"العراق والخليج الفارسي" [و‎‎٩‎٨] (٨٦٢/٢٠٠)

123
DESCRIPTION OF THE LAND
Watering-places in the Southern and Western Deserts
There are several types of watering-places in the southern and
western deserts. They are given below with their usual Arabic
names: 1
(i) Permanent wells (usually jalib, plural gulban), either cut through
solid rock or lined for some distance by blocks of roughly dressed stone,
are often sunk to great depths and have substantial supplies of peren
nial water. Inclined posts (maqam) are fixed over the mouth of the
well for holding a pulley over which a rope is passed for drawing
- '.A, A-*-- --rr “
Fig. 31. Qasr Ukhaidhir from the north-west
water. The beduin build shallow troughs of mud and gypsum (juss)
radiating from each well-mouth. Radiating tracks are made by camels
hauling outwards from the well, so that the well with its tracks and its
troughs appears star-shaped from the air. This type of well is usually
called a ‘star-well’, and is often shown on maps by a star symbol.
Some of the larger will accommodate from 10 to 15 maqam. Tackle
and some hundreds of feet of rope must be carried for drawing from
these wells. If not drawn upon for some time the water tends to
become stagnant and evil-smelling, but it improves after two or three
days’ use.
(2) Semi-permanent water-holes (agla, hissu, thamila ; plur. agal,
hussiyan, thamaiT) are shallow excavations, usually in wadi beds or
hollows where flood water collects and remains close to the surface.
The holes are dug in clusters of as many as 50, the number varying
with the sub-surface water-supply. When not in use they contain a
few feet of water at varying shallow depths below ground-level. In
some cases the water is sweet when the holes are first dug but becomes
bitter after some time. They are then abandoned and new holes are
dug. Beduin prefer to camp near this type of well rather than at deep
wells which entail considerable labour, but these shallow water-holes
will rarely water any but small flocks in summer. The groups of
1 These names, with special symbols, enable the type of watering-place to be
identified on the 1: 500,000 map.