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GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLOEATIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



tile to all strangers. It was known, indeed, 

 that there was, somewhere in the interior, a 

 sect of Mohammedan purists, called "Wahabis or 

 "Wahabites, but these, since their defeat and the 

 destruction of their capital by Ibrahim Pasha 

 in 1818, were believed to have resumed the 

 nomad life, and to be practically Bedouins. 

 Mr. Palgrave has been able, from actual obser- 

 vation, to confute these ideas. There are two 

 extensive deserts on the peninsula: one the 

 Syrian Desert, extending southward to about 

 the 32d parallel north latitude; the other, in 

 the south of the peninsula, extending from 

 about the line of the tropic of Cancer to latitude 

 17 K, and known as the Desert of Ahkaf. 

 The intermediate region is an elevated plateau, 

 with deep fertile valleys and precipitous rocks, 

 having few or no perennial streams, but watered 

 by the torrents which flow in the rainy season 

 from the hills and mountains. The Bedouins 

 are not found in considerable numbers south 

 of the Syrian Desert, and leaving the lower 

 border of that desert in about latitude 32, Mr. 

 Palgrave, who travelled as a physician (which 

 insured him. kind reception), entered at once 

 the kingdom of Jebel Shomer, on the moun- 

 tains of Shomer. This kingdom lies between 

 32 ' and 26 30' north latitude, and between 33 

 40' and 44 E. longitude. Its inhabitants are 

 part nomad and part stationary. About two- 

 thirds of the area of the kingdom is barren and 

 sandy. The defiles, which form a marked feat- 

 ure of the country, are fertile, and are inhab- 

 ited by an agricultural population, who were 

 Christians before Mohammed's time, and long 

 resisted El Islam. The State religion is now 

 Mohammedan, but except in the towns the 

 adherence to it is merely nominal, the mass of 

 the people being sun-worshippers, though some 

 worshipped fire also, though not approximating 

 in their other tenets to the Parsees. The sun- 

 worshippers, also, paid homage to the North 

 Star, and prayed to it by the name JAH, the 

 title given in the Old Testament Scriptures to 

 Jehovah. The capital of Jebel Shomer is 

 Hail, where Mr. Palgrave and his companions 

 remained for six weeks, being received very 

 cordially by King Jelab or Zelal Ebn Eashed. 

 The people were very finely formed, and the 

 capital is the seat of a considerable amount 

 of trade, and has about 20,000 inhabitants. 

 This kingdom has existed about sixty years. 

 The Government seemed to be vigorous and 

 well organized and the people contented and 

 happy. On the 8th of July, 1862, Mr. Pal- 

 grave and his associates, sixteen in number, 

 left Hail, and the next day commenced cross- 

 ing the Jebel (mountains of) Salma, which 

 form the southern boundary of the kingdom 

 of Jebel Shomer. These mountains were in 

 pre-Islainite times the seat of Koleib "Waal, 

 a monarch whose sway extended over half 

 Arabia. On the 13th the travellers entered 

 the kingdom of the Wahabites, which extends 

 from 26 30' north latitude south to the Desert 

 of Ahkaf, and from the Persian Gulf on the 



East to the province of Hejaz (which contains 

 Mecca and Medina) on the West. The Waha- 

 bites are the strictest of Mohammedans, adher- 

 ing to the precepts of Mohammed in every par- 

 ticular, and rejecting all traditions or precepts 

 of Mohammed's successors. They were organ- 

 ized as a nation and cect by Mohammed Ibn- 

 abd-el-Wahab, a reformer, who flourished in the 

 middle and latter part of the 18th century, and 

 who established the Wahabite kingdom in 1TTO. 

 He did not himself become the ruler, but while 

 putting the temporal power into the hands 

 of the Chief of Derayeh, Abd-Allah-Ebn- 

 Saoud, one of his earliest disciples, he re- 

 tained the prophetic or priestly power in the 

 hands of his own family. The people are in- 

 tensely fanatical, and oppose with great bit- 

 terness all other sects of Mohammedans. They 

 excited the hostility of the Egyptian viceroy 

 early in the present century, and after a long 

 series of battles, in which the Turco-Egyptian 

 force was at first worsted, they were defeated 

 in 1818 by Ibrahim Pasha, and their capital, De- 

 rayeh, burned ; but though crippled for a time 

 Mr. Palgrave found them now stronger than 

 ever. Their new capital, Riadh, is a very beau- 

 tiful and populous town, surrounded on all sides 

 by gardens, and the dwellings are mainly of sun- 

 burned bricks, which make them a very solid 

 and durable dwelling. Many of these dwell- 

 ings possess considerable architectural beauty, 

 and they are furnished comfortably and abun- 

 dantly, in the oriental style, with carpets, 

 cushions, &c. The Government is an absolute 

 monarchy, very despotic and fanatical. Poly- 

 theism and smoking tobacco are, in their creed, 

 the greatest and most unpardonable of sins, 

 while murder, theft, perjury, &c., are merely 

 venial offences. Any man, however high his 

 rank, who is convicted of smoking tobacco, 

 is publicly and severely beaten. Even the 

 brother of the king and one of the ministers of 

 state were beaten, the latter to death, for this 

 offence. Mr. Palgrave remained fifty days in 

 Eiadh, but was finally compelled to leave be- 

 cause the king was offended at his refusal to 

 give him strychnine, with which he wished to 

 poison some of the members of the Court who 

 were hostile to him. Mr. Palgrave had the 

 opportunity of examining the stud of the Wa- 

 habite king, "which consisted of between one 

 and two hundred horses of the purest Nejed 

 breed, and were, he says, remarkable for their 

 beauty. Their average height was between 

 fourteen and fifteen hands ; none of them were 

 above fifteen hands two fingers. The prevailing 

 color was gray, but some were chesnut, a few 

 mottled, very few white, and still fewer black. 

 There were no bay horses among them. Leav- 

 ing Eiadh, and being obliged to avoid the large 

 towns, the travellers concealed themselves in 

 the small valley of Yamanieh, till Khalif, the 

 chief guide of the Persian pilgrims to Mecca, 

 who had already aided them, could rejoin them, 

 they passed on, when he overtook them on 

 fine and well- watered plains, till they came to 



