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'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [166] (175/748)
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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166
YEMEN
whole having a perimeter of from 7 to 8 miles. The old wall is a
formidable work, but much out of repair, surmounted by a parapet
with loopholes for musketry ; the extension built by the Turks
could almost be kicked down in places. There are eight gates in all.
The Bab esh-Sha'ub in the north wall is the main way f>5 ingress
for the market traffic ; the Bab el-Yemen, opposite, is the one
through which flows the caravan traffic towards Dhamar, Yerim,
Ibb, and Ta'izz ; the Bab es-Sabah, strategically the most impor
tant, consists of three separate gates so arranged as to close effec
tively the narrow neck that joins the Bir el-'Azab quarter to the
main town ; and the Bab el-Qa'ah or Bab el-Yahud, leading from
the Jews' quarter, and guarded by police and soldiers, is the exit
for Hodeidah and the coast. There are several outlying fortified
posts on the spurs of the surrounding hills which help to guard the
city from surprise.
At the eastern angle of the town is the Qal'ah (citadel), a con
siderable pile covering several acres, on a slight but not very com
manding elevation ; its guns are merely a saluting battery. In the
Arab quarter, in addition to the Government offices, are situated
the post and telegraph office; the barracks, handsome stone
buildings, lie south of the town, outside the walls ; and near the
norther nm ost gate, the Bab es-Sabah, is situated the well-equipped
military hospital. The Midan esh-Sherara is the city square,
having the residence of the Vali in a vast walled garden on one
side of it and the Government school for resident scholars on
another. There are many mosques, both Arab and Turkish,
the principal Arab one, once a church, having considerable archi
tectural merit; its court is surrounded by a high wall with colon
nades in the inner side, and in the middle is a small cubical building
known as the lesser Ka'bah and somewhat resembling the Ka'bah
at Mecca. The Turkish mosque is known as the Bakili. The
bazaars of the native quarter call, architecturally, for no special
notice : they are plentifully stocked with local food produce,
especially almost every variety of fruit and vegetables, but other
wise almost entirely with goods of European origin, with the excep
tion of a few objects of native brass and copper work. The Jewish
quarter has its own bazaar, and there are some fairly good shops.
The streets in the native quarter are mostly narrow and sombre,
owing to the height of the houses ; in the Jewish quarter the
houses are of mud, not more than two storeys in height (see p. 150),
and closely packed together.
The water of San'a is good and plentiful; a perennial stream runs
through the plain, and there are, in addition, many good wells hot
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' [166] (175/748), 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_100037114035.0x0000b0> [accessed 3 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