Page 163 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

144 SURVEY OF THE [ch.

have with great labour been excavated from
the rock. These must of course have de­
pended on the rains for their supply.
On the isthmus which connects the hillocks
there are two rows of small square buildings,
having a lagoon extending to them, which,
though now choked up with sand, appears to
have formerly answered as a harbour.
Bedowin tradition ascribes these works to

Saladhin ; but there is reason to believe the
station from the very earliest period must
have been of great importance; for, unless,
as in some parts of the Mediterranean,
they had artificial harbours at the time this
line of communication was adopted, there is
no other spot where the bark of the merchant
could have found shelter. Should war or pes­
tilence ever intercept the intercourse through
Egypt, it may again be necessary to adopt
this, the oldest, but now almost forgotten,

route; in which case, Jezirat Pharoun would
be invaluable as a coal depot*.
From the summit of the island the prospect

* A Roman road formerly extended from 'Akabah to Ghaza,
and the direct distance between the two seas is only one hundred
and twenty miles.