of sugar-cane, and fruits in a state of nature, with abundance
of good water, but the situation is rather low.1
Adjoining the eastern side is ’Aridh, or Nedjd-el-Aridh, the
mountain of Ebú Orf, and the town of Aalniie, which has a
fine market for grapes, peaches, dates, and sugar-cane ; around
it is Nedjd-el-Aridh (Proper), the most remarkable portion of
the chain of Aridh, already noticed, and bordering the extensive
valley containing the capital. South-eastward is the district
of Yemameh, with a wádí of the same name, which is considered
as the garden of Arabia. The wádí is situated at the
south-eastern limits of the province, and it contains four
streams, viz., Júdah, Hájar, Nahr Sheikh-el-Ghanun, and Nahr
Sheikh en Ne’am, which have their springs in the Jeb-el-Rám;
it has also many fountains, of which the most celebrated are
Ain Hadhrá, Ain Halt, and Ain Rám.2 This district contains
many villages watered by kánats, and it is very productive in
wheat, the sugar-cane, and dates of peculiar sweetness, with
other fruits. The name of the district, as well as that of the
principal town, anciently Jaw, or Jauva, was derived from
the brilliant eyes of Yemameh, niece of Tasim,3 a descendant
of Amelek-ben-Hascha. The Beni Jedis tribe also at one time
inhabited this part of the country, but a chief having exacted
a signorial claim on the occasion of a marriage, a war broke
out, in which one of the tribes was nearly exterminated. A
noble named Rébah-ben-Méré, however, escaped to Yemen,
and, after a time, returned with an army under Hasam-ben-
Toba'i, king of the Himyarites. By the aid of this force he
surprised and destroyed the opposite tribe, and thus both
became extinct. The territory, as well as the borders of El
Hajar, once the seat of the Beni ’Aad, was subsequently occupied
by the Beni Hanifa, and a part of the Modhar tribes
The Tasim are said, in ancient times, to have worshipped an
idol made of honey and butter, which they were accustomed
to eat when hungry.4
Wadi-el-Khardj forms the northern limits of the district,
1 Captain Sadleir, Bombay Literary Society, vol. I l l , p. 412.
2 Jihán Numa, p. 528; and Arabic Geo. MS. 3 Ibid.
4 Abú-1-fedá, in M. De la Roque’s Voyage in Arabia.
and contains numerous villages;1 its prolongation eastward
reaches the borders of El Hassa. This valley is understood to
produce a certain plant which is efficacious in curing the bites
of serpents and scorpions; and it was once occupied by part
of the two tribes mentioned above, the Beni Tasim and Beni
Jedis.2 It contains the towns of Zumeyhah, El Sulemyeh,
Nadjan, and one formerly called Zaraka, a name derived from
a woman, and probably the root of the branch afterwards so
well known as the Saracens.3
A little way northward of Wadi-el-Khardj is Manfouah,
with the remains of a fort rased by Ibrahim Pasha. The
town contains 2000 houses, many of which are well built and
of two stories. In this district there are, it is understood,
about 300 villages.3
Ten miles north-westward, seated in a narrow valley on the
south-western side of the chain of Jeb-el- Aridh, is the capital,
which is watered by an abundant stream, and agreeably
situated amidst date plantations and gardens producing apricots,
figs, grapes, pomegranates, citrons, and other fruits.
Der’ayyah is composed of five small towns or villages, forming
two principal divisions, the eastern portion, called Selle, being
on one side of the deep ravine, and Tarifa, the western, on the
other, the whole is enclosed by a wall and towers. Before
the destructive siege by Ibrahim Pasha the town contained
28 mosques, 30 medressehs, and about 2500 houses, generally
good, some of brick, others of stone, and its population
exceeded 15,000 souls.6 The Wadi Beni Hanifah, that of the
capital, is strong, having but two approaches, the one at El
Ayemeh on the west, and the other on the east of Der’ayyah.6
Yemameh and the chain of Jeb-el-’Aridli, together with
Waschem and the other districts already noticed, stretching
to the N.W. as far as Jeb-el-Shammar, constitute the extensive
district of Nedjd Aridh, or the mountainous part of Nedjd.
1 Abii-l-fed&, in M. De la Roque’s Voyage in Arabia.
s 8 Dr. Sprenger’s Notes.
4 Captain Sadlier, Bombay Literary Society, vol. III., p. 469.
5 Mengin’s History of Miihammed ’Ali.
3 Arabic Geo. MS., translated by Dr. Aloys Sprenger.