!['Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [‎114] (123/748)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000884.0x000298/IOR_L_PS_20_E84_1_0123.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [‎114] (123/748)")
'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [114] (123/748)
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.
114
HEJAZ
side of the bay of the same name; population about 2,000. A hun
dred yards E. of the town is a fort on a flat-topped hill. The bazaar
is poorly stocked, but some forage is procurable. Water is scarce
and brackish; the main supply is obtained from a well some 30 ft.
deep, about 1,000 yards to the E. of the fort. The coast intheneigh-
bourhood consists of coral cliffs from 50 to 70 ft. high, and between
these and the hills, which rise steeply 3 or 4 miles inland, is a low
plain, marshy near the sea and covered with a saline encrustation.
The harbour is easy of access and no dangers bar its approach ; it
is rectangular in shape, 3 cables long, and has an entrance 250 yards
wide between reefs. The fort makes a good mark for a ship entering
the harbour, as does also a tower, 50 ft. high, on the S. side of the
bay. The best anchorage is in 6 fathoms about a cable SE. by S.
of the southern end of the village, though there is not room for
more than one vessel of moderate size. About 6 miles E. of Wejh
is a fort, nearly surrounded by hills, with a small Turkish garrison;
it serves as a grain-depot for the use of caravans going to Mecca.
5. Umlejh (Ummlaj), a village of some 80 houses with fort and
small garrison on a deep bay, opening to NNW. opposite Hasani
Island. It has a considerable but thin date-grove in the
wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
about
1 mile N. Umlejh has grown from a mere hamlet in the last few years,
owing to the facilities of its bay for coasting craft, the existence of a
fairly easy track to Istabal 'Antar station on the Hejaz Railway (120
miles) or to Medina direct (140 miles), and the comparative fertihty
of the Tihamah hereabouts and in the lower course of
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Ain,
north of Jebel Radhwah. It lies near, but S. of, the frontier between
Billi and Juheinah territories. Although faced by a dangerous
reef, the harbour is the most favourable for steam craft on the N.
half of the Red Sea coast, and should develop in the near future.
6. Yambo' el-Bahr is a garrisoned town, built on the edge of
the barren plain between the mountains and the sea, and walled
on the landward side. It stands on the N. shore of a bay, pro
tected by a small sandy island on a reef which forms the southern
limit of the anchorage. It has no made harbour, but is used as the
port of Medina (130 miles). The entrance to the inlet is 1| cables
wide between the reefs. The water is deep outside, but in the
entrance the depths decrease rapidly from 15 to 8 and 6 fathoms;
off the town the anchorage is in from 4 to 6 fathoms, and the width
available is 1J cables. The houses of the town are roughly built
oi limestone and coralline, and the crumbling of the latter gives
them a dilapidated appearance. It is a mean and very dirty place,
but there are some good shops where most necessaries are obtain
able, The permanent population is about 3,000 ; but caravans,
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' [114] (123/748), 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_100037114035.0x00007c> [accessed 18 January 2025]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100037114035.0x00007c
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_100037114035.0x00007c">'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [‎114] (123/748)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100037114035.0x00007c"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000884.0x000298/IOR_L_PS_20_E84_1_0123.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