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'Handbook of Arabia. Vol II. 1917' [15] (19/542)
The record is made up of 1 volume (271 folios). It was created in 1917. 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
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JO
THE CAMEL, THE HORSE, AND THE ASS
15
in vigour and put on flesh. At this season they will go more than
two months without drinking, the moisture in the succulent fresh
plants sufficing for their needs. In winter they can pass a full week
waterless without discomfort; in summer they must usually drink
at intervals of three days, though a good dromedary, carrying only
a rider, will subsist without water for two days longer.
A well-bred dromedary will perform great feats of endurance.
Leachman states that mail-carriers between Damascus and Baghdad
have ridden 60 miles a day for 9 days in succession. Nolde tells of
a dromedary given him by Ibn Rashid which accomplished 62| miles
between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. ; it had already traversed nearly 30
miles during the previous day, and repeated this distance on the
day following. He adds that Ibn Rashid was accustomed to send
messengers from Ha'il to Basra (about 375 miles) in six days, and
from Ha'il to Medina (about 250 miles) in three and a half days.
Burckhardt relates that a hundred and fifteen miles were once
covered in eleven hours ; with relays. Central Arabian camels carried
a present sent by Nolde to the Emir of Nejd over the 400 odd
miles from Basra to Riyadh in three days, an average of 135 miles
a day. Performances such as these are of course exceptional. The
usual speed of a caravan is not more than two and a half miles an
hour for a day of about nine hours, so that twenty-five miles is
a respectable day's journey. Where the going is good, and heavy
loads are not carried, this rate may be exceeded by a quarter or
a half mile an hour. Shakespear did three miles an hour over
a great part of Route 9, his pace only dropping to two and a half
miles over soft sand. But if camels graze as they go, as is usual on
steppe, it seems that even two and a half miles is too high an average
for ordinary caravans.
The loads carried may rise to 400 lb., but naturally vary with
the camel's size and strength, the nature of the country, and the
length of the stages : on desert routes, 330 lb. have been given as
an average burden, and exceptional animals will carry up to 600 lb.
From the above facts it may be inferred that if camels were available
in sufficient numbers they might, under favourable conditions,
supply a considerable army. General Skobeleff told Nolde that
with a million camels he could secure the transport of 150,000 men
invading India.
Horses in Arabia are ridden by Sheikhs and their relatives, and
are especially valued for use in war, since over short distances they
will outstrip or overtake even the fastest dhelul. For purposes
of general transport, they are negligible, as they soon suffer
from thirst and cannot stomach the coarse grazing which contents
About this item
- Content
This volume is A Handbook of Arabia, Volume II, Routes (Admiralty War Staff, Intelligence Department: May, 1917) and contains details on routes in the Arabian Peninsula, as well as information on transport and lines of communication arranged on a geographical basis. Chapters concerning meteorological information, hygiene and disease, and vocabularies have also been incorporated. The volume was prepared on behalf of the Admiralty and the War Office. The sources from which the routes have been compiled, together with notes on directions and distance, appear at the head of each chapter, while some sections have been compiled on the basis of native information. Authorities cited include: George August Wallin, William Gifford Palgrave, Carlo Claudio Camillo Guarmani, Lady Anne Blunt, Charles Huber, Julius Euting, Gerard Leachman, Gertrude Bell, Anders Christian Barclay Raunkiær, William Henry Irvine Shakespear, and John Gordon Lorimer.
The volume includes a note on confidentiality, title page, and a 'Note' on the compilation of the volume. There is a page of 'Contents' that includes the following sections:
- Chapter 1: Methods of Transport;
- Chapter 2: Communications, A. Northern Routes, B. Eastern Routes, C. Central Routes, D. Western Routes, E. South-Western Routes, F. Southern Routes, G. Souther-Eastern Routes;
- Chapter 3: Routes, A. Northern Routes, B. Eastern Routes, C. Central Routes, D. Western Routes, E. South-Western Routes, F. Southern Routes, G. Souther-Eastern Routes;
- Chapter 4: Meteorological Observations;
- Chapter 5: Hygiene and Disease;
- Chapter 6: Vocabularies;
- Appendix: Note on the System of Transliteration and Glossary of Topographical and Common Terms;
- Index;
- Plates.
There is also a 'List of Maps' and a 'Note on the Spelling of Proper Terms'.
There is one map contained in this volume: 'Map 5. Key Map of Routes'. In addition, there are nine plates by Douglas Carruthers, Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear, Captain Gerard Leachman, and Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Barrett Miles.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (271 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 map which is inserted at the back of the volume, on number 271.
- Written in
- English and Arabic in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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'Handbook of Arabia. Vol II. 1917' [15] (19/542), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/E84/2, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023896534.0x000015> [accessed 7 March 2025]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/20/E84/2
- Title
- 'Handbook of Arabia. Vol II. 1917'
- Pages
- front, front-i, i-r:i-v, 1:534, ii-r:ii-v, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence