DESCRIPTION OP ARABIA. 41 



length, and as much in brfeadth, does not possess a 

 single fountain of water. 



From the singular local situation of Arabia, the 

 inequalities in the nature of its soil and climate may 

 readily be inferred. Though the central portion 

 consists of arid and burning wastes, the aspect of 

 the country in other parts is materially different. 

 In the south, more especially where the land is 

 broken into hills and valleys, there are tracts of 

 remarkable fertility, which enjoy a succession of 

 almost perpetual verdure. So short is the inter- 

 val between the decay and reproduction of vegeta- 

 ble life, that the change is scarcely perceptible. 

 Though nature perhaps nowhere realizes those 

 splendid landscapes which borrowed their colouring 

 from fancy rather than truth, and converted this 

 happy region, in the minds of foreigners at least, 

 into an earthly paradise, still the picture offers an 

 agreeable contrast to the contemplation of dreary 

 sands and desolate rocks. The air is more temper- 

 ate, while the rains and dews descend more co- 

 piously. The hills are wooded to the tops, or cov- 

 ered with a rich alpine turf. From their sides fall 

 perennial streams, sometimes in beautiful cascades, 

 which run a course of considerable extent among 

 cultivated fields or luxuriant gardens. Fruits of all 

 kinds are delicious and abundant. The fertility of 

 the earth at once invites and rewards the industry 

 of the husbandman ; and nature, by lavishing her 

 choicest favours here, seems to have compensated 

 for her want of hospitality everywhere else. What 

 Waller says in his Summer Island is true of these 

 delightful regions : — 



*o* 



" The gentle spring, that but salutes us here, 

 Inhabits there, and courts them all the year." 



Such is a general outline of what may be termed 

 the physiology of this celebrated peninsula. 



D 2 



