17 



Mr. Bent observes that "the first peep down from the edge of 

 the plateau into these very highly cultivated gullies is most re- 

 markable, quite like looking down into a new world after the 

 arid coast-line and barren plateau." The water-courses in these 

 valleys are generally dry, and if running water occurs in the upper 

 parts of any of them it ultimately becomes lost in the sands, but 

 after heavy rain the water from the plateau is precipitated into 

 the valleys and over the cliffs defining them. "Water is always 

 to be found on the level flats of these valleys ; but Mr. Bent 

 states, that in the Valley of the Hadramut proper, into which 

 these valleys open, water for drinking purposes and for cultivation 

 is only to be obtained by sinking wells. 



The great Valley of the Hadramut, in the neighbourhood of its 

 capital, Shibam, opens out into a wide plain, valleys entering it 

 from the west, north, and south, the main valley being continued 

 eastward to the sea where it opens at the town of Sihiit, 

 doubtless receiving many tributary valleys in its course : its 

 seaward opening being one of the grandest on the coast. The 

 level portions of the northern valleys of the plateau, and of the 

 Wadi Masilah itself, are more or less covered with sand, while 

 those running down from the great sand desert of the interior 

 are choked with it, and as they are traced to the north, Mr. Bent 

 says, the sand increases and becomes shifty and loose in places, 

 and tte hills on either side diminish in height. Wrede has given 

 a description of a most remarkable accumulation of loose sand 

 on the margin of the desert near Sava. He reached it from 

 Khoreba by the Wadi Amd and the town of Haura at the upper 

 end of the Hadramut Valley, where he ascended the plateau for 

 the second time, and then descended upon Sava in the "Wadi 

 Eakhiah. He says that the desert, a day's journey from Sava, 

 " presents an astonishing sight, consisting as it does of an 

 immense sandy plain that gives it the appearance of a moving 

 sea. Not a trace of vegetation, be it ever so scanty, appears 

 to animate the vast expanse — not a single bird to interrupt 

 with its note the calm of death." This portion of the margin 

 of the desert, according to "Wrede, lies 1000 feet below the 

 plateau. 



Hirsch, and Mr. Bent returned to the coast by theWadi Adim, 

 which Mr. Bent says differs from aU the other valleys of the 

 Hadramut, running into the plateau from the north, in that 



c 



