'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.' [‎597] (690/905)

CHAP. XXIII.]
YAMBOO.
597
The first places southward are the Haj stations of Moghayr- Haj stations.
Shayb and El Moeyleh, between which, in the wadis of the
rocky ground, is some pasture. The first station has some
trees, chiefly date plantations, with several wells of sweet
water, and at the other there is likewise good water and some
pasture ground. South-eastward is the watering station of
Selma, and farther, beyond Kal'at Ezlam, that of El Astabel,
or Astabel Antar, where the only water is supplied from a
few holes dug in the sands of the valley. One station onward
is Kal'at-el-Wodjeh or Wedge, where there is good water, and
about six miles westward of the castle is the small town of the
same name, with an excellent harbour, easy of access, and
abundantly supplied by the Billec and Hautemey tribes of
Bedawin. 1 The succeeding station south-eastward is Akra,
where only offensive water is found after a long march; and the
next is El Houra, or Dar-el-Ashreyn, which is the twentieth
from Cairo; it has indifferent water, which is a strong ape
rient. 2 This is a dry wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. , although containing many trees,
and the shrub called arak, of which the pilgrims make a kind
of tooth-brush. About 63 miles south-south-eastward of the
latter station is Yamboo-el-Bahr, a walled town situated along Town of
the northern side of a deep bay, forming a spacious harbour, Yainbo0 -
whose anchorage is protected by an island at the entrance,
and it is so deep that ships can lie close to the shore. The
town is divided into two unequal parts by an inlet flowing into
it from the bay; the larger division is properly Yamboo, and
the smaller El Kad ; 3 both are enclosed by a wall and towers,
comprising an area of almost double the space occupied by the
houses, 4 and near the latter are some plantations of mangroves.
Yamboo is completely an Arab town, and the houses are worse
built than those in any other in the Hijaz; it may, however,
be considered as the port of Medina, one-third of the way
towards which is the fertile valley of Yamboo-el-Nakhel, or
Kara Yamboo, containing the country-houses of the rich
inhabitants of the sea-port.
1 Survey by Captain Elwon and Lieutenant Pinching, of the Indiau Navy.
2 Burckhardt's Travels in Arabia, vol. II., p. 392.
3 Ibid., p. 329. 4 Ibid., p. 328.