Page 450 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

XXV.] NAKAB EL HAJAR. 411

mit of which we obtained an extensive but

dreary view of the surrounding country. Our
route lay along a broad valley, either side

being formed by the roots or skirts of a lofty

range of mountains. As these extend to the

northward they gradually approach each other,

and the valley there assumes the aspect of

a narrow defile. But on the other hand, the
space between our present station and the sea

widened, and was crossed by a barrier about

thirty miles broad, forming a waste of low

sandy hillocks. So loosely is the soil here

piled, that the Bedowins assure me that they

change their outline, and even shift their
position with the prevailing storms. How

such enormous masses of moving sand, some

of which are based on extensive tracts of in­

durated clay, could in their present situation

thus become heaped together, affords an ob­

ject of curious inquiry. They rise in sharp

ridges, and are all of a horse-shoe form, their
convex side to seaward. Our camels found

the utmost difficulty in crossing, and the

Bedowins were so distressed that we were

obliged to stop repeatedly for them. The

quantity of water they drank was enormous.