Page 60 - A Hand Book of Arabia Vol 2_Neat

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COMMUNICATIONS
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of the wells, a representative of the tribe remaining with him as I
far as Jau ez-Zor. At Artawiyah a settlement of Bedouins is said
to have been established within the last ten years, and Raunkiaer §
did not think it advisable to camp near the wells. |
Raunkiaer’s mention of a cairn over a pilgrim’s grave at Kejim
shows that the route must have been used occasionally by pilgrims
from Koweit to Mecca, by Boreidah. At Safah it is joined by
tracks NW. to Hafar, and SW. to Mejma‘._ At about 15 m. SW. of
Artawiyah, another track runs S. into Sedeir. Shakespear, travelling
from Koweit in 1910, must have followed a course very near to that
of Raunkiaer between the Shaqq valley and Safah.
Supplies. After the first two stages from Koweit, water cannot
be relied upon before Safah, a distance of more than 100 m., and
an equally long interval without wells separates that place from
Artawiyah ; it is therefore necessary to carry a supply sufficient
for 4-5 days, though after rain various hollows collect water. Fuel
is very scarce ; firewood should be carried while crossing the Qara‘
waste, and after leaving Safah. Grazing is fair during the initial
stages, but absent in Qara‘. It is sufficient about Safah, and is
found in hollows in the Summan zone, as also about Safiyah, Arta­
wiyah, and Sebillah. No regular food supplies are obtainable between
Koweit and Zilfi, but Raunkiaer observed gazelles and numerous
hares in the district of Qara‘, and truffles were abundant both here
and in the Dibdibah. The same traveller notes that the Beni
‘Abdullah drive their goats across the Dahanah zone into Summan.

(ii) Routes from ‘Oqair and Qatif to the Centre

These afford the shortest and easiest passage into Nejd. Regular
troops of Ibrahim Pasha traversed this stretch with guns in 1S18-19,
and irregular Nejdean forces have imitated them onseveral occasions.
The country crossed, however, is, or was till lately, conspicuously
unsafe. Not only are the notorious Beni Hajar to be feared between ’
Qatif and Hofuf, but west of the Hasa the desert is ranged bv
several tribes whose diras and rights to wells are in great confusion
and eternal dispute. Consequently raflqs have to^be continually
changed and it is difficult to know, and often quite uncertain, what
rafiq is to be taken to secure a party from molestation. The ‘ \iman
from_ the north the Ahl Hurrah from the south, and parties of
Dawasir from the south-west, are the chief disputants, and of these
the two last are reputed not to observe over strictly the Bedouin
code in regard to raflqs. Nothing but the strong overlordship S
the Emir of Riyadh can guarantee a caravan. P *