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'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎402] (421/1050)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (523 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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402
BlTINAH.
'Oman from the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Its extreme points are Khatmat Milahah, a spur coming
down close to the sea nearly 3 miles north-north-west of Murair, and Hail A1 'Umair
On the south-east, which are 150 miles apart in a direct line; its boundary inland in the foot
of the Western Hajar hills which run roughly parallel to the coast at a distance varying
from 10 to 20 miles. The exact boundary with the Qasimi district of Shamailiyah be
yond Murair is marked at the present time by a stone wall which runs seawards for a
quarter of a mile from the extremity of the hills and through a gap in which the road
from Murair to Ghallah passes.*
Physical geography.—The whole of Batinah is a low-lying plain, sandy towards the sea,
clayey in the interior, and stony as the hills are approached. There are no springs, but
water is everywhere obtainable from wells which are generally 15 to 20 feet deep. The
great valleys of the seaward slope of Western Hajar all traverse Batinah on their way
to the coast; but their courses within the limits of Batinah are often ill-defined, and in
some cases their channels are so broken up and dispersed as to render uncertain the point
at which they reach the sea. A list of the principal of these valleys, in order from east to
west, will be found in the article on Western Hajar: some of them bear in Batinah
names different from those by which they are distinguished in the hills. The coast of
Batinah is destitute of prominent capes, and the only islands that lie off it are those of
the Daimaniyat and Su \ adi groups.
Climate. —The Batinah coast is much cooler in summer, especially at night, than the
rocky coastal tract to the east of it in which Masqat Town is situated. The months of
May, June and July are healthy, but fever begins with the date harvest. There are
heavy rains in the winter months.
Inhabitant*. —The largest and most important tribes of Batinah are the Yal Sa'ad
and the Hawasinah ; the remainder may be ascertained from the paragraph on popula
tion in the article on the 'Oman Sultanate. Batinah is an exceedingly populous district
in the neighbourhood of the coast; and a number of the tribes represented in the towns
and villages are understood to have Bedouin sections which wander in the interior of the
district with their flocks and herds. Practically the whole of the people belong to the
Hinawi faction.
The following is an estimate of the settled population of Batinah :■—
Eastern Batinah, viz.,
Places on the coast (see end of this article) .. .. 51,200
Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Bani Ghafir—
(Lower) .. .. .. •. .. ^ • 2,800
Western Batinah, viz., the sub-Wilayats of—•
Liwa .. 12,500
Saham .. .. •, ^ ^ ^. .. 12,800
Shinas .. .. . ♦ . * • • " 6,200
Sohar .. • • .■ «■ <• •• 20,000
Total w 105,500 souls.
The nomads of Batinah, wfcose number is quite uncertain, belong chiefly to the impor
tant Hawasinah, Bani KharQs and Yal Sa'ad tribes and to the less important tribes of the
Biduwat, Al Hamad, Yal Jarad, Muwalik, Nuwafil, Al Bu Qarain, Al Bu Rashaid and
Shabua.
Agriculture, animals andfishenes. —Batinah is celebrated principally for its dates, and
the Arabs have a saying that a man can walk along the coast from one end of the district
to the other without leaving the shade of the palms ; the statement is not literally true,
but it conveys without much exaggepatfon an idea of the magnificent date belt which
fringes the sea-shore almost continuously and has sometimes a depth of 7 miles inland.
There is also much ordinary cultivation along the coast; the chief crops are wheat,
+wh'f fjtvd ri barley,- c0tton,t sugar, and lucerne, and some tobacco
is grown in the north-westernmost villages. Fruits
include—besides dates—-mangoes, bananas, pomegranates, figs, limes, melons, quinces,
olives, Loz almonds, papay, cocoanuts, and jack fruit. Coffee, indigo, sweet
potatoes, millet, many leguminous plants, apricots, peaches and nuts, oaks, planes,
and nabaq furnish timber for ships and house building. All crops are irrigate
•See plan No. 1363 in the Foreign and Political Department Library, Simla.

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Content

Volume I of III of the Gazetteer of Arabia. The Gazetteer is alphabetically-arranged and this volume contains entries A through to J.

The Gazetteer is an alphabetically-arranged compendium of the tribes, clans and geographical features (including towns, villages, lakes, mountains and wells) of Arabia that is contained within three seperate bound volumes. The entries range from short descriptions of one or two sentences to longer entries of several pages for places such as Iraq and Yemen.

A brief introduction states that the gazetteer was originally intended to deal with the whole of Arabia, "south of a line drawn from the head of the Gulf of 'Aqabah, through Ma'an, to Abu Kamal on the Euphrates, and to include Baghdad and Basrah Wilayats" and notes that before the gazetteer could be completed its publication was postponed and that therefore the three volumes that now form this file simply contain "as much of the MSS. [manuscript] as was ready at the time". It further notes that the contents have not been checked.

Extent and format
1 volume (523 folios)
Physical characteristics

Foliation: This volume's foliation system is circled in pencil, in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. of each folio.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎402] (421/1050), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/16/2/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023909213.0x000016> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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