'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. III. 1917' [‎17] (26/432)

INTEODUOTION
17
the neighbourhood of Harir, another leads over the hills to Sha-
khlawa and thence to the Khalifan gorge, where it too connects with
the Mosul—Eowanduz route. These roads from Erbil are impassable
for wheels except perhaps in the Erbil Plain.
For the routes leading from Eowanduz NW. to Amadiyeh, north
to Neri, and NE. towards El-Watan and Urmia, see vol. iv.
The Syrian Desert. West of the Euphrates stretches the northern
part of the Hamad, a bare stony desert which slopes gradually from
Syria and Arabia NE. to the Euphrates Valley. The ground is
almost flat, broken only here and there by wadis, easy undulations,
or low ranges of hills. The surface is generally sand or shingle with
occasional outcrops of volcanic rock. In the north, however, beyond
the line Eaqqah—Hama, the nature of the soil changes and becomes
more capable of cultivation, and the country between Meskeneh and
Aleppo is already fairly well populated and tilled.
In the desert the pools or wells, which occur at long intervals,
contain water that is frequently bad and infested with leeches, &c.'
and generally brackish. Conditions for travel are best during a few
weeks in spring. At that season there is much pasture in the hollows
of the Hamad, and water-holes (known to the Bedouin) are available
then which are dry later in the year. Most of the grass is shrivelled
up by the middle of April.
The direction of routes across the desert is generally determined
by the position of water. The tracks are often badly defined or
quite indistinguishable, as, owing to the easy nature of the ground,
there is usually no need to follow a definite path. Towards Tadmor
and Damascus the country becomes hillier, and directions are here
determined to some extent by the trend of the valleys, but the chief
factor is still the water-supply.
Owing to the scarcity of water, Syria cannot be approached from
the Euphrates Valley south of the line Meskeneh—Aleppo except by
small parties or by the aid of camel-transport on a large scale. Of
the routes described in this volume those which run almost due W.
from Hit to Damascus {Route 52) and from Abu Kemal to Tadmor
{-Route 53) are difficult even for small parties. Nothing is known of
the route by the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. -Hauran from Jibbeh; but in 1907 it was
said that Damascus could be reached in six days from the Euphrates
by this route. ^ Route 52 is important only as a route for the camel-
post. The main desert-route is that from Deir ez-Zor to Damascus
which is part of a regular caravan-route between Damascus and
Baghdad. (See Boute 54.)
On the route from Eaqqah to Hama it might be possible to
MES. Ill jy