"كتيّب الجزيرة العربية. المجلد I. ١٩١٧" [‎٣‎٥‎٨] (٧٤٨/٣٦٧)

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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 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 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: the other two, and
Ghaslbah, are separately walled.
ii. Mahmal
3. Sedus is a small town situated in Toweiq in Wadi 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