Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

THE HEDJAZ RAILWAY. 343 with the French Hauran Railway running south from Damascus. A sharp twist to the south-east brings the metals to a junction with the main line at Deraa. As the map shows, a round route is then established between Deraa and Damascus, over the metals of the French and Hedjaz railways, both, of which have a common outlet to the sea. As soon as this link was completed a train service was inaugurated between Haifa and Damascus ; and an already considerable tourist traffic is increasing rapidly, as also the trade in agricultural produce raised in the province traversed by railway. From Deraa the line ascends gradually an undulating plateau to Zerka, where it drops into a deep valley, and climbs out of the same by a winding ascent on to another small fertile belt. As the line proceeds south- wards signs of civilization become fewer and fewer, and the sense of wild desolation more pronounced. Pursuing a course roughly parallel to the Travelling- Jordan, and almost identical wards. with the old caravan route, the railway traverses a country which is full of history and romance to the religious mind—as much so to the Christian as to the Mohammedan. Decayed ruins of a past civ- ilization and silent monuments of a long- departed prosperity are visible on all sides. At a point approximately abreast of the Dead Sea the railway enters a barren waste. A foot-traveller passing through this region must be astonished at encountering the steel rails and telegraph poles which mean easy communication with distant but more hos- pitable districts. The interminable level of * . . . •• __ I ~ Tt milll T.IIIIIIII ■■»I—IM—I i » k ■ »W ».vi® « l *111 MASONRY BRIDGE AND WATERFALL IN THE TEL-EL-SHIHAB, 90 MILES FROM HAIFA.