The settlement of al-ʻAḳaba has about thirty huts, inhabited by nineteen families who have emigrated from various countries and cities. The majority of the inhabitants are descendants of Egyptian soldiers and pilgrims who fell ill at al-ʻAḳaba, were cured, and married there. The huts are built of broken stone or unburnt brick. The only building of a higher type is the stronghold, which is constructed of square-hewn, black and white stones (Fig. 28). At each corner of the stronghold there is a round tower. A fine gateway in the center of the northern side leads into an extensive courtyard, along the walls of which there are stables, storehouses, and rooms for visitors and pilgrims. To the right and left of this gateway there are rosettes, and on the northeastern tower is a knight’s escutcheon (Fig. 29). On both walls of the broad passage formed by the gateway there are inscriptions announcing by whom and when the stronghold was restored. Today it again stands in need of restoration, for its northern and eastern walls are half in ruins.
The inhabitants of al-ʻAḳaba cultivate the date palm. They have excellent plantations to the south of the settlement, to the northwest near the ruins of ad-Dejr on the road to Egypt, and in the western part of al-ʻAraba. They assured me that they have more than three thousand date palms. Under the palms they grow figs, pomegranates, sweet lemons, and various kinds of vegetables. The gardens do not provide them with a living, as they nearly all belong to the chiefs of neighboring tribes, for whom they are cultivated in return for a half or a third of the yield. The settlers seek a livelihood in trade, conveying and selling various goods which are brought by the coasting traders or sailors on ships from Egypt. In the Wâdi al-ʻOḳfi the soil can be cultivated, and the harvests there are abundant when there has been plenty of rain and water has been flowing through the wâdi for a considerable time. In this valley the inhabitants rent allotments from the Ḥêwât, sowing the land with wheat and barley and living in tents beside their fields during the periods of sowing and of harvest. After the harvest they return to al-ʻAḳaba with the threshed corn.
vicinity of this stronghold. In former times Ajla had a small fortress on the island [a small island (not shown on the map) situated near the western shore of the gulf and not explored by me]; but this also was abandoned, and the Egyptian governor resided in the above-mentioned stronghold. For records of the history of the harbor of Ajla, see Musil, Arabia Petraea, Vol. 2, Part 1, p. 305, note 16.
