'Routes in Arabia' [‎707] (738/852)

2il
707
Roui'ic No. 198— contd.
country is featureless and flat, with a few mounds at intervals
During winter season this portion of the desert is dotted with
shallow lakes of water, and it is not possible to move in a straight
line in any direction for more than three or four miles at a stretch.
These lakes are merely collections of rain water in depressions
of the ground, and do not generally exceed three feet m clept i.
There are no reeds or grass in these lakes and no cover of any
kind on or near them. During the winter, grass is very a mn-
dant but verv short, and in the hot season the water and grass
disappear, and the place becomes a burning desert of dust.
There is a certain amount of fertile land at Sanniyah which is the
property of the Sultan. This place is not marked on the map
and there is no mention of what the water-supply, etc., is. I he
distance of the march also is not given,_and so the total distance,
as measured on the map, between Abu Aru] and Baladruz,
namely, 32 miles, has been divided between the two stages.
3 BALADRUZ .. 16 m. General direction
north-easterly. lor the
46 m first 12 miles of this march
the country is exactly the same as before, but on nearing Balad
ruz it becomes lower and marshy. During or soon after ram
this country must be quite impassable. At two or three miles
from Baladruz a few irrigation channels are met with, but they
are not a serious obstacle even to carts. The mam canal from
the north, however, known as the Baladruz canal is about 8 feet
deep and about 20 feet wide, and when full is a complete obstacle
to all progress except at very few places where it is b"dged-
There are only three such places in the neighbourhood of Balad
ruz and one" bridge (about 4 miles north of Baladruz) only
consists of .two palm trees thrown across, with some dust and
mud spread over them. The other bridges are one of brick and
one of wood in the village of Baladruz itself. The brick bridge leads
into and is part of a farm belonging to a Constantinople Greek,
named Zarifi. This brick bridge is about ten feet wide and
strong enough for field artillery or ordinary carts. It leads
into the farmyard, from which there is a road with an exit to
right and left, on the opposite side of the bridge, the farm
houses and buildings are of brick and consist of four c ourtyard,
leading by narrow passages into one another. Baladruz is