7 hours, to Dát, the first town of Kasym.—In all, one hundred hours.
From Dát to Rass, one of the chief towns of Kasym, is four or five hours. From Rass to a place called Khabara, five hours; and from Khabara to Shebeybe, four hours. According to the night journies of the Bedouins, one hundred hours are equal to ten or eleven marches by day. The journey here detailed was performed by Tousoun Pashas army at night. Three days from Medina to Hanakye, and eight days from thence to Dát. A person belonging to the court of Tousoun Pasha measured the distance by his watch. The caravans, loaded with corn, are generally ten or eleven days on the road between Medina and Rass.
Kasym, which is the most fertile district in the province of Nedjed, begins at Dát. 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. Within this space are above twenty-six small towns or villages, well peopled, in a cultivated territory, irrigated by water from numerous wells. The chief town is Bereyda, where resides the Sheikh of Kasym, an old man named El Hedjeylan, once an enemy to the Wahabys, now a convert to their doctrine. The neighbourhood of Rass produces the most corn; and that part of Kasym about Dát and Rass lies nearest to Medina. In time of peace, regular caravans arrive every month at Medina from Rass. Tousoun Pashas army found plenty of provisions in the few villages of Kasym which they occupied.
The most considerable place in Kasym is Aneyzy, said to be equal in size to Siout in Upper Egypt, which contained, according to the French computation, three thousand houses. Aneyzy has bazars, and is inhabited by respectable Arab merchants. Of the other towns and villages, the following are most noted:—Es Shenáne, Balgha, Heshashye, El Helalye, El Bekeyrye, Batah el Nebhanye, Ashebeybe, Ayoun, Kowár, and Mozneb.
Small tribes of the Aenezes, of Ateybe (whose chief seat is on the Hedjaz mountains inhabited by the Beni Harb), of Meteyr, and others, encamp during the whole year among the plains of Kasym, which afford excellent pasturage.
Between Kasym and Derayeh, the capital of Nedjed, the intermediate district, mostly a desert, is called El Woshem: from the eastern extremity of the district of Kasym to Derayeh is a distance of five days. The last place in Kasym, on this side, is Mozneb then begins Wady Sarr, a broad sandy valley with pasturage, which continues for several days towards Derayeh through the district of Woshem.
Nedjed, near Derayeh, assumes the name of El Aredh, a district once separate from Nedjed, but now considered as belonging to it. El Aredh is less fertile than El Kasym, from which, in fact, it is partly supplied with provisions. Its principal town, Derayeb, has always been a place of note, but much increased since it has become the capital of the Wahaby power and sect. Its direction was often indicated to me; and I found it to bear from Medina E. by S. (variation not computed); the bearing of Kasym from Medina,
[p.460] E. ½ N. Derayeh is situated in a valley, the inlets and outlets of which on the N. and S. sides are very narrow, admitting only one camel at a time. The houses (many built of stone) are placed on the declivities of both mountains, the valley itself being throughout very narrow. The town is not walled. The number of inhabitants may be estimated, according to the report of the Bedouins, who state that the town furnished three thousand men armed with firelocks to the Wahaby chief: they are composed of different tribes, principally the Mekren, a branch of the Messalykh, part of the great Aeneze race. All the inhabitants of Nedjed trace their pedigrees to some ancient Bedouin tribe; thus the people of Rass claim descent from the Beni Yam, who now reside at Nedjran, in Yemen. The smaller tribe of Beni Lam (related to those of the same name on the river Tigris, but not, like them, of the sect of Aly), and the small tribe of Essehoun, dwell in the Aredh, and seldom encamp beyond its limits. Derayeh is supplied with water from wells. Ibn Saoud, the late Wahaby chief, discovered a spring behind this house, which he built, and wished to persuade the people that God had inspired him on the occasion. The mansion of the Wahaby chief stands on the mountain, at about ten minutes walk from the town: it is spacious, but without any splendid apartments: all the married members of the reigning family have their own chambers; and there are many rooms for guests, with whom the house is constantly filled; for all the chiefs of tribes who come to Derayeh on business are invited to the mansion or palace of the great Sheikh. There are not any khans or public inns, so that every stranger quarters himself upon some inhabitant; and the people of Derayeh are proverbially hospitable. The immediate neighbourhood is barren, yielding only some date-trees. Derayeh is supplied with provisions chiefly from Dhoroma, a large and populous village, one days journey towards the E. or N.E., which has gardens and orchards well watered from copious wells.
From Derayeh to Mekka is a distance of eleven or twelve long caravan days journies. For three days beyond Derayeh are found cultivated spots and small settlements of Arabs; the rest of the road is through a desert country, as far as Wady Zeyme, two days from Mekka. The distance from Rass (in Kasym) to Mekka is also computed at twelve days journey. This latter road abounds more with water than the former, and likewise passes by Wady Zeyme.
A straight road from Nedjed to the mountains of Hedjaz (I use this word here in the Bedouin sense, meaning the mountains south of Tayf), and to the country of Beishe and Yemen, passes by the village of Derye, on the southern extremity of Nedjed, on the great road from Kasym to Mekka. The road from Derye to Beishe lies four or five days east of Mekka. Between Derye and Taraba (above mentioned) is a pasture-land, with many wells, called El Bakarra, a well-known halting-place of all the Bedouins of these countries. It belongs to the Kereyshát tribe, a branch of the Sabya Arabs inhabiting Ranye.