Page 260 - A Hand Book of Arabia Vol 2_Neat

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ROUTE 17: MA'AN—MEDINA 133

Disfc. km. Alt.
Inter- Station.
Total. ft.
mcd.
After 'Qaratfel-Mu'adhclham
the line enters very bare broken
country, the foothills of Jebel
‘Aweridh. Vegetation in Wadis
i
Saba, ‘Ashlyah, and Ghumar,
but no water.
<
394-00 25-00 3,233 Khishm ez- Loop-sicling and blockhouse
Zanah (or Sana) on W. side of line in a valley
between steep slopes ; no water.
After this, a small wood of
tamarisks, &c. ; thence up
Wadi Ghumar by an easy gra­
dient. Very broken, tumbled
hills of worn sandstone with
basalt and lava outflows in
places.
421-00 27-00 3,585 Bar el-Hamra Stone station building, loop-
(Dhahr el- holed on usual pattern, on E.
Hamra) side of line ; 1 loop-siding ; no
water.
4 km. W. of the station is a
ruined qaVah on the pilgrim
road. Well, usually dry; cistern
(capacity 18,000 cubic metres),
filled by flood water, is often
dry, and the water at other
times is generally bad.
Thence through very broken
• •.
• •• red sandstone country past
r- Riqat es-Sa‘id Pasha, and over
a watershed (3,752 ft.), to
445-00 24-00 3,743 Ma tali Blockhouse on E. side of line
and loop-siding ; no water.
Line crosses a pass through
Shiiq el-‘Ajuz. Very broken
country. Thence by gradients
of 14°/00 down to Wadi Abu
Taqah. In spite of the em­
bankment trains are here often
stopped or derailed by the sand.

v... •
•*.