Jâḳût, Muʻǧam (Wüstenfeld), Vol. 4, p. 160, says that the island of Târân is dangerous to mariners proceeding from Ḳolzum to Ajla and that al-Ǧubejlât are situated not far from it.—These Ǧubejlât (little hills) perhaps denote the small islands projecting like hills above the surface of the sea to the east of Târân.
Al-Ḳazwîni, ʻAǧa’ib (Cairo, 1321 A. H.), Vol. 1, p. 179, remarks that the Beni Ǧaddân dwell upon the island of Târân, which is situated not far from Ajla and is about six miles long. The Beni Ǧaddân are engaged neither in agriculture nor in cattle breeding, have no fresh water, and live only on fish. For dwellings they make use of wrecked ships, and they beg bread and water from people who sometimes sail along the island. By this island there is a rocky spur of land, and near it a whirlpool. If a strong wind blows, it is divided in two by the spur and sweeps a vessel into one of two gulfs on opposite sides. When the wind blows out of these two gulfs, it causes a heavy sea to rise that drives a vessel into a whirlpool, from which it never escapes undamaged. This rocky spur is perhaps the modern Râs al-Ḳaṣba. The report given by al-Ḳazwîni recalls the statements of Diodorus, Bibl. hist., III, 43 (see above, pp. 303 and 304).
Al-Maḳrîzi, Mawâʻiẓ (Wiet), Vol. 1, p. 62, relates that in the Sea of Ḳolzum there are fifteen islands, of which four are inhabited.—As one of the inhabited islands is called an-Naʻmân, we see that his Sea of Ḳolzum denotes not only the Gulf of Suez but also the Red Sea, for the island of an-Naʻmân is situated at lat. 27° N. well to the south of the entrance of the Gulf of Suez.
CLASSICAL AUTHORITIES ON THE NORTHERN ḤEǦÂZ
Not many reports about the mainland of the Ḥeǧâz have been preserved to us in classical literature. The classical writers were unacquainted with the name Ḥeǧâz. They speak either of Arabia or Arabia Felix (Eudaimon).
According to Diodorus, op. cit., II, 48, Arabia extends between Syria and Egypt and is divided among numerous nations, differing one from the other. The eastern regions, consisting in part of a waterless desert, in which there is little fertile soil, are inhabited by the tribe of the Nabataeans. These people are engaged in robbery, ranging the surrounding neighborhood for plunder, and it is difficult to overcome them in war, because at suitable places in the waterless desert they have dug cisterns in such a way that no strangers can find them. These Arabs are very difficult to subdue and are still independent.—
Diodorus does not mean the whole of Arabia, but the Arabia later known as Petraea, to the east, south, and southwest of the Dead Sea on the borders between Syria and Egypt. According to him the Nabataeans owned the eastern strip of this Arabia, that is the mountains and plateaus connected with them east of the Dead Sea and east of the rift valley of al-ʻAraba. The cisterns which he mentions are the wells today known as mḳûr. These are usually dug out in the rocky soil to a depth of about four meters. They are pear-shaped and have a narrow neck which is generally covered by a large stone. The rain water from the surrounding rocky areas flows into this neck and falls through the