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29 chapters
A PILGRIMAGE TO NEJD,
A PILGRIMAGE TO NEJD,
THE CRADLE OF THE ARAB RACE . A VISIT TO THE COURT OF THE ARAB EMIR, AND “OUR PERSIAN CAMPAIGN.” By LADY ANNE BLUNT. AUTHOR OF “THE BEDOUIN TRIBES OF THE EUPHRATES.” IN TWO VOLUMES.—VOL. I. WITH MAP, PORTRAITS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE AUTHOR’S DRAWINGS. SECOND EDITION . LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, 1881. [ All Rights reserved .]...
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PREFACE BY THE EDITOR.
PREFACE BY THE EDITOR.
Readers of our last year’s adventures on the Euphrates will hardly need it to be explained to them why the present journey was undertaken, nor why it stands described upon our title page as a “Pilgrimage.” The journey to Nejd forms the natural complement of the journey through Mesopotamia and the Syrian Desert; while Nejd itself, with the romantic interest attached to its name, seems no unworthy object of a religious feeling, such as might prompt the visit to a shrine. Nejd, in the imagination
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
“You have been a great traveller, Mercury?” “I have seen the world.” “Ah, a wondrous spectacle. I long to travel.” “The same thing over again. Little novelty and much change. I am wearied with exertion, and if I could get a pension would retire.” “And yet travel brings wisdom.” “It cures us of care. Seeing much we feel little, and learn how very petty are all those great affairs which cost us such anxiety.” Ixion in Heaven . The charm of Asia—A return to old friends—Desert news—The Palmyrene
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
“This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods, I better brook than flourishing peopled towns.” Shakespeare . Brotherly offices—We prepare for a campaign—Mohammed Dukhi comes to court—A night robber—We start for Nejd—Tale of a penitent—The duty of revenge—We are entertained by poor relations—The fair at Mezarib. We spent a week at Damascus, a week not altogether of pleasure, although it was to be our last of civilised life. We had an immense number of things to buy and arrange and think over, before
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
“Rather proclaim it That he which hath no stomach to this fight Let him depart. His passport shall be made.” Shakespeare . Beating about—Bozra—We leave the Turkish dominions—Mohammed vows to kill a sheep—The citadel of Salkhad and the independent Druses—We are received by a Druse chieftain—Historical notice of the Hauran. December 18.—Our caravan has lost some of its members. To begin with the two guides, the Kreysheh and the Shammar have failed to make their appearance. Then Abd er-
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
“For all is rocks at random thrown, Black walls of crag, black banks of stone.” Scott . We start in earnest—The Harra—A Theory of Mirage—Camp of the Beni Sokkhr—Wady er Rajel—A Christmas Dinner in the Desert—Sand storm—We reach Kâf. December 22.—A white frost, and off at half-past seven. Huseyn has sent two men with us, Assad, his head man, and another. We have also letters from him for Ali el-Kreysheh, and the Sheykh of Kâf. Mohammed as we rode away was much elated at the success of this visi
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
“Rafi ran after her with his sword drawn, and was just about to strike off her head, when she cried ‘quarter.’”— Abulfeda . Kâf and Itheri—More relations—The Wady Sirhán—Locust hunting—Hanna sits down to die—Tales of robbery and violence—We are surprised by a ghazú and made prisoners—Sherarât statistics—Jôf. December 28.—Kâf is a pretty little village, with a character of its own, quite distinct from anything one sees in Syria. All is in miniature, the sixteen little square houses, the little b
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
And Laban said to him, “Surely thou art my bone and my flesh.” And he abode with him the space of a month.— Book of Genesis . The Jôf oasis—We are entertained by Ibn Rashid’s lieutenant—A haunch of wild cow—Dancing in the castle—Prayers—We go on to Meskakeh. Jôf is not at all what we expected. We thought we should find it a large cultivated district, and it turns out to be merely a small town. There is nothing at all outside the walls except a few square patches, half an acre or so each, gree
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
“And Leah was tender eyed but Rachel was beautiful.”— Book of Genesis . The Ibn Arûks of Jôf—Mohammed contracts a matrimonial alliance—Leah and Rachel.—We cheapen the bride’s dower—A negro governor and his suite—A thunder-storm. We stayed three days with Nassr and his sons, and his sons’ wives and their children, in their quiet farm house. It was a rest which we much needed, and proved besides to be an interesting experience, and an excellent opportunity of learning more of Arab domestic life t
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
“We were now traversing an immense ocean of loose reddish sand, unlimited to the eye, and heaped up in enormous ridges running parallel to each other from north to south, undulation after undulation, each swell two or three hundred feet in average height, with slant sides and rounded crests furrowed in every direction by the capricious gales of the desert. In the depths between the traveller finds himself as it were imprisoned in a suffocating sand pit, hemmed in by burning walls on every side;
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
“They went till they came to the Delectable Mountains, which mountains belong to the Lord of that hill of which we have spoken.” Pilgrim’s Progress . Jobba—An unpleasant dream—We hear strange tales of Ibn Rashid—Romping in the Nefûd—A last night there—The Zodiacal light—We enter Nejd—The granite range of Jebel Shammar. Jobba is one of the most curious places in the world, and to my mind one of the most beautiful. Its name Jobba, or rather Jubbeh, meaning a well, explains its position, for it li
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
“There’s daggers in men’s smiles.”— Shakespeare . Haïl—The Emir Mohammed Ibn Rashid—His menagerie—His horses—His courtiers—His wives—Amusements of the ladies of Haïl—Their domestic life—An evening at the castle—The telephone. As we stayed some time at Haïl, I will not give the detail of every day. It would be tedious, and would involve endless repetitions, and not a few corrections, for it was only by degrees that we learned to understand all we saw and all we heard. Our reception was everythin
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
“I shall do well: The people love me, and the Desert’s mine; My power’s a crescent, and my auguring hope Says it will come to the full.” Shakespeare . Political and historical—Shepherd role in Arabia—An hereditary policy—The army—The law—Taxation—The finances of Jebel Shammar—Ibn Rashid’s ambition. The following is the result of our inquiries made while at Haïl into the political condition and resources of the country. It has no pretension to rigid accuracy, especially in the figure
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NOTES.
NOTES.
[xiii] Such at least is the family tradition of the Ibn Arûks. Niebuhr writing in 1765 gives Arär as the name of the Beni Khaled Sheykhs. [3] A truce only, I fear. [11] One of the noblest of the Roala families. [18] Midhat’s reign at Damascus lasted for twenty months, and is remarkable only for the intrigues in which it was spent. It began with an action d’éclat , the subjugation of the independent Druses of the Hauran, a prosperous and unoffending community whom Midhat with the help o
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A PILGRIMAGE TO NEJD,
A PILGRIMAGE TO NEJD,
THE CRADLE OF THE ARAB RACE . A VISIT TO THE COURT OF THE ARAB EMIR, AND “OUR PERSIAN CAMPAIGN.” By LADY ANNE BLUNT. AUTHOR OF “THE BEDOUIN TRIBES OF THE EUPHRATES.” IN TWO VOLUMES.—VOL. II. WITH MAP, PORTRAITS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE AUTHOR’S DRAWINGS. SECOND EDITION . LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, 1881. [ All rights reserved .]...
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CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
“Je ne trouvai point en eux ces formes que je m’attendais à retrouver dans la patrie de Zeid el Kheil.”— Guarmani . Nejd horses—Their rarity—Ibn Saoud’s stud—The stables at Haïl—Some notes of individual mares—The points of a Nejd head—The tribes in the Nefûds and their horses—Meaning of the term “Nejdi”—Recipe for training. A chapter on the horses we saw at Haïl has been promised, and may as well be given here. Ibn Rashid’s stud is now the most celebrated in Arabia, and has taken the place in pu
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CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
“Babel was Nimrod’s hunting box, and then A town of gardens, walls, and wealth amazing, Where Nabuchodonosor, king of men, Reigned till one summer’s day he took to grazing.” Byron . “. . . Oh how wretched Is that poor man that lives on princes’ favours.” Shakespeare . Mohammed loses his head—A ride with the Emir—The mountain fortress of Agde—Farewell to Haïl—We join the Persian Haj—Ways and manners of the pilgrims—A clergyman of Medina. I have hinted at a mystification in which we found ourselve
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CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
“Come, Myrrha, let us go on to the Euphrates.”— Byron . We go in search of adventures—Taybetism—An hyæna hunt—How to cook locusts—Hawking—The reservoirs of Zobeydeh—Tales, and legends—A coup de théâtre —Mohammed composes a kasid. February 6.—We are tired of loitering with the Haj, and besides, do not care to see more of Ibn Rashid, who is expected to-day. It is always a good rule not to outstay your welcome, and to go when you have once said good-bye. So, finding no indication of a move in the
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CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
“Here lie I down, and measure out my grave, Farewell, kind master.”— Shakespeare . Muttlak Ibn Arûk and the Ketherin—Their horses—We are adopted by the tribe—The Haj again—Ambar sends round the hat—A forced march of one hundred and seventy miles—Terrible loss of camels—Nejef. February 16.—Two Asian Shammar of the Jezireh came last night, and recognised us as having been in Ferhan Pasha’s camp, last year, in Mesopotamia,—a very pleasant meeting, though we have no distinct recollection of either o
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CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
“Nos gaillards pélerins Par monts, par vaux, et par chemins, À la fin arrivèrent.”— La Fontaine . The Shrines of the Shias—Bedouin honesty—Legend of the Tower of Babel—Bagdad—Our party breaks up. Meshhed Ali (the shrine of Ali), or Nejef as it is more correctly called, is an ideal Eastern City, standing as it does in an absolute desert and bare of all surroundings but its tombs. It is nearly square, and the circuit of its walls is broken by only one gate. These walls are of kiln-burnt brick, a
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
“Duo illum sequor? In Persas.”— Plautus . “Halas! diséit-elle, faut-il que je périsse sous les pattes d’une araignée, moi qui viens de me tirer des griffes d’un lion?”— Fables d’Ésope . New plans and new preparations—We leave Bagdad for Persia—Wild boar hunting in the Wudian—A terrible accident—We travel with a holy man—Camps of the Beni Laam—An alarm. Amongst the letters awaiting our arrival at Bagdad, we had found an invitation from Lord and Lady Lytton to spend the summer, or part of it, wit
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
Gloucester . “’Tis true that we are in great danger, The greater therefore should our courage be.” Shakespeare . “La plus mauvaise rencontre dans le désert est celle de l’homme.” Guarmani . We are betrayed into the hands of robbers—Ghafil and Saadun—We diplomatise—A march across “No-man’s-land”—Night terrors—We claim protection of a Persian prince. March 29.—The event of last night, though in truth it was less alarming than it seemed, made us anxious not to remain longer at Mizban’s than could
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
“Henceforth in safe assurance may ye rest, Having both found a new friend you to aid, And lost an old foe that did you molest, Better new friend than an old foe is said.” Faëry Queen . A prince in exile—Tea money—Rafts on the Kerkha—Last words with the Beni Laam—Kerim Khan—Beautiful Persia—We arrive at Dizful. Sirdal Khan is a Shahzade, or member of the Royal family of Persia, many of whom are to be found living in official, and even private capacities in different parts of the kingdom. He hims
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
“In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-house decree, Where Alph the sacred river ran, Through caverns measureless by man, Down to a sunless sea.” Coleridge . Pleasures of town life—The Khani’s court—Bactiari shepherds—Shustar—Its palace, its river, and its garden—A telegraph clerk. April 4.—Dizful, though still alive with a population of 30,000 persons, and a certain amount of traffic, for it is the corn market of the tribes westwards on the Ottoman frontier, and eastwards on t
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
“Solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.” Tacitus . Illness and misery—A Persian escort—The Shah’s Arab subjects—Ram Hormuz and its nightingales—Night marching—Deserted villages—How they collect taxes in Persia—Bebahan. Friday , April 11.—It would be easy to quote unlucky starts on Fridays, and I am afraid this is one. Wilfrid is ill again, a passing fatigue we hope, from loading the camels this morning in the hot sun, and riding all day long in it. He is lying down now in the tent and trying to
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
“Last scene of all . . . . . . A mere oblivion.”— Shakespeare . A last rush through the sun—We arrive at Dilam on the Persian Gulf—Politics of the Gulf—A journey “in extremis”—Bushire—The End. The rest of our journey was little better than a feverish dream of heat and flies. After a day spent at Bebahan, where we were hospitably entertained by the Shahzade, Ahtesham ed-Daulah, a Persian nobleman of real good breeding, we recommenced our weary march, thinking only now to get down to Bushire aliv
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NOTES ON THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF NORTHERN ARABIA.
NOTES ON THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF NORTHERN ARABIA.
Arabia between latitude 34° and latitude 29°, may be described in general terms as a plain of sand-stone grit, or gravel, unbroken by any considerable range of hills, or by any continuous watercourse, if we except the Wady Hauran, which traverses it in the extreme north and in rainy seasons forms a succession of pools from the Harra, east of Jebel Hauran, to the Euphrates. This stony plain is known to the Bedouins as the Hamád or “Plain” par excellence ; and though for the most part destitute o
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE RISE AND DECLINE OF WAHHABISM IN ARABIA.
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE RISE AND DECLINE OF WAHHABISM IN ARABIA.
Compiled principally from Materials supplied by Lt.-Colonel E. C. Ross, H.M.’s Resident at Bushire . At the beginning of last century, Nejd, and Arabia generally, with the exception of Oman, Yemen, and Hejaz, was divided into a number of independent districts or townships, each ruled by a tribal chief on the principle already explained of self-government under Bedouin protection. Religion, except in its primitive Arabian form, was almost forgotten by the townspeople, and little if any connectio
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MEMORANDUM ON THE EUPHRATES VALLEY RAILWAY,
MEMORANDUM ON THE EUPHRATES VALLEY RAILWAY,
And its Kindred Schemes of Railway Communication between The Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf . Having now completed the whole journey by land between Alexandretta and Bushire, the extreme points usually mentioned as terminuses for a Perso-Mediterranean Railway, and being, in so far, capable of estimating the real resources of the countries such a railway would serve, I make no apology for the few remarks I here offer on the subject. I do so with the more confidence because I perceive that of
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