"نجد الجنوبية: رحلة إلى الخرج والأفلاج والسليل ووادي الدواسر في سنة ١٩١٨." [ظ‎‎٣‎٨] (١٠٠/٨١)

— 68 —
Thallab, one of the leading chiefs of the section resides in the
central unit of the Badia hamlet. All the hamlets are unwalled
and somewhat straggling.
We were extremely well received here partly owing to the
comparative broadmindness of the Suhul tribe generally and the
Qubabina section in particular, whose chiefs are men of great
character and reputation; and partly because the Amir of the
Aflaj, having heard wild Badawin tales of our reception in the
wadi, sent a representative to see that we had all we wanted.
Here for the first time during the journey we enjoyed the luxury
of fresh fruit in the shape of grapes of inferior quality and barely
ripe. Practically all the fruits of Nejd appear to ripen between the
end of June and the end of August, the first being watermelons
(at Riyadh only), the next grapes, then figs, dates, peaches, etc.
On the following day we ascended out of the Ashaira valley,
which runs down into the plain at a distance of some four or
five miles from Ghail, by a steep extremely difficult path up the
left bank on to the plateau above; we were now some 2,700
feet above sea-level (Ghail being between 2,500 and 2,600) on a
vast expanse of somewhat undulating ston> plateau sloping
gently down to the Aflaj plain and the Rajd plateau. In the
former the palms of Laila, Kharfa, and Wusaila could be seen
easily while in the latter the landmarks, such as they were,
of our outward journey were readily distinguishabJe throughout
the day. Jrom this height the Rajd plateau looked much rougher
and more broken up than it had appeared from a lower level
and stretched away, a lumpy plain, towards the distant Biyadh.
On our left the view was strictly limited owing to the broken
nature of the plateau.
All day the scenery remained unalteringly monotonous as
we travel sed shaib after shaib of those that feed the channels
of the Rajd plateau. The first important channel to be crossed,
however, was a tributary of the Ashaira, namely Haradha,
m whose upper reaches near the western boundary of Tuwaiq
lies the oasis of the same name, apparently a small hamlet and
plantation of little importance.
Next we traversed in turn some half-a-dozen Shaibs, generally
with fairly high banks, all tributaries of the twin channel of
Shaibs Ars and Mara, the two most important of these being
Umm al Jurf (which has no connection with the stream of the
same name near Umm Shinadhir) and Sudairat. These were