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'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [264] (273/748)
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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264
THE SULTANATE OF OMAN
and one of the -highest points on the NE. spur is NaUl
(7,000 ft.).
There are no large towns in Western Hajar, and the small towns
and villages, with one or two minor exceptions, are on the seaward
side of the range. The principal ones are described in the following
paragraphs^ approximately in their order from SE. to NW.:
1. Shareijah, the principal village of Jebel Akhdhar, built on
terraces on the face of a cliff at the head of
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Mi'aidin ] elevation
6,300 ft. The village looks down the valley, and the houses, about
200 in number, are solidly built of stone, though small and mean
in appearance ; they seem to overhang one another, the different
rows being connected only by flights of irregular steps. Just below
the village is a copious spring with circular reservoir. Cultivation
is carried out upon ledges, 10 or 12 ft. wide, for about 1,000 ft.
down the hill-side, and includes apricots, grapes, figs, pomegranates,
and grain. Half the inhabitants belong to the Beni Kiyain and
half to the Beni 'Umr, both attached to the Ghafiri faction and
Ibadhis by religion.
2. Selq, the second largest village of Jebel Akhdhar, 1| miles
W. of Shareijah. It is built under a scarp, 400 ft. high, and con
tains 60 families of the Beni Riyam. Irrigation is carried on
by means of a small felej, and two crops of wheat and are
reaped in the year ; the gardens contain vines on rude trellises,
plum-trees, and pomegranates.
Shareijah and Seiq lie on the landward side of the range. The
following villages of Western Hajar are all situated on the seaward
slope of the watershed.
3. Nakhl, a small town at the head of
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Ma'awal; elevation
1,100 ft.; population about 3,500. Its site is enclosed on the
S. and E. by mountains, and to the W. lies an intricate country of
low hills and ravines ; sheltered from the hot winds of the interior,
and receiving the sea-breeze, it possesses an agreeable climate.
The settlement, consisting of eleven permanent quarters, is scat
tered among date-groves, and occupies an area of about four square
miles; there is a bazaar of some 60 shops. The Sultan of Oman
maintains a Vali at Nakhl, with a garrison of 25 men. The town
possesses a watch-tower on a pinnacle of rock, some 200 ft. high,
and between it and a hill called Jebel Laban is a fort on high
ground. Nakhl is celebrated for its hot springs (highest tempera
ture, 106° F.), of which the greater number rise in gardens at the
head of the^ valley. There is one water-mill for grinding flour.
4. 'Awabi, a small town on the 1. bank of the
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Beni Kharus
.within the hills, about 15 miles W. of Nakhl; elevation, 1,850 ft.;
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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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