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'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [‎126] (135/748)

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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. .

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126
HEJAZ
the inundation (seil), the mosque is often flooded to a depth of
several feet, since it lies lower than the surrounding city, whose
level has been gradually raised by accumulated debris through the
destruction and rebuilding of the houses. A former attempt to
mitigate the inundation by throwing a dam across the valley was
not successful, and the flood-water is allowed to escape through the
town and out into the open valley by the south gate. During the
Pilgrimage there is always peril of devastating epidemics, for the
present quarantine system is useless, and the camps of the poorer
pilgrims are crowded and most insanitary. Cholera is most dreaded;
the bubonic plague, though equally deadly, is not feared so much,
owing to its comparatively slow rate of development and to the
speedy dispersal of the pilgrims after the ceremonies.
There are three forts above the town, the largest on the SE.; of
the others, one lies to the W. on a mound called Filfll below Jebel
Hindi, the other to the N. on a low hill opposite the Sherif's house.
Normally a Turkish garrison of at least three battalions with field
and mountain guns is stationed at Mecca. There are two barracks,
one to the E. of the principal fort, the other and more important
at the northern end of the town. The Vali of Hejaz resided at Mecca
(in summer at Ta'if); for the Emir (Grand Sherif) see Chapter II.
In addition to the profits of the Pilgrimage, the town received an
annual Government grant {surra), and the customs duties levied at
Jiddah and Yambo'. It was always free of tax and military service.
The public buildings include a court-house, post-office, and other
government offices ; there are also baths, a hospital, and hospices
for poor pilgrims from India, Java, &c. A petroleum engine for
a flour-mill, turning out about 1^ ton of flour daily, was set up
in 1909, and in January 1912 two others of the same size had been
imported and were being set up; they are all of British manufacture.
A weekly paper. The Hejaz, used to be published in Turkish and
Arabic. Telegraph to Jiddah and Ta'if.
16. Ta'if is a walled town, situated in a sandy plain surrounded
by low hills, on the high plateau about 75 miles SE. of Mecca, at an
elevation of about 5,000 ft. It is the summer residence of the Grand
Sherif and of the Vali of Hejaz, the palace of the former standing
within the Bab es'-Seil with an open space before it; the citadel is
on the W. side of the town. The houses are built of stone, the larger
ones covered with plaster ; the town is fully inhabited only in the
summer months, when the more wealthy Meccans remove there from
the capital. Ta'if is much cooler than Mecca, and has a plentiful
water-supply. Both in climate and physical character the district
resembles the highlands of Asir and Yemen, the monsoon or tropical

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
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'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [‎126] (135/748), 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_100037114035.0x000088> [accessed 18 January 2025]

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