school is nowhere common except in Nijd, and the lands Eastward as far as Al-Hasa.  At present it labours under a sort of imputation, being supposed to have thrown out a bad offshoot, the Wahhabis. [FN#64] “Ruasa” is the plural of Rais, a chief or president.  It is the term generally applied in Arabia to the captain of a vessel, and in Al-Yaman it often means a barber, in virtue, I presume, of its root-Ras, the head. [FN#65] Some say that the Egyptian distinction between the Imam Khatib and the Imam Ratib does not obtain at Al-Madinah.

[p.376]Chapter xviii.

Al-Madinah.

It is equally difficult to define, politically and geographically, the limits of Al-Hijaz.  Whilst some authors, as Abulfeda,[FN#1] fix its Northern frontier at Aylah (Fort Al-’Akabah) and the Desert, making Al-Yaman its Southern limit, others include in it only the tract of land lying between Meccah and Al-Madinah.  The country has no natural boundaries, and its political limits change with every generation; perhaps, therefore, the best distribution of its frontier would be that which includes all the property called Holy Land, making Yambu’ the Northern, and Jeddah the Southern extremes, while a line drawn through Al-Madinah, Suwayrkiyah, and Jabal Kora-the mountain of Taif-might represent its Eastern boundary.  Thus Al-Hijaz would be an irregular parallelogram, about two hundred and fifty miles in length, with a maximum breadth of one hundred and fifty miles.

Two meanings are assigned to the name of this venerated region.  Most authorities make it mean the “Separator,” the “Barrier,” between Nijd and Tahamah,[FN#2] or between Al-Yaman and Syria.  According to others, it signifies the “colligated,” i.e. by mountains.  It is to be observed that the people of the country, especially the Badawin, distinguish the lowlands from the high region

[p.377]by different names; the former are called Tahamat al-Hijaz-the sea coast of Al-Hijaz, as we should say in India, “below the Ghauts;” the latter is known peculiarly as Al-Hijaz.[FN#3]

Madinat al-Nabi,[FN#4] the Prophet’s City, or, as it is

[p.378]usually called for brevity, Al-Madinah, the City, is situated on the borders of Nijd, upon the vast plateau of high land

[p.379] which forms central Arabia.  The limits of the sanctuary called the Hudud al-Harim, as defined by the Apostle, may still serve to mark out the city’s plain.  Northwards, at a distance of about three miles, is Jabal Ohod, or, according to others, Jabal Saur, a hill somewhat beyond Ohod; these are the last ribs of the vast tertiary and primitive chine[FN#5] which, extending from Taurus to near Aden, and from Aden again to Maskat, fringes the Arabian trapezium.  To the South-west the plain is bounded by ridges of scoriaceous basalt, and by a buttress of rock called Jabal Ayr, like Ohod, about three miles distant from the town.  Westward, according to some authors, is the Mosque Zu’l-Halifah.  On the East there are no natural landmarks, nor even artificial, like the “Alamayn” at Meccah; an imaginary line, therefore, is drawn, forming an irregular circle of which the town is the centre, with a diameter from ten to twelve miles.  Such is the sanctuary.[FN#6] Geographically considered, the