'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.' [‎601] (694/905)

CHAP. XXIII.] COUNTRY FROM MEDINA TO MEKKAH.
601
Es Szafra, so called from two suks, or market villages, bearing
those names ; and between which is the difficult defile of Dar-
el-Hamra. 1 The former is the larger, and the latter the more
important village of the two, owing to its extensive date-groves
and an abundance of grain, fruits, and vegetables ; 2 it has, in
addition, pure honey, senna, and balsam from the mountains. 3
The plant beschem, which produces the well-known balm of Balm of Mek-
Mekkah, grows to the height of 10 or 15 feet, and flourishes kah-
in this neighbourhood, but especially in Jeb-el-Sobh. On
making an incision in the bark the juice issues, and is taken
off with the thumb-nail, it is then put into a vessel: the gum
is of two kinds, white, which is most esteemed, and yellowish
white. 4
Jeb-el-Sobh, the territory of the brave tribe of Sobh, con- jeb-ei-Sobh.
tains many fertile valleys, which produce grain in addition to
the more valuable commodities just noticed. 5
A few miles north-westward is Bedr, or Beder Honeyn, a Country from
small town, enclosed with a mud wall, and celebrated for the t0 Ko1 "
battle fought by Muhammed in the second year of the hijrah.
Uneven ground and rocky valleys continue eastward to Bir es
Sheikh ; from whence to the Haj station of Kolleya the sur
face is either flinty or of cultivable clay, with some sandhills
bearing a few trees ; among which is, now and then, a hamlet. 6
Onward it is chiefly sand, with tarfa (tamarisk-trees) and
some tamarinds (thamr hindi), and this soil continues as far
as Kholeys. The country hereabout is a wide plain, in
several parts of which are date groves, together with fields of
dhurrah, and other grain, 7 amidst scattered hamlets, of which
Es Souk is the principal. This plain merges into another,
called El Barka, which, though gravelly and sandy, produces
the ashour 8 and acacia, and these trees abound as far as Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Fatimah. This remarkable valley crosses the Haj route eight
hours from Mekkah, and contains several villages, with nume
rous gardens; its fields are fertilized by streams of water, 9 and
1 Burckhardt's Travels in Arabia, vol. II., p. 128. 2 Ibid., p. 118.
8 Ibid., p. 123. 4 Ibid., pp. 116,123. 5 Ibid., p. 116.
6 Ibid., p. 101. 7 Ibid., p. 100. 8 Asclepia gigantea,
9 Arabic Geo. MS. translated by Aloys Sprenger, M.D.
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