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'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [358] (367/748)
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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358
NEJD
into wells some of which are of considerable diameter, lined with
unmortared ashlar and from 40 to 80 feet deep. Raunkiaer saw
one at which eight donkeys were working. But there are
gardens also within the walls, and these with the large courtyards
and the vast palatial buildings occupy so much space that the
population of the town is disproportionate to its area.
Estimates of it have varied very much. Leachman heard in
1912 that the town contained 20,000 inhabitants, and that 7,000
men had attended prayer at the Great Festival. If so, a consider
able proportion in all probability were not townsmen but Bedouins
or other outsiders attending on a special occasion; and Leachman,
during his visit, actually saw only about 300 at prayer. Lorimer,
since he puts the whole population of the
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Hanifah subdistriot
(inclusive of Riyadh) at only 15,000, must estimate the urban body
much lower (8,000). Perhaps 10,000 is not far wrong, the truth
lying rather under than over.
Wahabism is all-powerful in Riyadh. The score of mosques are all
unpretentious, with minarets only a few feet high. Attendance at
prayer is enforced by the rod, the bazaars being closed five times
every day. But there has been some relaxation of the severity
practised in the early nineteenth century. Gay-coloured head-
scarves and robes are now commonly worn by the townsmen, and
coffee, and on occasion less permitted beverages, are indulged in.
The Emir is considered lax in observance, amusing himself with
a gramophone in camp.
2. Dar'iyah (Deraya), a town of about 1,000 inhabitants, built
on the N. side of
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Hanifah, opposite the ruins of the old
capital destroyed in 1818. It lies about 12 miles W. of Riyadh,
and has immense date gardens, irrigated from 40-foot wells. One
quarter, Tareif, lies across the
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
: the other two, and
Ghaslbah, are separately walled.
ii. Mahmal
3. Sedus is a small town situated in Toweiq in
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Wutar,
a left-bank affluent of Heisiyah and near the head of another water
course which follows a remarkable natural depression due south
to' Ayeinah about 23 miles ESE. • Pelly, in 1865, found it a ' cheerful
neat-looking town embosomed in date-groves with many wells .
Raunkiaer in 1912 reported it (as seen from outside the walls)
a well-fortified town in a particularly well-kept oasis. It has two
quarters, upper and lower, the latter, owing to floods, now halt
abandoned. The place seems to be rather an agglomeration ot
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' [358] (367/748), 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_100037114036.0x0000a8> [accessed 9 March 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