According to Burckhardt, there is not a single new precept in the Wahabi code. The only difference between the sect and the orthodox Turks (improperly so termed) is, " that the 1Valiabis rigidly follow the same laws which the others neglect, or have ceased altogether to observe. To describe, therefore, the 1Valiabi religion, would be to recapit ulate the Mussulman faith; and to show in what points their sect differs from the Turks, would be to give a list of all the abuses of which the latter are guilty." One peculiarity of the Wahabis is their zeal against gaudy dress—silk and gold ornaments—and tobacco. In their wars of conversion, " No smoking" has been a kind of battle-cry. The recent traveler, Palgrave, who came into more intimate contact with the Wahabis than Burek hardt, has a much less favorable opinion both of their doctrines and their practice. He describes their empire as "a compact and well-organized government, when' eeatraliza tion is fully understood, awl effectually carried out, and whose mainsprings and con necting links are force and fanaticism. It is capable of frontier extension, and hence is dangerous to its neighbors, some of Whom it is even now swallowing up. Incapable of true internal progress, hostile to commerce, unfavorable to arts and even to agriculture, and in the highest degree intolerant and aggressive, it can neither better itself nor benefit others; while the order and calm which it sometimes spreads over the lands of its conquest are described iu the oft-cited Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant of the Roman annalist. We may add, that its weakest point lies in family rivalries and feuds of suc cession, which, joined to the anti-Wahabian reaction existing far and wide throughout Arabia, may one day disintegrate and shatter the Nejedean empire, yet not destroy it altogether. But so long as Wahabiisni shall prevail in the center and uplands of Arabia, small, indeed, are the hopes of civilization, advancement, and national prosperity for the Arab race." Col. Pelly characterizes the Wahabis as " Warlike Mohammedan Quakers." Of late years the tenets of these puritans have taken root among the ?1ussulman population of India, and caused very considerable uneasiness.
The following statistical table of the Wahabian empire was drawn up by Palgrave, mostly from the official registers at Riad: The Bedouin pdpulations within the territories number upward of 70,000. A. good many of the towns are large,_ and populous to a degree that the current notions of central Arabia would hardly lead us to look for. The following are those of which Pal
grave estimates the population: Eyun, 10,000; Bereydah, 25,000; Oneyzah, 30,000; Tow eym, 12,000-15,000; Horeymelah, 10,000; Mejmaa, 10,000-12,000; Riad, the capital (which col. Pelley has ascertained to be in let. 24° 38' 34", long. 46° 41' 48"), has prob ably about 40,000; Kharfah, 8,000; Hofhuf (Al-Hufhuf), 24,000. Katif (Kliutif) is the most direct port of the Wahabiau dominions; and the province of Hasa in which it is situated is the richest.
To the n. of Nejed and its dependencies lies a kingdom formerly ruled over by a half-hearted ally of Feysul's, Telal, the chief of Djebel Shomer, and consisting of five provinces—Djebel Djowf, Kheybar, Upper Kasim, Teymar—with a settled, pop. of 274,000, and 166,000 Bedouins. Havel, the capital, has a pop. of 22,000. Thig, part of Arabia was overrun and converted during the first outbreak of Wahabi propa gandism; but the conversion was only seeming, and during the interference of Egypt in Arabian matters the country regained a kind of independency. Since the death of Telal, Ottoman interference has been attempted. The great majority of the people are averse to Wahabiism. Still, the Wahabis have numerous partisans and missionaries and spies in all the towns, and their influence is hated and feared by prince and people. Even Oman, where the new Islam is said to be still more distasteful, has been brought in some degree under the political sway of the Wahabis, and pays a small tribute.
Karsten Niebuhr (q.v.) is the first European writer who mentions the Wahabis; Burckhardt, Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabts (1830), gives a sketch of the Waliabi doc trines and of their hislory down to 1815; sir Harford Jones Brydges, for many years resident at Bagdad, to his Account of the Transactions of his Majesty's ..11i'ssion to the Court of Persia, appends a "Brief History of the Wahauby; Menein, Histoire de l'Egypt sous is Couvernement de Mohammed Alt; Corancez, Histoire des Wahabis, with maps. The most recent authorities on the subject are W. G. Palgrave's Narrative of a Year's Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia, 1862-63 (Macmillan & Co., 1865); and " A Visit to the Wahabee Capital," by lieut.col. L. Pelley, H.3I. political resident, Persian gulf, in Geog. Soc. Journal, 1865.
WARKIAK'Ull, a co. in s.w. Washington territory, having the Columbia river for Its s. boundary; 255 sq.m.; pop. '80, 1,600-702 of American birth, 616 colored. Co. seat, Cathlamet.