170 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [March, 1907, 



the bauks of the iriigatiou ditches are largely formed of crystal- 

 line matter left by evaporation and scraped out by the cultivators. 

 There appear to be thousands of tons of this saline deposit 

 available." 



Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Bent visited this locality in the 

 Avinter of 189.3-94, immediately after Mr, Xoel-Paton's visit. Mr, 

 Bent describes (Southern Arabia, 1900, p. 200) Ghail Ba>.«.'«^:.' « 

 town reached after travelling three hours from Gambia: 



" Ghail Babwazir is an oasis or series of oases of rank vege- 

 tation caused by a stream, the water of which is warm and bitter,. 



and which is conducted by channels cut in the rock in various 

 directions. 



4 



"Acres and acres of tobacco, bananas, Indian corn, cotton and 

 other crops are thus produced in the wilderness, and this cultiva- 

 tion has given rise to the overgrown village. 



_ " The stream was discovered about SOO'years ago by one Shaikh 

 Omar, and before that time all this part was waste ground. 

 ^ " This fertilising spring rises under a hill to the' east, where a 

 large reservoir has been dug out. Above on the hill are some 

 Arab rums, places where things were stored, and there is a road 

 up. Canals, cut some twenty feet deep like the lanats of Persia, 

 conduct the water to the fields. The chief product is tobacco, 

 known as Hamoumi tobacco." 



* -v. '^^^^ Hamoumi it might be explained, are a small, poor 

 tribe ot Bedouins who occupy the lower end of Wadi Adimi. They 

 hire out camels to cai^vans, and largely engage in the carrying 

 busmess. Mr. ^ocl-Paton informs me that "'Hum-mi " is th! 

 name recognised in the eastern tobacco trade and that the leaf 

 goes largely to tonstantinople and Egypt for use in the narglnli 

 or hubble-bubble. ^ 



_ Last year Mr. Xocl-Paton took steps to procure samples of 

 this water tor chemical ar.alysis and succeeded in obtaining them 

 through the Resident at Aden. They were collected from three 



S'^Vqi r ^ '''l','*'7f ^* ^^^'^ ^^ Wazir,some nine or ten milea 

 conlf 7 ''f ^'■* w^ Governor of Mokalla, who had ih^ samples 

 collected, informed the Resident at Aden that there are hot sul- 

 phur springs at Shahair on the coast half-way between Mokalla 

 and bhahar. As an indication of the geological formation of the 

 u^^!^7\^7^^«^°^d«,t»^\«ccurrence of gypsum hills in the neigh- 

 bourhood of rxh..l Mr. ISToel-Paton confirms this, and adds that 



^Zlitl I'? cor,siderable masses of gypsum in the plains, one's 

 «oUnd T.^"'^' drawn to its existence by the peculiar hollow 

 th?s Idl """" '* ?^.*'^" ^^^^^ ^^ '^'^ ^'°'«^^- The presence of 



the Wp ? "''^'i*' Y\ *•'" •'^^^^^''"^ ^^^P«^"- i^ the springs and 

 the large amount of sulpl,ates found in tbe water. ^ « 



Economic P. ^f "1*^^' ^'^^ forwarded to the Reporter on 

 iTT ^'^^""^^^ ^"d were handed to me for examination and 



I'eport. 



leeted r JpnrH^- ' f n T J^f ? contained in ten bottles and col- 



ttfpli of T ^^ ^"^ *^'^ ^^^^^'^ ^^^"^ ^^^ spring-head and mair, 

 stieamof three sources, named respectively H^-ith. Ferath and 



