WELLSTED’S DISCOVERY OF AN ANCIENT CITY IN HADRAMAUT.
WHILE employed in the survey of the southern coast of Arabia in the
spring of 1835, Lieutenant Wellsted was occupied for a time near the cape
called Ras el-Aseïda, in Hadramaut, about one hundred miles east of Aden.
On this cape there is a watch-tower, with the guardian of which, an
officer named Hamed, he became acquainted; and on learning from the
Bedouins of the neighborhood that extensive ruins, which they described
as having been built by infidels, and of great antiquity, were to be
found at some distance inland, he prevailed upon the officer to procure
him camels and guides.
One day, having landed with a midshipman in order to visit some
inscriptions at a few hours’ distance, the Bedouins who brought the
camels refused to go to the place, but expressed their willingness to
convey the two Europeans to the ruined city. Hamed declined to accompany
them, on the plea of sickness, and they were unsupplied with provisions
or presents for the Shekhs of the villages on the way. Still the chance
was too tempting to be lost. Wellsted decided to trust himself to the
uncertain protection of the Bedouins, sent his boat to the surveying
vessel with a message that it should meet him at a point farther to the
westward at the end of three days, and set out for the ruins late in the
afternoon.
Leaving the sea-shore at sunset, they struck northward into the interior,
and travelled until after midnight, passing several villages of the
Diyabi Bedouins, a very fierce and powerful tribe, who are dreaded by all
their neighbors. Scraping for themselves beds in the sand, the
travellers slept until daybreak without being disturbed. The path soon
after mounted a ledge about four hundred feet in height, from the summit
of which they obtained an extensive but dreary view of the surrounding
country. Their route lay along a broad valley, skirted on each side by a
lofty range of mountains. By eight o’clock the sun became so oppressive
that the Bedouins halted under the shade of some stunted tamarisk trees.
“Within these burning hollows,” says Wellsted, “the sun’s rays are
concentrated and thrown off as from a mirror; the herbs around were
scorched to a cindery blackness; not a cloud obscured the firmament, and
the breeze which moaned past us was of a glowing heat, like that escaping
from the mouth of a furnace. Our guides dug hollows in the sand, and
thrust their blistered feet within them. Although we were not long in
availing ourselves of the practical lesson they had taught us, I began to
be far from pleased with their churlish demeanor.”
During the day they travelled over sandy and stony ridges, and late in
the afternoon entered the Wady Meifah, where they found wells of good
water and scanty vegetation. “The country now began to assume a far
different aspect. Numerous hamlets, interspersed amid extensive date
groves, verdant fields of grain, and herds of sleek cattle, showed
themselves in every direction, and we now fell in with parties of
inhabitants for the first time since leaving the sea-shore. Astonishment
was depicted on their countenances, but as we did not halt they had no
opportunity of gratifying their curiosity by gazing at us for any length
of time.”
One of the Bedouins, however, in spite of Wellsted’s remonstrances, told
the people that the travellers were in search of buried treasure. When
the latter attempted to encamp near a village, the inhabitants requested
them to remove; the guides proved to be ignorant of the road in the
night, and they would have been suffered to wander about without shelter
but for the kindness of an old woman, who conducted them to her house.
This proved to be a kind of khan for travellers, and was already so
crowded that the travellers were obliged to sleep in an open courtyard.
They were hardly prepared for the scene which daylight disclosed to them.
“The dark verdure of fields of millet, sorghum, tobacco, etc., extended
as far as the eye could reach. Mingled with these we had the soft acacia
and the stately but more sombre foliage of the date palm; while the
creaking of numerous wheels with which the grounds were irrigated, and in
the distance several rude ploughs drawn by oxen, the ruddy and lively
appearance of the people, who now flocked toward us from all quarters,
and the delightful and refreshing coolness of the morning air, combined
to form a scene which he who gazes on the barren aspect of the coast
could never anticipate.”
After three hours’ travel through this bright and populous region, they
came in sight of the ruins, which the inhabitants call _Nakab el-Hadjar_
(meaning “The Excavation from the Rock”). According to Wellsted’s
estimate, they are about fifty miles from the coast.
The following is Wellsted’s description of the place: “The hill upon
which these ruins are situated stands out in the centre of the valley,
and divides a stream which passes, during floods, on either side of it.
It is nearly eight hundred yards in length, and about three hundred and
fifty yards at its extreme breadth. About a third of the height from its
base a massive wall, averaging from thirty to forty feet in height, is
carried completely around the eminence, and flanked by square towers,
erected at equal distances. There are but two entrances, north and
south; a hollow, square tower, measuring fourteen feet, stands on both
sides of these. Their bases extend to the plain below, and are carried
out considerably beyond the rest of the building. Between the towers, at
an elevation of twenty feet from the plain, there is an oblong platform
which projects about eighteen feet without and within the walls. A
flight of steps was apparently once attached to either extremity of the
building.
“Within the entrance, at an elevation of ten feet from the platform, we
found inscriptions. They are executed with extreme care, in two
horizontal lines, on the smooth face of the stones, the letters being
about eight inches long. Attempts have been made, though without
success, to obliterate them. From the conspicuous situation which they
occupy, there can be but little doubt but that, when deciphered, they
will be found to contain the name of the founder of the building, as well
as the date and purport of its erection. {59} The whole of the walls and
towers, and some of the edifices within, are built of the same material—a
compact grayish-colored marble, hewn to the required shape with the
utmost nicety. The dimensions of the slabs at the base were from five to
seven feet in length, two to three in height, and three to four in
breadth.
[Picture: Ruins of Nakab El-Hadjar in Hadramaut]
“Let us now visit the interior, where the most conspicuous object is an
oblong square building, the walls of which face the cardinal points: its
dimensions are twenty-seven by seventeen yards. The walls are fronted
with a kind of freestone, each slab being cut of the same size, and the
whole so beautifully put together that I endeavored in vain to insert the
blade of a small penknife between them. The outer, unpolished surface is
covered with small chisel-marks, which the Bedouins have mistaken for
writing. From the extreme care displayed in the construction of this
building, I have no doubt that it is a temple, and my disappointment at
finding the interior filled up with the ruins of the fallen roof was very
great. Had it remained entire, we might have obtained some clew to guide
us in our researches respecting the form of religion professed by the
earlier Arabs. Above and beyond this building there are several other
edifices, with nothing peculiar in their form or appearance.
“In no portion of the ruins did we succeed in tracing any remains of
arches or columns, nor could we discover on their surface any of those
fragments of pottery, colored glass, or metals, which are always found in
old Egyptian towns, and which I also saw in those we discovered on the
northwest coast of Arabia. Except the attempts to deface the
inscriptions, there is no other appearance of the buildings having
suffered from any ravages besides those of time; and owing to the dryness
of the climate, as well as the hardness of the material, every stone,
even to the marking of the chisel, remains as perfect as the day it was
hewn. We were anxious to ascertain if the Arabs had preserved any
tradition concerning the building, but they refer them, like other Arabs,
to their pagan ancestors. ‘Do you believe,’ said one of the Bedouins to
me upon my telling him that his ancestors were then capable of greater
works than themselves, ‘that these stones were raised by the unassisted
hands of the Kafirs? No! no! They had devils, legions of devils (God
preserve us from them!), to aid them.’”
On his return to the sea, which occupied a day and a half, Wellsted was
kindly treated by the natives, and suffered only from the intense heat.
The vessel was fortunately waiting at the appointed place. Since the
journey was made (in 1836) Baron von Wrede, a German traveller, has
succeeded in exploring a portion of Hadramaut, penetrating as far as Wady
Doan, a large and populous valley, more than a hundred miles from the
coast. But a thorough exploration of both Yemen and Hadramaut is still
wanting, and when made, it will undoubtedly result in many important
discoveries.