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'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [142] (151/748)
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
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142
ASIR
to make handsome presents to all the chief Sheikhs. Unless there
is a good prospect of loot, it is difficult to collect the Arabs in any
numbers, and in any case their natural independence and their
dislike of restraint render them unsuitable for a long campaign.
This and their disinclination to face modern artillery were among
the chief causes which led to their failure before Loheia in 1915.
Idrisi is poorly supplied with artillery and its ammunition,
and with trained men to serve the guns. Theoretically he can put
a very large army into the field, but in practice he probably cannot
muster more than 25,000 men. He is hampered by the fact that the
tribes refuse to go far from their own boundaries, and therefore
has to depend on the material available in the particular district
in which he is operating.
Towns
The following are the principal towns of Asir :
1. Bishah (Qal'ah Bishah), a town, or more probably an aggregate
of many villages, farmsteads, and groups of huts, in the
wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
of the
same name, about 240 miles ESE. of Mecca. It is an important
halting-place on the route between
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Dawasir, the Haramein,
and the Red Sea coast. There is a ruined fortress, and the town
marks the end of the oasis. Bishah is well watered by a stream
going in a north-easterly direction, which, with a number of other
inland streams, according to Jomard and Chedufau (but, probably,
it is not so) collect at last in the
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Dawasir. The town is
surrounded by cultivation, in part carried on by the nomads. It
was occupied for a fortnight by the Egyptian force in 1834.
2. Turabah, about 90 miles SE. of Ta'if, and on the main thorough
fare from Nejd into Yemen. It is a walled town as large as Ta'if,
surrounded by palm-groves and well-watered gardens. Near it are
low hills where cereals are grown.
3. Ibha (Ebha), said to be a stone-built town situated on
a hill in the middle Asir, in the upper reaches of
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Bishah,
and about 139 miles crow-fly SSW. of Qal'ah Bishah. It was
garrisoned by the Turks, when they held Asir, and was then
the residence of a Mutesarrif. The town was formerly known as
Manadhir, and this name survives as that of the quarter or ward
where the citadel is situated. It is an important centre of con
vergent roads in Asir (see Routes Nos. 40-47).
4. Muha'il, an inland town on the 'Aqabah just west of the main
escarpment of the plateau region of Asir, and some 72 miles distant
from the coast at Qunfudah. It is an important centre of several
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
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'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [142] (151/748), 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_100037114035.0x000098> [accessed 18 January 2025]
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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