Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/337

 kilometers to the south of Tebûk. The Arab houses stood near the garden of ar-Râjes, near the well of Ǧerṯûma, near Bîr al-Ḳena’, and elsewhere to the south and west of the settlement. The village of Sarṛ recalls the halting place of Soṛar, which, however, is situated nearly 117 kilometers north-northwest of Tebûk.

According to U. J. Seetzen (Beiträge zur Geographie Arabiens [in: Monatliche Correspondenz, edit. by F. von Zach, Vol. 18], p. 377), who records the statements of Jûsef al-Milki, Tebûk at the beginning of the nineteenth century was inhabited by the Ḥamâjde, who had emigrated northward.

Aṭ-Ṭabari, Ta’rîḫ (De Goeje), Ser. 1, p. 2078, records a statement by Ibn Ishâk to the effect that there were two highroads leading from the Ḥeǧâz to Syria: the al-Muʻreḳa road along the seashore to Ajla, and the Tebûkijje road by way of the settlement of Tebûk.

The former highroad is perhaps identical with the later Egyptian Pilgrim Route from Ajla to al-Medîna and Mecca. From Ajla northward the al-Muʻreḳaa road probably led through the rift valley of al-ʻAraba. I infer this from the fact that the first army sent to Palestine under the leadership of ʻAmr ibn al-ʻÂṣ marched in the spring of 634 A. D. from Ajla through al-ʻAraba, rested for some time at al-Ramr (see Musil, Arabia Petraea, Vol. 2, Part 2, p. 201), and proceeded thence in a north-westerly direction to Gaza.

The at-Tebûkijje road leading by way of Tebûk was later transformed into the Pilgrim Route from Damascus to al-Medîna.

Al-Jaʻḳûbi, Buldân (De Goeje), p. 330, likewise mentions the al-Muʻreḳa road as proceeding from Palestine by way of al-Ramr to the harbor of Ajla and the settlement of Madjan, even though he does not give its name.

The position of the separate halting places situated on the roads from Syria, Palestine, or Egypt to al-Medîna can nowhere be determined with the help of the exact statement of distances. Computations in parasangs or miles are lacking, and in the case of daily marches we cannot decide whether the marches of transport caravans are meant or those of camel riders, as were the pilgrims. We may therefore suppose that these roads were never officially measured. From the time of the Omayyads there are no particulars of the lengths of the Syrian pilgrim routes, and the Abbassides completely neglected them.

Ibn Ḫordâḏbeh, Masâlik (De Goeje), p. 149, was acquainted with only one road which we can precisely identify: the one from Egypt to al-Medîna. It led from the harbor of Ajla to the oasis of Ḥaḳl (40 km.); to Madjan, or the modern al-Bedʻ (80 km.); and to al-Aṛarr.—The name of the latter stopping place has been changed by the copyists in various