ARABIAN DESERTS.
The sandy deserts of Arabia form one of the most striking objects of that country. From the hills of Omon, which appear to be a continuation of those on the other side of the Persian gulf, as far as Mecca, the greater part of Negad is one prodigious desert, interrupted, toward the frontiers of Hejaz and Yemen, or Arabia Felix, by Kirge, containing the district of Sursa, and several oases, or fertile spots. The north-west part of Negad presents almost a continued desert, and is considered as a prolongation of the one above mentioned.
The Beled el Haram, or Holy Land of Islam, of which Mecca is the capital, is comprehended between the Red sea, and an irregular line which, commencing at Arabog, about sixty miles to the north of Djedda, forms a bend from the north-east to the south-east, in passing by Yelemlem, two days’ journey to the north-east of Mecca. It thence continues to Karna, nearly seventy miles to the east of the same place, and twenty-four miles to the west of Taif, which is without the limit of the Holy Land; after which, turning to the south-west, it passes by Drataerk, and terminates at Mehherma upon the coast, at the port named Almarsa Ibrahim, about ninety miles to the south-east of Djedda.
It therefore appears that the holy land is about one hundred and seventy miles in length, from the north-west to the south-east, and eighty-four miles in breadth, from the north-east to the south-west; which space is comprehended in that part of Arabia known by the name of El[El] Hedjeaz, or the Land of Pilgrimage, and includes the cities of Medina[Medina] and Taif. It has not any river; and the only water to be found, is that of some inconsiderable springs, which are not numerous, and the brackish water obtained from the deep wells. Thus it is a real desert. It is at Mecca and Medina alone, that cisterns have been wrought to preserve the rain-water; on which account, a garden is very rarely to be seen throughout this vast territory. The plains are composed either of sand, or barren earth, entirely abandoned; and, as the inhabitants do not, in any part of the country, sow any description of grain, they are supplied with flour, &c., from upper Egypt, Yemen and India.