This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler
[Picture: Night march on the Arabian Desert]
ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY OF TRAVEL
TRAVELS IN ARABIA
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COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY
BAYARD TAYLOR
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REVISED BY
THOMAS STEVENS
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NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1898
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COPYRIGHT 1881, 1892, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
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TROW DIRECTORY
PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY
NEW YORK
REVISER’S NOTE
The continuance of Bayard Taylor’s Library of Travel in the popular favor
is one of the accepted facts of the literary world. So much so, indeed,
that a revision of his works on the part of another is to be permitted
only on certain conditions of reserve, and by reason of events that have
transpired since the death of the distinguished traveller.
Travellers and authors die; but the tribes, nations, and races visited by
them continue on, making war or peace, changing frontiers, setting up or
pulling down dynasties.
The whole political complexion of a country may be changed in a decade.
Though the people of Arabia, the genuine Bedouins, are believed to have
changed little or nothing in their mode of life since the days of the
Shepherd Kings of Abraham’s time, waves of political and religious
agitation have occasionally rippled over one part or another of the
ancient peninsula. Seemingly they make as little permanent impression on
the undercurrent of Bedouin life, as do the waves of the sea on its
immutable whole, so that the accounts of the earlier chroniclers of
Arabian life and manners agree in a singular manner with the descriptions
of contemporary visitors. For this reason, no less than for the respect
and admiration entertained by the reviser for Mr. Taylor’s
conscientiousness and judgment as a traveller and compiler, and his
literary excellence as an author, this volume remains, practically, as
fully the work of its original editor as before.
By way of bringing it up to date, however, Chapter XVII. has been added,
and such slight revision of preceding chapters has been made as was found
necessary, consistent with the scope and intention of the new edition.
THOMAS STEVENS.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
SKETCH OF ARABIA; ITS GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND ANCIENT 1
HISTORY
CHAPTER II.
EARLY EXPLORERS OF ARABIA 8
CHAPTER III.
NIEBUHR’S TRAVELS IN YEMEN 14
CHAPTER IV.
BURCKHARDT’S JOURNEY TO MECCA AND MEDINA 29
CHAPTER V.
WELLSTED’S EXPLORATIONS IN OMAN 40
CHAPTER VI.
WELLSTED’S DISCOVERY OF AN ANCIENT CITY IN HADRAMAUT 55
CHAPTER VII.
BURTON’S PILGRIMAGE 62
CHAPTER VIII.
PALGRAVE’S TRAVELS IN CENTRAL ARABIA: FROM PALESTINE TO 83
THE DJOWF
CHAPTER IX.
PALGRAVE’S TRAVELS—RESIDENCE IN THE DJOWF 107
CHAPTER X.
PALGRAVE’S TRAVELS—CROSSING THE NEFOOD 127
CHAPTER XI.
PALGRAVE’S TRAVELS—LIFE IN HA’YEL 138
CHAPTER XII.
PALGRAVE’S TRAVELS—JOURNEY TO BEREYDAH 176
CHAPTER XIII.
PALGRAVE’S TRAVELS—JOURNEY TO RI’AD THE CAPITAL OF NEDJED 201
CHAPTER XIV.
PALGRAVE’S TRAVELS—ADVENTURES IN RI’AD 217
CHAPTER XV.
PALGRAVE’S TRAVELS—HIS ESCAPE TO THE EASTERN COAST 240
CHAPTER XVI.
PALGRAVE’S TRAVELS—EASTERN ARABIA 259
CHAPTER XVII.
LADY BLUNT’S PILGRIMAGE TO NEJD 279
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
NIGHT MARCH IN THE DESERT FRONTISPIECE
FACING PAGE
THE COFFEE HILLS OF YEMEN 19
VIEW OF EL-MEDINA 39
A VALLEY IN OMAN 51
THE RUINS OF NAKAB EL-HADJAR, IN HADRAMAUT 59
VIEW OF MEDINA FROM THE WEST 69
CAMP AT MOUNT ARAFAT 77
COSTUME OF PILGRIMS TO MECCA 81
WILLIAM GIFFORD PALGRAVE 84
AN ARAB CHIEF 105
CAPTAIN BURTON AS A PILGRIM 129
THE VILLAGE OF EL-SUWAYRKIYAH 184
AN ARAB ENCAMPMENT 190
DEATH ON THE DESERT 208
CHAPTER I.
SKETCH OF ARABIA: ITS GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION, AND ANCIENT HISTORY.
THE Peninsula of Arabia, forming the extreme southwestern corner of Asia,
is partly detached, both in a geographical and historical sense, from the
remainder of the continent. Although parts of it are mentioned in the
oldest historical records, and its shores were probably familiar to the
earliest navigators, the greater portion of its territory has always
remained almost inaccessible and unknown.
The desert, lying between Syria and the Euphrates is sometimes included
by geographers as belonging to Arabia, but a line drawn from the Dead Sea
to the mouth of the Euphrates (almost coinciding with the parallel of 30°
N.) would more nearly represent the northern boundary of the peninsula.
As the most southern point of the Arabian coast reaches the latitude of
12° 40′, the greater part of the entire territory, of more than one
million square miles, lies within the tropics. In shape it is an
irregular rhomboid, the longest diameter, from Suez to the Cape El-Had,
in Oman, being 1,660, and from the Euphrates to the Straits of
Bab-el-Mandeb, 1,400 miles.
The entire coast region of Arabia, on the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and
the Gulfs of Oman and Persia, is, for the most part, a belt of fertile
country, inhabited by a settled, semi-civilized population. Back of this
belt, which varies in width from a few miles to upwards of a hundred,
commences a desert table-land, occasionally intersected by mountain
chains, and containing, in the interior, many fertile valleys of
considerable extent, which are inhabited. Very little has been known of
this great interior region until the present century.
The ancient geographers divided Arabia into three parts,—_Arabia Petræa_,
or the Rocky, comprising the northwestern portion, including the Sinaitic
peninsula, between the Gulfs of Suez and Akaba; _Arabia Deserta_, the
great central desert; and _Arabia Felix_, the Happy, by which they appear
to have designated the southwestern part, now known as Yemen. The modern
Arabic geography, which has been partly adopted on our maps, is based, to
some extent, on the political divisions of the country. The coast region
along the Red Sea, down to a point nearly half way between Djidda and the
Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, and including the holy cities of Medina and
Mecca, is called the Hedjaz. Yemen, the capital of which is Sana, and
the chief sea-ports Mocha, Hodeida, and Loheia, embraces all the
southwestern portion of the peninsula. The southern coast, although
divided into various little chiefdoms, is known under the general name of
Hadramaut. The kingdom of Oman has extended itself along the eastern
shore, nearly to the head of the Persian Gulf. The northern oases, the
seat of the powerful sect of the Wahabees, are called Nedjed; and the
unknown southern interior, which is believed to be almost wholly desert,
inhabited only by a few wandering Bedouins, is known as the Dahna or
Akhaf.
Arabia has been inhabited by the same race since the earliest times, and
has changed less, in the course of thousands of years, than any other
country of the globe, not excepting China. According to Biblical
genealogy, the natives are descended from Ham, through Cush; but the
Bedouins have always claimed that they are the posterity of Ishmael.
Some portions of the country, such as Edom, or Idumæa, Teman and Sheba,
(the modern Yemen,) are mentioned in the Old Testament; but neither the
Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian, nor Egyptian monarchies succeeded in
gaining possession of the peninsula. Alexander the Great made
preparations for a journey of conquest, which was prevented by his death,
and Trajan was the only Roman emperor who penetrated into the interior.
The inhabitants were idolaters, whose religion had probably some
resemblance to that of the Phoenicians. After the destruction of
Jerusalem, both Jews and Christians found their way thither, and made
proselytes. There were Jews in Medina, Mecca, and Yemen; and even the
last Himyaritic king of the latter country became a convert to Mosaic
faith. Thus the strength of the ancient religion was already weakened
when Mohammed was born (A.D. 570); and there are strong evidences for the
conjecture that the demoralization of both Jews and Christians, resulting
from their long enmity, was the chief cause which prevented Mohammed from
adopting the belief of the latter. At the time of his birth, the
civilization of the dominant Arab tribes was little inferior to that of
Europe or the Eastern Empire. There was already an Arabic literature;
and the arts and sciences of the ancient world had found their way even
to the oases of Nedjed.
The union of the best and strongest elements in the race, which followed
the establishment of the new religion, gave to men of Arabian blood a
part to play in the history of the world. For six hundred years after
Mohammed’s death Islam and Christendom were nearly equal powers, and it
is difficult, even now, to decide which contributed the more to the arts
from which modern civilization has sprung. Arabia flourished, as never
before, under the Caliphs; yet it does not appear that the life of the
inhabitants was materially changed, or that any growth, acquired during
the new importance of the country, became permanent. Its commerce was
restricted to the products of its narrow belt of fertile shore; an arid
desert separated it from Bagdad and Syria; none of the lines of traffic
between Europe and the East Indies traversed its territory, and thus it
remained comparatively unknown to the Christian world.
After the downfall of the Caliphate the tribes relapsed into their former
condition of independent chiefdoms, and the old hostilities, which had
been partially suppressed for some centuries, again revived. In the
sixteenth century the Turks obtained possession of Hedjaz and Yemen; the
Portuguese held Muscat for a hundred and fifty years, and the Persians
made some temporary conquests, but the vast interior region easily
maintained its independence. The deserts, which everywhere intervene
between its large and fertile valleys and the sea-coast, are the home of
wandering Bedouin tribes, whose only occupation is plunder,—whose hand is
against every man’s, and every man’s hand against them. Thus they serve
as a body-guard even to their own enemies.
The long repose and seclusion of Central Arabia was first broken during
the present century. It may be well to state, very briefly, the
circumstances which led to it, since they will explain the great
difficulty and danger which all modern explorers must encounter. Early
in the last century, an Arabian named Abd el-Wahab, scandalized at what
he believed to be the corruption of the Moslem faith, began preaching a
Reformation. He advocated the slaughter or forcible conversion of
heretics, the most rigid forms of fasting and prayer, the disuse of
tobacco, and various other changes in the Oriental habits of life.
Having succeeded in converting the chief of Nedjed, Mohammed Ibu-Savod,
he took up his residence in Derreyeh, the capital, which thenceforth
became the rendezvous for all his followers, who were named _Wahabees_.
They increased to such an extent that their authority became supreme
throughout Central Arabia, and the successor of Ibu-Savod was able to
call an army of 100,000 men into the field, and defy the Ottoman power.
In the year 1803 the Wahabees took and plundered Mecca, and slew great
numbers of the pilgrims who had gathered there. A second expedition
against Medina failed, but the annual caravan of pilgrims was robbed and
dispersed. Finally, in 1809, the Sultan transferred to Mohammed Ali, of
Egypt, the duty of suppressing this menacing religious and political
rebellion. The first campaign in Arabia was a failure; the second, under
Ibrahim Pasha, was successful. He overcame the Wahabees in 1818,
captured Derreyeh, and razed it to the ground. In 1828 they began a
second war against Turkey, but were again defeated. Since then they have
refrained from any further aggressive movement, but their hostility and
bigotry are as active as ever. The Wahabee doctrine flatters the
clannish and exclusive spirit of the race, and will probably prevent, for
a long time, any easy communication between Arabia and the rest of the
world.
The greater part of our present knowledge of Arabia has been obtained
since the opening of this century. The chief seaports and the route from
Suez to Mt. Sinai were known during the Middle Ages, but all else was
little better than a blank. Within the last fifty or sixty years the
mountains of Edom have been explored, the rock-hewn city of Petra
discovered, the holy cities of Medina and Mecca visited by intelligent
Europeans; Yemen, Hadramaut, and Oman partly traversed; and, last of all,
we have a very clear and satisfactory account of Nedjed and the other
central regions of Arabia, by the intrepid English traveller, Mr.
Palgrave.
Thus, only the southern interior of the peninsula remains to be visited.
The name given to it by the Arabs, _Roba el-Khaly_, “the abode of
emptiness,” no doubt describes its character. It is an immense,
undulating, sandy waste, dotted with scarce and small oases, which give
water and shelter to the Bedouins, but without any large tract of
habitable land, and consequently without cities, or other than the rudest
forms of political organization.