DESCRIPTION OF ARABIA. 49 



distance. Rich clover pastures abound, which sup- 

 ply food to a fuie breed of Arabian horses. The 

 rivulets are fringed with hlies and privets : but the* 

 country suffers fearful encroachments from the 

 drifting sands, by which whole cantons are some- 

 times invaded. The principal town is El Hassa, a 

 place of some note as one of the strongholds of the 

 Arabs in their late wars with the 'pashas of Eg\-pt 

 and Bagdad. Another considerable to^vn is Koiieit 

 or Graen, said to contain 10,000 inhabitants. El 

 Katif is supposed to be the ancient Gherra, which 

 was a famous entrepot for the spices and perfumes 

 of the south. Taroot, a small town to the east of 

 El Katif, has excellent vineyards, which are some- 

 times flooded by the tides. It is here we must place 

 the Regio Macina of the Greek geographers, where 

 the vines, raised in earthen pots or baskets of 

 rushes, were subject to be carried oft" by the waters 

 of the sea.* The inland boundaries of these mari- 

 time provinces are far from being accurately de- 

 fined. Nature, however, has set ifmits to them in 

 the immense central desert of Southern Arabia, 

 called Akhaf, which extends from the mountains 

 behind Tehama to the frontiers of Oman, and is per- 

 haps one of the most dreary regions on the face of 

 the earth. The Arabs give it the name of Roba el 

 KhaU, or the " Empty Abode."! This vast expanse 

 of sand contains nearly 50,000 square miles, and 

 has no supply of water except from the clouds. 

 The skirts of this friglitful vvilderness produce herb- 

 age when refreshed by tlie winter rains ; but its 

 depths have never been explored. One single sta- 

 tion, the Wady Jebrin, on the route to Hadramaut, 

 diversifies this solitary tract ; it has wells and date- 



*StTabo, lib. xvi. p. 528. 



t Burckhardt's Travels in Arabia, Appendix, No. iv. Accord- 

 ing to the tradition of the Arabs, this desolate region was once 

 a terrestrial paradise, where dwelt a race of giants, who, for 

 their impiety, were swallowed up by a deluge of sand. 



Vol. I.— E 



