Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/655

ARABIA G10 mah, the S. E. portion of Nedjed, bordering on El-Hadjar, Oman, and the great desert. The latter has been designated above as the district of Katar and Menasir, famous for its pearl fisheries. The S. and 8. E. portions of Arabia consist of an immense waste of sandy desert, the Dahna or Robat el-Kholy, "the abode of emptiness," which covers about one third of the entire peninsula. The sands, gener- ally of a reddish color and thrown up into mounds by the winds, present to the eye the appearance of a fiery sea suddenly solidified. There is a very strong resemblance, in almost every particular, between the Arabian desert and the African desert of Sahara. Ophthalmia is common in Arabia, owing probably to the ir- ritation produced upon the eye by the glare of the sand, and its almost constant presence in the atmosphere. A species of leprosy known as Arabian elephantiasis is also prevalent, and is attributed to the bad quality of food and water. The plague has occasionally visited the coast, but never penetrated into the inte- rior. A remarkable phenomenon in the central portions of Arabia, especially those bearing evidence of volcanic action, is the sand gulfs described by Baron von Wrede. These are large pits filled to the brim with a whitish impalpable powder. Von Wrede cast into one of them a sea lead, which sank so rapidly that he was obliged to let go the line, which, though of considerable length, instantly disap- peared. Palgrave is of opinion that the water- shed of central Arabia bears from N. N. W. to S. S. E. between Ion. 45 and 46 E. and lat. 29 and 24 N. Its greatest altitude is behind Jelajel in the province of Sedeyr in Nedjed, whence it gradually declines till lost in the southern des- ert. On each side of this ridge to the south also Arabia slopes coastward to the Persian gulf, Indian ocean, and Red sea, though with some local interruptions. The Sinaitic penin- sula is traversed by spurs from the Lebanon range. Mt. Seir and Tur Sinah (supposed to be Mt. Sinai) are its principal summits. Of the many islands which border the coast, the Bahrein isles in the Persian gulf and Socotra in the Indian ocean are the only important ones. Arabia has no considerable river. Its streams, taking their rise in the mountains, lose them- selves for the most part in the sands, or form deep ravines called by the natives wadys; they reach the sea only when swollen by the rains. The Sehan and the Kebir flow into the Red sea; the Meitan and the Moseira into the Indian ocean. Several of these are said by recent geographers to pursue a subterraneous course, for which the dense* clay which under- lies the sand, and the cavernous limestone, afford facilities, and to discharge into the sea at some distance from the shore. A recent German traveller relates that at certain points near the coast the sailors would spring over- board with their goat skins, and diving down would bring up fresh water from springs below the surface of the sea. In many parts little or no rain falls throughout the year. On the W. coast rains are periodical, occurring from June till September. On the S. and E. coasts, on the contrary, they occur during the winter months. In the desert the thermometer is generally above 100 F. during the night, 108 in the morning, and in the course of the day it rises to 110 and sometimes higher. The climate of Mecca is sultry and unwholesome ; at Medina it is much colder in winter and hot- ter in summer. At Mocha it averages from 90 to 95 in July; in Muscat from 92 to 102 during the day. In Pe~tra3a the diversity is much greater, the maximum in the upper re- gions being 75 in May, and in the lower country, particularly on the seashore, 102 to 105, and sometimes 110. In the desert, near the Euphrates, Griffith observed that it rose to 132 under his tent and to 156 when exposed to the sun's rays. The mountains consist of porphyry, jasper, quartz, sandstone, alabaster, basalt, marble, and limestone. The minerals are blue alabaster, agates, carnelians, tourma- lines, the emerald, the onyx, gypsum, saltpetre, sulphur, naphtha, asphaltum, iron, lead, and copper. Gold was formerly obtained in Ye- men, but the supply has long been exhausted. Mines of iron, lead, copper, and rock salt are still worked. Although but a small portion of Arabia is susceptible of cultivation, its vege- table productions have always been greatly famed. The date and other species of palm stud the oases of the desert. In Yemen the coffee tree yields the small Mocha berry. The balm tree (amyris opobalsamum), which fur- nishes the fragrant balm of Mecca, the acacia vera, which produces the gum arabic of com- merce, the cassia fistula or purging cassia, the aloe, and the olibanum or frankincense, are the most valuable of the products of the soil. The durra (sorghum vulgare), a species of millet, .which furnishes the chief article of food to the village Arabs, the sugar cane, wheat, barley, beans, rape, lentils, melons, gourds, oranges, lemons, pears, quinces, apricots, al- monds, peaches, grapes, tamarinds, and cocoa- nuts form the bulk of the other productions of the country. The methods of agriculture adopted by the Arabs are extremely rude, but owing to their industry, and the porous and friable character of the soil, which only needs water to make it yield abundantly in the more fertile regions, they succeed in raising very good crops. In many parts of Yemen ploughing is not attempted, but the ground is cultivated with a crowbar and hoe, as substitutes for the spade. Throughout nearly the whole country which is under cultivation, artificial irrigation is practised. At Muscat wheat and barley are sown in December and reaped in March. The horse is supposed by some to have originated here. The camel and the dromedary are na- tives of the Arabian deserts. The ass also originated in this country, and the onager or wild ass, though perhaps a different species, still roams in the deserts of Nedjed. There is