Page 215 - Records of Bahrain (2)(ii)_Neat

Topography and archaeology, 1878-1879 541

19. Water.—I lmvo already noticed the springs that burst out fresh in (lie
seas around Bahrain. . Forster mentions that the Arabs consider these as well
as others on Iho mainland to have their source in an under-ground river still
running from tho Euphrates, as ho puts it, this is most clearly the Flinnenper
quod Eupliratcm emcrgercjptdant, mentioned in this quarter by Pliny. (It is
not an uncommon thing in Persia to see wells sunk apparently in hopeless
ground, and to find that they tap a small stream running under-ground.)
20. Tho principal springs aro the Gassari on the road from Manamch to the
Bilad-i-Kadim, the Umm-i-Slmoom, a mile to the eastward o£ Manamch, the
Abu Geidan, in tho Bilad-i-lCadim, and tho Adari, which last supplies many
miles of date-groves through a canal of ancient workmanship (whose stone in
I l,„d .o.„o pearl direr, will, no rvl.o S0m0. PlaCC!| falIiu8 »")/ith ‘1 Ported river of fast
went down nnd walked nbout on tiio running water some 10 feet broad by two iu depth.
nbout n fooUjigliC.n l00kcd Hk0 pl8lDiC3 Tho spring itself is somo 30 to 35 feet deep, and
risos so strongly that a diver is forced upwards on
nearing tho bottom. I do not mean that you cannot reach it, but merely that
tho force of the water is felt against you.
21. Tho water whoro it rises in this deep spring, whoso basin artificially
banked is somo 22 yards across by 40 long, is as clear as crystal with a slightly
green tint and very‘beautiful. It holds a shoal or two of large fish and many
water tortoises. It is not perfectly awoot, and tin's nppliou to nearly all tho wells,
tho drinking water forcounoisscurs being brought on camels from the wells of tho
• Names of two villages a miio or *Uinn.1 Koofih and *Hanami, said to be 20 fa thoms
so ajmrt on tiio lop of tho cirdo of deep, iu the hills of ltifaa. The water is conducted
cHlTa.
from these various wells by ordinary unbanked
cbanuels, the larger of which liavo now coiuo to look like natural streams.
AVhcrfc it is necessary to raise it this is done from wells by the ordinary skin
bucket let down over a pulley and walked up to the cistern level by cattle pull­
ing down an incline; from channels generally
t Something like tliis.
by leverage of a datef trunk lightly swung by
ropes to a frame, and balauccd at one end by
a basket of earth into which it is inserted, so
that little exertion is required to lift \ip the
water.
22. Tho Jcbcl Dukhan, as I said above,
seems to be of a sort of limestone. I found some
fossil shells upon it. Tho surrounding cliffs
were, whoro I saw them, I think of sandstone ;
but they aro generally limestone, and this
stone was enormously quarried from here, I
lako it, to build tho dead-houses under the
tumuli.
23. On nearing the coast, white dusty
ground, the cerecloth of dead races and habita­
tions, intrudes everywhere as if to enforce atten-
X 1 append a sketch of ono group » ai^ mjohty
of these, probably tbo largest on tho niOlinuSf bare Ol
island. vegetation tower
abovo tho palm grovc9. Tho map gives a very
slight idea of this most noticeable feature.
Mass upon mass, mound upon mound, they
strotch on in cudlcss chains all round tho slope
that falls from the cliffs to tho sea, clinging moro particularly perhaps to the
higher ground, but found in separato clusters near tbc coast itself.
24. Tho parent group is perhaps that at Ali, a modern villago, but othor
largo ones aro to bo fouud at many places, noticeably
See Map.
tboso iu tho Bilad-i-ICadim. Tho rod ones on tho
loft of tbo high road to ltifaa, and tho chain of five or six large ones facing the
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