It would have been desirable to go farther, but as a matter of fact Ernest Berg, the Aramco geologist who had just traversed this country, said that there was no appreciable difference in the terrain as far as the Wadi Ar'Ar.

On the following day, according to the schedule, the C-47 airplane was to arrive from Dhahran to pick up the party and start the aerial reconnaissance, but a radio message was received indicating that there would be a day or two delay. (When Berg's camp was picked up and incorporated in the reconnaissance his radio station went along. A V-shaped antenna focused on Dhahran was strung at each place where camp was made for the night). The party therefore decided to drive south up the Wadi Khurr as far as the Great Nefud, first, in order to see whether Route "B" along the northern border of the Nefud looked feasible at that point and second, to see whether a cross over from Route "A" to Route "B" (dashed line on Map No. 1) would be feasible. None of the Aramco staff had previously explored the Wadi Khurr, and its course south of Duwaid was unknown. It was found to be a broad depression, containing several grassy spots. One of these in particular was occupied by hundreds of sheep, scores of camels, and dozens of Bedu tents. The Wadi Khurr is damned In several places by natural dikes that have obviously not been distrubed for hundreds and perhaps thousands of years. In other words, it is a dead wadi, which does not drain the country.

Fig. 22 Wadi Khurr

An escarpment was found along the northern edge of the Nef ud., but apparently there was a feasible pipe line route south of this escarpment just as at Lina. (Fig. 23) To all appearances-an eastwest route in this area between the northern plains and the Nefud would be unfeasible since broken hard rock country was encountered outside of the Wadi (Fig. 24). Of course, the reconnaissance was not sufficient to determine positively that no good cross route exists) but the party believes it is unlikely in this area.