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'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [207] (216/748)
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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DISTRICTS AND TOWNS
207
loopholed for musketry, and, if stubbornly held, an attack without
artillery would prove costly. They are generally square in shape
and are sometimes so built as to provide flanking fire on the door ;
and they are usually two or three stories in height with a flat roof
protected by a parapet. The villages are not surrounded by walls,
but the erection of sangars would quickly convert them into positions
very difficult for infantry to capture unsupported by artillery.
Villages in the plains are occasionally strengthened by a mud wall.
The coast towns of Makalla and Shiheir are fortified, chiefly against
attacks by Bedouins from the land side, and are quite open to
artillery fire from the sea.
(a) Confederations within the limits of the Aden Protectorate
are described in the following order. : Subeihi, ' Abdali,
Fadhli, and 'Aqrabi; Interior : Haushabi, Dhambari, Amiri, and
'Alawi.
i. Subeihi. This tribe occupies an extensive littoral tract in the
south-west comer of Arabia. Although covering a large area,
their territory is but sparsely inhabited and consists mainly of
sandy wastes with an occasional well and a little cultivation here
and there. The Subeihi are consequently nomadic : they have no
Sultan nor head Sheikh, and are divided into a large number of
petty clans, among which maybe mentioned the Mansuri and Rujei.
The clans have very little cohesion, and blood-feuds frequently occur
between them : of all the tribes in the neighbourhood of Aden the
Subeihi approach nearest to the typical Bedouin character. The
Sultan of the 'Abdali sometimes exercises a certain amount of in
fluence on the clans of the eastern section of the Subeihi, and those
in proximity to the Yemen border come under Turkish influence.
Many members of the tribe earn a livelihood as muqaddams, or
leaders of caravans which pass from other districts through the
Subeihi country en route for Aden.
The population is estimated at 19,500. Though they are mainly
pastoral and nomadic, they are reputed to be able to muster a large
number of fighting men, expert raiders but unsteady in battle.
The people as a whole are treacherous and untrustworthy and
much given to interference with caravans passing through their
territory. When the Turks advanced against Aden, the Subeihi
lost no time in joining them and took part in the attack on Lahej
in July 1915.
Their settlements are few; Rija, a small fortified village, 20 miles
west of Lahej, is the centre of the Rujei.
ii. 'Abddli. This tribe occupies the country immediately around
and behind Aden, its boundary extending about 35 miles inland
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' [207] (216/748), 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_100037114036.0x000011> [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