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'Handbook of Hejaz' [‎21v] (49/204)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (98 folios). It was created in 1917. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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A portable hospital, made of compressed paper and well
equipped, was set up by the Turkish Government in 1911
outside the town for the accommodation of 100 pilgrims.
The climate of Jiddah, though hot, is not unhealthy, the sea-
breeze counteracting to some extent the insanitary condition
of streets and houses ; but mortality is high, and bubonic
plague to some extent probably endemic. Telegraph and
telephone to Mecca ; cable to Suakim.
There is nothing on the coast worthy the name of a village,
or even a hamlet, for 125 miles south of Jiddah, until one
comes to
Lith, a village about one and half miles inland from
the anchorage. The houses are of mud, and the place
possesses a blockhouse, barracks, and a mosque ; water is
obtainable as well as a few sheep and fowls. The anchorage
is small but well protected by the reef, which extends nearly
half a mile off the mosque, and by two reefs eastward of it ;
the best entrance is apparently that close eastward of the
mosque reef, where the depths are from four to six fathoms
(mud). To the west of the inner anchorage is Agha islet,
which is small, low, and sandy, and has on it several houses.
The outer anchorage is from half to one mile south-south
west of Agha islet, in from ten to fourteen fathoms (mud) ;
but there is no shelter here from northerly or north-westerly
winds.
Inland lies the largest settlement of Arabia, Mecca, with
its summer station, Ta'if, perhaps the pleasantest residence
in the peninsula.
Mecca, the chief town of Hejaz and the Holy City of
Islam, lies in a deep narrow valley about fifty miles (crow-
fly) inland from Jiddah. The valley runs up northwards
with a slight easterly trend, and the hills on either side,
rising several hundred feet, enclose it so completely that
it was never thought necessary to encircle it with a forti
fication. The ancient wall merely barred the three

About this item

Content

The volume is Handbook of Hejaz. Prepared by The Arab Bureau, Cairo , 2nd edn, 26 February 1917 (Cairo: Government Press, 1917).

The handbook comprises information about Hejaz under the following headings:

  • Area;
  • Physical Character;
  • Population;
  • Districts and Towns;
  • Tribal Notes;
  • Political;
  • Personalities (including Royal Family, and Others);
  • Pilgrimage;
  • Trade and Expenses;
  • Communications;
  • Routes.

The prefatory note states that the handbook was originally compiled by Lieutenant Commander D G Howarth, RNVR; and although the information contained in the second edition had been greatly improved, much about Hejaz 'remains uncertain or unknown'.

The volume also contains an 'Outline Map of Hejaz' (f 4) and a table of the 'Ruling Sherifial Family of Mecca' (f 38).

Extent and format
1 volume (98 folios)
Arrangement

The volume contains a table of contents on folio 7.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at 1 on the front cover and terminates at 100 on the inside back cover. The numbers are written in pencil, are enclosed in a circle, and appear in the top right hand corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. page of each folio. This is the system used to make reference to the contents of the volume. Folios 4 and 38 need to be folded out to be examined.

Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence, numbered 2-179 (ff 8-98).

Written in
English in Latin script
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'Handbook of Hejaz' [‎21v] (49/204), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/16/12, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023514406.0x000030> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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