Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

DURING 19 CENTURY: ARABIA 713
enlarged ' upon the geographical significance of Doughty's
work for our knowledge of the region between 'Onaiza and
Tayif. Doughty had lived nearly two years in the tents
of the Arabs — not in the lordly style warranted by his
means, but as one of their equals, sharing their privations
and hardships ; so that his narrative is a rare source of
knowledge upon the present manners and customs among
the Bedouins of Central Arabia. And owing to the con-
San'a, Capital of Yemen
servative character of the Arabs, it is also a valuable objective
commentary upon numerous passages of the Old Testament.
The most important geographical information in
Doughtv's work is that concerning the Wadi el-Hamdh
(running from Medina northwest and then west to the Red
Sea), which he and Burton to a certain extent discovered
anew, and that concerning the beginning and course of
1
Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Geselhchaft, vol. xlii.,
i 888, pp. 321—340.