[P.321] DESCRIPTION OF MEDINA.[EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN OF MEDINA.

[Not included]]

MEDINA is situated on the edge of the great Arabian Desert, close to the chain of mountains which traverses that country from north to south, and is a continuation of Libanon. I have already stated in my Journal through Arabia Petraea, that the chain on the east of the Dead Sea runs down towards Akaba. From thence, it extends along the shore of the Red Sea as far as Yemen, sometimes close to the sea,

[p.322] at others having an intervening plain called by the Arabs Tahama, a name which, in Yemen, is also bestowed upon a particular part of it. I have likewise mentioned in that Journal, that the eastern descent of these mountains, all along the Jordan, the Dead Sea, and the valley called Araba, down to Akaba, is much less than the western, and that therefore the great plain of Arabia, which begins eastward of these mountains, is considerably elevated above the level of the sea. I made the same remark in going to Tayf, after having crossed the mountain called Djebel Kura, which forms part of that chain; and the same is to be observed at Medina. The mountain which we had ascended in coming from Mekka, when seen from the coast, presents peaks of considerable height; when we reached the upper plain, in the neighbourhood of Medina, these summits appeared on our left like mere hills, their elevation above the eastern plain being not more than one-third of that from the western sea-shore.

The last undulations of these mountains touch the town on the north side; on its other side, the country is flat, though not always a completely even plain. A branch of the chain, called Djebel Ohod, projects a little into the plain, at one hour's distance from the town, bearing from the latter N.N.E. to N.E. [In these bearings the variation of the needle is not computed.] At eight or ten hours' distance, (E. 6 N.-E. 6 S.) a chain of low hills rises in an eastern direction, across which lies the road to Nedjed. Similar hills, at the same distance, are to the S.E. The country to the south extends on a perfect level as far as can be seen. On the S.W., about an hour, or an hour and a half distant, a branch called Djebel Ayra projects, like Djebel Ohod, from the main chain, into the plain.

The town itself is built on the lowest part of the plain; for it receives the torrents from the western mountains, as well as the currents from the S. and S.E. quarters; and they produce in the rainy season numerous pools of stagnant water, which is left to evaporate gradually; the gardens, trees, and walls, with which the plain abounds, interrupting the free current of air. These gardens, and date- plantations, interspersed with fields, enclose the town on three sides, leaving

[p.323] only that part of the plain open to the view, which is on the side of the road towards Mekka, where the rocky nature of the ground renders cultivation impossible.

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