Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/116

 and white strata of the al-Lowz mountain range, south of which, on the mountain of al-Maḳla, we saw the high, white, shining pyramid of Nṣejlet al-ʻAjn, from which the large spring al-ʻAjn flows to the southwest. From this spring there are roads leading to the passes Naḳb al-Madsûs and Naḳb al-Maḳla; and southeast of the latter is the well of Maṭʻama with the holy tree of the same name. The pass of al-Maḳla divides the mountain range of al-Maḳla from the black mountain of ar-Râḥa. North of al-Lowz we saw a deep, dark gap—the šeʻîb of al-Mḥemm—and east of it a clear, white strip, which was the road to the pass of al-Ḫeǧijje, near which there is a well with good water. To the left of us rose the hills of al-Ḳaṭṭâr, and on our right to the southwest the guide pointed out the spring of Rîḥa at the foot of al-Ašhab.

At 4.24 we crossed the šeʻîb of an-Nwêbʻe, which starts on Mount al-Mḥejmeẓ from the spring of the same name. West of al-Mḥejmeẓ flows the spring of aṯ-Ṯiṛeb, and southwest that of Šowša. The region through which we passed was completely barren. There was no vegetation on the rugged, rock-strewn slopes; in the river beds there grew some scattered ratam and rimṯ, but no verdure was upon them. The guide drew my attention to the fact that we were approaching an area in which there had been no adequate rain for four years and that he therefore doubted whether we could find any pasture for our camels on this part of our journey.

At five o’clock we reached a low elevation called ʻArejf al-Ṛalâjîn, where the Arabs dig out meerschaum from which they cut their short pipes. Smokers from the whole of the northern half of the Ḥeǧâz are said to come here. Many of them carry away on their camels as much as two loads of the soft stone and sell it to their fellow tribesmen. Southwest of ʻArejf al-Ṛalâjîn rises Mount Mrâḥ, the vertical ribs of which surmount the ridge by almost four meters. In the broad šeʻîb of al-Mašra’ we found numerous traces of Arabs and their flocks, arẓ maṭḳûḳa (trodden ground), but no pasture for our camels. The guide pointed out to me Môjet Šowša in a short šeʻîb to the west and to the east the large, black mountain aš-Šaʻâl. At 5.25 we crossed a footpath leading to the spring of ʻArejǧa, and at 5.35 we perceived the broad, gray ridge of al-Ḫbejt running in the direction of al-Abjaẓ.

It was 6.15 before we found at the eastern bank of the šeʻîb of al-Misma’ a few green rimṯ bushes, beside which we