'Arabia. Handbooks prepared under the direction of the Historical Section of the Foreign Office - no 90' [‎5] (20/148)

Arabia]
RIVER SYSTEM
o
the A\ adi Hadhramaut, the hills still fall abruptly
towards the coast, but further east still they are lower,
the fertile wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. -mouths are less frequent, and, as Ras
el-Hadd is approached, the desert reigns unbroken.
Along this southern coast there are no^ good harbours
except that of Aden. The coastal strip varies in width,
and is usually an arid waste of plain and low sand
hills. The Kuria Muria islands, twenty-five miles off
the south-east coast of Oman, are a British possession.
The most fertile stretch of the Arabian coast, the
Bafcina district of Oman, lies between Ras el-Hadd
and the mouth of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . The harbour of
Muscat admits the largest vessels to an almost land
locked shelter, and there are other smaller but secure
ports. From Ras Musandim to Katif the shore is low,
•but occasionally palm-fringed and cultivated, while
from Katif to the mouth of the Shatt el-Arab there is
an almost continuous stretch of steppe-desert. The
important pearl-islands of Bahrein, which support a
population of over 100,000, lie between Katif and the
peninsula of El-Katr (Gattar). At the north-west of
the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. is the excellent harbour of Koweit,
a place which furnishes the best ships and is the native
place of the best sailors of these seas. Numerous shoals
and reefs render the navigation of the Gulf itself
difficult and dangerous.
River System
There are no rivers in Arabia which flow perenni
ally from source to mouth. There are, however,
numerous wadis, or river beds, which carry the floods
(seils) after rainstorms, and there are perennial
streams in the mountains of the south-west and south
east, and also in Nejd, though none of these reach the
sea.
The wadis which originate east of the western water
shed are mostly long and shallow. The longest is the
Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Rummah, which starts near Medina and runs
north-eastwards through Kasim to the Shatt el-Arab.