t, though geographically part of Arabia. It
is bounded on the E. by a line drawn from Ar Rafa, a few miles E. of
El Arish on the Mediterranean, to the head of the Gulf of Akaba; and
on the W. by the Suez Canal; its length from El Arish to its most
southern point is 240 m., and its breadth from Suez to Akaba is nearly
160 m. The greater part drains to the Mediterranean, from which the
land rises gradually to the summit of the Tih plateau. The deep
depression of Wadi Feran separates the Tih from the higher mass of
Sinai (q.v.), in which J. Katherine attains a height of 8500 ft.;
except in W. Feran there is little cultivable land, the greater part
consisting of bare, rocky hills and sandy valleys, sparsely covered
with tamarisk and acacia bushes. The Egyptian pilgrim road crosses the
peninsula from Suez to Akaba, passing the post of An Nakhl, with a
reservoir and a little cultivation, about half way; a steep descent
leads down from the edge of the Tih plateau to Akaba.

Syrian desert.

The rest of the northern borderland is covered by the Syrian desert,
extending from the borders of Palestine to the edge of the Euphrates
valley. This tract, known as the Hamad, is a gravelly plain unbroken
by any considerable range of hills or any continuous watercourse
except the Wadi Hauran, which in rainy seasons forms a succession of
pools from J. Hauran to the Euphrates. Its general slope is to the
north-east from the volcanic plateau of the Harra south of J. Hauran
to the edge of the Euphrates valley. The Wadi Sirhan, a broad
depression some 500 ft. below the average level of the Hamad, crosses
it from north-east to south-west between Hauran and Jauf; it has a
nearly uniform height above sea-level of 1850 ft., and appears to be
the bed of an inland sea rather than a true watercourse. Water is
found in it a few feet below the surface, and a little cultivation is
carried on at the small oases of Kaf and Ithri, whence salt produced
in the neighbouring salt lakes is exported. The W. Sirhan is
continuous with the depression known as the Jauf, situated on the
northern edge of the Nefud or Nafud, and the halfway station between
Damascus and Hail; and it is possible that this depression continues
eastward towards the Euphrates along a line a little north of the
thirtieth parallel, where wells and pasturages are known to exist.
Jauf is a small town consisting, at the