Page 420 - A Hand Book of Arabia Vol 2_Neat

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212 WESTERN ROUTES

miles.
total, stages.
2,500 (?); extensive date-plantations, from which
dates are exported to Jiddah or Qunfudah ;
good breeds of camels and horses. There are
numerous small gardens producing chiefly wheat,
barley, and melons. The rain suffices for the
cultivation, but water is also raised by the
•saqlyah ; the climate is reputed to be very hot.
Dir. continues S. by E., through date-plantations for
2 hrs. There are sentinel towers along the
route which is here lined with cypress trees. The
road then crosses sterile ground, winds among
clumps of cypress, enters a sandy water-course,
winds again among wooded ground, enters a
plain full of cypress, crosses hills dotted with
black stones, and finally traverses a waste of
sterile sand.
108 11 BIshah : for description, see I, p. 142.
It should be added that Burckhardt gives the
following stages and times between Ta’if and
BIshah : 4 hrs. to Liyah ; 2 hrs., Bisal (Bessel) ;
7 hrs., Kulalch; 18 hrs., Turabah; 2 days,
Ranyah ; 3 or 4 days, BIshah.