This Was
Once A Powerful Tribe, But It Has Much Degenerated.
Through the province of Djebel Shammar, or, as it is commonly called, El
Djebel, lies also the road from Nedjed to Damascus.
It is a mountainous
tract to the N.E. of the province of Kasym, bearing from Medina E.N.E.
Its inhabitants are the powerful Beni Shammar, a tribe of which some
have passed over to Mesopotamia. Their Sheikh, Ibn Aly, is a main
supporter of the Wahaby government. They are said to muster seven
thousand matchlocks; and, like their neighbours in Nedjed, they
cultivate palm-trees by means of water drawn up from wells in leathern
buckets by camels. One of the principal towns in Djebel Shammar, is El
Mestadjedde: the chief town is said to be El Hayl; and the neat in size,
Kofar.
From Djebel Shammar to Damascus the road passes by the district El Djof,
which is five days distant from it. The road is of deep sand, without
any water but what is afforded by the well of Shageyg, four days from
Djebel Shammar, and one from Djof. I believe that there is no other
station of equal length entirely destitute of water, in any part of
Arabia frequented by caravans, like the four days between Djebel and
Shageyg. The well of Shageyg belongs to the Aenezy tribe of Rowalla; and
whoever wishes to go from Southern Syria to Nedjed, must necessarily
pass here. There is not any water from Djof southwards, in a direct line
towards Khaibar and Medina; the road is therefore not frequented.
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