Page 398 - A Hand Book of Arabia Vol 2_Neat

I

ROUTE 37 : JIDDAH—MECCA 201

miles.
total, stages.
distant; Jebel Shemeisah is near, where
marble was formerly quarried.
The road now follows a broad valley, with deep
sand and thorny trees.
61 m. Qahxoah Salim, coffee-shop and well.
The valley becomes straight and narrow, and is
crossed by several transverse wadis.
Si m. Hajaliyah (or Hajeiliyah), coffee-hut, near
a large well, at which camels are watered.
Not far off are the ruins of an ancient village
of stone-built houses, and in the wadi are
traces of former cultivation.
2 m. A small walled date-plantation.
The road forks here, one branch continuing about
E., the other turning S. and entering Mecca by
the Bab el-‘Omrah after about 3 m. Follow the
eastern branch.
1 m. Plain of Sheikh Mahmud (so called from a tomb
of a saint of that name), about 3 m. long by
1 m. broad, surrounded by hills ; camping-
place of the Syrian Hajj. This plain is
separated from the valley of Mecca by a
narrow chain of hills which the road crosses
by a cutting through rocks. At the summit
there is a watch-tower on each side of the
road. Descend by a paved road and enter
Mecca by the Bab el-Malla.
55 27 MECCA, town ; see I, pp. 123 ff.

?• Stations on the Route, according to War Office Report

JIDDAH, town; see I, p. 122 f. The intermediate
stages to Haddah are: 2 m., Sebil; 31 m.,
Watayah ; 2 m., Raghamah ; 31 m., Markh ;
1 m.. Jaradah ; 1 m., Fereyah (Fera'inah) ; 21 m..
Zalabdniyah ; 21 m., Judeidah ; 2 m., Kanafani ;
3 m., Bahrah ; 41 m., Hamra (Bir Abu Qurun) ;
9 11 m., to Haddah.
- J 29 Haddah, with a small running stream and a large natural
reservoir for storing rain-water ; date-plantations
and fields of barley and vegetables; see also p. 200