Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/273

 Palestine as far as the town of Ṣoṛar at the southern extremity of the Dead Sea.

Al-Iṣṭaḫri, Masâlik (De Goeje), pp. 12 and 14, states that the Ḥeǧâz extends somewhere between Madjan by the Red Sea and as-Sirrîn on the Persian Gulf, as well as between al-Ḥeǧr and the two mountains of the Ṭajj tribe. According to him, we may assume that the northern frontier of the Ḥeǧâz runs close to Madjan and north of it; the eastern frontier is near the mountains of Eǧa’ and Salma, while the western is formed by the Red Sea. As the ancient Madian was situated near the present oasis of al-Bedʻ, we must locate al-Iṣṭaḫri’s northern frontier of the Ḥeǧâz between this oasis and the settlement of al-ʻAḳaba on the northern extremity of the gulf bearing the latter name. The mountains of the Ṭajj tribe are included by al-Iṣṭaḫri in the Ḥeǧâz because politically they belonged to Mecca and because the governor of the Pilgrim Route, who was sent from Mecca, resided in the settlement of Fejd situated at the northeastern foot of Mount Salma.

Al-Idrîsi, Nuzha, III, 5, states that the western frontier of the Ḥeǧâz leads from the waterless harbor of Râs abi Muḥammed at the entrance to the gulf of ʻAḳabat Ajla as far as the harbor of al-ʻUwajnid, ten miles distant from and opposite the island of an-Naʻmân, and farther on towards Ṭena’ and ʻUṭûf.—Râs abi Muḥammed is identical with Râs Muḥammed on the southern spur of the peninsula of Sinai. The name of al-ʻUwajnid (al-ʻWejned) has been retained in the pilgrims’ station of the same name southeast of the island of an-Naʻmân. Ṭena’ must be corrected to Ẓeba’, from which it has been transcribed, but Ẓaba’ (or Ẓbe’) is situated to the north and not to the south of the island of an-Naʻmân. ʻUṭûf is unknown to me.

According to Jâḳût, op. cit., Vol. 2, p. 77, the name Ḥeǧâz (barrier) is derived from the fact that this territory separates the seashore al-Ṛawr from the upland of Neǧd. Al-Ḥeǧâz extends, he says, from al-Medîna to the environs of the oasis of Fejd and the two mountains Eǧa’ and Salma.—Jâḳût here copies from Iṣṭaḫri and indicates the then existing political area of the Ḥeǧâz. Physiographically the eastern frontier of the Ḥeǧâz is formed by the eastern edge of the jagged mountain range extending from near Tejma southward.

Ibn al-Faḳîh, op. cit., p. 27, defines the beginning of Neǧd as where the ṛaḍa shrub grows. In the Ḥeǧâz, he says, there is no ṛaḍa, but only ṭalḥ, samur, and asal.—This, however, is not the case, for in the Ḥeǧâz itself there are extensive areas covered with an abundance of ṛaḍa: for example, the lowland of al-Meḥteṭeb to the north, northeast, and west of Tebûk, and the valley of al-Ǧizel.

Al-Muḳaddasi, Aḥsan (De Goeje), p. 53, includes the places al-Ḥaǧr, al-ʻAwnîd, Bada’ Jaʻḳûb, Ḍabba, and Nabk within the administrative area of Ḳurḥ, as the main settlement of Wâdi al-Ḳura’ is called.—Al-ʻAwnîd, the harbor of this area, is identical with al-ʻWejned; Bada’ Jaʻḳûb is the small oasis of Bada’; Nebk must be located near the šeʻîb of aš-Šaʻaf; Ḍabba, or more correctly Ẓaba’, is the modern Ẓbe’. The frontier between the Syrian administrative area of Ṣoṛar and the Ḥeǧâz area of Ḳurḥ led from al-Mwêleḥ on the shore to al-Muʻaẓẓam, or, as it was then called, al-Muḥdaṯa, on the Pilgrim Route; thus at latitude 27° 40’ N.

Henri Lammens (L’ancienne frontière entre la Syrie et le Ḥidjâz