File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎106v] (221/834)

— 66
■apni
torrent bed of Harmaliya, wldcli descends from the Idhuain
Shamal and runs southward along 1 the face of the range into the
Shaib Quaiiyya, a ravine running from west to east through the
main body of tlie range.
A little way up this ravine we reached the village of Quaiiyya,
consisting of a typical square-built Nejdi village surrounded by
a wall, with detached walled palm groves, each containing a
small <j(isr for the protection of its owners, scattered up and down
the valley. Dallying a short while to visit the local Emir and
see the village, we continued up the valley to Mizal, about three
miles up—a village similar in all respects to Quaiiyya, and
surrounded, like it, by detached walled gardens. These two
villages constitute the administrative and commercial centre of
the Ardh group of villages, some twelve or fifteen in number,
most of which are situated to the northward under the shadow
of the great Idhuain Shamal. At one time the Emir of
Quaiiyya, of the Beni Zeid section of the Beni Tamim, was
recognised as the ruler (on behalf of the house of Saud) of the
Ardh district, but the enmity of the Arrafa section of the Beni
Khalid, long settled in Mizal, had necessitated a division of
authority, and the district is now divided for administrative
purposes into two halves, dependent respectively on the Emirs
of Quaiiyya and Mizal, each of which perhaps contains a
population of from 4,000 to 5,000, while some 20,000 to 25,000
would probably be something like a correct estimate of the
settled population of the whole district.
Mizal lies about 2,600 feet above sea-level and is about 107
miles distant from Riyadh. Beyond it we continued our march
next day p)ast the little palm-surrounded village of Ibn Saadan
into the depression of Quai, whose qasrs and the cultivated
fields dependent thereon extend as far as the ridge of el-Jidd,
which appears to be the local name of this portion of the back
bone of the Ardh range. This lies north and south, from north
of Idhuain Shamal, along el-Jidd to the distant ridges of Jafar
and Fara to the south, of which I obtained an excellent view
from the depression of the Sardah valley, which runs north and
south between the main section of the Ardh range and a confused
mass of foothills which lie to the west of it.
The distance from Mizal to the edge of the Sardah valley
was seventeen miles, the valley itself is about three miles broad,
and another five miles march brought us to the end of a wide,
nameless valley which separates the Ardh range from a second
but generally lower range to the west of it called el-Hamra.
The Ardh range, which extends some thirty-one miles in
breadth from east to west and runs north and south as far as
eye could see, is the first of a series of mountain ranges which
constitute the highlands of Fiejd proper, and it appears that the
term Nejd in its strictly geographical meaning is applicable only
to this vast mountain tract, though usage has extended it to
cover practically the whole territory of the Wahhabi dynasty.