THE stations of the caravan between Damascus and Medina are well known. The most interesting spot on this road, within the limits of Arabia, appears to be Hedjer, or, as it is sometimes called, Medayen Saleb, seven days north of Medina. This place, according to many passages of the Koran, (which has a chapter entitled Hedjer,) was inhabited by a gigantic race of men, called Beni Thamoud, whose dwellings were destroyed because they refused to obey the admonitions of the prophet Saleh. In circumference Hedjer extends several miles; the soil is fertile, watered by many wells and a running stream: here are generally large encampments of Bedouins. The Wahaby chief, Saoud, intended to build a town on this spot; his olemas deterred him, by declaring that it would be impious to restore a place that the Almighty had visited with his wrath. An inconsiderable mountain bounds this fertile plain on the west, at about four miles distance from the ground where the pilgrim caravan usually encamps.
In that mountain are large caves or habitations cut out of the rock, with sculptured figures of men and various animals, small pillars on both sides of the entrances, and, if I may believe the testimony of Bedouins, numerous inscriptions over the doors; but I am inclined to think that the Arabs may have mistaken sculptured ornaments for letters. The rock is of a blackish colour, probably volcanic, for there is a lukewarm well in the vicinity. My illness at Medina, and subsequent weakness, prevented me from visiting this spot, from whence I might, in a straight direction, have proceeded to Akaba, on the extremity of the eastern gulf of the Red Sea.
The Bedouins call the whole country between Hedye and Oela (a more northern station of the pilgrims) the district of Sheffa. From thence to Akaba el Shám, or the Syrian Akaba, (likewise a Hadj station), the country is called Essafha. It is this Akaba that may be properly described as the boundary of Arabia towards Syria. Here a steep mountain extends for several days journey westward towards the Red Sea, and eastward towards the interior of the Desert. On the north of that mountain we enter the higher or upper plain, which continues to Damascus. Between the Syrian Akaba and the Egyptian Akaba is another pass through the same mountain, called Báb el Nedjed, or the Gate of Nedjed, because here the Bedouins of southern Syria (or, as they are called by the Arabian Bedouins, Ahl el Shemál, People of the North,) pass on their way to Nedjed. In those passes the Wahabys, when they make excursions against the Bedouins, leave strong guards, to secure their own retreat.
The Hadj route from Medina direct to Syria is not much frequented even in time of
[p.458] peace. Sometimes a few Bedouin merchants take camel-loads of coffee-beans by this road to Damascus; but it is infested by strolling parties of the Beni Omran and Howeytat tribes, who live in the western mountain, and frequently descend to rob travellers in the plain. The most frequented route to the north of Medina is towards the country of Kasym, which, as I have already mentioned, supplies Medina in time of peace with all sorts of provisions. The route to Kasym lies between the Hadj route on one side, and the straight road to Derayeh (the Wahaby capital) on the other. The direction of the province of Kasym, as well as of Nedjed, was often pointed out to me at Medina, and I always found. it to be
E. ½ N. for Kasym
E. by S. for Derayeh bearing from Medina.
Between the Hadj road and that to Kasym lies a third route, leading straight from Medina to the province of Djebel Shammar, which in peaceable times is much frequented; but the most common way from Medina to Djebel Shammar is by Kasym, two days longer than the last route, but less fatiguing for camels, because there is abundance of water on this road, and very little on the other.
Caravans going from Medina to Kasym visit the following stations:
Medina.—At one hours walk beyond the gardens (the road passing E. of Djebel Ohod) is an open space called El Areydh, with the tomb of a sheikh, having a cupola over it. Near this is a well, named Byr Rasheyd.
3 hours from thence is El Hafná, with the bed of a torrent.