'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎566] (657/905)

566 MOUNTAINS OF THE INTERIOR. [CHAP. XXII.
appearance, and seems to bar all ingress into the country ; but
on closer examination something like a bay is seen here and
there opening into wadis which are less or more fertile and
cultivated.
Other groups, forming portions of ranges, occur in the
interior; of these there is one on the borders of Hadramaut;
and there are others in Belad-el-J of; there are, also, some in
the desert of Ahkaf and in 'Oman ; of all of which we know
little more than that they take an easterly direction, especially
those which skirt the latter district. 1
Nearly in the centre of the territory there is a considerable
arm, which diverges from the main chain near Tai'f, and runs
east-north-eastward from thence, passing a little distance north
of Der' Ayyah, where the mountains have a barren appear
ance. 2 Onward the chain inclines more eastward in passing
through El Hassa, from whence it proceeds to the shores of
the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , which it meets in the neighbourhood of
Bahrein. Reinan, and subsequently Captain Sadleir, skirted
these mountains during their journeys, and found them to
be of moderate elevation, chiefly of sandstone rock, having
their sides furrowed in parallel lines by the numerous torrents
which exist in winter. Mountains again occur more north
ward, which run into the interior from the neighbourhood of
Medina, passing through the districts of El Kassyn, El
Sedeir, and extending, it is presumed, to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ,
near Grane, where they present a low range of crumbling sand-
rock. Towards the northern limits of Nedjd is El Jebel
Shammar, a district described by a Muslim traveller, Yusuph-
el-Miliky, as having mountains as high as those of Lebanon,
and covered with forests ; but the hills decrease in height, and
become quite bare as they approach Mesopotamia. Between
Shammar and the borders of Syria other and lower ranges
are met with, which, on approaching the edge of the territory,
present masses of sand-rock much resembling those of Persia,
and having the appearance of huge crumbling walls. Again
a double chain commences in the desert beyond Damascus,
1 Lieutenant Wellsted's Travels in 'Oman, &c.
8 Captain Sadleir, vol. Ill, p. 412, of the Bombay Literary Society.