Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/80

 ficial received 470 piasters ($21.15) per month, from which he had to feed himself, his family residing at Maʻân, and the horse which carried him on his tours of inspection of the telegraph poles. It was no wonder that he complained of suffering from hunger. All food supplies for al-Ḳwêra had to be conveyed from Maʻân or al-ʻAḳaba, and they were dear. The official was assisted by three telegraph inspectors, who patrolled the line from Ab-al-Lesel on the northeast to the end of Wâdi al-Jitm on the southwest. An ombâši (corporal, non-commissioned officer) and six men of the regular army guarded the stations and telegraph lines. Every day they brought water on an ass from the spring of al-Ašhab, which flows out about six kilometers to the west at the foot of the granite mountain of al-Ḥeǧfe. About one hundred meters south of the station there rises a low, red, sandy hill, bearing the remains of an old wall. More extensive ruins, perhaps those of a watchtower, are noticeable upon a tableshaped hill northeast of the stronghold. This small tableshaped hill, which is called ḳwêra (diminutive of ḳâra, isolated table-shaped hill), gave the ruins of the stronghold their name.