File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎105v] (219/834)

64 —
followed. The Saqta gorge is by common consent the most
difficult of all the passes and is on this account seldom chosen
for the journey. # . y..
The plain now descended in easy steppes to the Uhruma
va,lley, the edge of which we reached after marching three miles.
A number o^asrs dotted the valley, which runs roughly north
and south between the edge of the Tuwaiq range and a ridge of
low hills beyond which to the westward could be seen the sands
of Nafudh Jan. Round the qasrs is a considerable amount of
barley cultivation, and southward of them lie the villages^ of
Muzahimiya, Ghat Ghat, anew Akhwan creation, and Maghrafiya,
none of which we had time to visit.
Striking across the plain diagonally to the west we passed a
number of qasrs on the way, and after a march of some six
miles entered the palm groves of Dhruma, a square-built walled
town standing in a clearing among the palms and reputed to
contain a population of some 10,000 souls. 1 did not think that
the appearance of the town warranted this estimate and should
be inclined to put its population at not more than 6,000. We
were delayed here by the pressing invitation of the mukhtar to
partake of his hospitality, to which we the more readily acceded
as our host was a man of some repute as a warrior, and enjoys
the distinction of having been the first man to scale the walls of
the Hofuf fort when Ibn Saud wrested it from the Turks.
In due course we resumed our march and four miles further
on passed the wells of Jan Saibani, almost immediately entering
the sands of Nafudh Jan. Although only two miles broad from
east to west, this little Nafudh proved to be by far the most
difficult to negotiate of all the sand tracts crossed during our
march. Rising by successive precipitous waves to a height of
several hundred feet it descended even more abruptly into the
narrow depression of Maanij, in which is situated a prominent
ridge of dark rock. Under this we were glad enough to halt as
the rain which had threatened to descend upon us throughout
the last two days began to come down. We were now tifty-one
miles distant from Riyadh and about 1,800 feet above sea-level,
but the temperature, which was nearly 52° Fahrenheit at 6 a.m.
on the plateau of el-Dhahara, dropped to 49° at 6 a.m. on the
following day at Maanij. The weather conditions were most
unpropitious, and the rain was coming down in a steady drizzle
when we struck camp on the morning of December 12 and passed
almost immediately out of the Maanij depression into a second
Nafudh called Quuaifida, which extends about twelve miles in
depth westward but presents no difficulty to camel traffic. The
rain became worse and worse and by the time we reached the
further end of the Nafudh we were drenched through, while the
prospect of having to encamp in the sodden plain beyond was so
unattractive that we decided to pitch camp where we were,
though it was not yet midday, as the sand at least secured us from
being flooded out. Our decision was prudent as the rain became