Passing from south to north the first range is met with a few miles north of Mersa[68] Durûr, as a chain of low butts rising from the alluvial plain a few miles inland. These become higher and more continuous as one passes northwards, culminating in two considerable hills, of about the same height and area of base, the northern of which is marked on the charts, where it is called Table Mountain, and given a height of 1000 feet.
At about five miles inland from Dongonab are a couple of small hills standing alone, but a little farther north lying inland from the middle of the North Basin of Dongonab Bay is a considerable range, extending towards the hills about Khor Shinab, Hamama, &c., from which it is separated by an interval of only a few miles.
The Abu Hamâma[69] range (which I so name from its most prominent though not highest peak, a landmark for sailors) extends from about the inner branches of Khor Shinab to some distance beyond Khor Abu Hamâma, lying much nearer the sea than do the others. Its height is estimated by a government surveyor at from 500 to 700 feet. (Map, [p. 126.])
These ranges are wholly inland, and rise from the maritime plain, which they divide longitudinally. The scattered ranges of sandstone are not the whole of this formation however. I give a view of a part of the maritime plain in which it is seen to rise as a distinct fold across the middle distance. This appears to consist of the usual gravel, but where cut into by the Yemêna ravine a very different state of things is displayed. It is practically all sandstone, covered by a few feet of gravel and gypsum conglomerate. Of coral I only saw one large boulder, having no time for a search. There is yet another range rising from the sea, namely two small hills on the peninsula of Rawaya, and the islands of Makawar and Mayitib, of which Makawar is the only considerable elevation. This range is of special interest and will be described in detail.
Plate XXXVIII
Fig. 82. Water-hole under a stratum of hard gravel and gypsum conglomerate, in the lower part of the ravine
Fig. 83. Exposure of sandstone under the gravel of the plain
Two views in Yemêna ravine, which cuts the maritime plain
Coral of the coast-line.