'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. II' [‎1364] (419/688)

mi
MJD
Shammar; but Southern Najd has no alternative designation, and it is not clear that
the name even which we have applied to it is current among the Arabs.
Limits. —Political changes keep the boundary of Southern Najd to the north in per
petual vibration ; but westward, on this side, it tends to settle at Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. -as-Sirr between
ash am and Qasim, and further to the east at Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. -ar-Rummah on its lower course
from Qasim to the Dahanah< On the west the frontier of Southern Najd is approxi
mately represented by a line parallel to the watershed between the Red Sea basin and
Central Arabia and about 100 miles east of it. On the remaining two sides the limits of
Southern Najd are natural and well marked ; oil the south it ends in the Ruba'al-Khali or
Great Southern Desert, and on the east it is separated from the littoral districts of the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. by that comparatively narrow, but long and perfectly continuous strip
of desert which is known as the Dahanah. *
Physical features and divisions. —Southern Najd has never been surveyed, and the
greater part of it is as yet unseen by European eyes, nevertheless something is known
of its chief regions and their characteristics.
The dominant feature of the country is Jabal Tuwaiq, a range or elevated tract
which has its commencement approximately in the 27th parallel of north latitude and
thence runs almost due southwards, for the space of at least five degrees of latitude.
Of the actual height, breadth and configuration of the northern part of this range or
plateau we have little certain information ; of the southern, none. Our knowledge of
Jabal Tuwaiq is practically confined to the facts that in the north it consists of a light-
coloured stone, calcareous in appearance ; that its eastern slopes give birth, rather,
nearer its northern than its southern end, to Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Hanifah, one of the only large valleys
properly so called, of Central Arabia, and that beyond Hautah, the hills assume a
darker hue and are perhaps of a different geological formation. The existence of this
imperfectly known range enables us to distribute the districts of Southern Najd into
three groups, the first consisting of the districts which reach from Jabal Tuwaiq east
wards to the Dahanah, the second of the single one between Jabal Tuwaiq and the Great
bout lern Desert, and the third of those that lie on the farther (that is on the western)
side of Jabal Tuwaiq,
1 he northernmost district of the first group is Sadair, which lies chiefly on the Tuwaiq
plateau and is furrowed by four well marked hollows, of which one has a westerly and the
ot icr three an easterly course. The district contains a fair proportion of arable land,
and water is obtained from rather shallow, wells, but does not apparently reach the
surface in springs. Immediately south of Sadair, and not divided from it by any very
conspicuous landmark, is the premier district, in the political sense, of all Najd : this is
Andn, a tract hilly or even mountainous towards the north, west and south, level to
the east and m the centre, and seamed across by the deep Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Hanifah with its nume-
tous villages and (in places) highly cultivated banks. 'Aridh includes Dhrumah, a valley
\ ing to the west ofthe Puwaq hills but sending its drainage through that range into the
ontfv nf' 'r *1 "it 1 niass of Jabal 'Alaiyah perhaps an eastern
1 'tv, f f 1 iT ( ^ 1 Aridh from the next trough or compartment to the south-
Wn r ' ft by A the thl,ce ln ter-connected districts of Harlq, Hutah and Kharj. Of
iq, ic noi i-\UMt( rnmost and probably the most shut in, drains downwards into
!i^. ^ er t bu V P ™ OUntam girdled P lain of Hautah, which leads in its turn to the open
• • . , lb , nc ° arj on the east. Hariq and Hautah are covered with date groves,
^ 7 C ™, ls raise from wells of no excessive depth. To the north-
east and east of Kharj is Sahabah, a sandy and featureless tract with one large spring:
from "iridiT dram ^ e ?fHari q Hautah and Kharj, but also the floods of Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Hanifah
S , ^8% absorbed and disappear in the Dahanah. Aflaj,
f-om Hnifiti T SOU . ' lb v ^ ^ eastern districts ; its upper portion is divided
on the south if s P ur ' probably of Jabal Tawaiq ; but its lower lies open to Kharj ;
into the great Rnhn^nl ^™j r g e through the sandy and scrub-grown hollow of Maqran
iunale whil > , I 8, The upper or western end of Aflaj is covered with thorny
lower extremitv if r 13 from flowing springs and numerous wells and at its
2Z b,ank . and wato riess plains. Shutbah, an inhabited
may be reckoned a part of thrSrict! 1036 ^ the SOUth - westem corn5r of Afla J and
%r0r the title of article Najd.