A Person Belonging To The Court Of Tousoun Pasha Measured The
Distance By His Watch.
The caravans, loaded with corn, are generally ten
or eleven days on the road between Medina and Rass.
Kasym, which is the most fertile district in the province of Nedjed,
begins at Dat. The name of Nedjed, signifying high or elevated ground,
is given to this country in opposition to Tehama or "low lands," applied
to the sea-coast. It seems to be an oblong tract, extending between
three and four days' journies from west to east, and two journies in
breadth south to north. Within this space are above twenty-six small
towns or villages, well peopled, in a cultivated territory, irrigated by
water from numerous wells. The chief town is Bereyda, where resides the
Sheikh of Kasym, an old man named El Hedjeylan, once an enemy to the
Wahabys, now a convert to their doctrine. The neighbourhood of Rass
produces the most corn; and that part of Kasym about Dat and Rass lies
nearest to Medina. In time of peace, regular caravans arrive every month
at Medina from Rass. Tousoun Pasha's army found plenty of provisions in
the few villages of Kasym which they occupied.
The most considerable place in Kasym is Aneyzy, said to be equal in size
to Siout in Upper Egypt, which contained, according to the French
computation, three thousand houses. Aneyzy has bazars, and is inhabited
by respectable Arab merchants. Of the other towns and villages, the
following are most noted: - Es' Shenane, Balgha, Heshashye, El Helalye, El
Bekeyrye, Batah el Nebhanye, Ashebeybe, Ayoun, Kowar, and Mozneb.
Small tribes of the Aenezes, of Ateybe (whose chief seat is on the
Hedjaz mountains inhabited by the Beni Harb), of Meteyr, and others,
encamp during the whole year among the plains of Kasym, which afford
excellent pasturage.
Between Kasym and Derayeh, the capital of Nedjed, the intermediate
district, mostly a desert, is called El Woshem: from the eastern
extremity of the district of Kasym to Derayeh is a distance of five
days. The last place in Kasym, on this side, is Mozneb then begins Wady
Sarr, a broad sandy valley with pasturage, which continues for several
days towards Derayeh through the district of Woshem.
Nedjed, near Derayeh, assumes the name of El Aredh, a district once
separate from Nedjed, but now considered as belonging to it. El Aredh is
less fertile than El Kasym, from which, in fact, it is partly supplied
with provisions. Its principal town, Derayeb, has always been a place of
note, but much increased since it has become the capital of the Wahaby
power and sect. Its direction was often indicated to me; and I found it
to bear from Medina E. by S. (variation not computed); the bearing of
Kasym from Medina,
[p.460] E. 1/2 N. Derayeh is situated in a valley, the inlets and outlets
of which on the N. and S. sides are very narrow, admitting only one
camel at a time. The houses (many built of stone) are placed on the
declivities of both mountains, the valley itself being throughout very
narrow. The town is not walled. The number of inhabitants may be
estimated, according to the report of the Bedouins, who state that the
town furnished three thousand men armed with firelocks to the Wahaby
chief: they are composed of different tribes, principally the Mekren, a
branch of the Messalykh, part of the great Aeneze race. All the
inhabitants of Nedjed trace their pedigrees to some ancient Bedouin
tribe; thus the people of Rass claim descent from the Beni Yam, who now
reside at Nedjran, in Yemen. The smaller tribe of Beni Lam (related to
those of the same name on the river Tigris, but not, like them, of the
sect of Aly), and the small tribe of Essehoun, dwell in the Aredh, and
seldom encamp beyond its limits. Derayeh is supplied with water from
wells. Ibn Saoud, the late Wahaby chief, discovered a spring behind this
house, which he built, and wished to persuade the people that God had
inspired him on the occasion. The mansion of the Wahaby chief stands on
the mountain, at about ten minutes' walk from the town: it is spacious,
but without any splendid apartments: all the married members of the
reigning family have their own chambers; and there are many rooms for
guests, with whom the house is constantly filled; for all the chiefs of
tribes who come to Derayeh on business are invited to the mansion or
palace of the great Sheikh. There are not any khans or public inns, so
that every stranger quarters himself upon some inhabitant; and the
people of Derayeh are proverbially hospitable. The immediate
neighbourhood is barren, yielding only some date-trees. Derayeh is
supplied with provisions chiefly from Dhoroma, a large and populous
village, one day's journey towards the E. or N.E., which has gardens and
orchards well watered from copious wells.
From Derayeh to Mekka is a distance of eleven or twelve long caravan
days' journies. For three days beyond Derayeh are found cultivated spots
and small settlements of Arabs; the rest of the road is through a desert
country, as far as Wady Zeyme, two days from Mekka. The distance from
Rass (in Kasym) to Mekka is also computed at twelve days' journey. This
latter road abounds more with water than the former, and likewise passes
by Wady Zeyme.
A straight road from Nedjed to the mountains of Hedjaz (I use this word
here in the Bedouin sense, meaning the mountains south of Tayf), and to
the country of Beishe and Yemen, passes by the village of Derye, on the
southern extremity of Nedjed, on the great road from Kasym to Mekka. The
road from Derye to Beishe lies four or five days east of Mekka. Between
Derye and Taraba (above mentioned) is a pasture-land, with many wells,
called El Bakarra, a well-known halting-place of all the Bedouins of
these countries.
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