Baghdad to Damascus viâ El Jauf, Northern Arabia Author(s): S. S. Butler Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 33, No. 5 (May, 1909), pp. 517-533 Published by: geographicalj Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1777081 Accessed: 27-06-2016 01:14 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Wiley, The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Geographical Journal This content downloaded from 137.99.31.134 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 01:14:42 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Geographical Journal. No. 5. MAY, 1909. VOL. XXXII. BAGHDAD TO DAMASCUS VIA EL JAUF, NORTHERN ARABIA.* By Captain S. S. BUTLER. THE leave of Captain Aylmer and myself from East Africa falling due about the same time last autumn (1907), we decided, if possible, to try to return to England vid the Persian gulf, Baghdad, and Damascus; but, instead of following the usual route from Baghdad to Damascus along the Euphrates, we intended to try to go south-west from Baghdad to El Jauf,f which is situated in North Central Arabia, on the northern edge of the great Nefud (or sandy desert), and from there go up north- west, eventually coming out at Damascus by way of the Jebel Hauran. El Jauf is, of course, not altogether unknown, having been visited by Wallin in '45, Palgrave in '62, Guarmani in '64, Huber in '78, Euting in '83, the Blunts in '79, Nolde in '93, and a Kerak missionary called Forder in '01. All these, however, visited El Jauf coming from the west, Wallin and Palgrave from Maan, and Huber, Euting, the Blunts, and Nolde from Damascus; Guarmani came up from Hail (if his account is trustworthy). To the best of my belief E1 Jauf had not previously been reached from Baghdad, or, in fact, anywhere from the east by any other Europeans, nor had the intervening country been explored in any way. Our chief difficulty lay in getting away from Baghdad, as we were for a long time unable to get any one to act as our "rafig," or guide and friend, without which it is impossible to travel in anything like safety in Arabia. Shortly after our return to Baghdad from Kerbela, however, we were fortunate enough to hear of a Bedu who was almost immediately returning to his tribe, the Ibn Mijlad * Read at the Royal Geographical Society, February 22, 1909. Map, p. 628. t In strict geographical parlance Jauf is not in Arabia at all, but on the Southern limit of the Syrian Hamid. No. V.-MAY, 1909.] 2 N This content downloaded from 137.99.31.134 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 01:14:42 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 518 BAGHDAD TO DAMASCUS VIA EL JAUF, NORTHERN ARABIA. section of the Bishr Anaizeh, who were then somewhere in the desert to the south-west of Kabweisa. This Bedu, Mahomet el Mathi by name, was a man of importance in his tribe, and was escorting back with him some merchants of cloth, and camel traders, and he was willing, for a price, to let us accompany him to his tents, and said that from there, for a further sum of money, he would help us to get on to El Jauf. He stipulated, however, that we brought our own camels and kit, and also asked us to dress in Beduin costume. This we did; to dress in Arab costume when travelling in the interior of Arabia being, in my opinion, very necessary, for to dress in European clothes would, I think, cause a lot of unpleasantness, if not actual danger. Neither Captain Aylmer nor myself ever tried to pass ourselves off as Beduin when in conversation with people we met, as, of course, our Arabic would have given us away at once, but a few yards off, with the "kofia," or head-covering, up round our faces, we looked very much like the other members of our party, and were frequently mistaken for Arabs by Beduin we met, until we got into conversation with them. We left Baghdad on January 9, 1908, with our guide and friend, Mahomet el Mathi, and a party of about twenty merchants and their assistants, on camels. Captain Aylmer and myself rode female camels (dlool), for which we paid about thirteen Turkish lira each, and our servant bestrode a male camel, which cost about twelve lira Our supplies we carried with us on our camels, and these consisted of a few changes of clothing, and some dates, rice, flour, coffee, tea, sugar, salt, fat, onions, and a few tinned things. Throulghout all our trip we ate and lived with our guides and other Arabs we met as Beduin, and the tinned food, though a nice change, was really unnecessary; it is heavy, and takes up a lot of room, and were I to go into Arabia again, I do not think I should attempt to take anything beyond the things carried by Arabs themselves when travelling, suchas flour, dates, salt, rice, fat (samn), coffee (a necessity), and tea and sugar (a luxury), and perhaps a few onions, that are much appreciated by the Arabs, and help to flavour the otherwise somewhat tasteless rice. Our first objective was Kabweisah, an Arab town under Turkish government, some 90 miles north-west of Baghdad, and a few miles west of Hit, a small town on the Shatt-el-Frat (Euphrates). Here we were to pick up two or three more traders, who were going to do business among the Anaizeh, under the auspices of our guide, Mahomet el Mathi. At Kabweisa we picked up the rest of our caravan, and on January 16 started out into the desert for the tents of Ibn Mijlad of the Dahamshah section of the Bishr Anaizeh. Our guide was not certain as to the exact whereabouts of his tribe, but knew they were somewhere to the south- west, so having filled our girbehs (water-skins) at the well of Zazzur, outside Kabweisa, we took a south-westerly line across the desert. We travelled thus for four days, and on the fifth reached our guide's tents in This content downloaded from 137.99.31.134 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 01:14:42 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms BAGHDAD TO DAMASCUS VIA EL JAUF, NORTHERN ARABIA. 519 a district called Awaj. All these four days we were passing over a rolling steppe, covered for the most part with short herbage or scrub about 1 to 1~ feet high. This herbage is mostly good grazing for the camels, a feathery sort of scrub called "arrutha" being particularly appreciated by them. The soil the whole way was gravelly. No water at all was seen, but for the greater part of the first two days we followed up the course of the WVadi Hajia, in which in the rainy season, we were informed, there is water, but which, when we were there, was quite dry. All this country was, of course, without any villages or houses of any sort, there being absolutely nothing in the shape of a house between * . .,.. _..^ ~ ~ i..,,., - : : ; . , .;, : _: :~~?::,* : , --- . -. ':,;:l;-.:i.- ^:.:: - :~;-l^~; ~ ?~~~~-? ~ ~r- . -:,:1-:.; / i,i ,- ;~i:- ;^f^?.;3: i i BEDUIN IN THE DESERT. Kabweisa and Skaka. The only inhabltants of this district are Beduin, who live in their black goats'-hair tents, and keep moving every day or so, with their flocks of camels and sheep, in search of pasturage and water. The tribe who, for the most part, frequent the district we passed through for these first four days are called Delaim, but we only saw one party of about ten tents. The Delaim inhabit the country along the Shatt- el-Frat (Euphrates) from Kerbela to Hit, and are divided into two sections--the " fellahin," or cultivators of land, who live along the river- bank in houses and till the soil, and the " Beduin," who live a roving life in the desert with their flocks; it was a party of these latter that we came across. They are a numerous tribe, and, from information given us by some of them, we estimated that they must number at least 13,000 tents. 2N2 This content downloaded from 137.99.31.134 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 01:14:42 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 520 BAGHDAD TO DAMASCUS VIA EL JAUF, NORTHERN ARABIA. A noticeable thing about all the country between Kabweisa and the hollow of El Jauf is the presence of many " rigms," or piles of stones, which mark the boundaries of the authority of various Beduin sheiks. On the fifth day after leaving Kabweisa, as I have said, we reached the tents of our guide, and during our stay with him, four days, we were exceptionally kindly treated, not only by him, but by Skeik Ibn Mijlad and all the members of the tribe that we met. The Anaizeh are divided into two big sections, the Bishr, who occupy roughly the north and east of the great Syrian desert, and the Thumma Mislim, who occupy the more western part of it.