Page 90 - A Hand Book of Arabia Vol 2_Neat

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WESTERN ROUTES (Nos. 17-39) 47

stuffs, beyond an occasional animal for slaughter, are unprocurable
en route ; and only in spring would there be any forage except for
camels. Fuel, however, of the scrub kind is fairly abundant.
Water, as has been said, is usually sufficient and sweet.

Of Route No. 26, from Mecca to Riyadh, which coincides with
the above for 300 miles, and again coincides with Route No. 15 in
the last stages, no more need be said except that it is the Wahabite
pilgrimage road and that its intermediate stages have been travelled
by°no European. They seem, however, to present no difficulties,
fairly large and well-supplied settlements occurring all along the
line through Woshm.

(iii) Linking Routes between Medina and Mecca

These ar^. pilgrimage roads ; they are four in number, and
known as the Darb es-Sultani, the Darb esh-Sharqi, the Wadi
el-Qura route, and the Tariq el-Ghabir. The two first are described
in detail in the following chapter. The Wadi el-Qura track is
a favourite with dromedary caravans ; on this road are two or
three small settlements and regular wells, and there is free passage
through the territory of the Beni ‘Amr, The Tariq el-Ghabir,
a mountain path, is avoided by the great caravans on account of
its rugged passes ; water is plentiful along the whole line, but
there is not a single village, and it is liable to raids by the Subh,
a Bedouin sub-tribe of the Harb. It should be remembered that
not infrequently all roads between Medina and Mecca are closed
by the action of the Harb tribe. ‘

Route No. 27 is the only one of the above routes protected at all
points by block-houses and supplied with road-side markets and
coffee-shops. It traverses rugged hill-country from Bir ‘Ali to
Hamra and beyond, but for the rest, it lies in the main in thin
sandy waste until Wadi Fatimah is reached.
Supplies. Only on this, of the four routes specified, can food-
"tuffs be obtained in any quantity and, even here, not in abundance,
the suqs of Hamra, Safrah, Rabugh, and Khalls being very small
'lucj poorly supplied. Honey is a special commodity of Safrah,
■mcl bananas, from the plantations of Wadi Ivhnwar, at Khalls!
p °m!7e is fairly plentiful in spring throughout the route, and fuel
[jUi be gathered from the bush-vegetation which is abundant
nter presents no difficulties.