Page 348 - A Hand Book of Arabia Vol 2_Neat

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17(3 WESTERN ROUTES

miles.
total, stages.
Dir. SW. The route throughout the stage from
Sherlfah is described as ‘ unusually winding
40 24 Madiul (or Mahattal) el-Ghumb, on the confines of Nejd ;
wells in a desolate rocky plain among irregular
masses of hills.
Dir. SSE. across the rocky plain.
8 m. Enter a basin 6 m. broad, surrounded bv
low hills and overgrown with camel-grass
and acacia trees ; the ground is pitted with
dry mud-pools.
2 m. Cross a rugged ridge covered with detached
blocks of basalt, among which grow thorny
trees ; difficult and painful going over
sharp rocks. The route then enters another
basin of gravel and clay with outcrop of
basalt.
7im. Enter hard broken ground, where the road
is flanked 1. by a wall of black basalt.
3 m. The route traverses another ridge, similar to
the last, into a wooded basin.
1 i m. A deep wadi is crossed.
2 m. Enter Wadi KJuinaq.
71 25 Hijriyah (or Hajarlyah), camping - place on a small
plain in Wadi Ivhanaq ; see above, p. 173
(m. 103 of Route A). Bir Hdrun wells lie
higher up the wadi.
Dir. S. by W., by a bad footpath out of Wadi Khanaq ;
then across a black stony plain.
3i m. The route ascends a sandy wadi overgrown f
with acacias, senna plants, dom palms, and
other trees.
16 m. Descend a long steep hill, and enter a nitrous
depression, 12 m. broad, where the track is
level.
90 28 Buweirqlyah, a village of 100 mud houses built at the
foot and on the side of a basaltic ridge ; a rude
fort on the summit consists merely of a parapet
of uncut stone ; the lower part of the town is
5 protected by a mud wall with semicircular
towers ; there is a small suq, which is well
supplied with meat : wheat, barley and date."

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