The monarch or chief of Nedjed has subjected Hasa on the east, lower Kasim on the northwest, and the surrounding Bedouin tribes. The population of Nedjed and Hasa, including the Bedouin tribes, is computed at about 1,300,000. 8. Shomer, consisting of three mountain ranges running N. E. and S. W. nearly parallel to each other, Jebel Adja, Jebel Selma, and upper Ka-I sim. These, with lower Kasim, which belongs to the chief of the Wahabees, are separated from Nedjed by a strip of desert. Between these mountain ranges extend broad plains covered with grass and shrubbery, which afford excellent pasturage for cattle. Grain, dates, and other fruits are raised in the mountains, and water can be found almost everywhere by digging a few feet beneath the surface. Hayel, the capital, is a walled and fortified town of about 20,000 inhabitants, situated almost in the heart of the province. It has of late years distinguished itself by encouraging commerce, subduing the marauding Bedouin tribes around, and rendering travel more secure. Another wide expanse of sand lies between Shomer and Wady Jowf and Wady Serhan on the north, the former a fertile valley and the latter a barren sandy depression. Both are under | the jurisdiction of the prince of Shomer. Beyond this commences the Syro-Arabian desert.

West of Nedjed and Shomer is another expanse of desert that separates these two districts ' from Hedjaz and Yemen. The more habitable parts of the Syro-Arabian desert are occupied by various Bedouin tribes - the Beni Lam on the east, and the Howeitat, Sherarat, and the Edwan (once a very powerful tribe, but now greatly reduced in numbers) on the west. Von Hammer adds to these two other divisions: Esh-Shehr, or Mahra, E. of Hadramaut proper, a dreary region, but containing some well cul-tivated and well inhabited districts, and occupied by a people whose language differs mate-rially from the modern Arabic; and El-Yamamah, the S. E. portion of Nedjed, bordering on El-Hadjar, Oman, and the great desert. The latter has been designated above as the district of Katar and Menasir, famous for its pearl fisheries. - The S. and S. E. portions of Arabia consist of an immense waste of sandy desert, the Dahna or Robat el-Kholy, "the abode of emptiness."which covers about one third of the entire peninsula. The sands, generally of a reddish color and thrown up into mounds by the winds, present to the eye the appearance of a fiery sea suddenly solidified.

There is a very strong resemblance, in almost every particular, between the Arabian desert and the African desert of Sahara. Ophthalmia is common in Arabia, owing probably to the irritation produced upon the eye by the glare of the sand, and its almost constant presence in the atmosphere. A species of leprosy known as Arabian elephantiasis is also prevalent, and is attributed to the bad quality of food and water. The plague has occasionally visited the coast, but never penetrated into the interior. A remarkable phenomenon in the central portions of Arabia, especially those bearing evidence of volcanic action, is the sand gulfs described by Baron von Wrede. These are large pits filled to the brim with a whitish impalpable powder. Von Wrede cast into one of them a sea lead, which sank so rapidly that he was obliged to let go the line, which, though of considerable length, instantly disappeared. - Palgrave is of opinion that the watershed of central Arabia bears from N. N. W. to S. S. E. between Ion. 45° and 46° E. and lat. 29° and 24° N. Its greatest altitude is behind Jelajel in the province of Sedeyr in Nedjed, whence it gradually declines till lost in the southern desert.

On each side of this ridge to the-south also Arabia slopes coastward to the Persian gulf, Indian ocean, and Red sea, though with some local interruptions. The Sinaitic peninsula is traversed by spurs from the Lebanon range. Mt. Seir and Tur Sinah (supposed to be Mt. Sinai) are its principal summits. Of the many islands which border the coast, the Bahrein isles in the Persian gulf and Socotra in the Indian ocean are the only important ones. Arabia has no considerable river. Its streams, taking their rise in the mountains, lose themselves for the most part in the sands, or form deep ravines called by the natives wadys; they reach the sea only when swollen by the rains. The Sehan and the Kebir flow into the Red sea; the Meitan and the Moseira into the Indian ocean. Several of these are said by recent geographers to pursue a subterraneous course, for which the dense clay which underlies the sand, and the cavernous limestone, afford facilities, and to discharge into the sea at some distance from the shore. A recent German traveller relates that at certain points near the coast the sailors would spring overboard with their goat skins, and diving down would bring up fresh water from springs below the surface of the sea. In many parts little or no rain falls throughout the year.

On the W. coast rains are periodical, occurring from June till September. On the S. and E. coasts, on the contrary, they occur during the winter months. - In the desert the thermometer is generally above 100° F. during the night, 108° in the morning, and in the course of the day it rises to 110° and sometimes higher. The climate of Mecca is sultry and unwholesome; at Medina it is much colder in winter and hotter in summer. At Mocha it averages from 90° to 95° in July; in Muscat from 92° to 102o during the day. In Petraea the diversity is much greater, the maximum in the upper regions being 75° in May, and in the lower country, particularly on the seashore, 102° to 105°, and sometimes 110°. In the desert, near the Euphrates, Griffith observed that it rose to 132° under his tent and to 156° when exposed to the sun's rays. - The mountains consist of porphyry, jasper, quartz, sandstone, alabaster, basalt, marble, and limestone. The minerals are blue alabaster, agates, carnelians, tourmalines, the emerald, the onyx, gypsum, saltpetre, sulphur, naphtha, asphaltum, iron, lead, and copper. Gold was formerly obtained in Yemen, but the supply has long been exhausted.