12 hours. El Heymedj, a station having sweet and saltish water.

8 hours. El Mawát. The road from Heymedj to this place is sandy, with low mountains, no trees; the herb called adjref grows here. The pasture- ground of the Beni Harb tribe extends as far as Heymedj: then begin the pastures of the Meteyr Arabs. El Máwát has the best water on the whole route: it is a sandy spot in an inlet of the mountains.

16 hours. El Badje. The road from Mawát to this place is without water, on a sandy plain, having mountains on both sides: the chain on the left is called Taâye. Badje is an extensive tract, with trees and herbage, and wells both of sweet and brackish water.

3 hours. Neffoud, or, as it is called from the soil, Gherek-ed-Dessem, a plain of deep

14 hours. Djerdáwye, a plain with wells of good water; from thence in

7 hours, to Dát, the first town of Kasym.--In all, one hundred hours.

From Dát to Rass, one of the chief towns of Kasym, is four or five hours. From Rass to a place called Khabara, five hours; and from Khabara to Shebeybe, four hours. According to the night journies of the Bedouins, one hundred hours are equal to ten or eleven marches by day. The journey here detailed was performed by Tousoun Pasha’s army at night. Three days from Medina to Hanakye, and eight days from thence to Dát. A person belonging to the court of Tousoun Pasha measured the distance by his watch. The caravans, loaded with corn, are generally ten or eleven days on the road between Medina and Rass.

Kasym, which is the most fertile district in the province of Nedjed, begins at Dát. The name of Nedjed, signifying high or elevated ground, is given to this country in opposition to Tehama or “low lands,” applied to the sea-coast. It seems to be an oblong tract, extending between three and four days’ journies from west to east, and two journies in breadth south to north. Within this space are above twenty-six small towns or villages, well peopled, in a cultivated territory, irrigated by water from numerous wells. The chief town is Bereyda, where resides the Sheikh of Kasym, an old man named El Hedjeylan, once an enemy to the Wahabys, now a convert to their doctrine. The neighbourhood of Rass produces the most corn; and that part of Kasym about Dát and Rass lies nearest to Medina. In time of peace, regular caravans arrive every month at Medina from Rass. Tousoun Pasha’s army found plenty of provisions in the few villages of Kasym which they occupied.

The most considerable place in Kasym is Aneyzy, said to be equal in size to Siout in Upper Egypt, which contained, according to the French computation, three thousand houses. Aneyzy has bazars, and is inhabited by respectable Arab merchants. Of the other towns and villages, the following are most noted:--Es’ Shenáne, Balgha, Heshashye, El Helalye, El Bekeyrye, Batah el Nebhanye, Ashebeybe, Ayoun, Kowár, and Mozneb.

Small tribes of the Aenezes, of Ateybe (whose chief seat is on the Hedjaz mountains inhabited by the Beni Harb), of Meteyr, and others, encamp during the whole year among the plains of Kasym, which afford excellent pasturage.

Between Kasym and Derayeh, the capital of Nedjed, the intermediate district, mostly a desert, is called El Woshem: from the eastern extremity of the district of Kasym to Derayeh is a distance of five days. The last place in Kasym, on this side, is Mozneb then begins Wady Sarr, a broad sandy valley with pasturage, which continues for several days towards Derayeh through the district of Woshem.

Nedjed, near Derayeh, assumes the name of El Aredh, a district once separate from Nedjed, but now considered as belonging to it. El Aredh is less fertile than El Kasym, from which, in fact, it is partly supplied with provisions. Its principal town, Derayeb, has always been a place of note, but much increased since it has become the capital of the Wahaby power and sect. Its direction was often indicated to me; and I found it to bear from Medina E. by S. (variation not computed); the bearing of Kasym from Medina,

From Derayeh to Mekka is a distance of eleven or twelve long caravan days’ journies. For three days beyond Derayeh are found cultivated spots and small settlements of Arabs; the rest of the road is through a desert country, as far as Wady Zeyme, two days from Mekka. The distance from Rass (in Kasym) to Mekka is also computed at twelve days’ journey. This latter road abounds more with water than the former, and likewise passes by Wady Zeyme.

A straight road from Nedjed to the mountains of Hedjaz (I use this word here in the Bedouin sense, meaning the mountains south of Tayf), and to the country of Beishe and Yemen, passes by the village of Derye, on the southern extremity of Nedjed, on the great road from Kasym to Mekka. The road from Derye to Beishe lies four or five days east of Mekka. Between Derye and Taraba (above mentioned) is a pasture-land, with many wells, called El Bakarra, a well-known halting-place of all the Bedouins of these countries. It belongs to the Kereyshát tribe, a branch of the Sabya Arabs inhabiting Ranye.

Nedjed is celebrated throughout Arabia for its excellent pastures, which abound even in its deserts after rain: its plains are frequented by innumerable Bedouins, who continue there for most of the year, and purchase corn and barley from the inhabitants. During the rainy season these Bedouins retire towards the interior of the Desert, where they remain until the rain-water collected in the hollow grounds is consumed by their cattle. Previous to the Wahaby establishment, the pasturage of Nedjed belonged exclusively to the Aenezes,

The fine pastures of Nedjed have produced an excellent breed of camels, more numerous here than in any other Arabian province of equal extent. The Arabs call this country Om el Bel, or “the mother of camels,” and resort to it from all quarters for the supply of their own herds; and it constantly furnishes not only Hedjaz, but Syria and Yemen, with camels, of which useful creatures an ordinary one is sold for about ten dollars in Nedjed. In this country there is also a most excellent breed of horses, so remarkable that the finest blood Arabs are properly denominated Kheyl Nedjade, or Nedjed horses. But the Wahaby power has caused a diminution of this breed; for many Arabs have sold their best horses in foreign parts, lest they should be forced to attend the Wahaby chief, who, in his wars, frequently required cavalry.

Nedjed, however, is often subject to scarcity, caused by the failure of rain, and consequently of herbage: this soon affects the cattle of the Bedouins, who seldom expect, in this country, more than three or four successive years of plenty, although absolute famine does not occur above once in ten, or perhaps fifteen years. It is generally accompanied by epidemical diseases, much like the plague, consisting of violent fevers (but without biles or buboes,) that prove fatal to great numbers. Nedjed is peopled by small tribes of Bedouins, who never leave it, and by settlers intermarried with them, and often travelling as merchants to Damascus, Baghdad, Medina, Mekka, and Yemen: they export camels and woollen cloaks (abbas), of which the best are manufactured at El Hassa; and from Baghdad they receive rice, (the produce of the banks of the Tigris), and articles of dress, especially the keffies, or handkerchiefs, striped green and yellow, of cotton, wool, or silk: these the Bedouins wear over their bonnets. From Mekka they get coffee, drugs, and perfumes, much used among them, particularly the perfume called Arez, which comes from Mokha. In general there is a spirit of commerce very prevalent in Nedjed, where the merchants are wealthy and of better repute for honesty than most of the Eastern traders. The settlers here are armed with matchlocks, and constitute the best portion of the Wababy infantry: they are generally successful against the Bedouins who invade their crops or pastures; and, as saltpetre is found in Nedjed, every family makes its own yearly provision of gunpowder.

In Nedjed are many ancient wells, lined with stone, and ascribed by the inhabitants to a primeval race of giants. They are generally from twenty-five to thirty fathoms deep, and

Of all the Bedouin tribes that exist in Arabia, some few families at least may be found in Nedjed, to which refugees fly for security against their enemies. This country, in fact, is not only the seat of the Wahaby government, but seems the most important of the interior districts of Arabia, from its fertility and population, its central position, and facility of intercourse with other provinces. To acquire a perfect knowledge of the Bedouins, it would be necessary to examine them in Nedjed, where their manners continue unaltered by conquest, and retaining all their original purity: nor have they been contaminated by an influx of strangers; for, except the Hadj caravan coming from Baghdad, no foreigners ever pass through Nedjed. For this reason I consider Nedjed and the mountains between Tayf and Sanaa as the most interesting portion of Arabia, affording more objects of inquiry to a traveller than any other part of the peninsula.

From Derayeh eastward towards the Persian Gulf, the country is called Zedeyr, as far as the limits of the province of El Hassa, six days distant from Derayeh, of which three days are without water. The district of Hassa (or, as it is sometimes written, El Ahsa) is celebrated for its numerous wells, and extends for about two days’ journey parallel with the sea-coast, from which it is distant, inland, fifty or sixty miles. In breadth it is about thirty-five miles. The abundance of water enables the Arabs to cultivate clover, which serves to feed their finest horses. The Wahaby chief sends all his horses to this place every season.