Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/183

 I wanted as my servants, and that neither the mudîr nor Sâlem nor the Governor at Damascus could prohibit my doing so.

In the afternoon, accompanied by ʻAbdarraḥmân Effendi, we proceeded with Tûmân on an excursion through Tebûk and its environs in order to draw a sketch map of this settlement.

Tebûk is situated on a vast rise, which is especially conspicuous from the south and west but which sinks gradually to the north and east down to the surrounding lowlands (Fig. 63). Somewhere in the center of this elevation there is a spring which is so abundant that the water penetrates the sand drifts and flows over the surrounding district. The water has a temperature of 26° C and is yellowish in color. Around the spring there are three cement reservoirs (Fig. 64), set up, not on the hard soil, but on the drifted sand. From the reservoirs, in which it attains a depth of one and a half to three meters, the water is conducted by artificial canals into the surrounding gardens, where date palms, fig trees, pomegranates, and various vegetables thrive. Not long ago the whole area around the spring formed a single palm grove, but the central part of the grove was cut away in order that the west wind might have free access to the stronghold and settlement and disperse the malaria from which the inhabitants were suffering severely. To the west of the