File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎96r] (200/834)

this development for the time being, but somewhat unexpectedly
confronted me with a strong temptation to journey in a very
different direction, to which I succumbed. ’ Ibn Saud fell in
with my plans and did everything possible to further them and
it was thus that on December 9, leaving my companion behind,
I set forth with a Bedouin escort of five and thirty men in the
direction of Taif.
H. St. J. B. Philby.
THE SIRHAN AND JAUF DEPRESSION.
The following was contributed in October last by Mr. D.
Carruthers as a result of cartographic researches preparatory
to the compilation of the 1 : 1 , 000,000 map of the above region.
More recent observations by Major T. E. Lawrence may modify
some of Mr. Carruthers’ data and conclusions.
“ This self-contained basin is the principal physical feature
of the Southern Hammad. Its influence on the lines of
communication is evident, for, whereas its trough forms the
highroad between Syria and Jebel Shammar, there are no
frequented routes crossing it diagonally, and although it presents
no serious obstacle in itself, it will probably be the cause of
diverting all east and west traffic in the future—whether motor
or railway.
The Sirhan depression may be said to begin at Kasr Azrak
—at least it is here that travellers from Syria first note the floor
of the valley. It extends south-eastw r ards as a well-defined
hollow for 200 miles to the neighbourhood of Jebel Adhara,
twenty miles west of Jauf. Here it seems to lose its definite
character ; the hills cut in on the north, and the Nefud sand-bed
approaches on the south. The Sirhan depression appears to bend
to the south and to merge into the sands. According to Huber’s
native informant,—‘ it loses itself near the wells of Sfan,’
which seem to be about fifteen miles south-west of Jauf. All
travellers note a change in the general aspect of the wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. east of
the group of wells which are marked by different authorities as
Jerawi, Serar, Arfagia, Magooa (Meikum) Sebeikha—according
to the actual wells visited.
Taking the 500 metre contour, which happens to mark out
in a general manner the bed of the wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. , the Jauf—Skaka region
would form a separate little basin, divided from the Sirhan by a
very slight barrier. This divide would scarcely be noticed by the
traveller approaching from Jerawi, until he reached the edge of
the little escarpment that drops into Jauf ; but overlooking this
region from the hills to the north the impression would be that
the Sirhan and Jauf basins were one ; as doubtless they used to
be. Another notable point is that the Jauf-Skaka basin must be
extended so as to include a large area to the north-east of the
latter oasis, as far as Jebel Mghaira (Amghar) twenty miles