Skip to item: of 1,050
Information about this record Back to top
Open in Universal viewer
Open in Mirador IIIF viewer

'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎806] (861/1050)

This item is part of

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. .

Transcription

This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.

Apply page layout

806
HEJAZ
Climate. —The climate of the Hejaz lowland is little better than that of the Ifemen'Tiha^
meh, the mean annual temperature being nearer 90° than 80° (at Jiddeh the daily average
shade maximum for the six summer months is 94°), and the air damp. Mecca, owing to
its low elevation (700 to 860 feet) and its background of naked slopes, is worst off, and is
an undesirable summer residence, being like a furnace on a still day ; but Medina, with a
mean temperature of little over 70°, is healthy throughout the year^ Ta'if is the most
salubrious of the Hejaz towns ; it shares the keen dry air which purifies the central steppe-
lands, except in spots where water is over-abundant near the surface, as at Kheibar.
The latter oasis, like Mecca and the coastal settlements, suffers from intermittent fevers ;
Mecca itself has a bad name also for desenteric and other epidemic diseases* The high
lands behind Mecca and about Ta'if know occasional frost during even summer nights.
P opulation^
The population, settled and unsettled (most of the latter being at one season in the
province, at another out of it on the east), may be guessed at w ell under a million. Only
about one-eighth is either urban or " on the land," seven-eighths being Bedouin, wholly or
semi-nomadic, who, generally speaking, are poverty-striken and therefore predatory.
The principal tribal groups, which range Hejaz, are from north to south as follows
In the north are certain sub-tribes of the scattered Wuld 'All aggregate, the Huweitat
and Beni 'Atiyeh in Midian, and the Fuqara (Fajr) and Wuld Suleiman in the western
Nefud and Teima-Kheibar steppe. Between these range Sherarat and Huteim, the
latter having no well-defined dim. South of these, on the west, inland from El-Wejh
to Yambo', are the Bali and the numerous Juheineh, partly settled. Right across central
Hejaz, from Rabigh to Medina and beyond towards Jebel Shammar, lie the great and
war-like Harb tribe, two of whose main divisions, the Masruh and the Beni 'Amr, are
Hejazi, while the third, the Beni Salim, belongs rather to Central Arabia. South of the
Harb and of the Mecca-Jiddeh line, and about Ta'if lies a section (Roqa) of the widely-
spread Ateibeh, who range inland to Nejd. The Beni Thaqi, Hudheil, Jehadla, and
some small tribes complete the nomadic population of Hejaz.
The Beni Thaqif, Hudheil, Jehadla, Ateibeh, two sections at least of the Harb, the
Juheineh and the Bali, acknowledge to some extent the authority of the Grand Sherif of
Mecca. Roughly speaking, these tribes could put at least 10,000 armed and mounted
men at his disposal; but they would form a very incoherent force. The Sherif has also a
standing guard of 500 Arab rifles. The settled elements in the Hejaz population, however
loyal to him, would be of little use in warfare, their exemption from conscription having
debarred them from Ottoman training, and their parasitic existence on the profits of the
Pilgrimage and on Government subsidies indisposing them to service. The men of
Medina, however, show more military spirit than those of Mecca or Jiddeh. Racially
the population of the towns is very mixed being Arab only in name; at Kheibar there is a
strong negro element.
Trade and Industries. —The trade of Hejaz is mainly derived from the needs of the
Pilgrimage, and, apart from the export of dates from some of the oases, consists largely
of imports. Mecca, the capital of Hejaz, has few natural advantages ; from the first the
town must have owed its importance to its position as a commercial centre of exchange,
and to its possession of the most holy temple, stones and well of heathen sanctity, which
were afterwards incorporated in the Mohammedan cult. Its barren soil is unproductive,
and it possesses no local industries whatever ; but goods are imported from all parts of the
Orient. In its bazaars may be seen s lks from Syria, carpets from Turkey and Persia,
brass-work from India and Egypt, for which the pilgrims pay heavily compared with prices
in more accessible places. Traders from all parts of Islam bring their wares to Mecca
and do profitable business.
Jiddeh, as the port of Mecca, is the trade centre of Hejaz, and has become in conse
quence one of the most considerable places on the coast of the Red Sea. In normal times
it maintains a regular volume of commerce, not only with other Arabian ports and with
the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , but also with India, Egypt, and Africa, and, for certain classes of com
modities, with Great Britain and southern Europe. The great majority of the Mecca
pilgrims arrive there by sea, and their transport and the supply of their wants constitute
the chief business of the place. Many of its merchants, including a few Christian and Jews,
are enterprising and wealthy. In addition to the supply of the pilgrims, Jiddeh also
imports for the settled population of Hejaz, and for much of central Arabia, though
Medina now obtains a certain amount of goods by the Hejaz railway.

About this item

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
View the complete information for this record

Use and share this item

Share this item
Cite this item in your research

'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎806] (861/1050), 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_100023909215.0x00003e> [accessed 28 March 2024]

Link to this item
Embed this item

Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.

<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100023909215.0x00003e">'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [&lrm;806] (861/1050)</a>
<a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100023909215.0x00003e">
	<img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100023486087.0x000001/IOR_L_MIL_17_16_2_1_0861.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" />
</a>
IIIF details

This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100023486087.0x000001/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images

Use and reuse
Download this image