'Southern Nejd: Journey to Kharj, Aflaj, Sulaiyyil, and Wadi Dawasir in 1918.' [‎43r] (90/100)

_ 77 ~
torrent water in a depression in the storm channel fed at the time
of our visit and apparently until quite late in the summer by
a Ghail or running stream. A visit up the valley revealed the
fact that this stream, a delightful little babbling brook of sparkling
water, was not more than half a mile in length its source being
a typical outcrop from some subterranean supply in the sandy
bed of the storm channel; yet further up are two more small
streams, each about a quarter to half a mile in length, rising
up out of the channel bed and disappearing as suddenly into it
at the end of their courses. Round these latter the valley was
thickly wooded with the Ghaf or dwarf poplar.
With so plentiful a water supply throughout the year the
valley is naturally a very popular resort not only with shepherds
but with agricultural tenants from Hilwa, who cultivate an ex
tensive area of wheat among the ruins of the old settlement,
so far as I could judge something between 100 and 150 acres in
all. Of the history of the settlement and its decay and of the
reason for its present occupation by the people of Hilwa I was
unable to obtain any account. There is, of course, no permanent
population, but such parts of the qasrs as are undamaged and
one or two miserable huts are temporarily occupied each year
by tenants sent out from Hilwa.
Breaking camp on the morning of June 22 we retraced our
steps down the Mawan valley to the point where we had entered
it and thence struck rather west of north into and up the Tuwaiq
slope. At three miles from this point we crossed the Suwais
Shaib and four miles further on entered the valley of Ain. Up
to this point our view to the east and north-east embraced the
Kharj valley to the far off ridge of Firzan and to the Biyadh
ridge, while to the west the plateau stretched monotonously
as far as we could see.
We now followed up the pebbly storm channel of Shaib Ain
running through a valley a quarter of a mile broad and girt
in on either side by steep cliffs some fifty to eighty feet in height.
Up and down the valley were scattered patches of dwarf poplars
in and around which were pitched the black tents of a considerable
gathering of A1 Shamir, the main tribal unit of the Alaiya
section of Tuwaiq. Water is here abundant at a depth of not
more than two feet below the surface of the storm channel,
and at intervals we passed little groups of temporary wells
lined with stones and scooped out to a depth of two or three