Page 346 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 6 -10

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350 NEJD
5
jectunil. It mav bo assumed that the eastward slope from the
:
plateau is verv gradual and long, and that the rich grazing districts
of Hariq and Kharj both lie on this slope, one below the other, till it
melts imperceptibly into plain and is bounded by the southern con­
tinuation of Wadi Haiufah. Partly on the plateau itself and partly
below its westward scarp lies a third not unfertile district, Aflaj,
fed by its inland drainage. To the south and south-westward of
the latter lie two more districts, Saleyyil and Dawasir, but how
.*••• related to Jebel Toweiq we do not know. It is certain, however,
<• that
V that they are fed by a wholly different system of drainag
winch, starting in the highlands of SW. Arabia, flows inland ancl
probably is absorbed midway across the peninsula.
The whole region is only intermittently fertile,andall its settlements
have an oasis character ; but, internally, it contains no formidable
desert, though much steppe. Ahqaf and harrah do not occur in it
at all. No part is rich, as the present Emir of Riyadh has borne
witness, in pleading more than once that his inland dominions contain
no district so productive as Hasa (q.v.).

B. Climate
1
i The region is comparatively temperate, except, according to
c
report, in its extreme southern districts. Hariq in particular is
reported exceedingly hot, and all heard of Dawasir, coupled with
the dark coloration of the Dosiri, leads us to suppose it no cooler.
In Riyadh, Palgrave sa}'S a fire is welcome on winter nights, but his
testimony and that of others suggest that sharp cold is not known
there. On the Toweiq plateau it is different, and Qaslm has a keen
I
desert air, which would render all except its summer nights very
I
chill, were it not for its comparatively low elevation (under
■r 2,000 feet). It can be unpleasantly cold in spring, oven in the
i daytime.
i
Rainfall is, throughout, very scanty, the precipitation which the
northern Nefud enjoys rarely extending south of Jebel Shaimnar,
and the rains of the Gulf littoral, which delayed Shakespear in the
I
Koweit district in late winter 1914, not passing Jebel Toweiq
Most of the rain which does fall in South Nejd is during summer
storms. The prevailing winds are westerly, except in the extreme
north of the district, where they are deflected to southerly as shown
by the altered direction of the sand-waves in the Nefud north of the
lower course of Wadi Rummah.

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