'Routes in Arabia' [‎192] (225/852)

192- .
Route No. 53— conld.
the former route (No. 50) being here crossed. Half a mile
down the wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. to the west is a cluster of white mounds of chalky
clav, thrown up during the excavations made in order to start
the underground aqueduct by which the water is directed from
this spot to Falaj Al 'Ali, a small date plantation and oasis. The
faJaj at its commencement is called Thiqbat-as-Sanabil.
Soon after crossing the wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. the towers of Dhaid come into
eiaht, and at mile 5^ that village is reached. Here routes from
Sharjah (No. 48) and Al-Hamriyah (No. 49), both leading to Mu-
rair, are crossed.
This important settlement is watered by means of an
aqueduct which enters it from the east through the precincts of
a walled en losure, with towers at the corners, where the Gover
nor lives. Where the water enters the settlement it is 2 feet
deep and 3 feet broad. From Dhaid tracks ; lead ma the Wadis
Ham and Qor to the eastern ' Oman coast.
To mile 7J, across the level Dhaid plain. The route then
drops into the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Kathairah, which it follows to the wells of
Wushah at mile 9J.
After continuing for a short distance up the Kathairah
valley the track cuts across another stretch of plain and at mile
IS reaches the ascent to Qallah MahSfidh.
4 MUSAIFI .. 19 m. Nearly due sOuth;
For 3 miles, across a
70 m. level stony plateau.
The hollow containing the Hamdah well is then crossed. This
well is 40 feet with wooden revetment near the surface. From
here the track serpentines southward across a well-wooded,
sandy plain, and keeps parallel to, and near the eastern slopes of,
Jabal Faiyah.
At miie 12, the well of Yahfar-al-Faiyah. This well is on the"
route usually followed from Dibai to the Batinah coast, via
the Hatta valley. See Route No. 47, Dibai-Shinas, which is
crossed.
At mile 18, the well of Musaifi, also a single boring.
The tract within which it lies is called the Madam plain,
and contains several wells. From the Musaifi well the fine,
isolated, bluff peak of Jabal Rodhah lies about 2 miles to the
eastward. To the «outh of and almost contiguous with it