Such are the characteristics of the country round Ukhaiḍir. The ṭâr, standing over the low ground of the khabrâ, bounds the view to the east; to the north-east, across the Wâdi al-Ubaiḍ, the gypsum hillocks lead down to the Ḥabbâniyyeh depression; to the north-west a few shallow desert wâdis cross the path to Shethâthâ; to south and west stretches the immense expanse of the Syrian desert, broken only by the small group of the Djebel Ḍaba’. It is, however, by no means certain that in the seventh and eighth centuries, that is to say, at the period during which it is probable that the palace was built, the local conditions were the same as they are at present. It is indeed likely that the Ḥabbâniyyeh depression contained at that time more water than it does now, that the lake of Abû Dibs stretched across a considerable part of it, and that its margin approached nearer to Ukhaiḍir. The scrub and reed round the edge of the lake would have given cover for water fowl, for boar and other wild animals, and the lords of Ukhaiḍir, when they went out to the chase, would have had an ample supply of game. Moreover the oasis of Shethâthâ was certainly a more important place then than it is at present, for all its 160,000 palm-trees.[11] There can be no doubt that it occupies the site of ‘Ain al-Tamr, famous in the days of the Persian kings[12]--that same oasis which Khâlid ibn al-Walîd took and sacked in the year A.H. 12. It is my belief that the Mohammadan invasion did not diminish its importance, and in proof I would adduce the evidence afforded by the khân of ‘Aṭshân and the landmark tower of Mudjḍah, showing that from Kûfah to ‘Ain al-Tamr there must have been a direct caravan road across the desert. Muqaddasi, writing in the year A.D. 985, describes ‘Ain al-Tamr as a little castle;[13] Yâqût, who mentions the name Shefâthâ as part of ‘Ain al-Tamr, praises its dry dates above those of other towns,[14] and to this day they maintain that honourable pre-eminence. Ukhaiḍir, then, with the marshy haunts of game a mile or two from its gates, and a much-frequented oasis three hours to the north, presented in the eighth century advantages which it no longer enjoys now that the waters have retreated to the confines of the modern Abû Dibs, and the traffic of Shethâthâ has shrunk to an occasional small caravan of merchant and citizen passing along the Kerbelâ track, or the visit of a ragged crew of Beduin date-buyers. Yet it is difficult to conjure up any picture but that of isolation when, after a weary struggle through sand or marsh, according to the season, the gaunt walls and towers of the palace rear themselves out of the solitudes of the desert--in all that barren waste sole vestige of mortal energy, of the fleeting splendour of mankind. (Plate 6, Fig. 1).