'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎501] (532/1050)

DHA-DHA
501
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iey draw in to I
iuch as the Sa'i|
k river. TW
i tie Shanunai,
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is been akosl
airnt them, li
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•0 bitter to adit
Jeiit,and recbi
leDhafircoip®
:un and theU
jther they sioi
among Hnidi
ey are at
ia'ud. Thej i
lil descended!®
lescended fro®^
from tie Qs®
Bani Khalid. ^
from the P®
from thep-
rebellion ^
ive joined'Aj® 1,
lection. ^
ie Ashrai
'Araif (Al) .
Bhir'an (Adh)
Juwasim (Al)
Misamlr (Al) .
Mu 'alaim (Al)
Tuluh (At)
As-Samid.
Shaikh Lizam Ibn Dhira ; 500-
.. Fad'us-al-'Aslib.
.. Lizam Ibn Dhira'
.. Hulais-al- 'Ufaisan ,
'Ajil-al-Huzaim
.. Tumaish-al-Boraizi .
.. Humud ,.
-600 men.
Claim descent fi-Giri the Qahtan.
Of slave extraction.
Descended from the Sabai' 200
men.
Of 'Anazah originally, 200
men, with Humud.
Descended from Bani Tamlm.
Related to the 'Anazah ; a small
section of about 40 tents.
DHAFlR—
gee Dhafrah.
DHAFIR (Atwal-adh)—
A lino of wells in North-eastern Arabia; see Hafar.
DHAFRAH—
The westernmost and least known part of 'Oman, a sub-division of Trucial 'Oman.
Bwmdriries—Dhafrah lies between the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. on the north and the Ruba-al-
Khali or Great Desert of Southern Arabia, on the south; on the west it is bounded by
Sab&khat Matti and Jafurah, and on the east by Khatam.
Divisions. The huge area thus defined comprises at least five separate tracts which are
distinguished by names, but the absence of striking natural features makes it difficult to
determine their relative positions and extent. Indeed there is reason to think that the
internal boundaries of Dhafrah are somewhat vague, and that the names of the tracts
are not employed by all Bedouins in strictly the same sense. The five tracts in question
are Taff, Dhafrah proper, Bainunah, Qufa and Liwah of which last name the correct form
is said to be Al-Juwa; of these Liwah and Bainunah are the most important.
All authorities agree that Liwah is the southernmost and furthest inland of the divi
sions of Dhafrah; that its length, which is eastwards and westwards, approaches, if it
does not exceed, 175 miles; that its breadth is insignificant in comparison with its
length ; and that the village of Shah is situated in it almost exactly midway between
its two extremities. To determine the position of Liwah it is therefore only necessary
to determine the position of Shah, but here we are confronted by serious discre
pancies of evidence; the most probable view, however, appears to be that Shah is
situated 50 to 55 miles inland from the coast upon a line drawn due south from Ras
Miqaishit, the western poiut of the Salali group of islands, and that it is about 90 miles
south-west by south of Abu Dhabi town. If this opinion errs, it is probably by brines,
ing Shah somewhat too near to the coast and too far to westwards.
The position of Bainunah depends upon that of a well Da'afas, which undoubtedly
of f? 1 ? 8 tract, though its position in the same is not, perhaps, so central as that of
bhah in Liwah. Accodring to the report which for several reasons appears most reliable
Da afas is about 30 miles south-east of Jabal Dhannah (on the coast opposite'
Yas island) and about 20 miles inland from the nearest point on the sea. The alter
native position attributed to Da'afas is very much more southerly and more easterly
than that just described. It is not disputed that Bainunah is between Liwah and sea
? re T lleS t0 th6 westernmost extremity of Dhafrah, in other words to the border
of babakhat Matti.
Of the remaining tracts Qufa is undobutedly interposed between Liwah and Bainunah
and is Jong from east to west and narrow from north to south.
Taff is, by general consent, a maritime strip extending the whole length of Dhafrah
with an average depth inland of about 15 miles. Its westernmost section, that reaching
Bainfi 1 ^ 08 on e er s ^ e Jabal Dhannah, is possibly particularised as Taff
The last tract requiring to be located is Dhafrah proper, and the name may be taken
to signify so much of Dhafrah in the wider sense as is not included in any of the foregoing
fnTu • V 08 * 10n 0 * Dhafrah proper with reference to Bainunah is doubt
ful ; but it is probably on the east while Bainunah is on the west and the distances of the
r