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'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [846] (901/1050)
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.
846
HOF—HOF
Water-supply from condensers—wells very brackish.
On the mainland is the town of Salif (g'.v.).
HOF—
See Mahra tribe.
HOFALAH—
A village in Hadhramaut, 28 miles due south of Khuraibah.—( Hunler'a Map of AraUa).
HOFASH (J abal)—
See Jabal Kofa'a.
HOFUF—
This town, the capital both natural and administrative of the Sanjaq of Hasa, is
situated in the south-eastern corner of the Hasa Oasis at a distance of about 40 miles
inland in a south-west by west direction from the port of 'Oqair.
Site and surroundings. —The site of the town is rocky but low; it appears to be only
a little higher than the waterlogged country which adjoins it. The space covered by
buildings is described as oblong, with a length from north to south of 1 to 1J miles and
a breadth of J a mile. The land to the south and west of the town is waste and quickly
merges in the desert: on the northern and eastern sides cultivation and date groves,
approach close to the walls. The springs of Haqal, Umm-al-Jamal, Khadud, Umm-al-
Lif, Qasaibah, Luwaimi and Barabar, described in the article on the Hasa Oasis, all
rise within a mile of the eastern side of Hofuf, and those of Umm Kharaisan and of
Bahair and Bahairiyah adjoin respectively its northern and western faces. A few
hundred yards to the south-east of the town are a large well and a group of gardens
called Suwaidarah. Graveyards closely surround the town upon most sides, especially
on the east, south-east and north-west.
Quarters and buildings. —Hofuf is divided into 3 large wards, of which the names are
Kut or Kut-al-Hofuf, Rifa ah and Na'athil.
Kut, which forms the north-western corner of the town, is really a large fortified
enclosure with sides about 600 yards long and completely surrounded by a ditch ; it was
formerly inhabited by the Turkish troops, the Turkish official community, and others.
It contains a fine Sunni mosque having a dome also another good building which is
used as a military hospital, and a couple of forts which are mentioned further on
among the defences of the town. On the east side of the Kut, at the north end of
the town, is a market place with a Qaisari or arcade of shops. On the south of the
Kut, between it and the next quarter, is a date plantation. The Rifa'ah quarter
forms the entire eastern side of the town ; it is healthier and somewhat higher than
the others, and in it are the residences of a number of the better families. Na'athil
includes the southern and western parts of the town and is, in extent, a good half of the
place; it is inhabited promiscuously by all classes. As already mentioned, it is
separated from Kut by a date grove; and within its limits are enclosed occasional
gardens and a few trees, the latter chiefly figs and citrons. The principal mosque of
Hofuf, which belongs to the Shi'ah sect and is probably the largest mosque in Eastern
Arabia, is in Na'athil. Kut is said to contain about 1,200, Rifa'ah about 2,100 and
Na'athil about 1,700 houses. A weekly fair is held in the open space between the eastern
gate of Kut and the Qaisariyah, along the edge of the moat running round Kut.
The houses of Hofuf are flat-roofed and are mostly built of stone and mud and plas
tered with gypsum mortar ; some of those in the Rifa'ah quarter are tolerably
good and even handsome, with arches entering into their architecture. Nearly
every house possesses a private well about 4 fathoms deep. The streets, except 2 main
avenues, are narrow and filthy. The whole town has 8 gates, of which 2, called Bab-
ash-Shamal and Bab-ash-Sharq, belong to the Kut.
Defences. —Hofuf is enclosed by a thin wall of sun-dried bricks and clay; it is only
about 12 feet high and has now no ditch, as it once had, upon its outer side. At the
north-western corner of the town the place of this wall is taken by the northern and western
walls of the Kut, which are continuous with it but twice as high. The principal military
work is the Kut, which forms one of the quarters of the town and has been partially
described in that character: the Kut comprises the chief citadel, known as Kut-al-Hisar
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
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/16/2/1
- Title
- 'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:iv-v, 1:312, 312a:312d, 313:456, 456a:456f, 457:460, 460a:460f, 461:572, 572a:572f, 573:586, 586a:586f, 587:634, 634a:634f, 635:662, 662a:662f, 663:858, 858a:858f, 859:910, 910a:910f, 911:974, v-r:viii-v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence