Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/159

 peak resembles a tall man standing up and attired in a Roman toga; while on the right a young man appears to be leaning against him, and on the left there is a girl with dishevelled hair. The southern peak forms a group of six persons, all of whom are looking westward to the sea. South of this group yawns a narrow, deep gap, through which emerges the valley of al-Ḳarâdi. The camels grazed from 2.10 to 4.12 P. M. while we drew a map of the distant surroundings from a high cone to which we had climbed with great difficulty (temperature: 39.8° C).

Passing on between the granite mountains of ad-Dubba and Arejka we proceeded through a bare and dismal valley. On the right and left were high smooth walls, and between them a river bed about one hundred meters broad, which in places contained deep deposits of gravel, with no trace of vegetation. At 5.20 the guide drew my attention to the spring of Abu Ṣwêr on the left. This rises north of the entrance of the šeʻîb of Dṛejm which comes in from the south. At 6.12 we reached the šeʻîb of Turbân, which, coming from Mount ad-Dubba, rises in a copious spring of the same name that waters an extensive grove of date palms. East of it we proceeded through another šeʻîb covered in places with drifts of sand.

At 6.55 we encamped (temperature: 37.2° C) beneath a high, isolated cone that stood in the midst of the valley. On its western and northern slopes were high drifts of sand in which we observed some bushes of luxuriant green arṭa, of which the camels are very fond. The inflammation in my right eye had disappeared, but the ague had not yet left me. The night was clear and comparatively cool. The granite giants rising to our right and left assumed bewitching shapes in the moonlight and seemed to stretch their huge limbs as if preparing for some weighty undertaking. From time to time slight but very agreeable sounds broke the clear calm of the silent night. I did not understand these sounds, although I listened intently. Mḥammad said: “The moon is rousing these enchanted giants and trying to find out whether they are still alive and strong and is instructing them what they are to do. How good and sweet the moon is, O Mûsa, and how cruel and hot the sun!”

On Wednesday, June 15, 1910, we started off at 4.54 A. M. (temperature: 31.6° C). On our right were a šeʻîb and the