'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. II' [‎1316] (365/688)

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1316 MUS—MUS
MUSAHIMAH—
A sub-division of the 'Awazitu {q. v.) Bedouins of Kuwait.
MUSAHHAL (Al)—
A hamlet in Hejaz, situated a mile to the west of the route between Yanbo' and AI-
Madmah at a point some 18 miles from the former. Al-Musahhal is a miserable village
of mud hovels.— {Bi.rlov, 1883.)
MUSAIFI—
A small settlement in Mesopotamia, near the bank of the Shatt-al-Gharaf ; it is about
5 miles south of Ka. adi and 14 miles north of Shatrah.
MUSAIFI (Y ah kar)—
A well in Trucial 'Oman {q. v.).
MUS A IK AH—
A Bedouin camping ground in the interior of Qatar {q. v.), Eastern Arabia.
MUSAILAH (W adi)—
A branch of the main Hadhramaut valley (j. v.) which leaves it not far from Qabr Hud
and reaches the sea at Saihut.
MUSAINA'AH—
A ruinous site on the shores of Hadhramaut, Southern Arabia, situated about 12 miles
east of Raidah in Lat. 15° 3' N., Long. 50° 38' E. The land about here is swampy and
abounding in mangrove trees.— {R. S. ct- G. of A. Pilot.)
MUS AIX AH (R as-al)—
A cape in the tract of Zor-al-Audhan {q. v.) in the Hasa District of Eastern Arabia.
MUS AIR AH—
A village in Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Mfaidin (q. v.) in the Sultanate-of 'Oman.
MUSAIYIB—
A country town of pleasant aspect in 'Iraq ; it is situated upon both banks of the
Euphrates river where crossed by the Baghdacl-Karbala road,
Musaiyib is well sheltered by palm-groves, which surround it and extend along the
banks of the river, and most of the houses are masonry built. The main body of the town
lies upon the left bank, but some of the best buildings, including the government offices
and several good khans, are in the small quarter on the other side. On the left bank,
immediately above the town, a strong embankment carefully revetted extends for about
600 yards, and along the top of it runs the high road to Baghdad. The stream of the
Euphrates is spanned at the town, where it is about 200 yards broad,, by a bridge of 24
boats : some of the boats are connected only by insecure gangways without hand-rails.
The whole population of Musaiyib may be about 3,500. The great majority of the
people are Shi ah Arabs, but there are about 80 Jews who are Turkish subjects, 100
Persians who are Persian subjects, 20 Punjabi Indians who are British subjects, and a few
Afghans. There are no resident Christians. The Jews are silversmiths and traders.
Musaiyib contains 12 khans, 25 granaries and over 100 shops. There are no local
manufactures ; and trade, though the town possesses about 40,000 date-trees and is the
centre of a good agricultural district, is inconsiderable ; most of the going and coming
is of goods and travellers passing between Baghdad and Karbala. Transport is not
readily obtainable in any quantity, and the surplus of forage and provisions is not great.
In the busy season 12 boats of the Safmah type are retained to bring up rice from
H ndiyah barrage, 5 miles distant, and to take down cotton piece-goods and other
Baghdad merchandise to boats which wait below the barrage to receive them ; in the off-
eeason 7 of these are released for up-stream traffic on the Euphrates. There are 20
gajahs or small boats at Musaiyib. Under Turkish rule, Musaiyib was the headquarters