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.
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