On The Skirts Of The Monakh, A Large Reservoir, Cased With
Stone, Has Also Been Made, On A Level With The Canal, Which Is
Constantly Kept Full.
The water in the canal runs at the depth of
between twenty and twenty-five feet below the surface; it is derived
from several springs at Koba, and, though not disagreeable to the taste,
is nevertheless of bad quality.
If left for half an hour in a vessel, it
covers the sides of it with a white nitrous crust; and all foreigners,
who are not accustomed to it from their earliest youth, complain of its
producing indigestion. It is tepid at its source in Koba, and even at
Medina slightly preserves its temperature. There are also many wells
scattered over the town; every garden has one, by which it is irrigated;
and wherever the ground is bored to the depth of twenty-five or thirty
feet, water is found in plenty. Of some wells the water is sweet enough
for drinking; of others quite brackish. The fertility of the fields and
gardens is in proportion to the quality of the well-water; those
irrigated with brackish water, repay badly the labour of their owners;
the date-trees alone thriving equally well in any place.
In addition to the water of the wells and the aqueduct, the town in
winter time receives a supply from the considerable torrent called Seyl
el Medina, or Seyl Bathan, which flows from S. to N. passing across the
suburbs, and losing itself in a stony valley to the N.W. [All the
neighbouring torrents lose themselves in a low ground in the western
mountains, called El Ghaba, and also El Zaghaba. See Samhoudy.] A heavy
rain for one night will fill its bed, though it usually decreases as
fast
[p.329] as it swells. In that part of the suburb, called El Ambarye, we
find a good arched stone bridge thrown across its banks, where it is
about forty feet in breadth. The neighbouring country abounds with
similar torrents, which fill many ponds and low grounds, where the water
often remains till the summer months: these, together with the wells,
contribute to render the environs of this town celebrated for the
abundance of water, surpassing, in this respect, perhaps, any other spot
in northern Arabia, and which had made this a considerable settlement of
Arabs, long before it became sacred among the Moslims, by the flight,
residence, and death of Mohammed, to which it owes its name of Medina,
or Medinet el Neby.
The great abundance of water has made cisterns of little use in the
town; and I do not believe that more than two or three houses have them;
though it would be very desirable to collect the rain-water for
drinking, from the torrents, in preference to the nitrous water of Koba.
During heavy rains the Monakh, between the suburbs and the town, becomes
a complete lake, and the S. and S.E. environs are covered with a sheet
of water.
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