to the right and left of the road, and resembles lines of lava, but I had not an opportunity to examine it narrowly.[FN#15] Then we reached the gardens of Ohod, which reflect in miniature those of Kuba; and presently we arrived at what explained the presence of verdure and vegetable life,-a deep Fiumara full of loose sand and large stones denoting an impetuous stream.  It flows along the Southern base of Ohod, said to be part of the plain of Al-Madinah, and it collects the drainage of the high lands lying to the South and South-east.  The bed becomes impassable after rain, and sometimes the torrents overflow the neighbouring gardens.  By the direction of this Fiumara I judged that it must supply the Ghabbah or “basin” in the hills north of the plain.  Good authorities,

[p.425]however, informed me that a large volume of water will not stand there, but flows down the beds that wind through the Ghats westward of Al-Madinah, and falls into the sea near the harbour of Wijh.  To the south of the Fiumara is a village on an eminence, containing some large brick houses now in a ruinous state; these are the villas of opulent and religious citizens who visited the place for change of air, recreation, and worship at Hamzah’s tomb.  Our donkeys presently sank fetlock-deep in the loose sand of the torrent-bed.  Then reaching the Northern side, and ascending a gentle slope, we found ourselves upon the battle-field.

This spot, so celebrated in the annals of Al-Islam, is a shelving strip of land, close to the Southern base of Mount Ohod.  The army of the Infidels advanced from the Fiumara in crescent shape, with Abu Sufiyan, the general, and his idols in the centre.  It is distant about three miles from Al-Madinah, in a Northerly direction.[FN#16] All the visitor sees is hard gravelly ground, covered with little heaps of various coloured granite, red sandstone, and bits of porphyry, to denote the different places where the martyrs fell, and were buried.[FN#17] Seen from this point, there is something appalling in the look of the Holy Mountain.  Its seared and jagged flanks rise like masses of iron from the plain, and the crevice into which the Moslem host retired, when the disobedience of the archers in hastening to plunder enabled Khalid bin Walid to fall upon Mohammed’s rear, is the only break in the grim wall.  Reeking with heat, its surface produces

[p.426]not one green shrub or stunted tree; neither bird nor beast appeared upon its inhospitable sides, and the bright blue sky glaring above its bald and sullen brow, made it look only the more repulsive.  I was glad to turn away my eyes from it.