Page 186 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

IX.] GULF OF AKABAH. 167

any part of the coast which I have seen. In
this tract the Bedowins’ huts are numerous,
as well as large flocks of sheep and goats.
Their residence here is however merely
temporary, for, should the rains fail them—
an event occurring about once in four years
—they retreat from the low country to their
mountains. In this elevated range—and many
of the hills are six thousand feet in height—
they possess abundance of water and a never-

failing supply of herbage. Several of the
valleys, also, have extensive date-groves and
fields of dhurrah*, cultivated by slaves.
The Howeitat Bedowins occupy the coast
from Magnah to Jebel ’Antar, comprising
the mountainous tract which rises about ten
miles from the beach, extending as far as the
Syrian Hajj station of ’Akabah. Formerly
they were frequently engaged in expeditions

against distant tribes in Nejd, from whom,
protected by the unapproachable nature of
their fastnesses, they entertained no fear of
retaliation, and, as bold and expert warriors,
they were, before Mohammed ’All obtained
so great an ascendancy in Hejaz, much feared

* Sorghum vulgare.