"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎١‎٣‎٩] (١٧٨٢/١٢٦٢)

■othn
mmumuumiUIMIfflSI
pf-
1139
Ibn-Raslnd for the destruction of all the remaining descendants of the
Wahhabi Amir Faisal, A Shammar governor who had been installed
in Kharj then capitulated, according to one account, without fighting;
and the chiefs of 'Anaizah and Buraidah, and the people of Qasim
generally, declared for 'Abdur Rahman. These proceedings brought
the Shammar Amir in anger from the north, accompanied by the Sham-
mar, the Harb, and other tribes; but his siege and bombardment of
Riyadh were ineffectual, sallies were made ag-ainst his force, his Bedouin
supporters began to melt away, and eventually a peace was arranged
by which the districts of Kharj, Sadair and Washam were secured to
him, but Riyadh and the rest of Southern Najd reverted to the A1
Sa^ud. At the end of the year the people of Qasim and Southern Najd
as a whole, with the Bedouin tribes of the Mutair and 'Ataibah, had
leagued themselves together to overthrow the power of Ibn-Rashid j
and bloody feuds had been suspended, and hereditary foes united, by the
universal hatred of Shammar tyranny. The confederation against
Ibn-Rashid was commanded by Zamil, Amir of 'Anaizah, from whose
house the declaration of war was despatched.
By February 1891 the opposing forces were in contact in Qasim, the Battle of
flanks of the allies resting on the towns of 'Anaizah and Buraidah; and ^mplete vil'-
the number of men in the field is said to have been greater than in tor y 0 f
any other war within living memory in Central Arabia, Hasan-bin- R ' ishldi 1891 '
Mahanna, chief of Buraidah, on whose assistance the Shammar Amir
relied, deserted to the side of the confederates as soon as hostilities
began. For a month fighting continued without decisive results, and,
though vast numbers of camels were employed by day and night in bring
ing up water and other supplies, the provisions of Ibn-Rashid's force
began to fail. Towards the end of March Ibn-Rashid made several
desperate attempts to storm the position of the allies ; but all of them,
notwithstanding that his men were better armed than the enemv,
w r ere repulsed with loss. At length he braced himself for a final effort;
his troops advanced to the attack driving some thousands of camels
in front of them as a screen ; and this time, though the loss in camels
was very heavy, the Qusman were driven from their ground. A
hundred men are said to have fallen in the battle of Buraidah or
*Mulaidah; the veteran Zamil and his second son 'Ali were among the
slain ; two of their relatives were killed in the battle and several others
* In Najd this battle appears to be generally known by the name of Mulaidah, a
place which is said to be near Shaihiyah. The account given in the text is taken
chiefly from Baron Nolde'a lieise nach Inuerabien.
81 a.