It Belongs To The Kereyshat Tribe, A Branch Of The
Sabya Arabs Inhabiting Ranye.
Nedjed is celebrated throughout Arabia for its excellent pastures, which
abound even in its deserts after rain:
Its plains are frequented by
innumerable Bedouins, who continue there for most of the year, and
purchase corn and barley from the inhabitants. During the rainy season
these Bedouins retire towards the interior of the Desert, where they
remain until the rain-water collected in the hollow grounds is consumed
by their cattle. Previous to the Wahaby establishment, the pasturage of
Nedjed belonged exclusively to the Aenezes,
[p.461] which I have already mentioned as the largest of all the Bedouin
tribes of Arabia. Great numbers of them frequented this territory in
spring, and kept off all the other tribes, except the powerful Meteyr,
who reside in the Desert between Kasym and Medina. These strengthened
their party by an alliance with the Kahtan Arabs, while the Aenezes were
assisted by the Beni Shaman. Between these tribes an inveterate hatred
subsisted, which every spring was the cause of much bloodshed, and
checked the commercial intercourse with the Hedjaz; and both parties
levied contributions on the settled inhabitants of Nedjed: but this
custom has been abolished by the Wahabys, whose chief, instead, receives
a regular tribute, and has reconciled the hostile parties, and opened
the pastures of Nedjed to any tribes of Wahabys who may choose to
frequent them. A Bedouin assured me that twenty encampments of different
tribes may now be seen here in the course of one day's march - such is the
security maintained by the Wahaby chief, who is inexorable in the
punishment of robbers.
The fine pastures of Nedjed have produced an excellent breed of camels,
more numerous here than in any other Arabian province of equal extent.
The Arabs call this country Om el Bel, or "the mother of camels," and
resort to it from all quarters for the supply of their own herds; and it
constantly furnishes not only Hedjaz, but Syria and Yemen, with camels,
of which useful creatures an ordinary one is sold for about ten dollars
in Nedjed. In this country there is also a most excellent breed of
horses, so remarkable that the finest blood Arabs are properly
denominated Kheyl Nedjade, or Nedjed horses. But the Wahaby power has
caused a diminution of this breed; for many Arabs have sold their best
horses in foreign parts, lest they should be forced to attend the Wahaby
chief, who, in his wars, frequently required cavalry.
Nedjed, however, is often subject to scarcity, caused by the failure of
rain, and consequently of herbage: this soon affects the cattle of the
Bedouins, who seldom expect, in this country, more than three or four
successive years of plenty, although absolute famine does not occur
above once in ten, or perhaps fifteen years. It is generally accompanied
by epidemical diseases, much like the plague, consisting of violent
fevers (but without biles or buboes,) that prove fatal to great numbers.
Nedjed is peopled by small tribes of Bedouins, who never leave it, and
by settlers intermarried with them, and often travelling as merchants to
Damascus, Baghdad, Medina, Mekka, and Yemen: they export camels and
woollen cloaks (abbas), of which the best are manufactured at El Hassa;
and from Baghdad they receive rice, (the produce of the banks of the
Tigris), and articles of dress, especially the keffies, or
handkerchiefs, striped green and yellow, of cotton, wool, or silk: these
the Bedouins wear over their bonnets. From Mekka they get coffee, drugs,
and perfumes, much used among them, particularly the perfume called
Arez, which comes from Mokha. In general there is a spirit of commerce
very prevalent in Nedjed, where the merchants are wealthy and of better
repute for honesty than most of the Eastern traders. The settlers here
are armed with matchlocks, and constitute the best portion of the Wababy
infantry: they are generally successful against the Bedouins who invade
their crops or pastures; and, as saltpetre is found in Nedjed, every
family makes its own yearly provision of gunpowder.
In Nedjed are many ancient wells, lined with stone, and ascribed by the
inhabitants to a primeval race of giants. They are generally from
twenty-five to thirty fathoms deep, and
[p.462] mostly the property of individuals, who exact a certain
contribution from the tribes whose cattle they supply with water. Here
likewise are numerous remains of ancient buildings, of very massive
structure and large dimensions, but in a state of complete ruin. These
are attributed to a primitive (or perhaps a fabulous) tribe of Arabs,
the Beni Tamour, of whose supposed works some vestiges are likewise seen
in the Syrian deserts eastward of the plains of Hauran.
Of all the Bedouin tribes that exist in Arabia, some few families at
least may be found in Nedjed, to which refugees fly for security against
their enemies. This country, in fact, is not only the seat of the Wahaby
government, but seems the most important of the interior districts of
Arabia, from its fertility and population, its central position, and
facility of intercourse with other provinces. To acquire a perfect
knowledge of the Bedouins, it would be necessary to examine them in
Nedjed, where their manners continue unaltered by conquest, and
retaining all their original purity: nor have they been contaminated by
an influx of strangers; for, except the Hadj caravan coming from
Baghdad, no foreigners ever pass through Nedjed. For this reason I
consider Nedjed and the mountains between Tayf and Sanaa as the most
interesting portion of Arabia, affording more objects of inquiry to a
traveller than any other part of the peninsula.
From Derayeh eastward towards the Persian Gulf, the country is called
Zedeyr, as far as the limits of the province of El Hassa, six days
distant from Derayeh, of which three days are without water. The
district of Hassa (or, as it is sometimes written, El Ahsa) is
celebrated for its numerous wells, and extends for about two days'
journey parallel with the sea-coast, from which it is distant, inland,
fifty or sixty miles.
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