Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/200

 31.5° C) and at 9.04 encamped on the eastern edge of the plain of al-Faḥam, to the southeast of the rock Ǧlejf as-Semen. Throughout the night we kept watch, as we were afraid that there might be robbers about, but we saw nobody.

Starting at 4.28 A. M. on Saturday, June 25, 1910, we rode through the narrow passage Ẓjejḳat al-Fahade, which is enclosed on the north by the dark slope of aẓ-Ẓhejr and on the south by the sides of the mutilated cone of Ammu Rḳejbe. After a while we perceived to the north the deep gap of Ṛwêl al-Arâneb and to the southeast the dark range of Umm Râtje. At 5.05 we found some fresh ʻarfeǧ, upon which our camels grazed until 5.28. The passage Ẓjejḳat al-Fahade is more than five hundred meters broad and is shut in on the north and south by steep, red slopes, upon which there is a layer of scattered lava about thirty meters thick. At 6.44 we observed on the right the flat table hill of as-Shejme, south of it the al-Mesâbe range, and at some distance to the northeast the long, high ridge of al-Ḥenw, with the huge cone of al-Mšaḳḳar beyond. At 7.20 we changed our course somewhat more to the southeast and after about ten minutes reached the spacious basin of Zenḳulla. The soil of this basin was covered with a growth of green shrubs from which the steep rocks rose up on all sides, red below, white in the middle, and black above. To the west were the red rocks of al-Mesâbe, north of them the black crags of ar-Rḫa, and still farther north the ridge of al-Ḥenw; to the east rose Abu Ḳrûn (which is connected with the granite mountain range of Tmarr), with the huge dome of al-Ḥâṭeb to the south-west, and to the south the spur of ad-Dwejme. On the western flank of the mountain range thus formed is the pass Naḳb an-Neṭḳi. To the east of Abu Ḳrûn appeared the oblong ridge of as-Sarâwîl, and behind it rose the isolated knolls of Nûf and Nuwejfât; then to the north of the latter the huge elevation of Amm Waʻâl. The western part of al-Ḥenw is known as al-Mšaḳḳar. Its northwestern spurs, called Leḥjâne, are separated by the šeʻîb of al-Ḥenw from the hills of Hbejrât, which are clustered together to the west of ar-Rḫa.

On the southwestern slope of the basin of Zenḳulla we saw a wall more than four meters high and behind it the