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Updated: June 24, 2025
The settlement-ruins, which the guide called El-Kantarah, lie further down upon a southern influent of the main line: they are divided into two blocks, one longer than the other. Lieutenant Amir made a careful plan of the remains, and then pushed forward to Shuwak by the direct track, westward of that taken by the caravan.
Negro quartz was evidently abundant; but we came to the conclusion that the rock mostly worked was, like that of Shuwak, a rosy, mauve-coloured schist, with a deep-red fracture, and brilliant colours before they are tarnished by atmospheric oxygen.
This projection will remain in sight until we reach Shuwak; and in places we shall see it backed by the basalts and lavas of the straightlined Harrah. Like yesterday's, the loose red sand is Hisma; and it is also scattered with Harrah lava. After a four hours' ride we halted to enable the caravan to come up.
Hence the Bedawin always give it precedence Shaghab wa Shuwak; moreover, we remarked a better style of building in the former; and we picked up glass as well as pottery. From Shaghab to Ziba ruins of El-Khandaki' and Umm Amil the Turquoise Mine-Return to El-Muwaylah.
At Shaghab, then, the metalliferous "Maru" brought from the adjacent granitic mountains was crushed, and then transported for roasting and washing to Shuwak, where water, the prime necessary in these lands, must have been more abundant. Possibly in early days the two settlements formed one, the single <Greek> of Ptolemy; and the south end would have been the headquarters of the wealthy.
They are subtended by one of many aqueducts, whose walls, two feet thick, showed no signs of brick: it is remarkable for being run underground to pierce a hillock; in fact, the system is rather Greek or subterranean, than Roman or subaerial. Still descending, we found the ancient or mediaeval wells, numbering about a dozen, and in no wise differing from those of Shuwak.
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.
We left Shuwak considerably posed, puzzled, and perplexed by what it had shown us. A little pottery had been picked up, but our diggings had not produced a coin or even a bit of glass. The evidences of immense labour are the more astonishing when compared with the utter absence of what we call civilization.
The ruins of Shaghab are built upon a more complicated site than those of Shuwak. The position is charming. The Wady Shaghab, flowing to the south, here spreads out in a broad bulge or basin open to the west. Down-stream we see a "gate" formed by the meeting of two rocky tongue-tips, both showing large works.
At Shuwak we allowed the camels a day of rest, whilst we planned and sketched, dug into, and described the ruins. A difficulty about drinking-water somewhat delayed us. The lower folds of the Sani' block also supply rain-pools; but here, again, the Arabs and their camels had left their marks.
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