damah

Updated: June 2, 2025

We brought back details concerning the three great parallel Wadys; the Salma, the Damah, that "Arabian Arcadia," and the 'Aslah-Aznab. We dug into, and made drawings and plans of, the two principal ruined cities, Shuwak and Shaghab, which probably combined to form the classical <Greek>; and of the two less important sites, El-Khandaki and Umm Amil.

Sir Richard Francis Burton - The Land of Midian — Volume 2

Beyond these narrows the valley bends to the south-west and feeds the Wady Aznab, which falls into the sea south of the Damah. A little north of west rises profiled the great Sharr, no longer a ridge with a coping of four horns, but a tall and portly block, from whose summit spring heads and peaks of airy blue-pink.

Sir Richard Francis Burton - The Land of Midian — Volume 2

Fronting us rose the twin granitic peaks of Jebel Mutadan, one with a stepped side like an unfinished pyramid. They are separated from the Damah by a rough and stony divide; and ruins with furnaces are reported to be found in their valley-drain, which feeds the great Wady 'Amud.

Sir Richard Francis Burton - The Land of Midian — Volume 2

The Nile-drinkers turned up their fastidious noses at the supply, but Lieutenant Amir, who had graduated in the rough campaigning-school of the Sudan, pronounced it "regular." The nighting-place on the Damah was as pretty and picturesque as the Majra was tame and uncouth.

Sir Richard Francis Burton - The Land of Midian — Volume 2

"The landscape smiles Calm in the sun, and silent are the hills And valleys, and the blue serene of air." The latter still claim it as their northern limit; but the intrusive Egypto-Arabs have pushed their way far beyond this bourne. The head of the Damah, a great bay in the Hisma-wall to the east, is now in sight of us; and we shall pass its mouth, which debouches into the sea below Ziba.

Sir Richard Francis Burton - The Land of Midian — Volume 2

How is it that the annalists say nothing of them? that not a vestige of tradition remains concerning any race but the Nazarenes? From Shuwak to the Wady Damah there are two roads, a direct and an indirect; the latter passing by the ruins of Shaghab. The caravan begged hard to take the former, but was summarily refused.

Sir Richard Francis Burton - The Land of Midian — Volume 2

Lastly, a regular ascent, the Majra el-Waghir, fronts the city, sloping up to the west-north-west, and discloses a view of the Jibal el-Tihamah: this broad incline was, some three centuries ago, the route of the Hajj-caravan. We walked down the Shaghab valley-bed, whose sides, like those of the Damah, are chevaux de frise of dead wood.

Sir Richard Francis Burton - The Land of Midian — Volume 2