ملف رقم ٣١٤٢ لسنة ١٩٠٣ "سكة حديد الحجاز" [ظ‎‎٦‎٠] (٤٨٨/١٢٧)

10
At Mudevere, 72 miles from Maan, is readied the first permanent water, and this
is only an inferior supply from a deep well.
20 miles farther south, after crossing the Haraat Ahmar, a ridge dotted witl^
many black pinnacles of rock, and covered with drifts of sand and stones, is Zat-el-Haj,
consisting of an old stone castle, half-a-dozen palm trees, with a good spring and well
at the station.
Jebel Sherora, the “ pulpit of the Prophet,” is a curious landmark in the ridge^s
to the east, rising in turreted form to a flat summit nearly 3,000 feet above the plain. ▼
Tebuk contains the first habitations since leaving Maan, sixty houses of negroid
Arabs in an oasis of date palms, a few fruit gardens and fields of wheat, about
half-a-mile square, all watered from a large spring.
Good water is found at the station wells, and advantage is taken of this to form a
large depot for continuing the work in the waterless country farther south.
It is curious to note that all the wadis from Batn-el-Ghrul, on the north, to
Medain-i-Salih, on the south, drain inwards to a large depression east of Tebuk, at the
foot of Jebel Sherora, and in a season of exceptional rain a shallow lake is formed
here, which, however, soon becomes dry.
Possibly artesian wells might here be a success but the attempt has not yet
been made. South of Tebuk is the Wadi Atsel or Wadi Akhdar, the dry bed of which
the line crosses by a masonry bridge of twenty arches.
Although rain only comes to fill the wadi every two or three years, the bridge
was this year found necessary as a rainstorm caused 6 feet of water to pass under it.
Farther south it is proposed not to build such bridges and thus save expense,
the line being laid across the dry bed, the chance of rainstorms and washouts being
taken.
The limestone hills now close in, the country becomes more accidented and,
before reaching Akhdar, the line traverses a tunnel of 180 metres and then a rocky
gorge called the Boghaz-i-Akhdar, before it emerges into the narrow valley between
steep rocky hills in which the stone castle of Akhdar is situated.
I here are no habitations, but an excellent well with a constant supply is found
inside the castle. The line now follows a waterless valley of the Wadi Akhdar and its
tributaries by Dizad to Muadhem, another stone castle on the pilgrim route with a
scanty supply of rain water stored in cisterns. '
Muadhem is the nearest point on the line to Teima.
Medain-i-Salih is a similar castle among some rock-cut ruins with a poor supply of
water from a well.
The country is now much more broken, and before Medain is reached, the line
traverses a rugged passage called the Mabrek-en-Naga through limestone crags.
I he lava-strewn plateau of Jebel Auered extends to the west and shuts off access
to the. sea ; eastward, towards Teima and Hail, are sandy plains crossed by some
rocky ridges.
leima is a fertile oasis m these high open plains, an outlying Colony from Jebel
Shammar of 250 houses surrounded by palm groves.
The railway passes it some forty miles to the west, but the place is important as
on the road to Hail.
Some thirty-five miles south of Medain the line reaches the large oasis of El Ula,
the first habitation since Tebuk possessing the first good supply of water since Akhdar’
neaily 150 miles to the northward. Here it is intended to make another lar^e depot
on the line, the last before Medina. °
The country between Medain-i-Salih and Hedie, and thence to Medina is rather
more hilly, and vateiless as before, but a trace has been found following some of the
smaller wadis tributary to the Wadi Humd, which affords a fairly easy gradient.
As the line advances south of El Ula, a hilly country is traversed by an open
wadi, a tributary of the. Wadi Humd, which affords a fairly easy trace for the line.
The Wadi Humd is the first opening in the line of hills to the west, giving access
to the Red Sea at Wej. This wadi drains all the country about Medina and Kheibar
as well as the.country round El Ula, and forms an easy passage towards the coast.
Kheibar is another important oasis, somewhat less fertile than Teima Ivina- off tho
line some 40. miles east of Hedie. ’ ^ &
It contains 4,000 inhabitants in a large extent of palm trees, with several o- 0 od
springs, and is surrounded by lava formations and barren rocks, from it a well-
frequented route lies to Hail, and gives the place much of its importance.
From Medina to Yambo-el-Bahr, on the Red Sea, is an easy, well-frequented route
along which it would probably pay to make a branch line from Medina to the coast ’