Thirty-seven days on the road--thirty-one nights marching--seven days
halt.
[p.457] No. VI.
Geographical Notices of the Country northward and eastward of Medina.
THE stations of the caravan between Damascus and Medina are well known.
The most interesting spot on this road, within the limits of Arabia,
appears to be Hedjer, or, as it is sometimes called, Medayen Saleb,
seven days north of Medina. This place, according to many passages of
the Koran, (which has a chapter entitled Hedjer,) was inhabited by a
gigantic race of men, called Beni Thamoud, whose dwellings were
destroyed because they refused to obey the admonitions of the prophet
Saleh. In circumference Hedjer extends several miles; the soil is
fertile, watered by many wells and a running stream: here are generally
large encampments of Bedouins. The Wahaby chief, Saoud, intended to
build a town on this spot; his olemas deterred him, by declaring that it
would be impious to restore a place that the Almighty had visited with
his wrath. An inconsiderable mountain bounds this fertile plain on the
west, at about four miles distance from the ground where the pilgrim
caravan usually encamps.
In that mountain are large caves or habitations cut out of the rock,
with sculptured figures of men and various animals, small pillars on
both sides of the entrances, and, if I may believe the testimony of
Bedouins, numerous inscriptions over the doors; but I am inclined to
think that the Arabs may have mistaken sculptured ornaments for letters.
The rock is of a blackish colour, probably volcanic, for there is a
lukewarm well in the vicinity. My illness at Medina, and subsequent
weakness, prevented me from visiting this spot, from whence I might, in
a straight direction, have proceeded to Akaba, on the extremity of the
eastern gulf of the Red Sea.
The Bedouins call the whole country between Hedye and Oela (a more
northern station of the pilgrims) the district of Sheffa. From thence to
Akaba el Shám, or the Syrian Akaba, (likewise a Hadj station), the
country is called Essafha. It is this Akaba that may be properly
described as the boundary of Arabia towards Syria. Here a steep mountain
extends for several days journey westward towards the Red Sea, and
eastward towards the interior of the Desert. On the north of that
mountain we enter the higher or upper plain, which continues to
Damascus. Between the Syrian Akaba and the Egyptian Akaba is another
pass through the same mountain, called Báb el Nedjed, or the Gate of
Nedjed, because here the Bedouins of southern Syria (or, as they are
called by the Arabian Bedouins, Ahl el Shemál, People of the North,)
pass on their way to Nedjed. In those passes the Wahabys, when they make
excursions against the Bedouins, leave strong guards, to secure their
own retreat.
The Hadj route from Medina direct to Syria is not much frequented even
in time of
[p.458] peace. Sometimes a few Bedouin merchants take camel-loads of
coffee-beans by this road to Damascus; but it is infested by strolling
parties of the Beni Omran and Howeytat tribes, who live in the western
mountain, and frequently descend to rob travellers in the plain. The
most frequented route to the north of Medina is towards the country of
Kasym, which, as I have already mentioned, supplies Medina in time of
peace with all sorts of provisions. The route to Kasym lies between the
Hadj route on one side, and the straight road to Derayeh (the Wahaby
capital) on the other. The direction of the province of Kasym, as well
as of Nedjed, was often pointed out to me at Medina, and I always found.
it to be
E. ½ N. for Kasym
E. by S. for Derayeh bearing from Medina.
Between the Hadj road and that to Kasym lies a third route, leading
straight from Medina to the province of Djebel Shammar, which in
peaceable times is much frequented; but the most common way from Medina
to Djebel Shammar is by Kasym, two days longer than the last route, but
less fatiguing for camels, because there is abundance of water on this
road, and very little on the other.
Caravans going from Medina to Kasym visit the following stations:
Medina.--At one hours walk beyond the gardens (the road passing E. of
Djebel Ohod) is an open space called El Areydh, with the tomb of a
sheikh, having a cupola over it. Near this is a well, named Byr Rasheyd.