In The Southern Ghor The
Rivulets Which Descend From The Eastern Mountains, To The S. Of Wady
Szafye, Or El
Karahy, are lost amidst the gravel in their winter beds,
before they reach the valley below, and there are no
Springs whatever in
the western mountain; the lower plain, therefore, in summer is entirely
without water, which alone can produce verdure in the Arabian deserts,
and render them habitable. The general direction of the southern Ghor is
parallel to the road which I took in coming from Khanzyre to Wady Mousa.
At the point where we crossed it, near Gharendel, its direction was from
N.N.E. to S.S.W. From Gharendel it extends southwards for fifteen or
twenty hours, till it joins the sandy plain which separates the
mountains of Hesma from the eastern branch of the Red sea. It continues
to bear the appellation of El Ghor as far as the latitude of Beszeyra,
to the S. of which place, as the Arabs informed me, it is interrupted
for a short space by rocky ground and Wadys, and takes the name of Araba
(Arabic), which it retains till its termination near the Red sea. Near
Gharendel, where I saw it, the whole plain presented to the view an
expanse of shifting sands whose surface was broken by innumerable
undulations, and low hills. The sand appears to have been brought from
the shores of the Red sea by the southerly winds; and the Arabs told me
that the valley continued to present the same appearance beyond the
latitude of Wady Mousa.
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