Page 380 - A Hand Book of Arabia Vol 2_Neat

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192 WESTERN ROUTES

miles.
total, stages.
Dir. NE. in a winding valley.
80 14 Wadi Medeiq, a wide valley in the mountains, the outlet
of Wadi Jedeidah ; it forms a good camping-
ground. A fine spring of water issues from a
cleft, described by Burckhardt as ‘ the best water
he had drunk since leaving Ta’if’. There are
some fields of dhurra.

The route then crosses successively the Ndziyali
plain and the Sha‘b el-Hdl, the latter a depression
between mountains in which there are many
Bedouin encampments.
15 m. Wadi Shuhada is entered. The wadi is
straight and broad, and its bed is covered with
white sand ; it contains no permanent water,
but is subject to violent flood after rain.
Dir. bears gradually NNE. along Wadi Shuhada ; the
track makes a slight ascent.
10 m. Mahallat esh-Shuhada is passed ; rude heaps
of stones in different parts of the valley mark
the tombs of * the Martyrs ’ ; see above,
p. 189 (m. 102i of Burton’s route).
107 27 Head of Wadi Shuhada ; camping-place.
Dir. ENE., across the rocky Fereish plain. The road
then enters mountainous country, ascends rocky
valleys encumbered with thorny trees, and crosses
several torrent courses.
18 m. Silsilah plain is entered ; the ground is
rocky, or covered by black and brown flints.
4 m. The route descends into Wadi 'Aqiq. a narrow
torrent bed liable to rapid flood, which it
descends.
2 m. Madrajah. a small ruined village on the E.
bank of Wacli ‘Aqiq, with a small birkah and
ruined well near it. Here there is a short,
steep, paved ascent, hemmed in by rocks,
out of the wadi.
The track thence crosses rocky ground. [According
to Route No. 27 (see above, p. 165), the track
passes some distance W. of Bir ‘Ali.]
134 27 MEDINA, town ; see I, p. 116 f. [The above description
of the route from fSafrah to Medina should bo