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'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [389] (398/748)
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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CHAPTER XII
THE NORTHERN NEFUD AND DAHANAH BELTS
A. The Northern Nefud
The Northern Nefud is a wilderness of deep sand, which separates
the Syrian desert from Jebel Shammar. It extends about 140
miles from N. to S., and about 180 miles from E. to W. Formerly
it was considered to be of much greater dimensions ; but the limits
of the sand area are now accurately known, and the above is a fair
allowance for the maximum distribution of the Nefud. It forms
a rough triangle, extending from a day's march E. of Teima to the
edge of the Jauf depression ; southwards it reaches to the foot of
Jebel Aja, and in the NE. to the wells of Hayyaniyah. The unbroken
sand-bed is known as Nefud (or Nefd, plur. Anfad), or occasionally
by the Bedouins as rami 'dli, ' the high sandThe term Nefud was
applied by Doughty to all sand-tracks in the peninsula. The Arabs
say,' the Nefud reaches from Jauf to San'a.' As a general statement
this is correct; but, to be more exact, there are two main sand-
beds—the Nefud in the N. and the Ruba' el-Khali in the S., these
being more or less connected by the tongues and belts of sand
which chiefly cross the eastern confines of Nejd, but also lie in
isolated patches across the very heart of the peninsula. These
are called Little Nefuds or Dahanah, according to their character,
the latter term being especially applied to the belts which are
composed of parallel ridges of sand, divided by intervening plains
of hard steppe (see above, p. 11).
On the N. and W. the margin of the sand-bed of the Northern
Nefud is very abrupt, the dunes rising like a wall above the sur
rounding steppes. On the S. the margin is less clearly defined. On
the E. the sands break away from their uniform boundary and
throw out long tongue-like strips into the hard desert. The two
most remarkable of these are the Dahanah and the Ardh el-Madhu',
one of which continues right across the centre of the peninsula,
eventually joining up with the southern desert, while the other
extends for a hundred miles.
In the true Nefud there are practically no wells, but its margins
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' [389] (398/748), 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_100037114036.0x0000c7> [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