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[-Tihama-]{+Dr. Wallin’s Route in Northern Arabia.
17
Tihama+} (Tiliamali), and lliat wliere tlie shrub called Gliada grows
is Negd (Ncjd).” These two assertions, the correctness of which,
with a very few exceptions, my own observation of the country, so
far its it extended, confirmed, would, in respect of topographical
features and vegetation, identify the Sahil or coast land with
al-Higaz (Hijaz) and al-Taharml, in contradistinction to Negd.*
* Telidma’n el Tiliamam.-—Hmo Arabise regio ab occasu Mare ltubrum speettit;
parti Inis eseteris regioncs Hegiaz et Yemen: ii Mecca usque Aden excurrens.
Taham autem rnstus vchementia dicitur, unde rcgioni huic nomen: quia parte
potion* depressior solis fervori patch Dicuntur etinm loca qutedam esse/// Ncgdi uw
tihamdti-l-IIigaz dw al-Yaman, in Negd vet Tehama regionum Higiaz vet Yemen:
sive generali eorundem vocum usu, hoe est, altiore vel humiliore parte: sive quftd
Tihama etNegd parte qufulam aliis regionibus inseruntur.—Golii, notm in
Aifra-gano, p. 95.
[Tehama and Tihama.—This region of Arabia on the west faces the Red Sea;
on its remaining sides the regions of lligftz and Yaman ; and extends from Mekka
•as far as ’Aden; Tdham, however, signifies intense heat, whence this region has
its name; since for the greater part lying low it is exposed to the burning beat of
the sun. It is also said of certain places that they are fy Ncydi aw
Tihdmati-l-lligazi dw al-Yaman , in the Negd nr in the Tihama of ul-Higdz or (in the Negd
or in the Tihama) if al- Yaman ; whether it be from the general use of the same
words (Negd and Tehftmd), that is, in the higher or in the lower part (of al Higuz
or of al-Yaman) ; or because Tihama and Negd to a certain extent are placed
within other regions.]
Niebuhr says, speaking of the ArtJhu-l-Yaman :■—“ This country is surrounded
by the Arabian Gulf, by al-Hadramawt, by al-Negd, and by al-Higiiz. That part
of it which is contiguous to the gulf, and which extends from al-Bdbu-l-mandab
northwards as far as Mali, is low, and is called Tehumit. The other part is
considerably elevated above the levei of the sea, and is called by the Arabs Gihul, that is
to say, mountainous.”—Description de 1’Arable, p. Kill.
And of al-Hig&z: this province is bounded on the east by al-Negd. on the north
bg the Arabian Gulf and by the desert of Syria, on the west by the Arabian Gulf,
and on the south by al-Yaman, p. 202 : and at p. 324, that the town of Hali on the
common boundary of Higilz ami Yaman is mentioned as in that position by
Abu-1-Feidft (eircil 1330 A.D.j.
Thus Niebuhr asserts the low tract of al-Yaman adjacent to the sea to he called
Telnima ; Golius, the corresponding part of al-IIigaz ; and Dr. Wallin, the low
district from the northern boundary of nl lligfiz as far as the head of the gulf’of
’Akalia: it is also shown that Tihfunfi in its generic sense means low land as
opposed to high land : the word, therefore, is applicable to the whole extent of the
iow part of Arabia bordering the Red Sea, and beyond that Sea, on the S.E. coast
of Yemen, bordering the gulf of’Adan; at the same time it has. from usage, a more
specific and restricted signification in the sense of the low part of each of the
provinces into which Arabia is divided along the shore of the seas mentioned.
As-Sfiliil merely denotes proximity to the sea—the sea shore, and therefore may or
may not by usage be applicable to the whole breadth of laud designated as Tihfuna ;
hut the latter must, as is indeed evident from the provinces of al-IIegaz and
al-Yaman being said to extend to the sea, include the former.
With respect to the forms of T&h&md and TihftmS, from the root tahamn, their
grammatical significations coalesce, and they both mean “ the lying low and hot.”
Dr. Wallin has suggested that Tilhllma may be the old word Tnhmd varied by the
modern pronunciation only. For he says that where formerly a guttural was
gezmated, the modern Arabs lighten the suspension of the voice due to gezm,
and pronounce the guttural letter as if it were affected by a fatlia.
As the notes by Golius on al-Yaman, al-Iligftz, and al-Negd, in the hook cited,
will tend to the clearer understanding of wh it has been just stated, and the book
is rather scarce, they are subjoined:—
“ ( Ardhu-l-Yaman)—Ilcgionem Yemen. Arabia, stride sumptn, dividitnr ah
ipsii geutc in regioncs quinque (al-Yaman, al-Higuz, al-Tihamu, al-Negd, et al-
C
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