The town is situated upon a gently-shelving part of the
plain, the, lowest portion of which, to judge from the versant, is at
the southern base of Mount Ohod, hence called Al-Safilah, and the
highest at the Awali, or plains about Kuba, and the East.
The Southern and South-Eastern walls of the suburb are sometimes
carried away by violent "Sayl," or torrents, which, after rain, sweep
down from the Western as
[p.381]well as from the Eastern highlands. The water-flow is towards
Al-Ghabbah, lowlands in the Northern and Western hills, a little beyond
Mount Ohod. This basin receives the drainage of the mountains and the
plain; according to some absorbing it, according to others collecting
it till of sufficient volume to flow off to the sea. 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:
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