ملف ١٩١٧/٧٥٦ الجزءان ٢-٣ "النشرات العربية أرقام ٦٦-١١٤" [و‎‎١‎٥‎٠] (٨٣٤/٣٠٨)

139 —
while by adding the Hauran arid the Saab we have the total
number of big wadis which drain into the lower Euphrates from
Arabia and the Syrian Desert. But by following a line from
north to south, say, one hundred miles from the Euphrates under
the western watershed we can enumerate the names of a score
of wadis !
“ Apart from the Suab and the Hauran in the north, and the
Rumma in the south-east, by far the greater number of these
wadis drain into that western extension of the Euphrates basin
which lies between Ramadi and Shinafiyah. Practically the
whole of the Wadian district—whose deep wadi-channels are so
numerous that the Arabs themselves cannot enumerate them—
drains into this comparatively small area. The Wadi Khar also,
which reaches to the Nefud edge east of Jauf, has its destination
in the Bahr-i-Nejef. Yet, in spite of the large extent of country
drained, we only know for certain of the Khar and the^ Burdan
as carriers of the drainage into this basin, the big wadis of the
Wadian—such as the Hamir, the Arar, and the Tebel with their
score of affluents—are still left hanging in mid-desert ; we do
not know their ultimate destination, beyond the fact that they
drain into the region between the Bahr-i-Nejef and Ramadi. ^
“According to report (see Miss Bell’s ‘Amurath to Amurath,
n 131) the three great wadis in this region are the Hauran,
Burdan'and Lebaiah (really the Ubaidh). These are said to
stretch right across the Syrian Desert and even to have then
sources on the Jebel Hauran. The fact that there is a watershed
between the Euphrates and the Jebel Hauran namely, the Jebel
Anazeh and Jebel Laha, does not have its place here ; but e
native idea that the Hauran, Burdan and Ubaidh are the mai
wadis is important. The Hauran we know over a course of two
hundred miles, but the Burdan only exists as a named ica
and has never been connected with the big wadis to the west—
the Hazimi and the Ghadaf. The same hoWs good of he
Ubaidh, except that there seems eveai less ''kebhood °£ its bei g
the recipient o£ any of the Wadian dramage. OM maps showed
the Shetata oasis as being the point ‘ l fi S/'^ XTas
from the south-west, and on one map n. is definite y
4116 W/we knew the origin of the Burdan, ami whither theTebd
^^nYie^md^anTthrLmXNejef region we had a
ST°£ wadis -rded^y « $
bear nVresemblanc 0 e to the names of the wadis either above or
great value for purposes of reference.