head of a man on a camel. The hilh are stated to abound 

 with myrrh trees. 



About thirty miles inland rises the high mountain-range called 

 Jebel Taffai, attaining to an elevation of over 6000 feet above 

 the sea. It has numerous fertile valleys thfit produce coffee, 

 dura, and other crops. Eas Seilan, the eastern extremity of the 

 bay, is a lovr sandy point on which a few date trees grow. 

 Ten miles to the east of this cape, and about two miles from the 

 coast, the country is weU watered and cultivated ; but beyond 

 the fact that partridges are found on it, nothing is known of 

 its fauna. At the village of Su^'hra good water, bullocks, sheep, 

 poultry, onions, and pumpkins were easily procured. Sixteen 

 miles to the north-east of Sughra, Jebel Kharaz towers to a 

 height of 5400 feet above the sea, and has the Wadi Bahrein 

 winding through it, abundantly supplied with streams flowing 

 into an extensive lake which gives its name to the valley. Then 

 follows a tract of low, barren, sandy coast, succeeded by a range 

 of limestone mountains, twenty miles in length, and within five 

 miles of the sea, with its summits broken up into peaks and bluff 

 points. Further on, a number of black hills and rocky points 

 occur at intervals, close to the sea, and then follows a long stretch 

 of low sandy coast with more rocky points until the town of 

 Howaiyeh is reached, five miles inland, and situated on a wide 

 plain, the inhabitants of which were chiefly employed in agri- 

 culture. Here the surveying-ship the ' Palinurus ' secured some 

 fine bullocks, good water, and excellent fish. Inland from Jebel 

 Makanati, four miles north-east of Haura, is the entrance to 

 the Wadi Meifah, one of the great valleys of the coast, in a 

 prolongation of which lies the remarkable ruin, Nakab el 

 Hajar, visited by Lieut. Wellsted ^ and Mr. Cruttenden in 

 April 1835. 



Landing from the ship, they crossed a belt uf low barren sand- 

 hills and passed the two villages Ain Abu' Ma' bad and Ai'n Jowari. 

 Continuing their way across a waste of low sandy hilloL-ks rising 

 in sharp ridges, followed by a sandy expanse covered with 

 stunted tamarisks which afibrded a slight shade from the 

 scorching sun, they reached a tableland about 200 feet above the 

 surrounding plain, intersected by numerous ravines, the beds of 



> Joum. Eoy. Geogr. Soo. -vii. 1837, pp. 20-34 ; 'Travels in Avabia,' 1838 ; 

 Haines, Jouru. Koy. Geogr. Soc. ix. 1839, p. 143. 



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