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. 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:
