File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎209r] (426/834)

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side of the line were also strongly fortified, and there was a
mountain gun that can fire up and down the line. The line then
proceeds, still through mountains, to Hedia.
Hedia, known by the Arabs as Hareimal. I could not see
the station, as it lies low down, and is surrounded by strong
defences. 1 counted twenty-two posts in a circle round it, and
there were a mountain gun and a biggish howitzer. The Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Tabji crosses the line here, and the bridge is reported to have
about twenty arches and to be well fortified. There are a pump
ing station and a wireless installation. On a still night you can
hear the wireless for about five miles. As far as Hedia there are
only two strands of telegraph wire ; after this a soft copper tele
phone wire is continued as far as Jedahah. Continuing south,
the line takes a bend round some fortified hills, and comes into
the open, passing a long line of sangars running east and west,
and runs about five miles to Jebel Hamra el-Hedia, where, under
some strong post, it makes a very sharp hairpin bend and runs
through a valley in the mountain ; after leaving this it runs
about two kilometres straight, leaving Jebel Athlam three miles to
the west, and then, with a long steady curve, enters a big cutting
through a ridge of black lava.
“El Wagga, known by the Turks as el-Tranji, which means the
Cutting. At the north end there is a strong, roughly-made fort;
this formerly was surrounded -by land mines, but they were
mostly exploded by our shell fire. The cutting seems to be about
300 yards long, and at the southern end there are sangars and
tents overlooking the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Alhui, which crosses the line here,
and is a big thoroughfare to the east. It used to be held only
by infantry ; it is now reported to have a gun and a machine
gun. From here the line takes a bend south-west and then runs
straight through a very sandy valley, in which all the culverts
have been destroyed. To the east the mountains are close to the
line ; on the west about one-and-a-half miles away are long
stretches of lava cut through with wadis.
“ Jedahah .—I have notseen the station, but the garrison chiefly
lives in the fortifications, which consist of a hill west, up which
the telephone line runs to a signal office on the top. Round this
there are a ring of sangars and a gun that looks like a pom-pom.
The hills east of the line are also all fortified, looking down on
to the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Hamdh. Jedahah is said to have no water supply ; but
about four miles west there is Bir Abu el-Hilla in the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Hamdh, where you only have to dig about six feet for water ;
but the Turks have filled these wells in and mined the ground
round to prevent people from digging for water.
“ This Signal Post is evidently a very important point in the
railway defences. From it it must be possible to see all the
Hamdh Valley as far as Umm Salilah, the junction of all the
wadis, and thus the Turk gets a good view of movements of
evervbody to the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Ais and the direct line of water to the
coast. The telephone warns el-Wagga and Hedia of any
m: