Page 48 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 4,5

r TRICTS AND TOWNS 119

and a small-grained Nejd wheat are grown, and some
11 u 11 e* t
ibacco, green in the dried leaf. Fruit-trees, which are planted
Inside the irrigation channels, include the plum, pomegranate, fig,
('ic crreat citron, and sweet and sour lemons ; the vine grows as
• 1 trellis - plant beside the wells, and tamarisk is cultivated for
timber. The many kinds of Teima dates are of excellent quality,
but all are heating and are eaten with the nomads’ sour buttermilk.

The settled population of Teima probably numbers from 1,500 to
2 000, mainly of the Wuld Suleiman ; in figure and facial lineaments
They closely resemble th» Bedouins. There are a few villagers of
half-negro blood, but no Gallas. The women go unveiled. Among the
strangers that frequent the town are a few traders from J. Shammar,
who sell Baghdad clothing and cheap calico. But there are no
shops, the landowners selling their corn and dates at their own
houses; the nomads are their chief customers. The villagers
seldom taste flesh-meat, but game is sometimes brought in. Teima i
rock-salt is used in all parts of Arabia ; it is obtained from salt-beds
to the NE. of the main oasis beyond the cultivation. And at half 1
a day’s ride N. of Teima a kind of black rock-alum is dug^ which
is used as medicine for sick camels.
There is little destitution and no ruined houses nor abandoned
fields are to be seen. In 1909 an increase in cultivation was reported ;
Carruthers saw new plantations of palms, and newly built walled en­
closures. Thanks to its high desert air Teima is entirely free from
fever. The only serious malady is a kind of rheumatic ophthalmia,
which is rife in spring ; it is caused by chill through sleeping out at
night, or through drinking after nightfall water chilled in the girbies.

Teima owes allegiance at present to the Emir of Ha’il, the yearly *
tribute being collected after the date-harvest. ;
10. Kheibar is a large oasis-village (or group of villages) lying in !
h-arrah desert at an elevation of about 2,800 ft., considerably below
!
the general harrcih level, which is about 6,000 ft. It lies some 70 miles
‘j Medina, from which towrn it is controlled when not left to
the tribesmen of Wuld Suleiman, who own the land, or to the
, Ha’il. The settlement stands in the Wadi Zeidlyah, the
^trgest of the Kheibar valleys, which lie close together in the harrah
>orcler, cutting into the lava field to the shallow clays beneath.

■ l*7nain village is built under a long basaltcrag, which stands isolated
uf tl 6 Valle7 and bears the ancient citadel, El-Hisn. At the top
and16 r°Ck *s a wabed platform, some twro hundred paces by ninety,
m t' °U s*de ab°ve the village is a covered well, for its supply
sa'c it-*16 danSer > ^ was protected, when Doughty saw it, by two
Pyramids of brick. The village gates are shut at night.