GARDENS and plantations, as I have already said, surround the
town of Medina, with its suburbs, on three sides, and to the eastward
and southward extend to the distance of six or eight miles. They consist
principally of date-groves and wheat and barley fields; the latter
usually enclosed with mud walls, and containing small habitations for
the cultivators. Their houses in the immediate neighbourhood of the town
are well built, often with a vestibule supported by columns, and a
vaulted sitting-room adjoining, and a tank cased with stone in front of
them. They are the summer residence of many families of the town, whomake it a custom to pass there a couple of months in the hottest season.