The town is supplied with sweet water by a fine subterraneous canal, carried hither from the village of Koba, about three quarters of an hour distant, in a southern direction, at the expense of Sultan Solyman, the son of Selym I. The water is abundant, and, in several parts of the town, steps are made down to the canal, where the inhabitants supply themselves with water, but are not, like the people of Mekka, obliged to pay for it. On the skirts of the Monákh, a large reservoir, cased with stone, has also been made, on a level with the canal, which is constantly kept full. The water in the canal runs at the depth of between twenty and twenty-five feet below the surface; it is derived from several springs at Koba, and, though not disagreeable to the taste, is nevertheless of bad quality. If left for half an hour in a vessel, it covers the sides of it with a white nitrous crust; and all foreigners, who are not accustomed to it from their earliest youth, complain of its producing indigestion. It is tepid at its source in Koba, and even at Medina slightly preserves its temperature. There are also many wells scattered over the town; every garden has one, by which it is irrigated; and wherever the ground is bored to the depth of twenty-five or thirty feet, water is found in plenty. Of some wells the water is sweet enough for drinking; of others quite brackish. The fertility of the fields and gardens is in proportion to the quality of the well-water; those irrigated with brackish water, repay badly the labour of their owners; the date-trees alone thriving equally well in any place. In addition to the water of the wells and the aqueduct, the town in winter time receives a supply from the considerable torrent called Seyl el Medina, or Seyl Bathán, which flows from S. to N. passing across the suburbs, and losing itself in a stony valley to the N.W. [All the neighbouring torrents lose themselves in a low ground in the western mountains, called El Ghába, and also El Zaghába. See Samhoudy.] A heavy rain for one night will fill its bed, though it usually decreases as fast [p.329] as it swells. In that part of the suburb, called El Ambarye, we find a good arched stone bridge thrown across its banks, where it is about forty feet in breadth. The neighbouring country abounds with similar torrents, which fill many ponds and low grounds, where the water often remains till the summer months: these, together with the wells, contribute to render the environs of this town celebrated for the abundance of water, surpassing, in this respect, perhaps, any other spot in northern Arabia, and which had made this a considerable settlement of Arabs, long before it became sacred among the Moslims, by the flight, residence, and death of Mohammed, to which it owes its name of Medina, or Medinet el Neby.