Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Anatomy-Astronomy

358
ARABIA.
Arabia, appears that in the adjacent portion of El Ahkaf, there is a
v r. ^ J great number of large, unfathomable pits or gulfs filled with
quicksand, or rather a white, grayish dust, soft to the touch, and
difterent in colour and substance from the yellowish and red¬
dish sand of the desert. Whatever falls into such a pit disap¬
pears instantly. The gulf visited and examined by Wrede,
was about a mile in diameter, and clearly distinguishable from
above owing to its colour, by which its surface was set off
against the darker desert. The Baron having been unable to
persuade his Bedouin guides to follow him to “ the mysterious
abode of ghuls/’ cautiously approached the edge of the gulf
provided with a plummet, weighing a kilogramm, and a line 60
fathoms long. Having thrown the lead as far over the edge as
possible, it disappeared the moment it touched the surface,
and continuing to sink, rapidly drew the line after it, till in a
few minutes both plummet and line had disappeared, the lat¬
ter having slipped through his fingers, which prevented him
from drawing it back and making a second attempt. The Baron
does not venture upon an explanation of this phenomenon, but
there seems little doubt that these gulfs are extinct craters filled
with some attenuated volcanic substance of a whitish colour, and
similar to that which produces the far-seen white streaks on
the volcano Djebel Teir in the Red Sea. The sand gulfs ex¬
tend over a large district which is called Bahr-es-Saffi, or the
Sea of Saffi, after a certain king, who, as the legend goes, ven¬
tured to cross this tract with his army, while contemplating
the conquest of Hadhramaut, but was swallowed up by the
sand-gulfs, together with the last of his men. The story re¬
minds us of the fate of a portion of the army of HSlius Gallus.
The only difficulty is the circumstance that this white dust re¬
mains on a stationary level, a little lower than that of the de¬
sert, and does not mix with the yellow sand of the common
desert. As to the rest, large and deep volcanic craters hol¬
lowed out in the level plains of table-lands, are by no means
of rare occurrence. Those in the Auvergne, in France, and
in the Eifel, in Germany, being filled with water, are lakes in
every sense of the word (Maare), but as there is no supera¬
bundance of water in the desert El Ahkaf, sand, of which there
is more than sufficient, seems to have taken its place.
The whole Ahkaf appears to have once been the bottom of
a great fresh-water lake, perhaps raised to a higher level by
one of those tremendous volcanic commotions which have been
so active in the formation of the surface of Arabia. Suppos¬
ing, therefore, that the gulfs are craters communicating with
great caverns in the earth, we presume that the water escaped
through them while the rocky bottom of the lake was in pro¬
gress of rising. The craters were subsequently filled up with
the lighter particles of the desert sand, which, although of a
general yellow colour, does not appear to be of a homogeneous
nature, and in proportion as the sand or dust sinks into the
earth, the water at the bottom carries it off into the bowels of
the earth. Admitting this, the sucking qualities of the sand,
and the equal level of its surface, to which local causes may
also contribute, are easily accounted for. Admitting further
the compound nature of the desert sand, it is evident that, once
changed into quicksand by the action of water, the yellow par¬
ticles, being derived from ferruginous sandstone, and conse¬
quently heavier, must necessarily sink through the lighter
whitish dust; whence the uniform white aspect of these re¬
markable sand gulfs. The powerful springs in the wadis El
Hajar, &c., which all burst forth on the south side of the pla¬
teau, and on a level considerably lower than that of the Ahkaf;
the subterraneous stream in the Bir Ba Rahut; and the hot
sulphureous spring near Sah Hud on the coast, are all, in the
opinion of Wrede, connected with the mysteries of Bahr-es- Saffi.
Froducts. The abundance of sulphur has been mentioned. The brown¬
ish or reddish colour of the level portions of the high table¬
land originates undoubtedly from the presence of an abun¬
dance of oxide of iron in the rock which has contributed to its
formation. Traces of gold have been found in the south.
There are numerous quarries yielding an excellent stone for
building purposes, and there is no want of materials for burn¬
ing good lime and making cement. The vegetable products
are the same as in the rest of Arabia, a few species excepted.
Indigo is extensively cultivated, but coffee not at all. The
slopes of the Himyaritic range are covered with magnificent
forests; the valleys are clothed with shady groves, and springs
issuing from every fissure, give rise to a countless number of Arabia
rivulets and rivers swarming with small fish. But the table- v
land, and in general all the plains, whether high or low, are bar¬
ren and miserable. There are no cows in Hadhramaut, except
a few near Makallah, which, however, are of the Indian species,
with a hump on their back, like those in Yemen. Horses are
very rare. The common beasts of burden are the ass and the
camel, the former vying in beauty and usefulness with those
of Bahrein and Oman, and the latter being equal to those in
other parts of Arabia. The common belief that the camel is
only serviceable in sandy plains, is not at all based on facts.
On the contrary, the same camel which patiently wades through
the burning sand of the tehama, climbs up the most rugged and
dangerous mountain paths with a sure footing and a steady step.
Sheep, and still more so goats, are very numerous, the latter
yielding excellent milk. There is no want of antelopes, hares,
and other game, and there are few beasts of prey.
Here, as elsewhere in Arabia, the natives are divided into two Inhabi-
very distinct classes—the settled inhabitants living in towns and tatlts»
villages, and the wandering Bedouin. The former are nearly as town?>
civilized as in Yemen, less corrupted, but infinitely more fanati-llouses'
cal. The prophet Hud is held in great veneration among them,
and swarms of pilgrims annually visit the tomb of that mytho¬
logical person, which stands in the lower part of the Wadi Doan.
They call Hadhramaut a land sanctified by that holy prophet,
undefiled by the foot of either Jew or Christian, and the un¬
conquerable asylum of the true doctrine of Mahomet. The
number of well-built towns, which are all fortified, is surprising,
and the Wadi Doan is quite studded with them, presenting, in
several localities, the curious sight of twin towns, each a sepa¬
rate town with its own walls and towers, and its own sheik, or
even sultan, and only separated from the other by the narrow
stream which waters the valley. The principal towns in the
Wadi Doan are :—Grein and Khuairah, twin towns, with a
combined population of 9000 ; Zhaher and Matrah, the same;
Gelbuhn, 4000 ; Rashid and Arsameh, each 5000 ; Rhudaish
and Rihab, each 6000. In Wadi Hadjarin, a branch of Wadi
Doan, Meshed Ali (once a large place), and Es Seif, twin
towns, total population, 6000 ; Gahdun and Sava, each 6000;
Haurah, 8000. In other localities, Ghoraf, Borr, Tierbi, Ag-
nab, Tsah, and Makallah, each about 6000; Terise, 10,000; Shi-
bam and Terim, each 20,000 inhabitants. Some of these towns
are governed by a sultan whose authority extends over a more or
less extensive tract; others are governed by sheiks who are the
lieutenants of the sultan, at least nominally. But they all,
sultans, sheiks and townspeople, bow to the supreme rule of
the Bedouins. The houses are mostly solid and lofty buildings,
constructed with freestone, and so compactly assembled, that
the towns occupy a comparatively small area. There is a brisk
trade going on with native products and foreign importations,
among which English manufactured goods, German cutlery, and
Bohemian glass, as well as various Indian commodities, form no
inconsiderable item. In this unknown part of Arabia, Wrede
found the house of a sheik furnished with European chairs
and tables manufactured at Bombay ; and the owner, who had
been in India, not only spoke English well, but had a small
library in which Sir Walter Scott’s “ Life of Napoleon” was
prominent. At a dinner given to the traveller by the sultan of
Khoreibeh, sherbet was served up in an earthen vessel of Staf¬
fordshire manufacture, of a description, however, such as is not
used for lemonade in Europe. The townspeople are very fond
of going abroad, as traders, sailors, &c., some to the seaports
in India, others to those along the Red Sea, and others to Egypt,
especially Cairo, where they are numerous, and known under
the name of Hadhrami or Doani.
The Bedouins in Hadhramaut are very numerous, divided Bedouin
into a great number of clans, and exhibiting peculiarities of cha¬
racter and habits which distinguish them from their brethren
in other parts. They are a fine, strong, and athletic race of
people, equally capable of supporting the stifling heat of the
tehamas, and, though half naked, the intense cold on the up¬
lands. The laws of hospitality are so far respected by them,
that a stranger once received among them, becomes, as it were,
a sacred person whom they will protect and defend at the risk of
their own lives. Clan feuds are frequent among them, arising
generally from murder and the like causes of violence, which
the kinsmen of the murdered are bound to avenge by killing