File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎128r] (264/834)

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of its cheese and milk and honey and wandering in its gardens,
the like of which my companions at least had never seen before.
Time, however, was precious, and on the morning of
December 28, in response to a message from Mecca, I said good
bye to my genial hosts, and leaving half my party behind to
await my return, set out on the last stage of my journey,
confident—alas on insufficient grounds—that I should revisit
Taif before returning to the desert.
Issuing from the town by the Bab el-Seil we retraced our
steps of three days back to Shubra, and thence diverged from
our previous route in the direction of Qaim, the first of whose
hamlets we reached in rather less than an hour after leaving Taif.
us am
and a
which
Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
We now descended a short rocky pass into the Qaim valley, and
passing the remaining hamlets thereof, left the little village of
Marisia nestling in the rocks on our right, and the village of
liaghadh similarly placed on our left. Crossing the Qaim wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
at this point, we debouched on to a broad open space between
the Raihab ridge on our left, and the Qunna ridge on our right,
and travelling almost due north crossed the Shaib Judaira about
seven miles from Taif, the village of the same name lying about
a mile to our right.
We now left the area of habitations and cultivation behind
struck across the sloping plain north-eastward for three
half miles until we reached the cross ridge of Qumai,
runs down from the western hills eastward towards the
Aqiq on our right and forms the watershed of the foot
hills, the wadis southward of this point all running down into
the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Aqiq and so discharging into the eastern plain, while
the complicated ravine system lying to the north of die ridge
trends north-eastward for a space and bends^ round again north
west, until it finally discharges into the Seil el-Kabir, and so in
rliiG course into the grent westward dnunno,^ channel of tie
Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Fatima. ,
Crossing the Qumai ridge by a short steep pass called
Hi el- Wudaira we descended into a maze of boulder-strewn
ravines thickly covered with acacias, the Shaib Aneizah leading
into the Shaib Rajifa and this into the considerable torrent bed
of the Seil el-Saghir four miles beyond the Qumai ridge. L ie
Seil el-Saffiiir—a tributary of the Seil el-Kabir runs north
east and Its sandy bed is thickly covered with vegetation
betokening an ample supply'of water, which is, as a matter of
fact, of excellent quality and available m abundance at a dept
of a few inches beneath the surface. * ., ,
Cross!m>- the Seil el-Saglnr we ascended the Naha ridge, and
turuino- to the north-west twisted and turned among the narrow
passao-es between the foothills which closed m on ns from every
side until we emerged into the broad torrent bed of the Shaib
Talah down which we proceeded north-east for a short space.
Turning out of it up a narrow ravine leading north-west we soon
reached the formidable pass of Ri el-Manhut, having covered