'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. II' [‎1340] (395/688)

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1340
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miles from east to west. Formerly it was considered to be of much greater dimen*
sions ; but the limits of the sand area are now accurately known, and the above i^ a
fair allowance for the maximum distribution of the Nafud. It forma a rough triangle,
extending from a day's march east of Teima to the edge of the Jauf depression ;
southwards it reaches to the foot of the Jebel Aja, and in the north-east to the wells
of Haiyaniyeh. The unbroken sand-bed is known as Nafud (Nefd), or occasionally by
the Bedouin as rami 'all —the high sands. The term Nafud was applied by Doughty
to all sand-tracks in the peninsula. The Arabs say, ' the Nafud reaches from Jauf to
San'a.' As a general statement this is correct; but, to be more exact, there are two
main sand-beds—the Nafud in the north and the Roba 3 el-Khali in the south, these
being more or less connected by the tongues and belts of sand which chiefly cross the
eastern confines of Nejd, but also lie in isolated patches across the very heart of the
peninsula. These are called Little Nafuds or Dahanah, according to their character,
the latter term being especially applied to the belts which are composed of parallel
ridgea of sand, divided by intervening plains of hard steppe.
On the north and west the margin of the sand-area of the Nafud is very abrupt, the
dunes rising like a wail above the surrounding steppes. On the bouth the margin is
less clearly defined. On the east, however, the sands break away from their uniform
boundary and throw out long tongue-like strips into the hard desert. The two most
remarkable of these are the Dahanah and the Ardh-el-Madhua, one of which continues
right across the centre of the peninsula, eventually joining up with the southern desert,
while the other extends for a hundred miles.
In the true Nafud there are practically no wells, but its margins are fairly well sup
plied with water. The only break in the whole extent of sand is the depression of
Jubbah, on the Jauf-Ha'il track. This locality is a hollow, about 300 feet below the
level of the surrounding sands, protected from encroachment by a ridge of low sandstone
hills. In earlier days there was a settlement here—Wallin reckoned it at 170 families,
besides palm-groves and abundant water-supply. Later on it was reduced to about
a hundred inhabitants, and according to the latest report it is now abandoned
altogether. The neighbourhood is, however, still a great centre for nomads, for the
grazing is some of the best in the Nafud. The only other settled locality in the sand-
bed is the small village of Qana, which lies just inside the Nafud on the track between
Ha'il and Jubbah. It used to contain about 20 houses, with a small patch of cultiv
ated ground.
There are a few watering-places just within the margin of the Nafud: for instance,
El-Shaqiq, 12—14 hours to the south-east of Jauf, can be said to be inside the sand-belt;
Nolde records the wells of Hoah east-south-east of Jauf in the Nafud, and Wallin
watered at El- Atwa in the sands between Ha' il and Haiyaniyeh. On the southern
margin there is water in the great ' Felj ' of Umm el-Qulban to the north-north-west
of Ha il, and at Haizun, Gulban and El-Abeisah, between Hail and Teima. These
are the only known wells actually in the sands ; but it is possible that there are others
known only to the Bedouin, in the deep horseshoe pits, which occasionally sink down
to the underlying floor, and may therefore contain wells.
Travelling is slow and laborious owing to the detours and circuits which these pits
necessitate, and to the soft texture of the sand. These remarkable hollows, ■which
may be as much as from 2 to 300 feet deep, are the only features of the landscape
besides the occasional outcrop of rock which emerge above the sand-bed, and serve as
excellent landmarks.
There is only one recognized crossing of the sand-barrier which shuts off Jebel Sham-
mar from Syria. Caravans from Damascus bound for Ha'il traverse the Nafud between
Ja,uf and Jebel Aja in from ten to twelve days. The distance between the oases is 266
miles, of which 220 lie over sand-desert. The long waterless stage is between Shaqiq
and Jubbah, a distance of 150 miles, which usually takes between seventy and ninety
hours to accompalish, although it has been done in fifty hours. The only other line
wmch has been followed across the Nafud is that taken by Nolde, who travelled from
Jauf along the northern edge of the sands (but inside the Nafud) to Haiyaniyeh, and
ence sou wards to Hail. Nolde claimed that this was the shorter route, and that
the waterless stage was shorter than that on the Jauf-Jubbah track. As a matter of fact
from our present knowledge of the true position of Haiyaniyeh the distances between