File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎97r] (202/834)

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-—as the last of the wadian system. This wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. we know reaches
to within twenty miles of the eastern limits of the Janf-Skaka
depression. Eastwards the Ab-el-Knr is continued in Leachman’s
Belgur (Ab-el-Kur) depression, and further it may go to the
Khar direct, or first into the Arar, which almost certainly finds
its way into the Khar.
The actual area which drains into the Sirhan and Jauf
depressions is about 36,000 square miles. On the west the
watershed The boundary between adjacent drainage basins. is that of the Jordan, the Dead Sea and the isolated
basins along the Hejaz railway. It runs from Jebel Druz (at
Orman) along Jebel Sefa to Jebel Raha west of Bair, and so on
across the Ard es-Suwan to the eastern end of Tubaik. South of
this we area little less certain, but it seems as if the south-east flanks
of Jebel Tubaik and all the drainage from the Fejr region—to
within forty miles of Tebuk—falls into the Sirhan. On the north
and east, the watershed The boundary between adjacent drainage basins. is in the unexplored region between
Jebel Druz, Jebel Aneza and Jauf. We know it more or less
from notes in Musd’s pamphlet ‘ Kord Arabien 1908-9. A
straight line from Jebel Druz to Jebel Aneza and south to Jebel
Mghaira would not be far out. Musil says he followed the
water-parting between the Euphrates and Sirhan on his route
from Jebel Aneza to Skaka. On the south, the Eefud destroys
our knowledge of the hydrography : all we know is that the flooi
of the sand-bed falls from w T est to east.
The Sirhan and the Nefud form a sort of barrier across
North Arabia. But a clear gap exists between the two, there
bemf three or four miles between the hp of the Jauf basin and
the first sand-dunes : this is said to be hard level ground ; a little
further east Shakespear was on a ‘ very flat plain’ for some way
before he came to the edge of the escarpment. The Blunts
described the region between the eastern end of the basin south
of Kara, and the sands — 4 a flat black expanse of gravelly soil
covered with small round pebbles absolutely level and baieot
vegetation.’ Westwards the gap merges into the most smooth
and level tract it is possible to imagine — 4 Basaita’ the Arabs
call it, 4 the out-stretched.’ Further to the north-west this
plain connects with the Ard es-Suwan—a desert of almost as
even a character. East of the gap the same featureless country
stretches on the line of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. el-Khar to the neighbourhood
of Neief We have no knowledge of any remarkable physical
features in the shape of sand-belts, hills or escarpments in this
region ; the drop would be roughly 550 metres in 350 miles.
Motor vehicles attempting the run between the Euphrates and
Jauf should aim at starting on the line of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Knar, (it
is probable, but not quite certain, that the ultimate destination or
the Khar is in the low ground at the north-west corner of the
Bahr-en-Nejef.) Either bank could be followed. We know of
only two small tributaries entering the wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. , at about fifty miles
up from the west. It seems doubtful whether there are any
entering from the east, as the Batn appears to take all the drainage