Respecting the boundaries of all these provinces, much embarrassment has
arisen from contradictory statements made by several of the most eminent
Oriental geographers; Edrisi, Abulfeda, Al Madaieni, Ibn Haukal, Ibn el
Vardi, Bakoui, and others. Mr. Rommel, a very ingenious commentator on
Abulfedas Arabia, is frequently obliged to acknowledge the difficulty
of ascertaining where one division begins and another terminates. With
regard, more particularly, to the boundaries of Hedjaz, Abulfeda is
silent; but it appears that his opinion, so far as Mr. Rommel could
collect from incidental accounts of places assigned to this province and
adjoining territories, did not in all respects coincide with the
statements of other celebrated geographers. [See Christophori Rommel
Abulfedea Arabiae Descriptio, commentario perpetuo illustrata,
Gottingae, 1802, 4to. Ambitum et fines hujus provinciae Abulfeda
designare supersedet.--Al Madaieni haec profert: Hhegiaz est provincia
complectens illum tractum montium qui inde ab Yaman expansus usque ad
Sham (Syriam) protenditur. In eo tractu sitae sunt Madinah et Amman--
Cum hoc dissidere Abulfedam non dubium est.--Ibn al Arabi: Quod est
inter Tehamah et Nagd illud est Hhegiaz.--Fusius Ibn Haukal: Quod
protenditur a limite Serrain urbis sitae ad mare Kolzum adusque viciniam
Madian, et inde reflectendo per limitem tendentem in ortum urbis Hhegr,
ad montem Tai trunseundo juxta tergum Yamamah ad mare Persicum, hoc
totum ad Hhegiaz pertinet. Et alio loco: Hhegiaz ea est provincia,
quae Maccah et Madinah et Yamamah cum earundem territoriis
comprehendit.--Ibn al Vardi Hhegiaz appellat provinciam secus Sinum
Arabicum et a regione Habyssiniae sitam--Bakui eam inter Yaman et
Syriam posuisse satis habet, simul longitudinem ejus mensis itinere
emetiens.--(pp. 57-68.)]