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Before the Wahaby conquest it was a custom among the Asyr Arabs, to take their marriageable daughters, attired in their best clothes, to the public market, and there, walking before them, to cry out, Man yshtery el Aadera? "Who will buy the virgin?" The match, I heard that tigers and wolves abound in these mountains, but that there are not any lions.
Some are very considerable tribes, such as Zohran, Ghamed, Shomran, Asyr, and Abyda, of whom each can muster from six to eight thousand firelocks: their principal strength consists in matchlocks. Horses are but few in these mountains; yet the Kahtan, Refeydha, and Abyda tribes, who likewise spread over the plain, possess the good Koheyl breed.
The last time the Wahabys performed the Hadj was in 1811, shortly after the first defeat of Tousoun Pasha at Djedeyde: they were accompanied by large bodies of Bedouins of Kahtan, Asyr, with others from the most interior part of the Desert. The plunder taken from the Turkish army was sold to the Mekkawys in the market at Arafat.
Many of the soldiers were his domestic slaves; but the greater part were Bedouins from different parts of Arabia; those from Yemen, the mountains of Asyr, and Nedjed, being the most numerous. Their pay was from eight to twelve dollars per month; The arms of the infantry were a matchlock and crooked knife; the horsemen had a lance.
"This," says he, "is not used by the Arabian Bedouins in the usual acceptation of the word. They call Hedjaz exclusively the mountainous country, comprehending many fertile valleys south of Tayf, and as far as the dwelling-places of the Asyr Arabs, where the coffee-tree begins to be cultivated abundantly.
Ibn el Shayr, of the Asyr tribe. Dahban, of the Kahtan Arabs, one of the most powerful tribes of the Eastern Desert. Derb Ibn el Okeyda, a wady inhabited by the Refeydha tribe, who belong to the Asyr. They are strong in horses. Derb Selman, of the Refeydha tribe. Wakasha, of the Abyda Arabs. In the district of Abyda is the town of Aryn, in a very fertile territory.
The El Merekede, a branch of the great Asyr tribe, indulged in an ancient custom of their forefathers by assigning to the stranger, who alighted at their tents or houses, some female of the family to be his companion during the night, most commonly the host's own wife; but to this barbarous system of hospitality young virgins were never sacrificed.
Beni Shefra, a market-place of the tribe so called, formerly united with the Asabelys, but formed by the Wahaby chief into a distinct tribe. Shat Ibn Aryf. Sedouan: this place and Shat Ibn Aryf are inhabited by Arabs of the tribe called Ahl Aryef. El Matsa. Ibn Maan, which with El Matsa belong to the Ibn Katlan Arabs. Ibl, in the territory of the powerful tribe of Asyr.
The country about Mokhowa is very fertile, and inhabited by the three tribes of Beni Selym, Beni Seydan, and Beni Aly: the two latter had submitted to the Wahabys, and were commanded by Tamy, the Sheikh of Asyr. There are likewise at Mokhowa many of the Beni Ghamed tribe.
His route was as follows: In the Asyr district, the pilgrim passed the villages called Shekrateyn, Ed-dahye, Shohata, and Ed-djof. So far the road had always been on the very summit of the mountain: the traveller henceforward continuing along the valleys composing the lower chain of hills that intersect the Eastern plain.
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