Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/96

 At seven o’clock, on our left, we saw the šeʻîb of Umm ʻEšš, which is clogged with stones and sand, so that the river bed is over five meters deep. At 7.20 we arrived at the junction of the two valleys called Jitm, Malâḳa’ al-Ajtâm (junction of the Jitms), one of which proceeds from the ruins of al-Ḥomejma on the north, while the other, through which we rode, comes from the southeast. The small ruins of al-Kiṯara, situated on the spur between the two channels, are said to be inhabited by a spirit and consequently are avoided by both the ʻAlâwîn and the ʻImrân. North of them is the spring of al-Ḫaraḳ.

I should have been very glad to have halted and inspected the ruins, but there was nowhere any trace of plants. Both wâdis were completely dried up, and in the joint valley of al-Jitm only sejâls were growing in the stony soil. Our guide Sâlem said that in the lower part of Wâdi al-Jitm there had been no rain during either that year or the previous one. The sun beat down upon the black rocks that enclose the wâdi, the air did not stir, and in the deep ravine the sweltering heat was unbearable. The camels were as eager as their riders to escape from this closed furnace and needed no urging to hasten westward. At eight o’clock we had the rocks of Maksar al-Ǧerra on our left; four minutes later the šeʻîb of Umm Ḥamâṭa was on our right, and at 8.10 we were thrusting our way among countless granite boulders that had been wrenched from the wall of ar-Reṣafa which enclosed the wâdi on our right. At 8.44 we came upon the dam of al-Mesadd, which once ran across the full breadth of the wâdi from southwest to northeast, transforming it into a large rain pool. Its southern portion has now been broken through and carried away. At 8.52 P. M. we saw many sejâl trees in the šeʻîb of Umm Laṣam on our left; and at nine o’clock we rode out from Wâdi al-Jitm and from the granite walls enclosing it. On the left of the river bed, beneath the rocky wall, lies the huge, smooth boulder Dims al-ʻOḳbijje, so named