Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/64

 To the northeast could be seen the railway station of Maʻân, the depression of al-Ǧafar with Ṭwîl Šhâḳ to the north, and west of the latter the extinct volcanoes rising east of the settlement of Ḍâna. There is no view from al-Batra to the west because the vast ridge of aš-Šera’ rises up to cut off the prospect in that direction. Stephen of Byzantium (about 600 A. D.). Ethnica (Meineke), p. 237, calls Dusara a very high mountain in Arabia. According to him it is named after the god Dusare, who is worshipped by the Arabs and Dacharenoi tribes.Ibn Ḫaldûn (died 1406 A.D.). Muḳaddima (Quatremère), Vol. 1, pp. 110—111; idem, ʻIbar (Bûlâḳ, 1284 A. H.), Vol. 1. p. 52, writes that to the east from the shore of the Mediterranean Sea there rises a huge mountain called al-Lukkâm. Beginning near the Sea of Ḳolzum, not far from the town of Ajla, it extends in a north-northeast direction, separating Egypt from Syria. At its southern extremity, near Ajla, is the steep pass of al-ʻAḳaba, through which the journey is made from Egypt to Mecca, and to the north of which Abraham is buried. The mountain range of al-Lukkâm is bordered to the north from al-ʻAḳaba by the aš-Šera’ range, which first runs towards the cast but then changes its direction. To the east of it is situated the settlement of al-Ḥeǧr, the territory of the Ṯamûd tribe, and the oases of Tejma and Dûmat al-Ǧandal, which latter forms the remotest settlement of the Ḥeǧâz. Between the aš-Šera’ range and the Sea of Ḳolzum extends the sandy desert of Tebûk. At a turning of the al-Lukkâm range to the north is situated Damascus, separated by this mountain range from the towns Ṣajda’ and Beirut.— Ibn Ḫaldûn calls the western edge of the Syrian rift valley al-Lukkâm. He sometimes refers to al-ʻAḳaba as a steep slope of this mountain re ge near the Gulf of al-ʻAḳaba and sometimes as the pilgrims’ station of al-ʻAḳaba (Ajla) from which the aš-Šera’ range extends to the east. Ibn Ḫaldûn is thinking of the southernmost part of this range, which, projecting far to the east, bends in a semicircle open towards the east and runs in a northeasterly direction. Al-Ḥeğr does not lie to the east but to the south of aš-Šera’; likewise the territory of the Ṯamûd and the desert of Tebûk, which, according to Ibn Ḫaldûn, extends as far as the Gulf of al-ʻAḳaba of the Sea of Ḳolzum. It is interesting that he reckons the oasis of Dûmat al-Ǧandal as still forming part of the Ḥeǧâz.

From al-Batra we proceeded to the west. The šeʻibân are deep, the slopes rocky, but between them extends a level elevation upon which both annuals and perennials flourish. North of al-Batra there are numerous springs of water. At 12.30 P. M., in the šeʻîb of al-Ḥufejjere, we found the remains of old gardens, and at 12.47 two old, but still active, wells of the same name. We then mounted the ridge of aš-Šera’, upon which we halted at 1.17 among the ruins of Umm aṯ-Ṯelâǧe (Fig. 12).

Umm aṯ-Ṯelâǧe is the southernmost settlement on aš-Šera’, there being hundreds of similar ruins to the north of it. The ridge of aš-Šera’, which is flat and covered with a broad layer of yellow clay, could easily be transformed into fertile fields. There is a magnificent view into the region of Ḥesma’, toward which aš-Šera’ falls steeply over three hundred meters.

Ḥesma’ begins to the northwest of Umm aṯ-Ṯelâǧe and extends far to the south. It is a white, rocky plain, eroded by rain, wind, and sand, upon which are found the numberless scattered, brown remains of various firmer strata. On the northeast this plain is bordered by the steep wall of the aš-Šera’ range; and on the west by a brown ridge which runs from north to south, falling off on the west towards the