and the port extends westward several miles before it becomes
too shallow for large vessels; its width, from south to north,
opposite the town, extends nearly seven miles before the water
is less than three fathoms deep. Grane is 43 miles S.W. of
the bar of the Euphrates, with which river it has a second
communication by going round the Island of Boobian; it is
completely an Arab town, the houses being clay-built, with
several small flat-roofed apartments, built round a court; and
it probably contains more than 8000 persons. It is situated
in a very arid country, badly supplied with water, and almost
deprived of verdure and cultivation, with the exception of a
few dates; but in other respects the place is flourishing, having
about 800 bagalas for the trade by sea to India and other
parts. It carries on an inland trade by means of caravans,
which go to Yemen, Nedjd, the Hijaz, &c., and also from the
neighbouring city of Basrah to Mekkah, &c.
The interior of El Ah’sa presents a varied surface, containing
a good deal of desert, but having at intervals camps or villages
and sometimes towns. It is subdivided into several small
districts, the most considerable of which bears the same name;
it is also called Lahissa, and is justly celebrated for its small
but remarkably active breed of horses. Foof, the capital, is
surrounded by a mud wall 50 feet high, with two gates, and
a ditch: it is situated about 96 miles south-eastward of Khatif;
and, including the suburbs, a large open village with cultivated
♦ grounds and date plantations to the eastward; there are about
15,000 inhabitants.
On the road to the capital, about 54 miles from Khatif, is
the walled village of Jomiah, situated in the midst of date
groves, and abundantly supplied with water, especially an
extensive lake, which fertilizes the adjacent plain.1
Three quarters of a mile northward of Foof is the fort of
Mubarrez, or Mubuyez, surrounded by a deep ditch defended
by lofty towers; it has one gate leading to an extensive open
suburb, which, with the inhabitants of the fort itself, probably
amount to 10,000 souls. Extending eastward of Mubarrez
1 Captain Sadleir’s Journey, in the Bombay Lit. Trans., vol. III., p. 464.
are date groves, interspersed with many large villages and hamlets,
containing, it is said, together, a population of 50,000
persons, with abundance of good well water and some lakes;
it was formerly supposed that a river flowed from thence to
the Persian Gulf; but it is now known that this is not the
case. Wheat, barley and rice are cultivated here, also apricots,
figs, melons, and other fruits; and the tamarisk is sufficiently
large to be used in roofing dwellings.1 Elsewhere permanent
villages are occasionally met with, which are separated from
one another by desert tracts encrusted with salt, and occasionally
by patches of sand between low ranges of hills, and at
intervals occur the camps of the Bedawms. Between Amer
Rabbia and El Ah’sa by the short road, the surface is covered
with grass, bushes, &c. ; amongst the latter are the babul-tree
(mimosa) and some others bearing wild plums; deer and
horses are found in this part of the country,2 but there is only
one village, Howarah, which is situated on the frontier of
Nedjd; it is walled, surrounded by date plantations, and well
supplied with water from a large lake; there is also a copious
hot spring.
A carrying trade existed in Arabia probably before the earliest
records of profane history ; but the journeys of Abraham
and Lot, and the circumstances connected with the sale of
Joseph prove, at least, that the peninsula was in the days of
those patriarchs traversed for commercial purposes. The
balsam, myrrh and frankincense of Arabia, with the spicery,3
and silks of India and China on one side, and slaves, gold-dust;
ivory, corn, fine linen, robes and carpets on the other, being
the principal objects of traffic. The Arabian portion of the
route traversed by the Ishmaelites and Midianites4 was from
the head of the Persian Gulf, through the centre of the peninsula,
by the way of Kirjath Arba and Gaza, into Egypt. Another,
and no less important route, extended from Syria to the
ancient cities, of Mareb and Saba; from whence other routes
1 Captain Sadleir’s Journey, in the Bombay Lit. Trans., vol. I LI., p. 465.
3 Ibid., p. 467.
3 Particularly cinnamon (kinman) for burnt o f f e r i n g s ffi-Exod., chap. XXX.
v. 33. < Gen., chap. XXXVIII., v. 25-28.