Water, Though
Abundant, Is Rarely Of Good Quality.
In the days of the Prophet, the
Madani consumed the produce of wells, seven of which are still
celebrated by the people.[FN#7] Historians relate that Omar, the second
Caliph, provided the town with drinking-water from the Northern parts
of the plains by means of an aqueduct.
The modern city is supplied by a
source called the Ayn al-Zarka or Azure Spring,[FN#8] which arises some
say at the foot of Mount Ayr, others, with greater probability, in the
date-groves of Kuba. Its waters were first brought to Al-Madinah by
Marwan, governor in Al-Mu'awiyah's day. It now flows down a
subterraneous canal, about thirty feet below the surface; in places the
water is exposed to the air, and
[p.382]steps lead to it for the convenience of the inhabitants: this
was the work of Sultan Sulayman the Magnificent. After passing through
the town it turns to the North-west, its course being marked by a line
of circular walls breast high, like the Kariz of Afghanistan, placed at
unequal distances, and resembling wells: it then loses itself in the
Nakhil or palm-groves. During my stay at Al-Madinah, I always drank
this water, which appeared to me, as the citizens declared it to be,
sweet and wholesome.[FN#9] There are many wells in the town, as water
is found at about twenty feet below the surface of the soil: few
produce anything fit for drinking, some being salt and others bitter.
As usual in the hilly countries of the East, the wide beds and
Fiumaras, even in the dry season, will supply travellers for a day or
two with an abundance of water, filtrated through, and, in some cases,
flowing beneath the sand.
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The climate of the plain is celebrated for a long, and, comparatively
speaking, a rigorous winter; a popular saying records the opinion of
the Apostle "that he who patiently endures the cold of Al-Madinah and
the heat of Meccah, merits a reward in Paradise." Ice is not seen in
the town, but may frequently be met with, it is said, on Jabal Ohod;
fires are lighted in the houses during winter, and palsies attack those
who at this season imprudently bathe in unwarmed water. The fair
complexions of the people prove that this account of the brumal rigours
is not exaggerated. Chilly and violent winds from the Eastern Desert
are much dreaded, and though Ohod screens the town on the North and
North-East, a gap in the mountains to the North-West fills the
[p.383]air at times with raw and comfortless blasts. The rains begin
in October, and last with considerable intervals through six months;
the clouds, gathered by the hill-tops and the trees near the town,
discharge themselves with violence, and about the equinoxes,
thunder-storms are common. At such times the Barr al-Manakhah, or the
open space between the town and the suburbs, is a sheet of water, and
the land near the Southern and the South-Eastern wall of the faubourg
becomes a pool.
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