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Faisal ibn 'Abdul'aziz ibn Saud, second surviving son of Ibn Sa'ud,
from a Portrait by Miss Janet Robertson
The
HEART of ARABIA
A RECORD OF TRAVEL & EXPLORATION
IN TWO VOLUMES
By:
H
ST.J.
B. PHILBY
LONDON:
First Edition
1922
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LONDON: CONSTABLE AND COMPANY, First Edition, 1922. New Hardcover, 22x15cm, vol.-I, 386 pages, 40 photo illustrations, 1 plan, vol.-II, 354 pages, 8 photo illustrations, 2 folded colour maps.
Please see book CONDITION at end.
Harry St. John Philby (1885-1960)
British explorer, official, and author. He joined (1917) the British foreign service, was sent on a special mission to Arabia, and became the first European to visit the southern provinces of the Nejd; he crossed the Arabian Peninsular from Uquair to Jidda; and in 1932 he crossed the Rub al Khali desert. No other European has identified himself so thoroughly with things Arabian. For some 30 years he was an adviser to King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia. Dissatisfied with British policy in the Middle East, he resigned (1930) from the foreign service, became a Muslim, and took the name of Hajj Abdullah.
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Extremely Rare
Original First Edition 1922PHILBY's FIRST ACCOUNT
of
ARABIA
From Preface ...
OF the pleasant year I spent sojourning and wandering amid the deserts and oases of Arabia I have endeavoured to compile a record, at once fully descriptive of my own experiences and designed to serve my successors as a faithful guide in their wanderings, when in their turn they take up the torch which has been held in the past by so many distinguished hands-Niebuhr and Burckhardt, Sadlier and Burton, Doughty and the Blunts, Wallin and Wellsted, Huber and Halevy, Euting and Guarmani, and, in modern times, Shakespear and Gertrude Bell, to name but a few of those whose names are writ large on the scroll of Arabian explorers.
It was with little fitness to undertake geographical or scientific work of any kind that I entered Arabia, but chance led me far afield from the tracks of those who had been in that country before me ; and natural curiosity, fortified by a sense of duty, impelled me to record day by day and almost hour by hour everything I saw or heard in the course of my wanderings in the hope that some day, the grain being separated from the chaff, there might remain a residue of useful matter worthy of presentation to the world. The few scientific instruments I carried with me, with a limited knowledge of their proper uses, have enabled the experts of the Royal Geographical Society to use the detailed itineraries of my journeys in the preparation of reasonable maps of a country hitherto in great part conventionally charted on the basis of second-hand information. To their unsparing efforts are due the two maps, which, with the Society's permission, I am able to publish with these volumes ; and it is but fitting that I should place on record my gratitude both for their work and for the generous encouragement I have received from the Royal Geographical Society itself since my return from Arabia.
Circumstances have necessitated the limitation of these volumes to a record of the first part only of my sojourn in Arabia, ending with my return to the Wahhabi capital after an excursion in the summer of 1918 to the provinces of Southern Najd. Circumstances alone will determine whether the record of the latter part of my wanderings and of the Wahhabi campaign against Hail in the autumn of the same year shall ever see the light of day. But for the moment I have deemed it better to set forth in full the details of a portion of my experiences than to deal more summarily with the whole period of my residence in Arabia. And, finally, circumstances alone-circumstances over which I have unfortunately no control-will decide whether I shall ever return to the deserts of Arabia to resume a task which, I am fully conscious, I have left unfinished.
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Group at Riyadh : Royal children in front, and standing behind from left to right-Faisal ibn Hashr, Faisal ibn Rashid, Ibn Sa`ud himself, Sa`ud ibn 'Abdul'aziz al `Arafa, Turki ibn Sa'ud, Sa`ud ibn 'Abdulrahman ibn Sa'ud and two other members of the Royal Family
Contents ...
VOLUME ONE
INTRODUCTION
Chapter I
THE THRESHOLD OF ARABIA
- Al Bahrain to `Ugair
- `Ugair
- `Ugair to Al Hasa
- Al Hasa
Chapter II
THE EASTERN DESERT
- Al Khizam
- The Summan
- The Dahana
- The Inner Steppe
Chapter III
THE WAHHABI CAPITAL
- Arrival at Riyadh
- Riyadh-the City and its Surroundings
- First Days at Riyadh
Chapter IV
THE PILGRIM ROAD
- Dara`iyya
- Wadi `Ammariyya and Jabal Tuwaiq
- Trans-Tuwaiq
- The Highlands of Najd
- The Subai' Country
Chapter V
THE HOLY LAND
- The Sharqi Steppe and the Foothills
- Taif
- Wadi Fatima
- Jidda
Chapter VI
THE HINTERLAND OF EUPHRATES
- Al Batin
- The Dibdiba and the Summan .
- The Dahana
Chapter VII
RIYADH REVISITED
- The `Arma Plateau
- The Wahhabi " Gom " in Camp
- The Pillar of Cloud by Day
- Riyadh in Spring-time
VOLUME TWO
Chapter VIII
AL KHARJ
- Down the Wadi Hanifa
- Northern Kharj
- Southern Kharj
Chapter IX
AL AFLAJ
- The Approach
- Modern Aflaj
- Ancient Aflaj
- Medieval Aflaj
- On the Fringe of the Empty Quarter
- William Gifford Palgrave in Arabia
Chapter X
WADI DAWASIR
- The Threshold of the Wadi .
- Sulaiyil
- The Last Lap
- The Wadi Oasis
- The South Country
Chapter XI
THE PLATEAU BARRIER OF TUWAIQ
- Amid the Tributaries of Wadi Dawasir
- The Sources of the Maqran
- The Aflaj Uplands
- The District of Al Fara`
- The Skirt of Jabal `Alaiya
APPEDICES
- Extracts from a Report by Professor R. B. Newton of the British Museum, on a Collection of Fossils from Central Arabia (Jabal Tuwaiq)
- Glossary of Arabic Terms used in this Work
INDEX
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Group of Desert Chiefs : from left to right-Muhammad ibn Salih al Subhan,
Shaikh Ibrahim of Zubair,
Dhari ibn Tawala and Hamud ibn Suwait
Illustrations ...
VOLUME ONE
Lawrence; Colonel F. Cunliffe Owen in centre
- Faisal ibn 'Abdul'aziz ibn Saud, second surviving son of Ibn Sa'ud, from a Portrait by Miss Janet Robertson, in the possession of Mr. J. Conway Davies
- Dhow, with British Mission on board, being towed by steam cutter of H.M.S.
`Uqair : Jetty, Warehouses, and Fort
Group at Hufuf :(from left to right, seated) Muhammad Effendi, 'Abdullah ibn Jiluwi and his son Sa`ud ; attendants standing behind
Hufuf, capital of the Hasa : general view, with Ibrahim Pasha Mosque in background
Hufuf : Suq al Khamis on market-day, with Qaisariyya Colonnade on left and walls of Kut to right
Hufuf : Mosque of Ibrahim Pasha ; Khalil Effendi on left, with Sulaiman Hariqi next to him and two attendants on right
`Ain al Hara : the Hot Spring near Mubarraz
The Author
Wadi al Shajara : a halt for the Afternoon Prayer
The Ravine and Wells of Abu Jifan
Khashm Ausa` : Camp levelled by storm in the Turabi Plain
Colonel R. E. A. Hamilton on left, with Fahad of the Royal Bodyguard at Riyadh
`Abdul`aziz ibn 'Abdulrahman ibn Faisal ibn Sa'ud, the Ruler of Wahhabiland, on right, with his cousin Salman al 'Arafa
The Royal Palace at Riyadh
The Great Mosque at Riyadh
The Fort at Riyadh, and general view north-eastward from Palace ; the House of Muhammad ibn Sa'ud on right, and that of the late Sa'd ibn Sa'ud in centre foreground, and main street to North-east Gate between them
Gardens in Riyadh Oasis: `Abdullah Effendi seated on wall
Group at Riyadh : Royal children in front, and standing behind from left to right-Faisal ibn Hashr, Faisal ibn Rashid, Ibn Sa`ud himself, Sa`ud ibn 'Abdul'aziz al `Arafa, Turki ibn Sa'ud, Sa`ud ibn 'Abdulrahman ibn Sa'ud and two other members of the Royal Family
Part of Author's Escort on journey across Arabia : standing from left to right-Mutailij, Tami, Ibrahim, the Author, Sa`d, Izmai, Hailan and Badr ; seated-Shaya, Said, ?, Ibn Nassar, Abu Nura and Jarman
Oasis of Dara'iyya, with storm channel in centre, the ruins of the old city on left and the hamlets of Malwi, Dhahara and Ghusiba to right
The Saqta Pass in Jabal Tuwaiq
Oasis of Quai'iyya in the Ardh Highlands, with Wahhabi Cemetery in foreground
The Mountain of Farida in the Damkh Range
The Sirra Plain, looking eastwards towards the Damkh Range ; Farida on right and Nasifa on left
The Village of Khurma
Palace of Shubra in Talf Valley
Taif
Palace of King Husain at Taff, destroyed by Turks before surrendering the town in 1916
Wadi Shamiyya (Fatima), at mouth of Haradha ; Ibrahim, the King's slave and envoy, mounted with servant behind
The Oasis of Madhiq in Wadi Laimun (Fatima)
Telegraph Line and Mecca-Jidda caravan Route at Nuqtat al Baidha in hills of coastal fringe
First view of the Sea at Raghama
Part of Author's Escort mounted at Jidda
Jidda : the Mecca Gate
Jidda : the Sharifian Barracks in foreground and the Tomb of Eve in Cemetery behind
Group of Desert Chiefs : from left to right-Muhammad ibn Salih al Subhan, Shaikh Ibrahim of Zubair, Dhari ibn Tawala and Hamud ibn Suwait
The Wells of Hafar al Batin, with Camel drawing Water
The Pond of Khafs, with 'Arma Cliff in background
Sandstorm sweeping over camp near Khafs ;`Arma Cliff dimly visible in background VOLUME TWO
The Ruins of Firzan
The Remains of Yamama, with Sand-billows reaching to the Palm-fringe
'Ain Samha, one of the "bottomless" Pools pf Kharj
Laila, the Capital of the Aflaj
The Great Lake of Umm al Jabal in the Aflaj
The Reservoir of Maqran, with Dawasir Camels watering
The Hamlet of Al Hanish in the Oasis of Sulaiyil
The Village of Tamra in Wadi Dawasir
Maps & Plans...
- Plan of Riyadh [in Volume One]
- Southern Najd : Routes between Riyadh and Wadi Dawasir. From Surveys by H. St.J. B. Philby, 1918 [in Volume Two]
- Central Arabia : Route from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea. From Surveys by H. St.J. B. Philby, 1917 [in Volume Two]
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Group at Hufuf :(from left to right, seated) Muhammad Effendi, 'Abdullah
ibn Jiluwi and his son Sa`ud ;
attendants standing behind
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Colonel R. E. A. Hamilton on left, with Fahad of the
Royal Bodyguard at
Riyadh
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The Royal Palace at Riyadh
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`Abdul`aziz ibn 'Abdulrahman ibn Faisal ibn Sa'ud,
the Ruler of Wahhabiland, on right, with his cousin Salman al 'Arafa
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Part of Author's Escort on journey across Arabia : standing from left to
right-Mutailij, Tami, Ibrahim,
the Author, Sa`d, Izmai, Hailan and Badr ;
seated-Shaya, Said, ?, Ibn Nassar, Abu Nura and Jarman
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The Saqta Pass in Jabal Tuwaiq
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The Oasis of Madhiq in Wadi Laimun (Fatima)
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Palace of Shubra in Talf Valley
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The Great Mosque at Riyadh
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The Author
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Jidda : the Mecca Gate
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Plan of Riyadh
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Hufuf : Suq al Khamis on market-day, with Qaisariyya Colonnade on left
and walls of Kut to right
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Southern Najd : Routes between Riyadh and Wadi Dawasir.
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Central Arabia : Route from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea
Condition ...
Library binding set with library stamps, sticker residual inside front covers, otherwise set complete with all illustrations and maps, original very rare First Edition in very good condition.
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