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.
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