'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. II' [‎1367] (422/688)

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VL.
NAJD 1367
Civilised power. English medicines are said to be obtainable in some of the bazaars of
Southern Naid and some merchants of the southern districts, especially Hautah, are
accustomed to visit India in the course of their ordinary business.
Wholesale weights in Najd are the Waznah, equal to 52 dollars in silver coin or about
31h. 1 oz. 6dr. English avordupois, and the Mmn of 40 \\ aznabs or about 123 lb. 6 f oz.
Wholesale weighments are generally made with a sort of steelyard. For retail transac
tions dry and liquid measures of capacity are employed which are really weights m dis-
euise These take the form of turned wooden bowls made to contain exactly a unit by
weight of the substance of fluid they are intended to measure ; this result is obtained by
adjusting the cubic capacity of the bowl to the specific gravity of the article for which it is •
to be used. The standard size of bowl are the Midd which holds a Waznah and the ba
which holds two ; but quarters, fifths, sixths and eighth of Sa's are also employed. The
unit of lineal measure is the Dhira of 19i inches. Turkish coins and the Riyal or Mana
Theresa dollar circulate in Southern Najd and form the bulk of the currency ; the Indian
VU ^overnmeniJ-~-A genealogical table of the ruling family of Najd will be found in the
historical volume of this Gazetteer, they are known a^ the A1 Sa ud and the regnant
member is Ibn Sa'ud par excellence. As head of the Wahhabi interest the ruler was
formerly often described as the Imam ; but political considerations having since eclipsed
religious in Southern Najd, he is now generally spoken of as the Amir. The Washam of the
A1 Sa'ud is - placed, on a camel, on the near quarter : their battle-cry is either 1 am a
horseman of ' Aujah, a son of Mijrin," or " I am a lord of Elijah, a son of Mijnn. Aujah
means Dara'iyah and refers to the crookedness of Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Hanifah near that place.
The viccissitudes undergone by the Wahhabi state have been so many and so violent
that a general account based on past events and implying a fixed organisation would
necessarily be misleading ; nor have we the materials for a complete and reliable descrip
tion of the constitution and resources of the principality at the present day. Some
permanent features appear in the historical account given in the other volume of this
Gazetteer, and for the rest it may be observed that in the palmy days of the Wahhabi
empire the greater part of the countrv was in strict subjection to the Amir ; justice was
administered bv salaried Qadhis of the government; tribes were held responsible for
crimes committed within their territory ; attempts were made to abolish the blood-feud
svstem • one-fifth of the spoils of war went into she treasury of the ruler ; the ordinary
Quranic Zakat was levied on land, merchandise, capital and other forms of property ;
confiscation of land as a punishment for rebellion, followed by a regrant on terms of
tenancy to the original owners, was not uncommon ; fines were levied on law-breakers,
the proceeds being applied to such purposes as the relief of paupers, the support of teachers
and ecclesiastics, the repair of mosques and wells belonging to the state, the maintenance
and equipment of indigent soldiers and the entertainment of strangers at public hostels ;
war was carried on by means of temporary levies of the Amir's subjects collected under a
requisition that usually contained the significant formula : " We shall not count those who
join but those who do not " ; less regular hostilities were initiated by proclaiming the
enemy to be beyond the pale of the law ; a small body-guard of retainers kept by the
Amir about his person was the only semblance of a standing army.
The Wahhabis have abated the moral strenuousness of their earlier days, but an
administration modelled somewhat on these lines probably still constitutes their ideal
of government. The revenues of the Amir were estimated in 1865 at $402,000, of which
Si 14 000 were derived from the Bedouins. In 18r>5 the annual r&venue was generally
received in horses or otherwise in kind: it was either collected on the spot by emissaris
from Rivadh or brought to the capital by leading men in person or their deputies. The
revenue'of a district is now assessed about a month before the date harvest by a Wakll or
subordinate official, generally a local man and frequently a merchant, who goes round the
plantations and inspects them in company with a party of camel riders sent from Riyadh.
This assessment is called Ikhras ; the result of it is communicated at once to the Amir.
The duty of collecting the government share, which is taken in kind and is fixed at ^ of
the gross produce, devolves subsequently on the Wakll, and the Wakll is also responsible
for the storage of the same. Such is the procedure in regard to the taxation of dates,
and that for ordinary agricultural produce is similar. The Amir afterwards makes
local payments due by him in the form of orders or Hawalahs on the produce stored at