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Updated: May 2, 2025
They are said to muster seven thousand matchlocks; and, like their neighbours in Nedjed, they cultivate palm-trees by means of water drawn up from wells in leathern buckets by camels. One of the principal towns in Djebel Shammar, is El Mestadjedde: the chief town is said to be El Hayl; and the neat in size, Kofar.
Through the province of Djebel Shammar, or, as it is commonly called, El Djebel, lies also the road from Nedjed to Damascus. It is a mountainous tract to the N.E. of the province of Kasym, bearing from Medina E.N.E. Its inhabitants are the powerful Beni Shammar, a tribe of which some have passed over to Mesopotamia. Their Sheikh, Ibn Aly, is a main supporter of the Wahaby government.
Between these tribes an inveterate hatred subsisted, which every spring was the cause of much bloodshed, and checked the commercial intercourse with the Hedjaz; and both parties levied contributions on the settled inhabitants of Nedjed: but this custom has been abolished by the Wahabys, whose chief, instead, receives a regular tribute, and has reconciled the hostile parties, and opened the pastures of Nedjed to any tribes of Wahabys who may choose to frequent them.
From Mekka they get coffee, drugs, and perfumes, much used among them, particularly the perfume called Arez, which comes from Mokha. In general there is a spirit of commerce very prevalent in Nedjed, where the merchants are wealthy and of better repute for honesty than most of the Eastern traders.
To the regular caravans above mentioned, must be added large bodies of Bedouins, which resort to Mekka, during peace, from every part of the Desert; for even among the least religious Bedouins, the title of hadjy is respected: Nedjed sends its pilgrims, as do also the Southern Bedouins.
It lies from Tayf in the direction of E.S.E. About Lye and Kolakh, live the Arabs of the Ossama tribe, who form part of the great Ateybe tribe. Between Kolakh and Taraba, off the straight road, lies Abyla, once the residence of the great chief Medhayfe. By Kolakh passes the most frequented road from Nedjed to Zohran, and from thence to the sea-ports of Yemen.
There the road passes, by which, in winter, the Arabs of Nedjed travel to Hadramaut: it is a low ground with date-trees and wells; but the pestilential climate deters people from residing there. The dates are gathered by the passing travellers. No. Stations of the Hadj or Pilgrim Caravan from Cairo to Mekka.
Kasym, which is the most fertile district in the province of Nedjed, begins at Dat. The name of Nedjed, signifying high or elevated ground, is given to this country in opposition to Tehama or "low lands," applied to the sea-coast. It seems to be an oblong tract, extending between three and four days' journies from west to east, and two journies in breadth south to north.
In the Eastern plain, behind Tayf, horses are more numerous, although much less so than in Nedjed and the deserts of Syria, in consequence of the comparative scarcity of corn, and the uncertainty of the rain; a deficiency of which often leaves the Bedouin a whole year without vegetation; a circumstance that rarely happens in the more northern deserts, where the rains seldom fail in the proper seasons.
Nedjed, however, is often subject to scarcity, caused by the failure of rain, and consequently of herbage: this soon affects the cattle of the Bedouins, who seldom expect, in this country, more than three or four successive years of plenty, although absolute famine does not occur above once in ten, or perhaps fifteen years.
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