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Of Kheibar he says "that it is now a poor village whose inhabitants are a terrible kindred, Moslems outwardly, but, in secret, cruel Jews that will suffer no stranger to enter among them." See C.M. Doughty's Arabia Deserta, vol. II, p. 129. "Teima is a Nejd colony of Shammar; their fathers came to settle there not above 200 years past. From those times there remain some great rude stone buildings.
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.
Protected by its swamps, the region contains a few primitive settlements of the wild 'Afej tribesmen, each a group of reed-huts clustering around the mud fort of its ruling sheikh. Their chief enemies are the Shammâr, who dispute with them possession of the pastures.
From Djebel Shammar to Damascus the road passes by the district El Djof, which is five days distant from it. The road is of deep sand, without any water but what is afforded by the well of Shageyg, four days from Djebel Shammar, and one from Djof.
There is not any water from Djof southwards, in a direct line towards Khaibar and Medina; the road is therefore not frequented. Arabs going from Djof to Medina must pass by Shageyg and Shammar and Kasym, taking a circuitous route.
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.
In the first place, the streets were infested with dugpas, or red-caps, a heretical sect, some members of which have arhat pretensions of a very high order indeed I am ready to admit that I have met with Shammar adepts, who, so far as supernatural powers were concerned, were second to none among ourselves.
After Abdullah ibn Saoud had made peace with Tousoun Pasha in 1815, it ventured to cross the Desert, and passed by Derayeh unmolested; but within four days' journey of Mekka, it was attacked by the Beni Shammar, a tribe which had remained neuter during the war between Tousoun and the Wahabys.
Abdul, falconer of Shammar, bearded and middle-aged, stood with a shahin of Jaraza upon his fist and a hooded eyess which means a young hawk or nestling taken from the nest of the same species upon a padded and spiked perch beside him, whilst hooded or with seeled eyes, upon perch or bough, were other yellow or dark-eyed birds of prey; short-winged hawks, a bearded vulture, a hobby, a passage Saker.
Abdul, falconer of Shammar which district is to be found on the holy road to Mecca being of that locality specialises in the shahin, which is a species of hawk; visits the market by appointment only, and, being independent and a specialist, does not always keep that appointment.
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