# The Northern Ḥeǧâz/Preface

PREFACE
In 1896, at the request of Dr. Fr. Ladislav Rieger, the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts made me a grant for the purpose of carrying out explorations in Arabia Petraea. In 1908, after the fruits of these explorations had been published, the Academy, as a result of the intercession of its founder and first president, Mr. Joseph Hlávka, made me a new grant which provided funds for my investigations in Arabia proper. Therefore it is with a profound sense of obligation that I dedicate the first part of this new scientific work to the Academy which has done so much to make it possible.
To Dr. J. K. Wright the author owes a debt of gratitude for his services as editor of this volume.
The skeleton of the accompanying map of the Northern Ḥeǧâz was based on my detailed itinerary, determinations of latitude, and extensive plane-table surveys. The Ḥeǧâz Railway was drawn according to the sketch lent to me by the Board of the Railway at Damascus; the Red Sea coast according to the British Admiralty chart. In filling in the parts not previously investigated I have made use of many sketches obtained from the natives. The northwestern part of the map I have compared and checked with the map in Sir Richard F. Burton’s The Land of Midian, 2 vols., London, 1879. To ascertain the elevations we took readings of three aneroid barometers examined before and after the trip at the Military Geographical Institute at Vienna. The Directorate of this Institute has determined the heights above sea level by comparing our observations with those taken simultaneously at the stations at Jerusalem and Beirut.
To the spelling of the proper names I have given great attention, since names correctly spelled may form the basis of historical investigation. In transliterating Arabic sounds I have used the same signs as in my Arabia Petraea and Ḳuṣejr ‛Amra. I have endeavored to express every sound by a single letter or a single symbal. The meaning of the different symbols will be found by experts below the title of the map of the Northern Ḥeǧâz. For the general reader I would point ​out that ǧ is to be read like g in gem, š like sh, ž like z in azure, č like ch in chief, j like y in yoke. ʻ is a strong guttural sound. The remaining symbols need not trouble him.
Throughout this work most of the Biblical names have been transliterated consistently with the scheme of transliteration employed for Arabic names. The forms, hence, are often somewhat different from those found in the King James version, but the latter may readily be ascertained by reference to the Bible itself. When the transliterated form of familiar Biblical names differs very widely from that of the King James version the latter is in some cases indicated in parentheses.
References to the Bible are to Rudolf Kittel’s second edition of the Hebrew text, Leipzig, 1913. The reader will observe that occasionally these references are at variance with the text of the King James version. These variations are due to the fact that my interpretations of the meaning of the original Hebrew sometimes diverge from that of the translators of the King James version.
Bibliographical references in the footnotes are given in abbreviated form. The full references, with the dates of Arabic and ancient authors, will be found in the Bibliography, pp. 335—340.
The meaning of the majority of Arabic terms used in the text will be evident from the context. The following terms, however, are frequently employed without explanation:
šeʻîb (plural, šeʻibân): relatively small watercourse or valley occupied by an intermittent stream.
wâdi (plural, wudijân): relatively large watercourse or valley occupied by an intermittent stream.
wâli: governor of a Turkish vilayet or province (Arab. wilâje).
mutaṣarref: governor of a Turkish sanjak (Arab. mutaṣarrefijje or liwa’, subdivision of a vilayet).
ḳâjmaḳâm: governor of a Turkish kaza (Arab. ḳaḍa, subdivision of a sanjak).
mudîr: governor of a Turkish nahiyeh (Arab. mudîrijje or nâḥije, subdivision of a kaza).
ḳâḍi: judge, magistrate.
Arabic botanical terms which appear in the text are listed in the index with brief characterization and Latin equivalents as far as they have been determined.
A sketch map showing the author’s route and indicating the pages in this volume in which the different portions of his itinerary are discussed accompanies the volume.