From
Hence We Continued N.N.E. In Valleys Of Sandy Soil, Full Of Detached
Rocks.
High mountains with sharp-pointed summits, and entirely barren,
enclosed the road on both sides.
The Eastern mountain, which here runs
parallel with it, is called Djebel Sobh; the territory of the powerful
tribe of Beni Sobh, a branch of the Beni Harb. Their mountains contain
many fertile valleys, where date-trees grow, and some dhourra is sown.
It is here that the Mekka balsam-tree is principally found, and the
Senna Mekka, or Arabian
[p.306] senna, which the Syrian caravan exports, is collected
exclusively in this district. The passage into the interior parts of
this mountain is described as very difficult, and could never be forced
by the Wahabys. Numerous families of the other tribes of Harb had
retreated thither, with all their goods and cattle, from the arms of
Saoud; and while all the Hedjaz Bedouins submitted to the Wahaby
dominion, the Sobh was the only tribe which successfully defended their
territory, and boldly asserted their independence.
After a march of six hours and a half, the road began to ascend among
low rocky hills. At seven hours and a half we entered Wady Zogag, a
narrow valley of gentle ascent, full of loose stones, and overgrown with
acacia-trees. In proceeding up, it grew narrower, the path became
steeper, and more difficult for the camels. At the end of thirteen
hours, we came to level ground at its top, and there entered the valley
of Es' Szafra, close by the village of the same name, at which we
alighted.
January 23d. Our camels being tired, having found very little food on
the road, though they always had the whole morning to pasture, and
several of them threatening to break down, the drivers stopped here the
whole day. Like the before-mentioned Bedouin villages, Szafra is a
market-place for all the surrounding tribes: its houses are built on the
declivity of the mountain, and in the valley, which is narrow, leaving
scarcely room enough for the date-groves which line both sides of it. A
copious rivulet flows down the valley, the water of which is dispersed
among the date-trees, and irrigates some cultivated fields in the wider
parts of the windings of this valley. Wheat, dhourra, barley, and dokhen
are sown here; of vegetables the Badendjan, or egg-plant, Meloukhye
onions and radishes are cultivated; and vines, lemon, and banana-trees
abound. The soil is every where sandy, but rendered fertile by
irrigation: copious rains had fallen three days since in the mountains,
and a torrent twenty feet broad, and three or four feet deep, was still
flowing. The date-groves extend about four miles; they belong to the
inhabitants of Szafra, as well as of neighbouring Bedouins, who keep
some of their own people, or Arab labourers, employed in irrigating the
grounds, and repair hither themselves when
[p.307] the dates are ripe. The date-trees pass from one person to
another in the course of trade, and are sold by the single tree; the
price paid to a girl's father on marrying her, consists often in date-
trees. They all stand in deep sand, which is collected from the middle
parts of the valley, and heaped up round their root, and must be renewed
annually, as the torrents usually wash it away. Every small grove is
enclosed by a mud or stone wall; the cultivators inhabit several
hamlets, or insulated houses, scattered among the trees. The houses are
low, and generally have only two rooms, and there is a small court-yard
for the cattle. Several springs of running water, and many wells, are
found in the gardens; the principal rivulet has its source in a grove
close to the market; a small Mesdjed or mosque is built beside it, and
it is overshadowed by a few large wild chesnut-trees. I saw no others of
that species in the Hedjaz. Here, too, the water of the spring was
tepid, but in a less degree than at Rabegh and Kholeys.
The inhabitants of this valley, the name of which is celebrated in the
Hedjaz for the abundance of its dates, are of the Beni Salem tribe, the
most numerous branch of Harb, and, like most other tribes of the Hedjaz,
partly Bedouins and partly settled inhabitants; the latter remaining in
their houses and gardens the whole year round, though they dress and
live in the same manner as their brethren under tents. The Wahaby chief
had been aware of the importance of this station; and having succeeded,
after a long resistance, in overpowering the Beni Harb, who held the key
of the Northern Hedjaz, [In this enterprise he was assisted by Medheyan,
formerly a chief of Harb, who had been deprived of his post by Djezy, a
fortunate rival. Medheyan was afterwards treacherously seized by the
Turks at Medina, and beheaded at Constantinople; and Djezy, a friend of
Mohammed Aly, was killed by the Turkish governor of Medina, for having
spoken too highly of his services.] thought it necessary to keep a
watchful eye over this valley, and there built several strong block-
houses or towers, in which the collectors of his revenues resided, and
where they deposited the taxes collected from the valley. All these
Bedouins were decidedly hostile to the Wahaby system: even now, though
free from their yoke, they load them with as many reproaches,
[p.308] as the Mekkans bestow praises on them. Before the Wababy
invasion, the Beni Harb had never known a master, nor had the produce of
their fields ever been taxed. The Sherif of Mekka certainly assumed a
nominal supremacy over them; but they were in fact completely
independent, and their Sheikhs seconded the Sherif's views so far only
as they were thought beneficial, or of pecuniary advantage to their own
people. The latter now complained greatly of the heavy taxation imposed
by the Wahabys, and said that, besides the money they were obliged to
pay into Saoud's treasury, the chief of all the Wahaby Sheikhs of the
Hedjaz, Othman el Medheyfe, had extorted from them many additional
sums.
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