i88i] A JOURNEY IN THE HEJAZ 535 



landscape beauty, the towering wildness of the desolate 

 mountains forming an exquisite contrast to the soft 

 green of the irrigated plain and the darker masses of the 

 palm trees. Above Embarek the desert begins again. 

 There are wells and considerable patches of land dammed 

 in so as to be cultivated when rain comes. But after the 

 long drought the plots of garden ground were deserted, 

 and the houses once occupied by their cultivators falling 

 to ruin. Between Embarek and Jedeedah, a distance of 

 two and a half hours, we saw only a few girls tending 

 sheep, and a group of Bedouin women filling their water- 

 skins at a well. The first part of the route was interesting, 

 as we had the noble mountains of Mudheeq straight 

 ahead. After half an hour we turned sharply to the right, 

 and the scenery became monotonous. The broad torrent 

 bed in which we rode was cut through great banks of dust 

 and sand, and had little vegetation till we again neared 

 a region of water, when the Oshr (Asclepias gigantea), 

 with its broad smooth leaves, became common. This is 

 the tree from which the Bedouins burn charcoal for their 

 coarse gunpowder. Its milky juice is in repute as a cure 

 for barrenness, and the pilgrims are accustomed to carry 

 away flasks of it. At the fountain and palm grove of 

 Jedeedah the valley divides into two branches, the 

 northern one leading to Wady Leimoon. Following up 

 the southern branch, a journey of half an hour took us 

 to Sola, where there is a strong spring with fields and 

 famous orchards, well stocked with plantains, sweet and 

 bitter lemons, bitter oranges (leem), apricots, and other 

 fruits. The finest of these orchards belong to the Shereef, 

 who has begun to practise acclimatisation on a great scale, 

 and introduced mangoes and many other fruit-trees from 

 Java. The experiment seems likely to prove successful. 

 At Sola the hills change their character, and the valley is 

 overhung by great walls of white granite, full of enormous 

 amygdaloidal openings. Under these we rode on for an 

 hour and a quarter, and crossing to the opposite side of 



