'Southern Nejd: Journey to Kharj, Aflaj, Sulaiyyil, and Wadi Dawasir in 1918.' [‎11r] (26/100)

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accomplished if machinery can be brought into use to tap the
inexhaustible waters of the three reservoirs for the benefit of
extended cultivation.
Entering the Kharj district by the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Hanifa route at
the point where the ruins of Firzan and the spring are situated
one follows the aqueduct for three miles to the first of the oases,
namely Sulaimiya. Between the aqueduct and the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Hanifa
are two groups of wells called Budaia and Bida the former in
a state of decay and no longer used, but the latter surrounded
by a small area of cornfields with one or two scattered qasrs.
Sulaimiya consists of a small village of mud huts situated in
and near the northern end of a palm belt about one mile long
from north to south and half a mile broad. The better palm-
groves, most of which belong to Ibn Saud, are situated at the
southern end of the oasis, which alone gets the benefit of irrigation
by the Kariz, the remaining groves being watered by wells
about five fathoms deep. A low wall with occasional ruined
towers runs round the whole oasis and the village is walled in
the sense that the contiguous back walls of the outer houses
form a continuous barrier, through which entrance is obtained
by gates at the northern and southern extremities of the main
(and only) street. The population, which is of the ancient
stock of Qahtan (Aiyidh section), including that of isolated
qasrs scattered about the palm-groves, may number some 500
souls—perhaps rather more. The oasis does not convey an
air of vigorous prosperity, dense palm-groves are the exception
and other crops are those typical of the rest of Nejd—a few
bushes of cotton, scattered pomegranate and peach trees,
occasional clusters of vines with saffron, egg plant and barley
to fill in gaps in the palm-groves. Sulaimiya is fortunate in
being free of sand but was at the time of my visit enjoying a
visit of locusts which swarmed over the plain but did not seem
to be doing much damage.
Passing out of the oasis eastwards one almost immediately
enters a broad tract of sand dunes, which, steadily becoming
higher and higher, cover the three miles intervening between
Sulaimiya and Yamama and extend beyond the latter to the
head of the Sahaba. The oasis of Yamama is rather larger
than that of Sulaimiya being about two miles long from north
to south and one mile broad. North of it lies a regular Nafudh
whose last wave stops abruptly at the edge of the palm-belt.