Page 196 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 6 -10

r DISTRICTS 275

and 1G miles SW. of Izki, the centre of a highly cultivated oasis
about 3 miles in diameter ; elevation (according to Miles) 1,350 ft. ;
total population about 4,500. The town is rather scattered, the
four principal quarters being Dildd in the centre, containing about
300 houses ; Flqain to the NE., with some 200 houses of the Al Bu
SaTd; Ma'mad to the S., with 250 houses; and Ma'ra to the E.
with 140 houses of the Beni Riyam. The houses are of mud and
stone, some of them with upper storeys. Bilad, the largest and
central quarter, contains the principal fort and two square watch-
towers, one of which, known as Minarah, is 170 ft. high. There is
a second fort in the Flqain quarter, the residence of a Vali, main­
tained by the Sultan of Oman, with a garrison of 15 men. There
are considerable date-groves and cultivation, irrigated from hot
springs.
12. Adam, an isolated town and oasis, 25 miles SSW. of Manah,
on the edge of the Ruba‘ el-Khali; elevation, 850 ft. ; population
about 3,000, mainly of the Moharlq and Al Bu SaTd tribes. The
town is divided into eight quarters, and is defended by a huge
fortress garrisoned by the Moharlq. Three aqueducts provide
a copious supply of water from hot springs. Adam is the most
advanced town in Oman towards the desert, and forms a con­
venient market for the Bedouins.

VIII. Sharqiyah

The inland district to the E. of Oman Proper, bounded on the
N. by the foot-hills of Eastern Hajar and merging on the S. into
the Great Desert; at its SE. corner it meets the district of Ja'alan,
which some authorities would regard as part of it. Sharqiyah con­
sists of four tracts, or divisions, which run from NW. to SE. in the
following order : Baldan el-Habus, Baldan el-Masakirah, Baldan
el-Hirth, and Badiyah. The last-named division is an open sandy
plain, the others consisting of a network of small valleys adjoining
the Hajar hills. The district is traversed by a line of drainage,
known in its upper course as the Wadi Ibra and in its lower as the
Wadi el-Ha’imah; this is followed and described in Route No. 70,
vol. ii, pp. 313 ff.
The following are the principal villages in order from NW. to SE. :

1. Samad, town and oasis on left bank of the Wadi Samad in the
Baldan el-Habus division ; population about 2,500. The Habus
and Jahadhim are the most numerous of the tribal elements repre-
sented in the town.
2. Mudheibi, the second largest town of Sharqiyah, situated in
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