!['Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [‎235] (244/748)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000884.0x000298/IOR_L_PS_20_E84_1_0244.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [‎235] (244/748)")
'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [235] (244/748)
The record is made up of 1 volume (371 folios). It was created in 1916. It was written in English and Arabic. 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.
TOWNS
235
the interior Hadhramaut towns; and all the houses are gathered
within the walls, since there is no security outside on account of
the neighbourhood of the Kathiri.
(6) The principal towns of the Kathiri are the following :
5. Seyyun, built on the slopes of Jebel Seyyun, at the edge of
a very extensive and fertile area, which stretches away to the lower
ground of the
wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
and is dominated by the castle of the ruling
Sultan. The town is surrounded by walls of mud, embracing, within
the enceinte, a great number of gardens; it is entered by a low
gateway. The streets are broader and cleaner than most of the
Hadhramaut towns ; and the place has some pretensions to a
drainage system, many of the houses having outlets for this purpose
to walled pits.
Seyyun is a town of many mosques, their number being reputed
to exceed 300 ; the principal one, the Grand Mosque, stands on one
side of the great square. The town is the intellectual centre of
the Hadhramaut, the so-called Academy an annexe of the
grand mosque, being the place of assemblage of a great number of
reputed savants. The market is said to be the busiest in the whole
country, and is held in the square on Fridays at the termination of
noon-day prayers, merchants coming to it from all parts. Hirsch,
however, states that, when he was there (1893), ' there seemed to
be but little trade carried on, and there were only a few stalls in the
market'. The population is estimated at about 4,500.
The Seyyids of Seyyun are very powerful and wealthy, and many
of them have large castle-like houses. The palace of the ruling head
of the Kathiri stands on an elevated site, and is surrounded by its
own wall fortified with bastions and outstanding watch-towers.
The main block of the palace is surmounted by three very con
spicuous look-outs, the middle one being higher than the other two.
The chief is reputed to have two or three field-pieces and some old
cannon in his possession.
6. Terim, some 19 miles NE. of Seyyun, is a considerable and
straggling town built along a mountain slope above a broad belt of
cultivation and palm-groves which stretches away towards the east.
Its population, according to Hirsch (probably the only European
who has succeeded in visiting it, but who, owing to the hos
tility of the Seyyids, was obliged to return precipitately before he
had very thoroughly explored it), was about 4,000 in 1893, and was
declining. A low gate, with a large ruined fortress close by, gives
entrance to the town on the Shibam side, and just within this is the
main square, where the market is held: one side of the square is
occupied by the principal mosque. It does not appear, however,
About this item
- Content
This volume is A Handbook of Arabia, Volume I, General (Admiralty War Staff, Intelligence Department: May, 1916) and contains geographical and political information of a general character concerning the Arabian Peninsula. The volume was prepared on behalf of the Admiralty and War Office, from sources, including native information obtained for the purpose of compiling the volume, since the outbreak of the First World War. Separate chapters are devoted to each of the districts or provinces of the Arabian Peninsula and include information on the physical character, as well as social and political surveys.
The volume includes a note on official use, title page, and a 'Note' on the compilation of the volume. There is a page of 'Contents' that includes the following sections:
- Chapter 1: Physical Survey;
- Chapter 2: Social Survey;
- Chapter 3: The Bedouin Tribes: A. Northern Tribes, B. Tribes of the Central West, C. Tribes of the Central South, D. Tribes of the Central East, Supplement: Non-Bedouin Nomads;
- Chapter 4: Hejaz;
- Chapter 5: Asir;
- Chapter 6: Yemen;
- Chapter 7: Aden and Hadhramaut: A. Aden and the Interior, B. Hadhramaut;
- Chapter 8: Oman: A. The sultanate of Oman, B. Independent Oman;
- Chapter 9: The Gulf Coast: A. The Sultanate of Koweit [Kuwait], B. Hasa, C. Bahrain, D. El-Qatar, E. Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. ;
- Chapter 10: Nejd;
- Chapter 11: Jebel Shammar;
- Chapter 12: The Northern Nefūd and Dahanah Belts;
- Chapter 13: Settled Tribes of the North-West;
- Chapter 14: Settled Tribes of the West;
- Chapter 15: Settled Tribes of the South;
- Chapter 16: Settled Tribes of the Centre;
- Appendix: Note of Topographical and Common Terms;
- Index;
- Plates.
The front of the volume includes a 'List of Maps' and a 'Note on the Spelling of Proper Names'. Maps contained in this volume are:
- Map 1: Arabia: Districts and Towns;
- Map 2: Orographical Features of Arabia;
- Map 3: Land Surface Features of Arabia;
- Map 4: Tribal Map of Arabia.
The volume also contains fifteen plates of photographs and sketches by Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear, Douglas Carruthers, Captain Gerard Leachman, Dr Julius Euting, George Wyman Bury, and Samuel Barrett Miles.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (371 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged in chapters. There is a contents page, list of maps, alphabetical index, and list of plates.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: There is a foliation sequence, which 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. It begins on the front cover, on number 1, and ends on the last of various maps which are inserted at the back of the volume, on number 371.
- Written in
- English and Arabic in Latin script View the complete information for this record
Use and share this item
- Share this item
'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [235] (244/748), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/E84/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100037114036.0x00002d> [accessed 9 March 2025]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100037114036.0x00002d
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_100037114036.0x00002d">'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [‎235] (244/748)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100037114036.0x00002d"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000884.0x000298/IOR_L_PS_20_E84_1_0244.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
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_100000000884.0x000298/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/20/E84/1
- Title
- 'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:i-v, 1:381, 384:726, ii-r:ii-v, ii-r:ii-v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence