It lies on one of the great roads from
Nedjed to Yemen; and it was said that heavy-laden
Camels from Mekka to
Yemen could not come by any other way, and that on the sea-shore beyond
Beishe is an easy passage westward through the great chain of mountains.
At Beishe many battles were fought between Sherif Ghaleb and Saoud the
Wahaby general, who being victorious erected two castles in the
neighbourhood, and gave them in charge to Ibn Shokban, whom he also made
chief of the Beni Salem tribe, the inhabitants of Beishe, who could
furnish from eight to ten thousand matchlocks. Ibn Shokban afterwards
gallantly opposed the Turkish army. I believe that in former times the
Sherifs of Mekka possessed at least a nominal authority over all the
country, from Tayf to Beishe. In Asamy's history we find many instances
of the Sherifs residing occasionally at Beishe, and having in their army
auxiliaries of the Beni Salem tribe.
Beishe is a broad valley, from six to eight hours in length, abounding
with rivulets, wells, and gardens. The houses here are better than those
of Tayf, and irregularly scattered over the whole tract. The principal
castle is very strong, with substantial and lofty walls, and surrounded
by a ditch. About three or four days' journey to the E. and S.E. of
Beishe, the plain is covered with numerous encampments of the Kahtan
Arabs, one of the most ancient tribes, that flourished long before
Mohammed, in the idolatrous ages. Some of these Beni Kahtan emigrated to
Egypt, where the historian Mesoudi knew them as inhabitants of Assouan.
The Wahabys found great difficulty in subduing this tribe, which,
however,
[p.452] subsequently became attached to the conquerors, and still
continues so. The Beni Kahtan possess excellent pasturage, and breed
many fine horses: the vast number of their camels have become proverbial
in Arabia. The tribe is divided into two main branches, Es Sahama, and
El Aasy. In December 1814 the Kahans made an incursion towards Djidda,
and carried off the whole baggage of some Turkish cavalry, stationed to
protect the road between Djidda and Mekka: large parties of them
sometimes pasture their cattle in the province of Nedjed.
From Beishe to Aryn, in the country of the Abyda Arabs, is a journey of
five days, according to the Bedouin mode of travelling, but six or seven
days as the Kebsy pilgrims march. Beishe itself is about two days
distant from the western mountain. It is a journey of at least four days
from Beishe to the district of Zohran: all the Arabs from Taraba to
Beishe, and from thence westward, are cultivators or agriculturists;
those due south and east, are Bedouins, or wandering Nomades.
South-east of Beishe, four or five days, live the Dowaser Arabs during
the winter; but in summer they remove to the more fertile pasture-lands
of Nedjed, the nearest frontiers of which are only eight days distant.
They have no horses, but furnish to the Wahabys in their wars about
three thousand camel-riders. The Dowaser are said to be very tall men,
and almost black. In former times they used to sell at Mekka ostrich
feathers to the northern pilgrims, and many pedlars of Mekka came here
in winter to exchange cotton stuffs for those feathers.
Adjoining the Dowaser, but I cannot exactly ascertain in what direction,
are the Beni Kelb, Bedouins of whom many absurd fables are related in
the Hedjaz: thus it is said, the men never speak Arabic, but bark like
dogs; a notion, perhaps, arising from the name Kelb, which signifies a
dog. Their women, however, it is allowed, can speak Arabic; but the
truth is, that the stranger who alights at their tents is entertained by
the women, and not by the men.
Half way between Wady Dowaser, or the winter pasture-land of the Dowaser
tribe, and Sanaa the capital of Yemen, a short day's journey east of
Thohran, (the territory of the Wadaa Arabs,) and four or five days from
the town of Sada, lies the Wady Nedjran, on the first of the great chain
of mountains. It is a fertile valley between inaccessible mountains, in
which the passes are so narrow that two camels cannot go abreast. The
valley is watered by rivulets, and abounds with date-trees. Here reside
the Beni Yam, an ancient tribe, distinguished lately by their opposition
to the Wahabys: they consist of settlers and Bedouins; the former being
Shyas, or heretics of the Persian sect, followers of Aly, while the
Bedouins are mostly Sunne or orthodox Muselmans. The latter are
subdivided into the tribes of Okman and El Marra, weaker than the
disciples of Aly, and often at variance with them, although both parties
unite whenever Nedjran is attacked by a foreign enemy. The settlers can
muster about fifteen hundred firelocks. They twice repulsed the Wahaby
chief Saoud, who had subdued all the other Arab tribes except the Beni
Sobh, of the Harb race, in the northern parts of the Hedjaz. The Beni
Yam made a kind of treaty with the Wahabys, and were allowed to perform
the pilgrimage annually. Some of them visit the tomb of Aly, at Meshehed
Aly, but under circumstances of great difficulty; for their lives would
pay the forfeit of their religious zeal, should they be detected on the
road; and this frequently happens,
[p.453] as they are betrayed by their peculiar accent or dialect: one
who has performed his devotions at Aly's tomb is regarded as a saint at
Nedjran.
When a man of this Beni Yam tribe undertakes a journey, he sends his
wife to the house of a friend, who, it is understood, must in all
respects supply the husband's place during his absence, and restore the
lady to him at his return. It may be here remarked, that the name of
Nedjran el Yemen is mentioned in the Catechism of the Druses; one of the
questions being, "Is Nedjran of Yemen in ruins or not?" The tanneries of
Nedjran are famous throughout Arabia.
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