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Title: The Land of Midian, Vol. 1
Author: Richard Burton
Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7111]
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Edition: 10
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAND OF MIDIAN, VOL. 1 ***
Produced by JC Byers and proofread by MaryAnn Short.
The Land of Midian (Revisited).
By Richard F. Burton.
In Two Volumes.
Vol. I.
C. Kegan Paul & Co.
London:
1879.
To the Memory of My Much Loved Niece,
Maria Emily Harriet Stisted,
Who Died at Dovercourt,
November 12, 1878.
"Gold shall be found, and found
In a land that's not now known."
MOTHER SHIPTON, A.D. 1448.
PREFACE.
A few pages by way of "Forespeache."
The plain unvarnished tale of the travel in Midian, undertaken by
the second Expedition, which, like the first, owes all to the
liberality and the foresight of his Highness Ismail I., Khediv of
Egypt, forms the subject of these volumes. During the four months
between December 19, 1877, and April 20, 1878, the officers
employed covered some 2500 miles by sea and land, of which 600,
not including by-paths, were mapped and planned; and we brought
back details of an old-new land which the civilized world had
clean forgotten.
The public will now understand that one and the same subject has
not given rise to two books. I have to acknowledge with gratitude
the many able and kindly notices by the Press of my first volume
("The Gold Mines of Midian," etc. Messrs. C. Kegan Paul & Co.,
1878). But some reviewers succeeded in completely
misunderstanding the drift of that avant courier. It was an
introduction intended to serve as a base for the present more
extensive work, and--foundations intended to bear weight must be
solid. Its object was to place before the reader the broad
outlines of a country whose name was known to "every schoolboy,"
whilst it was a vox et praeterea nihil, even to the learned,
before the spring of 1877. I had judged advisable to sketch, with
the able assistance of learned friends, its history and
geography; its ethnology and archaeology; its zoology and
malacology; its botany and geology. The drift was to prepare
those who take an interest in Arabia generally, and especially in
wild mysterious Midian, for the present work, which, one foresaw,
would be a tale of discovery and adventure. Thus readers of "The
Land of Midian (Revisited)" may feel that they are not standing
upon ground utterly unknown; and the second publication is
shortened and lightened--perhaps the greatest advantage of
all--by the prolegomena having been presented in the first.
The purpose of the last Expedition was to conclude the labours
begun, during the spring of 1877, in a mining country unknown, or
rather, fallen into oblivion. Hence its primary "objective" was
mineralogical. The twenty-five tons of specimens, brought back to
Cairo, were inspected by good judges from South Africa,
Australia, and California; and all recognized familiar
metalliferous rocks. The collection enabled me to distribute the
mining industry into two great branches--(1) the rich silicates
and carbonates of copper smelted by the Ancients in North Midian;
and (2) the auriferous veins worked, but not worked out, by
comparatively modern races in South Midian, the region lying
below the parallel of El-Muwaylah. It is, indeed, still my
conviction that "tailings" have been washed for gold, even by men
still living. We also brought notices and specimens of three
several deposits of sulphur; of a turquoise-mine behind Ziba; of
salt and saltpetre, and of vast deposits of gypsum. These are
sources of wealth which the nineteenth century is not likely to
leave wasted and unworked.
In geography the principal novelties are the identification of
certain ruined cities mentioned by Ptolemy, and the "Harrahs" or
plutonic centres scattered over the seaboard and the interior. I
venture to solicit the attention of experts for my notes on
El-Harrah, that great volcanic chain whose fair proportions have
been so much mutilated by its only explorer, the late Dr. Wallin.
Beginning with Damascan Trachonitis, and situated, in the
parallel of north lat. 28 degrees, about sixty direct miles east
of the Red Sea, it is reported to subtend the whole coast of
North-Western Arabia, between El-Muwaylah (north lat. 27 degrees
39') and El-Yambu' (north lat. 24 degrees 5'). Equally noticeable
are the items of information concerning the Wady Hamz, the
"Land's End" of Egypt, and the most important feature of its kind
in North-Western Arabia. Its name, wrongly given by Wallin, is
unknown to the Hydrographic Chart, and to the erudite pages of my
friend Professor Aloys Sprenger, who, however, suspects with me
that it may be the mouth of the celebrated Wady el-Kura. For
further topographical details the reader is referred to the
"Itineraries" of the Expedition, offered to the Royal
Geographical Society of London.
Some of the principal sites were astronomically determined by
Commanders Ahmed Musallam and Nasir Ahmed, of the Egyptian navy.
The task of mapping and planning was committed to the two young
Staff-lieutenants sent for that purpose. They worked well in the
field; and their sketches were carefully executed whilst under my
superintendence. But it was different when they returned to
Cairo. The maps sent to the little Exposition at the Hippo-drome
(see conclusion) were simply a disgrace to the Staff-bureau. My
departure from Egypt caused delay; and, when the chart reached
me, it was far from satisfactory: names had been omitted, and
without my presence it could not have been printed. With the able
assistance of Mr. William J. Turner, of the Royal Geographical
Society, who found the work harder than he expected, it has been
reduced to tolerable shape. Still, it is purely provisional; and,
when mining operations shall begin, a far more careful survey
will be required.
As regards archaeology, the second Expedition visited, described,
and surveyed eighteen ruins of cities and towns, some of
considerable extent, in North Midian, besides seeing or hearing
of some twenty large Mashghal, apparently the ateliers of vagrant
Gypsy-like gangs. This total of thirty-eight is not far short of
the forty traditional Midianite settlements preserved by the
mediaeval Arab geographers. Many others are reported to exist in
the central or inland region; and fifteen were added by the South
Country, including the classical temple or shrine, found upon the
bank of the Wady Hamz before mentioned. The most interesting
sites were recommended to M. Lacaze, whose portfolio was soon
filled with about two hundred illustrations, in oil and
water-colours, pencil croquis and "sun-pictures." All, except the
six coloured illustrations which adorn this volume, have been
left in Egypt. His Highness resolved to embody the results of our
joint labours in a large album, illustrated with coloured
lithographs, maps, and plans, explained by letter-press, and
prepared at the Citadel, Cairo.
The Meteorological Journal was kept by myself, assisted at times
by Mr. Clarke. Mr. David Duguid, engineer of the Mukhbir, whose
gallant conduct will be recorded (Chap. VIII.), and Commander
Nasir Ahmed, of the Sinnar, obliged me by registering
simultaneous observations at sea-level. The whole was reduced to
shape by Mr. W. J. Turner, of the Royal Geographical Society.
My private collection of mineralogical specimens was deposited
with Professor M. H. N. Story-Maskelyne. The spirit-specimens of
zoology filled three large canisters: and the British Museum also
received a hare and five birds (Mr. R. B. Sharpe); four bats
(Rhinopoma) and a mouse; six reptiles, five fishes, thirty-five
crustaceans, and about the same number of insects; five
scorpions, six leeches, sixty molluscs, four echinoderms, and
three sponges. Dr. A. Gunther (Appendix III.) determined and
named two new species of reptiles. Mr. Frederick Smith (Appendix
III.) took charge of the insects. Mr. Edward J. Miers, F. L.S.,
etc., described the small collection of crustaceae (Annals and
Magazine of Natural History for November, 1878). Finally, Edgar
A. Smith examined and named the shells collected on the shores of
the 'Akabah Gulf and the north-eastern recess of the Red Sea.
The main interest of the little hortus siccus was the Alpine
Flora, gathered at an altitude of five thousand feet above
sea-level. The plants were offered to Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker,
of Kew; and Professor D. Oliver, of the Herbarium, has kindly
furnished me with a list of the names (Appendix IV.). Mr. William
Carruthers and his staff also examined the spirit-specimens of
fleshy plants (Appendix IV.).
Mr. Reginald Stuart Poole, Keeper of Coins and Medals, and Mr.
Barclay V. Head were good enough to compare with their rich
collections the coins of ancient Midian found (Chap. III.), for
the first time, at Maghair Shu'ayb[EN#1]. Some years ago, Mr.
Robert Ready, of the British Museum, had bought from a Jew, Yusuf
Kalafat (?), a miscellaneous collection, which included about
sixty of the so-called Midianitic coins. But the place of
discovery is wholly unknown. The Assistant Keeper read a paper
"On Arabian Imitations of Athenian Coins," Midianitic,
Himyaritic, and others, at a meeting of the Numismatic Society
(November 21, 1878); and I did the same at the Royal Asiatic
Society, December 16, 1878. The little "find" of stone
implements, rude and worked; and the instruments illustrating the
mining industry of the country, appeared before the
Anthropological Section of the British Association, which met at
Dublin (August, 1878), and again before the Anthropological
Institute of London, December 10, 1878.
Finally, the skulls and fragments of skulls from Midian were
submitted to Professor Richard Owen, the Superintendent of
Natural History; and my learned friend kindly inspected the
Egyptian and Palmyrene crania which accompanied them. The whole
was carefully described by Dr. C. Carter Blake, Ph.D., before the
last-named seance of the Anthropological Institute (December 10,
1878).
The tons of specimens brought to Cairo were, I have said,
publicly exhibited there, and created much interest. But the
discovery of a mining-country, some three hundred miles long,
once immensely wealthy, and ready to become wealthy once more, is
not likely to be accepted by every one. Jealous and obstructive
officials "did not think much of it." Rivals opposed it with even
less ceremony. A mild "ring" in Egypt attempted in vain to run
the Hamamat and Dar-For mines (Chap. III.) against Midian.
Consequently the local Press was dosed with rumours, which,
retailed by the home papers, made the latter rife in
contradictory reports. To quote one case only. The
turquoise-gangue from Ziba (Chap. XII.) was pronounced, by the
inexpert mineralogists at the Citadel, Cairo, who attempted
criticism, to be carbonate of copper, because rich silicates of
that metal were shown at the Exposition. No one seemed to know
that the fine turquoises of Midian have been sold for years at
Suez, and even at Cairo.
There was, indeed, much to criticise in the collection, which had
been made with a marvellous carelessness. But we must not be hard
upon M. Marie. He is an engineer, utterly ignorant of mineralogy
and of assaying: he was told off to do the duty, and he did it as
well as he could--in other words, very badly. He neglected to
search for alluvial gold in the sands. Every Wady which cuts, at
right angles, the metalliferous maritime chains, should have been
carefully prospected; these sandy and quartzose beds are natural
conduits and sluice-boxes. But the search for "tailings" is
completely different from that of gold-veins, and requires
especial practice. The process, indeed, may be called purely
empirical. It is not taught in Jermyn Street, nor by the Ecole
des Mines. In this matter theory must bow to "rule of thumb:" the
caprices of alluvium are various and curious enough to baffle
every attempt at scientific induction. Thus the "habits" of the
metal, so to speak, must be studied by experiment with patient
labour, the most accomplished mineralogist may pass over rich
alluvium without recognizing its presence, where the rude
prospector of California and Australia will find an abundance of
stream-gold. Evidently the proportion of "tailings" must
carefully be laid down before companies are justified in
undertaking the expensive operation of quartz-crushing. Hence M.
Tiburce Morisot, a practical digger from South Africa, introduced
at Cairo by his compatriot, M. Marie, to my friend M. Yacoub
Artin Bey, found a fair opportunity of proposing to his Highness
the Khediv (October, 1878) a third Expedition in search of
sand-gold. The Viceroy, however, true to his undertaking, refused
to sanction any "interloping."
The highly distinguished M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, when en route
to Paris, kindly took charge of some cases of specimens for
analysis. But the poorest stuff had been supplied to him by M.
Marie; and the results, of which I never heard, were probably
nil. The samples brought to England, by order of his Highness the
Khediv, were carefully assayed. The largest collection was
submitted to Dr. John Percy, F.R.S. Smaller items were sent to
the well-known houses, Messrs. Johnston and Matthey, of Hatton
Garden, and Messrs. Edgar Jackson and Co., Associates of the
Royal School of Mines (fourteen samples). Finally, special
observations were made by Mr. John L. Jenken, of Carrington,
through Mr. J. H. Murchison, of "British Lead Mines," etc., etc.,
etc.; by Lieut.-Colonel Ross, the distinguished author of
"Pyrology;" and by Lieut.-Colonel Bolton, who kindly compared the
rocks with those in his cabinet. M. Gastinel-Bey's analysis of
the specimens brought home by the first Expedition will be found
at the end of Chap. VIII.
The following is the text of Dr. Percy's report:--
Metallurgical Laboratory, Royal School of Mines,
Jermyn Street, London Dec 13 1878.
Dear Sir,
I now send the results of the analytical examination of the specimens
which you submitted to me for that purpose. The examination has been
conducted with the greatest care, in the metallurgical laboratory of the
Royal School of Mines, by Mr. Richard Smith, who, for the last thirty
years, has been constantly engaged in such work; and in whose accuracy I
have absolute confidence. It is impossible that any one should have taken
greater interest in, or have devoted himself with greater earnestness to,
the investigation. I have almost entirely confined myself to a statement
of facts, as I understand that was all you required for the guidance of
his Highness the Khedive.
Section 1.
Examination of the mineral specimens contained in the boxes marked as
under.
(An average representative sample of each specimen, of about six pounds
in weight, was prepared for examination from portions broken off, or
otherwise taken, by Mr. Richard Smith at the Victoria Docks.[EN#2]
No. 1. "Box 22," Quartz from Mugnah (Makna). Quartz coloured black and
red-brown with oxides of iron. These were of two varieties, marked 22a
and 22b respectively.
No. 2. The magnetic ironstone (22a) was examined and found to contain of--
Peroxide of iron (per cent.). . . .85.29
Protoxide of iron (per cent.) . . . 9.83
Silica (quartz)(per cent.). . . . . 3.28
The oxides of iron together contain of metallic iron 66.8 per cent.
No. 3. The micaceous ironstone (22b) was examined and found to contain of
Peroxide of iron (per cent.). . . . 91.0
Silica. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.52
The peroxide of iron contains of metallic iron 63.7 per cent.
No. 4. "Box No. 14," Quartz from Mugnah, gave no results.
No. 5. "Box No. 27," Iron from Mugnah, proved to be haematite (which is
magnetic), with some red-brown oxide of iron and quartz. It was found to
contain of--
Peroxide of iron (per cent.). . . .75.46
Protoxide of iron (per cent.) . . . 4.69
The oxides of iron together contain of metallic iron 56.4 per cent.
No. 6. "Box No. 7," Conglomerate from Mugnah, yielded no results.
No. 7 "Box No. 25," Quartz from Mugnah. This quartz, veined and coloured
black and red-brown with oxides of iron, was assayed with the following
results:--
Gold and Silver . . . . . . . None[EN#3]
Nos. 8 and 9. "Boxes Nos. 50 and 37,"[EN#4] Quartz and red dust from
Mugnah, yielded no results.
No. 10. "Box No. 37a," Sulphur from Mugnah. Lumps of sulphur,
crystallized and massive, irregularly distributed through a white, dull,
porous rock. The latter was examined, and found to be hydrated sulphate
of lime (gypsum), with a small quantity of magnesia; some of the lumps of
rock were coloured with oxides of iron, and others intermixed with sand.
Nos. 11. and 12. "Boxes Nos. 3 and 6," Black quartz and white quartz from
the Jebel el-Abyaz, gave no results except a small portion of copper
pyrites in a lump of quartz (Box No. 6).
No. 13. "Box No. 47," Quartz from El-Wedge (Wijh), gave only oxide of
iron.[EN#5]
No. 14. "Box No. 5," Red quartz from El-Wedge, a quartz with red-brown
oxide of iron and earthy substances, was assayed with the following
results:--
Gold (per statute ton = 3240 lbs.)2 dwts. 15 grs.
Silver. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Traces.
No. 15. "Box No. 16," Mica schist from El-Wedge. This mica-schist
undergoing decomposition from weathering action, mixed with small lumps
of quartz, was assayed with the following results :--
Gold (per statute ton). . . . .6 grains.
Silver. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Traces.
No. 16. "Box No. 32," White quartz from El-Wedge. This quartz coloured with
red-brown oxide of iron, mixed with mica-schist, was assayed with the
following results:--
Gold (per statute ton). .3 dwts. 22 grs.
Silver. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Traces.
No. 17. "Box No. 48,"[EN#6] Red sulphur from Sharm Yaharr, was found to
have the following composition, while it was free from "native sulphur":--
Peroxide of iron (per cent. ) . . .44.36
Sand, clay, carbonates and sulphates of lime and
magnesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14.90
Salts soluble in water, chiefly alkaline
chlorides and chlorites, and sulphates of lime
and magnesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29.70
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11.40
_______
100.00
No. 18. "Box No. 48a," Gypsum from Sharm Yaharr. Partly semi-transparent
and granular, and partly dull white and opaque. It was found to be
hydrated sulphate of lime, or gypsum, with carbonate of lime, and some
sand, magnesia, and chloride of sodium.
No. 19 "Box No. 35," Dust and stones from Sharma, yielded no results.
Section 2.
Examination of the mineral specimens contained in a box sent from Egypt.
As the specimens were unlabelled, they were marked A, B, C, D, E, F, G,
H, and I, respectively.
No. 21. A. "Copper ore." A fair average specimen was prepared for
examination from the several lumps of ore and marked a.
a. It was submitted to analysis, and found to contain carbonates of lime
and magnesia; silica, alumina, and oxides of iron; and of--
Copper (metallic) . . . .5.72 per cent.
b. A portion of the copper mineral, from which the rock or vein-stuff had
been detached as far as practicable, was found to consist of impure
hydrated silicate of copper (bluish-green chrysocolla) and carbonate of
copper. It was assayed and found to contain of--
Copper (metallic) . . . .23.14 per cent.
No. 22. "B." A lump of soft, ochrey red-brown ironstone, coated with a thin
layer of greyish white substance. A fair average sample, inclusive of this
external layer, was prepared for examination, and was found to consist of
Peroxide of iron (per cent. ) . . .81.14
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.50
Silica. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.07
Sulphuric acid, lime, magnesia, alumina 4.29
_____
100.00
The peroxide of iron contains 56.8 per cent. of metallic iron. The
greyish white substance was found to consist of silica, alumina, sulphate
of lime, and a little oxide of iron and magnesia.
No. 23. "C." Lump of red ironstone associated with sand and earthy
substances, containing
Peroxide of iron (per cent.). . . 68.09
Water of iron (per cent.) . . . . . 1.93
Silica and sand . . . . . . . . . .18.17
Lime, magnesia (in small quantity), alumina,
carbonic acid, sulphuric acid (traces) .11.81
______
100.00
The peroxide of iron contains 47.66 of metallic iron.
No. 24. "D." Lump of white quartz said to contain visible gold. I did not
observe any, but found a few minute specks of pyrites, and partially
resembling mica.
No. 25. Lump of quartz associated with red-brown oxide of iron. It
yielded no results.
No. 26. Lump of rock in which the "turquoise" occurs. There was a thin
layer of greenish blue turquoise mineral on one surface, and minute seams
of a similar substance throughout the specimen.
a. The layer of turquoise mineral, from which the rock or vein-stuff had
been detached as far as practicable, was found to contain phosphoric
acid, alumina, oxide of copper, oxide of iron, and water; which occur in
turquoise.
b. After the layer a had been separated, a fair average sample of the
rock was found to contain 1.69 per cent. of metallic copper. It was also
assayed and found to be free from silver[EN#7] and gold.
No. 27. "G." A variety of jasper, having a somewhat polished, and
irregular and deeply indented surface, the result of sand-action. The
fractured surface was red, with patches of yellow. It was found to
consist chiefly of silica, coloured with oxides of iron.
No. 28. "H." Lump of "sard," of a pale-red flesh colour. A variety of
chalcedony. It was found to consist almost entirely of silica[EN#8].
No. 29. "I." Lumps of pure ironstone.
A small lump of metal[EN#9], supposed to contain antimony[EN#10] and
platinum, was brought for examination by Captain R. F. Burton. It was
submitted to analysis, and found to be iron and combined carbon, or white
cast-iron, containing small quantities of lead, copper, and silver, and
free from antimony, platinum, and gold. It is evidently the product of a
fusion operation. A few "shots" of lead were attached to the surface of
the metal[EN#11].
Dr. Percy concludes the assays in these words:--
Three of the specimens (Nos. 14, 15, and 19) from the same
locality contain gold. The amount of gold, however, is small. I
consider these indications of the presence of the precious metal
not altogether unsatisfactory; and certainly to justify further
exploration. My conviction is, that the ancients were adepts in
the art of extracting gold, and that, owing to the small value of
human labour, they could get out as much of the metal as could
now be done. They knew perfectly what was worth working and what
was not; and I think it likely that what you have brought home,
had been rejected by the ancients as unworkable[EN#12]. Further
search may lead to the discovery of workable stuff; but would
doubtless require a good deal of time, unless lucky accident
should intervene.
The specimens Nos. 2, 3, 5, 22, and 23 contain sufficient iron to
render them available as iron ores, provided they occur in large
quantity. The copper present in No. 21a is too small in amount to
render it available as a source of that metal [Footnote: Analyses
of copper ore from Midian at the Citadel, Cairo, gave in certain
cases forty percent.]. If it is practicable on a large scale, by
hand-labour or other means, to separate the "copper mineral" (as
in b), it would be sufficiently rich in copper, provided the cost
of the transit were not too great.
The specimen No. 17 is only of scientific interest, as it gives
off an acid vapour when heated; and this substance may have been
used by the ancients in the separation of silver from gold by the
process termed "cementation."
I remain, dear Sir, yours very truly,
(Signed) JOHN PERCY, M.D., F.R.S.
Lecturer on Metallurgy at the Royal School of Mines, London.
Capt. R. F. Burton, etc.
Upon this able report I would offer the following observations.
We, who have travelled through a country like Midian, finding
everywhere extensive works for metallurgy; barrages and
aqueducts, cisterns and tanks ; furnaces, fire-bricks, and
scoriae; open mines, and huge scatters of spalled quartz, with
the remains of some eighteen cities and towns which apparently
fell to ruin with the industry that founded and fed them;--we, I
say, cannot but form a different and a far higher idea of its
mineral capabilities than those who determine them by the simple
inspection of a few specimens. The learned Dr. Percy at once hits
the mark when he surmises that worthless samples were brought
home; and this would necessarily occur when no metallurgist, no
practical prospector, was present with the Expedition. As will
appear from the following pages, all the specimens were collected
a ciel ouvert, and wholly without judgment.
I therefore expect that future exploration will develop Midian as
it has done India. The quartzose outcrop called the "Wynaad reef"
(Madras Presidency) produced only a few poor penny-weights per
ton, two and seven being the extremes, while much of it was
practically unproductive. Presently, in February, 1878, the
district was visited by Sir Andrew Clarke, of Australian
experience, member of the Viceregal Council. He invited Mr.
Brough Smyth, of Victoria, to explore and test the capabilities
of the country; and that eminent practical engineer discovered,
in an area of twenty-five by thirteen miles, ninety outcrops,
some yielding, they say, two hundred ounces per ton of gold, fine
and coarse, "with jagged pieces as large as peas." And British
India now hopes to draw her gold coinage from Wynaad.
I conclude this abstract of the book, which would have been
reduced in size had the mass of matter permitted, with the
heartfelt hope that the grand old Land of Midian will not be
without attraction to the public of Europe.
RICHARD F. BURTON.
ATHENAEUM CLUB,
December 16.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
The March Through Madyan Proper
(North Midian).
Chapter I. Preliminary--from Trieste to Midian
Chapter II. The Start--from El Muwaylah to the "White
Mountain" and 'Aynunah
Chapter III. Breaking New Ground to Maghair Shu'ayb
Chapter IV. Notices of Precious Metals in Midian--the Papyri
and the Mediaeval Arab Geographers
Chapter V. Work At, and Excursions From, Maghair Shu'ayb
Chapter VI. To Makna, and Our Work There--the Magani or
Maknawis
Chapter VII. Cruise from Makna to El'akabah
Chapter VIII. Cruise from El'akabah to El Muwaylah--the
Shipwreck Escaped--resume of the Northern Journey
PART II
The March Through Central and Eastern Midian.
Chapter IX. Work in and Around El Muwaylah
Chapter X. Through East Midian to the Hisma
PART I.
The March Through Madyan Proper
(North Midian).
Chapter I.
Preliminary--from Trieste to Midian.
Throughout the summer of 1877 I was haunted by memories of
mysterious Midian. The Golden Region appeared to me in the glow
of primaeval prosperity described by the Egyptian hieroglyphs; as
rich in agriculture and in fertility, according to the old
Hellenic travellers, as in its Centres of civilization, and in
the precious metals catalogued by the Sacred Books of the
Hebrews. Again I saw the mining works of the Greek, the Roman,
and the Nabathæan, whose names are preserved by Ptolemy; the
forty cities, mere ghosts and shadows of their former selves,
described in the pages of the mediaeval Arab geographers; and the
ruthless ruin which, under the dominion of the Bedawin, gradually
crept over the Land of Jethro. The tale of her rise and fall
forcibly suggested Algeria, that province so opulent and splendid
under the Masters of the World; converted into a fiery wilderness
by the representatives of the "gentle and gallant" Turk, and
brought to life once more by French energy and industry. And such
was my vision of a future Midian, whose rich stores of various
minerals will restore to her wealth and health, when the two
Khedivial Expeditions shall have shown the world what she has
been, and what she may be again.
I was invited to resume my exploration during the winter of
1877-78, by the Viceroy of Egypt, Ismail I., a prince whose
superior intelligence is ever anxious to develop the resources of
his country. His Highness was perhaps the only man in his own
dominions who, believing in the buried wealth of Midian, had the
perspicacity to note the advantages offered by its exploitation.
For the world around the Viceroy pronounced itself decidedly
against the project. My venerable friend, Linant Pasha, suggested
a comparison with the abandoned diggings of the Upper Nile;
forgetting that in at least half of Midian land, only the
"tailings" have been washed: whereas in the Bishárí country, and
throughout the "Etbaye," between the meridians of Berenike and
Sawákín, the very thinnest metallic fibrils have been shafted and
tunnelled to their end in the rock by those marvellous labourers,
the old Egyptians. In the Hamámát country, again, the excessive
distances, both from the Nile and from the Red Sea, together with
the cost of transport, must bar all profit. Even worse are the
conditions of Fayzoghlú and Dár-For; whilst the mines of Midian
begin literally at the shore.
Another Pasha wrote to me from Alexandria, congratulating me upon
having discovered, during our first Expedition, "a little copper
and iron." Generally, the official public, knowing that I had
brought back stones, not solid masses of gold and silver, loudly
deplored the prospective waste of money; and money, after the
horse-plague, the low Nile, and the excessive exigencies of the
short-sighted creditor, was exceptionally scarce. The truly
Oriental view of the question was taken by an official, whom I
shall call Árif Pasha--the "Knowing One." When told that M.
George Marie, the Government engineer detailed to accompany the
first Expedition, had sent in official analyses with sample tubes
of gold and silver, thus establishing the presence of auriferous
and argentiferous rocks on the Arabian shore, Son Excellence
exclaimed, "Imprudent jeune homme, thus to throw away the chances
of life! Had he only declared the whole affair a farce, a flam, a
sell, a canard, the Viceroy would have held him to be honest, and
would have taken care of his future."
Still, through bad report the Khediv, who had mastered, with his
usual accuracy of perception and judgment, the subject of Midian
and her Mines, was staunch to his resolve; and when one of his
European financiers, a Controleur Général de Dépenses, the normal
round peg in the square hole, warned him that there were no
public funds for such purpose, his Highness warmly declared, on
dit, that the costs of the Expedition should be defrayed at his
own expense.
Meanwhile I had passed the summer of 1877 in preparation for the
work of the ensuing winter. A long correspondence with many
learned friends, and a sedulous study of the latest geographers,
especially German, taught me all that was known of mining in
Arabia generally, and particularly in Midian. During my six
months' absence from Egypt my vision was fixed steadily upon one
point, the Expedition that was to come; and when his Highness was
pleased to offer me, in an autograph letter full of the kindest
expressions, the government of Dár-For, I deferred accepting the
honour till Midian had been disposed of.
Unhappily, certain kindly advisers persuaded me to make well
better by a visit to Karlsbad, and a course of its alkaline
"Fountains of Health." Never was there a greater mistake! The air
is bad as the water is good; the climate is reeking damp, like
that of Western Africa; and, as in St. Petersburg, a plaid must
be carried during the finest weather. Its effects, rheumatic and
neuralgic, may be judged by the fact that the doctors must walk
about with pocketed squirts, for the hypodermal injection of
opium. Almost all those whom I knew there, wanting to be better,
went away worse; and, in my own case, a whole month of Midian
sun, and a sharp attack of ague and fever were required to burn
out the Hexenschuss and to counteract the deleterious effects of
the "Hygeian springs."
At last the happy hour for departure struck; and on October 19,
1877, the Austro-Hungarian Espero (Capitano Colombo) steamed out
of Trieste. On board were Sefer Pasha, our host of Castle
Bertoldstein; and my learned friends, the Aulic Councillor Alfred
von Kremer, Austrian Commissioner to Egypt, and Dr. Heinrich
Brugsch-Bey. The latter gave me a tough piece of work in the
shape of his "Ægypten," which will presently be quoted in these
pages. It would be vain to repeat a description of the little
voyage described in "The Gold-Mines of Midian." The Dalmatian, or
first day; the second, or day of Corfu loved and lost; and the
third, made memorable by Cephalonia and the glorious Canale, all
gave fine smooth weather. But the usual rolling began off
still-vexed Cape Matapan. It lasted through the fourth day, or of
Candia, this insula nobilis et amæna--
"Crete, the crown of all the isles, flower of Levantine waters"
--while the fifth, or Mediterraneo-Alexandrian day, killed two of
the seventeen fine horses, Yuckers and Anglo-Normans, which Sefer
Pasha was conveying to Cairo.
On Thursday morning (October 25), after rolling through the night
off the old port Eunostus, which now looks brand-new, we landed,
and the next day saw me at Cairo. Such was my haste that I could
pay only a flying visit to the broken beer-bottles, the burst
provision-tins, the ice-plants, and the hospitable society of
Ramleh the Sand-heap; and my many acquaintances had barely time
to offer their congratulations upon the prospects of my "becoming
an Egyptian."
My presence at the capital was evidently necessary. A manner of
association for utilizing the discoveries of the first Expedition
had been formed in London by the Messieurs Vignolles, who knew
only the scattered and unofficial notices; issued, without my
privity, by English and continental journals. Their
representative, General Nuthall, formerly of the Madras army, had
twice visited Cairo, in August and October, 1877, seeking a
concession of the mines, and offering conditions which were
perfectly unacceptable. The Viceroy was to allow, contrary to
convention, the free importation of all machinery; to supply
guards, who were not wanted; and, in fact, to guarantee the
safety of the workmen, who were perfectly safe. In return, ten
per cent. on net profits, fifteen being the royalty of the Suez
Canal, was the magnificent inducement offered to the viceregal
convoitise. I could not help noting, by no means silently, this
noble illustration of the principle embodied in Sic vos non
vobis. I was to share in the common fate of originators,
discoverers, and inventors: the find was mine, the profits were
to go--elsewhere. General Nuthall professed inability to regard
the matter in that light; while to all others it appeared in no
other. However, after a few friendly meetings, the representative
left Egypt, with the understanding that possibly we might work
together when the exploration should have been completed. His
Highness, who had verbally promised me either the concession or
four per cent. on gross produce, acted en prince, simply
remarking that the affair was in my hands, and that he would not
interfere with me.
I must not trouble the reader with the tedious tale of the pains
and the labour which accompany the accouchement of such an
Expedition. All practicals know that to organize a movement of
sixty men is not less troublesome--indeed, rather more so--than
if it numbered six hundred or six thousand. The Viceroy had
wisely determined that we should not only carry out the work of
discovery by tracing the precious metals to their source; but,
also, that we should bring back specimens weighing tons enough
for assay and analysis, quantitive and qualitive, in London and
Paris. Consequently, miners and mining apparatus were wanted,
with all the materials for quarrying and blasting: my spirit
sighed for dynamite, but experiments at Trieste had shown it to
be too dangerous. The party was to consist of an escort numbering
twenty-five Súdán soldiers of the Line, negroes liberated some
two years ago; a few Ma'danjiyyah ("mine-men"), and thirty
Haggárah ("stone-men" or quarrymen).
The Government magazines of Cairo contain everything, but the
difficulty is to find where the dispersed articles are stored:
there is a something of red-tapeism; but all is plain sailing,
compared with what it would be in Europe. The express orders of
his Highness Husayn Kámil Pasha, Minister of Finance and Acting
Minister of War, at once threw open every door. Had this young
prince not taken in the affair a personal interest of the
liveliest and most intelligent nature, we might have spent the
winter at Cairo. And here I cannot refrain from mentioning,
amongst other names, that of Mr. Alfred E. Garwood, C.E.,
locomotive superintendent; who, in the short space of four
months, has introduced order and efficiency into the chaos known
as the Bulák magazines. With his friendly cooperation, and under
his vigorous arm, difficulties melted away like hail in a
tropical sun. General Stone (Pasha), the Chief of Staff, also
rendered me some assistance, by lending the instruments which
stood in his own cabinet de travail.[EN#13]
Poor Cairo had spent a seedy autumn. The Russo-Turkish campaign,
which had been unjustifiably allowed, by foreign Powers, to drain
Egypt of her gold and life-blood--some 25,000 men since the
beginning of the Servian prelude--not only caused "abundant
sorrow" to the capital, but also frightened off the stranger-host,
which habitually supplies the poorer population with sovereigns
and napoleons. The horse-pest, a bad typhus, after raging in 1876
and early 1877, had died out: unfortunately, so had the horses;
and the well-bred, fine-tempered, and high-spirited little
Egyptians were replaced by a mongrel lot, hastily congregated
from every breeding ground in Europe. The Fellahs, who had
expected great things from the mission of MM. Goschen and
Joubert, asked wonderingly if those financiers had died; while a
scanty Nile, ten to twelve feet lower, they say, than any known
during the last thousand years, added to the troubles of the
poor, by throwing some 600,000 feddans (acres) out of gear, and
by compelling an exodus from the droughty right to the left bank.
Finally, when the river of Egypt did rise, it rose too late, and
brought with it a feverish and unwholesome autumn. Briefly, we
hardly escaped the horrors of Europe--
"Herbstesahnung! Triste Spuren
In den Wäldern, auf den Fluren!
Regentage, böses Wetter," etc.
Meanwhile, in the Land of the Pharaohs, whose scanty interest
about the war was disguised by affected rejoicings at Ottoman
successes, the Prophet gallantly took the field, as in the days
of Yúsuf bin Ishák. This time the vehicle of revelation was the
learned Shayhk (má? ) Alaysh, who was ordered in a dream by the
Apostle of Allah (upon whom be peace!) to announce the victory of
the Moslem over the Infidel; and, as the vision took place in
Jemádi el-Akhir (June), the first prediction was not more
unsuccessful than usual. Shortly afterwards, the same reverend
man again dreamt that, seeing two individuals violently
quarreling, with voies de fait, he had hastened, like a true
believer, to separate and to reconcile them. But what was his
surprise when the brawlers proved to be the Sultan and the Czar,
the former administering condign personal punishment to his
hereditary foe. This, the enlightened Shaykh determined, was a
sign that in September the Osmanli would be gloriously
triumphant. Nor was he far wrong. The Russians, who had begun the
campaign, like the English in India, with a happy contempt both
for the enemy and for the elementary rules of war, were struck
with a cold fit of caution: instead of marching straight upon and
intrenching themselves in Adrianople, they vainly broke their
gallant heads against the improvised earthworks of Plevna. And
ignorant Europe, marvelling at the prowess of the "noble Turk,"
ignored the fact that all the best "Turkish" soldiers were Slavs,
originally Christians, renegades of old, unable to speak a word
of Turkish; preserving their Bosniac family-names, and without
one drop of Turkish blood in their veins. Sulayman Pashás army
was about as "Turkish" as are the Poles or the Hungarians.
Not the less did Cairo develop the normal season-humours of the
Frank. Among the various ways of "doing the Pyramids," I
registered a new one: Mr. A---- , junior, unwilling wholly to
neglect them, sent his valet with especial orders to stand upon
the topmost plateau. The "second water" of irrigation made
November dangerous; many of the "Shepheards" suffered from the
Ayán el-Mulúk, the "Evil of Kings" (gout), in the gloomy form as
well as the gay; and whisky-cum-soda became popular as upon the
banks of the Thames and the Tweed. As happens on dark days, the
money-digger was abroad, and one anecdote deserves record. Many
years ago, an old widow body had been dunned into buying, for a
few piastres, a ragged little manuscript from a pauper Maghrabi.
These West Africans are, par excellence, the magicians of modern
Egypt and Syria; and here they find treasure, like the Greeks
upon the shores of the Northern Adriatic. Perhaps there may be a
basis for the idea; oral traditions and written documents
concerning buried hoards would take refuge in remote regions,
comparatively undisturbed by the storms of war, and inhabited by
races more or less literary. At any rate, the Maghrabi Darwaysh
went his ways, assuring his customer that, when her son came of
age, a fortune would be found in the little book. And true
enough, the boy, reaching man's estate, read in its torn pages
ample details concerning a Dafi'nah (hoard) of great value. He
was directed, by the manuscript, to a certain spot upon the
Mukattam range, immediately behind the Cairene citadel, where the
removal of a few stones would disclose a choked shaft: the latter
would descend to a tunnel, full of rubbish, and one of the many
sidings would open upon the golden chamber. The permission of
Government was secured, the workmen began, and the directions
proved true--"barring" the treasure, towards which progress was
still being made. Such was the legend of Cairo, as recounted to
me by my good friend, Yacoub Artin Bey; I can only add to it,
Allaho A'alam!--Allah is all-knowing!
The sole cause of delay in beginning exploration was the want of
money; and this, of course, even the Prince Minister of Finance
could not coin. Egypt, the fertile, the wealthy, the progressive,
was, indeed, at the time all but insolvent. At the suggestion of
foreigners, "profitable investments," which yielded literally
nothing, had been freely made for many a year, and the sole
results were money difficulties and debt. The European financiers
had managed admirably for their shareholders; but, having assumed
the annual national income at a maximum, instead of a minimum,
they had brought the goose of the golden eggs to the very verge
of death. The actionnaires were to receive, with a punctuality
hardly possible in the East, the usurious interest of six per
cent., not including one per cent. for sinking fund. Meanwhile,
the officers and officials, military, naval, and civil, had been
in arrears of salary for seven to fifteen months; and even the
Jews refused to cash at any price their pay certificates.
Nothing could be more unwise or unjust than the exactions of the
creditors. Men must live; if not paid, they perforce pay
themselves; and thus, of every hundred piastres, hardly thirty
find their way into the treasury. Ten times worse was the
condition of the miserable Felláhín, who were selling for three
or four napoleons the bullocks worth fifteen per head. Thus they
would tide over the present year; but a worse than Indian famine
was threatened for the following. And the "Bakkál," at once petty
trader and money-lender, whose interest and compound interest
here amount, as in Bombay, to hundreds per cent., would complete
the ruin which the "low Nile" and the Christian creditor had
begun.
A temporary reduction of interest to three per cent., with one
per cent of amortization, should content the greedy shareholder,
who seeks to combine high profits with perfect security. During
November, 1877, there were five M.P.'s at Shepheard's; and all
cried shame upon the financial condition of the country. Sir
George Campbell opened the little game. In his "Inside View of
Egypt" (Fortnightly Review, Dec., 1877) he drew a graphic picture
of the abnormal state of poor Egypt; he expressed the sensible
opinion that, in the settlement, the claims of the bond-holders
have been too exclusively considered, and he concluded that no
more payments of debt-interest should be made until official
arrears are discharged.
At last the Phare d'Alexandrie (November 29, 1877), doubtless
under official inspiration, put forth the following article,
greatly to the satisfaction of the unfortunate employés:--
"Si nos renseignements particuliers sont exacts, le comité des
finances vient de prendre une excellente décision. Elle consiste
en ce que, aussitôt l'argent pour le paiement du prochain coupon,
préparé, le ministe're, avant tout autre, procédera au paiement
des appointements arriérés des employés.
"Nous apprenons, on outre, que S. A. le ministre des finances,
même, a déclaré, molu proprio, que jusqu'au complet paiement des
arriérés dûs aux employés, et dans le cas oú il se présenterait
une dépense de grande importance, prévue même par le budget, de
ne pas en ordonner le paiement sans, au préalable, le sommettre à
l'adhésion du comité.
"Nous applaudissons de toutes nos forces à cette bonne nouvelle
d'abord, parcequ'elle affirme une fois de plus la scrupuleuse
exactitude qu'on apporte au paiement des coupons, ensuite elle
prouve le vif intérèt qu' inspire au gouvernement la situation de
ses nombreux employés, enfin elle nous fait espérer qu'après
avoir songé à eux, on s'occupera aussi à payer les autres sommes
portées et pre'vues au budget de l'année."
Accordingly, on December 2nd, the Prince Minister of Finance took
heart of grace, and distributed among the officials one month's
pay, with a promise that all arrears should presently be made
good. On the same day his Highness issued to the Expedition 2000
napoleons, in addition to the 620 already expended upon
instruments and provisions. This was the more liberal, as I had
calculated the total at 1500: the more, however, the better. In
such work it is money versus time, the former saving the latter;
and we were already late in the year--it had been proposed to
start on November 15th, and we had lost three precious weeks of
fine autumnal weather. The stores were equally abundant: I wanted
one forge, and received three.
Of course, many details had been forgotten; e.g., a farrier and
change of mule-irons, a tinsmith and tinning tools, a
sulphur-still, boots for the soldiers and the quarrymen, small
shot for specimens, and so forth. I had carried out my idea of a
Dragoman with two servants; and the result had been a model
failure, especially in the most important department. The true
"Desert cook" is a man sui generis; he would utterly fail at the
Criterion, and even at Shepheard's; but in the wilderness he will
serve coffee within fifteen minutes, and dish the best of dinners
within the hour after the halt.
Mr. Clarke and Lieutenant Amir worked with a will; and they were
ably seconded by Colonel Ali Bey Robi and Lieutenant-Colonel (of
the Staff) Mohammed Bey Báligh. But the finishing touch to such
preparations must be done by the master hand; and my unhappy
visit to Karlsbad rendered that impossible. The stores and
provisions were supplied by MM. Voltéra Brothers, of Cairo: I
cannot say too much in their praise; and the packing was as good
as the material. M. Gross, of Shepheard's, was good enough to let
me have a barrel of claret; which improved every week by
travelling, and which cost only a franc a bottle: it began as a
bon ordinaire, and the little that returned to Cairo ranked with
a quasi-grand vin, at least as good as the four-shilling Medoc.
Finally, Dr. Lowe, of Cairo, kindly prepared for us a medicine
chest, containing about £10 worth of the usual drugs and
appliances--calomel, tartar emetic, and laudanum; blister,
plaster, and simple ointment.[EN#14]
A special train was made ready for Thursday, December 6th; and,
at ten a.m., after taking leave of their Highnesses, who
courteously wished me good luck and God-speed, the Expedition
found itself under weigh. We were accompanied to the station by
many kind friends: my excellent kinsman Lord Francis, and Lady F.
Conyngham, Yacoub Artin Bey, General Stone, and MM. George,
Garwood, Girard, and Guillemine.
The change from the damp air of Cairo to the drought of the
Desert was magical: light ailments and heavy cares seemed to fall
off like rags and tatters. We halted at Zagázig, remarking that
this young focus of railway traffic has become the eastern key of
Lower Egypt, as Benhá is to the western delta; and prophesying
that some day, not far distant, will see the glories of Bubastis
revived. Here we picked up my old friend Haji Wali, whom age--he
declares that he was born in the month Mízán of 1797--had made
only a little fatter and greedier. We gave a wide berth to the
future Alexandria, Ismailíyyah, whose splendid climate has been
temporarily spoilt by the sweet-water canal of the same name. The
soil became literally sopped; and hence the intermittent fevers
which have lately assailed it. A similar disregard for drainage
has ingeniously managed to convert into pest-houses Simla and
other Himalayan sanitaria.
The day ended with running the train into the Suez Docks, so as
to embark all our impediments on the next morning; and I fondly
expected Saturday to see us sail. But the weather-wise had been
true in their forecasts. Friday opened with howling, screaming
gusts of southerly wind; and, during the night we were treated to
a fierce display of storm,--thunder and lightning, and rain. The
gale caused one collision on the Canal, and twenty-five steamers
were delayed near the Bitter Lake; it broke down the railway and
sanded it up for miles, and it levelled fifty English and forty
Egyptian telegraph-posts--an ungentle hint to prefer the
telephone. Saturday, the beginning of winter, opened with a cold
raw souther and a surging sea, which washed over the Dock-piers;
in such weather it was impossible to embark ten mules without
horse-boxes. On Sunday the waves ran high, but the gale fell
about sunset to a dead calm; as usual in the Gulf, the breakers
and white horses at once disappeared; and the slaty surface,
fringed with dirty yellow, immediately reassumed its robes of
purple and turquoise blue. The ill wind, however, had blown us
some good by deluging with long-hoped-for rain the now barren
mountains of Midian.
This "Fortuna," according to the people, sets in with the fourth
Coptic month, Kayhak,[EN#15] which begins the first Arba'ín
("Forty-day period"); and the fourth day is known as the Imtizáj
el-Faslayn, or "Mixture of the two Seasons"--autumn and winter.
The storm is expected to blow three days from the Azyab
(south-east) or from the Shirs (south-west). The qualities of the
several winds are described in the following distich:--
"Mirísi Shaytán, wa Gharbi Wazírhu;
Tiyáb Sultán, wa Sharki Nazírhu."
"The south-wester's a Satan, and the wester's his minister;
The norther's a Sultan, and the easter's his man."
On the other hand, fair weather was predicted after the first
quarter of the moon (December 12th), according to the saying of
the Arab sailor:--
"When the moon sleeps, the seaman may sleep;
When the moon stands, the seaman must stand."
The "sleeping" moon--náim or rákid, also called Yemáni--is that
of the first quarter, which we mark concave to the left; the
"standing" moon is that of the last.
Our stay at Suez was saddened by the sudden death of Marius
Isnard, who had acted cook to the first Khedivial Expedition. The
poor lad, aged only eighteen, had met us at the Suez station,
delighted with the prospect of another journey; he had neglected
his health; and, after a suppression of two days, which he madly
concealed, gangrene set in, and he died a painful death at the
hospital during the night preceding our departure.
On December 10th we ran down from Suez Quay in the Bird of the
Sea (Tayr el-Bahr), the harbour mouche, or little steam-launch,
accompanied by the Governor, Sa'íd Bey, who has not yet been made
a Pasha; by Mr. Consul West; by the genial Ra'íf Bey, Wakíl
el-Komandaníyyah or acting commodore of the station; by Mr.
Willoughby Faulkner, my host at Suez; by the Messieurs Levick,
and by other friends. In the highest spirits we boarded our
"gun-carriage," the aviso Mukhbir (Captain Mohammed Siráj); and,
after many mutual good wishes, we left the New Docks at 6.10 p.m.
Nothing could be more promising than the weather, a young moon
mirrored in a sea smooth as oil. The "Giver of Good News"
(El-Mukhbir), however, for once failed in her mission. She had
lately conducted herself well upon a trial trip round the Zenobia
lightship ("Newport Rock").[EN#16] But the two Arab firemen who
acted engineers, worn-out grey-beards that hated the idea of four
months on the barbarous Arabian shore, had choked the tubes with
wastage, and had filled the single boiler, taking care to plug
up, instead of opening, the relief-pipe. The consequence was that
the engines sweated at every pore; steam instead of water
streamed from the sides; and the chimney discharged, besides
smoke, a heavy shower of rain. The engine (John Jameson,
engineer, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1866), a good article, in prime
condition as far as a literally rotten boiler would allow,
presently revenged itself by splitting the air-pipe of the
condenser from top to bottom; and after two useless halts the
captain reported to me that we must return to Suez. What a
beginning! The fracture somewhat relieved the machinery; we did
better work after than before the accident, but we were ignobly
towed into dock by the ship's boats.
A telegram with a procès-verbal was at once sent off to the
Prince; Sa'íd Bey and Ra'íf Bey hastened to our aid, and Mr.
Williams, superintending engineer of the Khedivíyyah line, with
the whole of his staff, stripped and set to work at the peccant
tubes and air-pump. They commenced with extinguishing a serious
fire which burst from the waste-room--by no means pleasant when
close to kegs of blasting-powder carefully sewn up in canvas.
They laboured with a will, and before sunset Mr. Williams
informed us that he would guarantee the engines for eight days,
when we were starting on a dangerous cruise for four months. He
also supplied us with an Egyptian boiler-maker and with eleven
instead of sixty new tubes: we lost forty-two of the old ones
between Suez and El-Muwaylah. Before sunset we made a trial trip,
the wretched old kettle acting tant bien que mal; we returned to
re-embark the soldiers and the mules, and we set out for the
second time at 5.30 p.m.
The Mukhbir, 130 feet long, 380 tons, and 80 to go horse-power,
under charge of the English or rather Scotch engineer, Mr. David
Duguid, who had taken the place of the two Arab firemen, began
with 7 1/2 knots an hour, 68 revolutions per minute, and a
pressure of 9 lbs. to the square inch. The condenser-vacuum was
26 inches (30 being complete)--13 lbs. Next morning the rate
declined to six miles in consequence of the boiler leaking, and
matters became steadily worse. As a French writer says of the
genre humain, we were placed, not entre le bien et le mal, but
entre le mal et le pire. After sundry narrow escapes in the Gulf
of 'Akabah, we were saved, as will be seen, by a manner of
miracles. Briefly, the Mukhbir caused us much risk, heartburn,
and loss of time.
Seven a.m. (December 11th) found us crossing the Birkat
Fara'ún--Pharaoh's Gulf--some sixty miles from the great port.
Its horrors to native craft I have already described in my
"Pilgrimage." Between this point and Ras Za'faránah, higher up,
the wind seems to split: a strong southerly gale will be blowing,
whilst a norther of equal pressure prevails at the Gulf-head, and
vice versâ. Suez, indeed, appears to be, in more ways than one, a
hydrographical puzzle. When it is low water in and near the
harbour, the flow is high between the Straits of Jobal and the
Daedalus Light; and the ebb tide runs out about two points across
the narrows, whilst the flood runs in on a line parallel with it.
Finally, when we returned, hardly making headway against an angry
norther, Suez, enjoying the "sweet south," was congratulating the
voyagers upon their weather.
The loss of a good working day soon made itself felt. The north
wind rose, causing the lively Mukhbir, whose ballast, by-the-by,
was all on deck, to waddle dangerously for the poor mules; and it
was agreed, nem. con., to put into Tor harbour. We found
ourselves at ten a.m. (December 12th) within the natural pier of
coralline, and we were not alone in our misfortune; an English
steamer making Suez was our companion. This place has superseded
El Wijh as the chief quarantine station for the return
pilgrimage; and I cannot sufficiently condemn the change.[EN#17]
The day lagged slowly, as we
"Walked in grief by the merge of the many-voiced
sounding sea."
But we looked in vain for our "tender," a Sambúk of fifty tons,
El-Musahhil (Rais Ramazan), which Prince Husayn had thoughtfully
sent with us as post-boat. She disappeared on the evening of the
11th, and she did not make act of presence until the 16th, when
her master was at once imprisoned in the fort of El-Muwaylah.
Moreover, the owner, Mohammed Bukhayt, of Suez, who had received
£90 as advance for three months--others said £60 for
four--provided her with only a few days' provisions, leaving us
to ration his crew.
A wintry norther in these latitudes is not easily got rid of.
According to the people, here, as in the 'Akabah Gulf, it lasts
three days, and dies after a quiet noon; whereas on the 13th,
when we expected an escape, it rose angrily at one p.m. I was
much cheered by the pleasant news of M. Bianchi, the local
Deputato di Sanità, who assured us that a pernicieuse was raging
at El-Muwaylah, and that it was certain death to pass one night
in the fort. The only fire that emitted all this smoke was the
fact that during the date-harvest of North-Western Arabia, July
and August, agues are common; and that at all seasons the well
water is not "honest," and is supposed to breed trifling chills.
In the Prairies of the Far West I heard of a man who rode some
hundreds of miles to deliver himself of a lie. Nothing like
solitude and the Desert for freshening the fancy. Another
individual who was much exercised by our journey was Khwájeh
Konstantin, a Syrian-Greek trader, son of the old agent of the
convent, whose blue goggles and comparatively tight pantaloons
denoted a certain varnish and veneer. It is his practice to visit
El-Muwaylah once every six months; when he takes, in exchange for
cheap tobacco, second-hand clothes, and poor cloth, the coral,
the pearls fished for in April, the gold dust, the finds of coin,
and whatever else will bring money. Such is the course and custom
of these small monopolists, who, at "Raitha" and elsewhere, much
dislike to see quiet things moved.
At length, after a weary day of far niente, when even le sommeil
se faisait prier, we "hardened our hearts," and at nine p.m., as
the gale seemed to slumber, we stood southwards. The Mukhbir
rolled painfully off Ras Mohammed, which obliged us with its own
peculiar gusts; and the 'Akabah Gulf, as usual, acted wind-sail.
A long détour was necessary in order to spare the mules, which,
however, are much less liable to injury, under such
circumstances, than horses, having a knack of learning to use
sea-legs.
The night was atrocious; so was the next morning; but about noon
we were cheered by the sight of the glorious mountain-walls of
well-remembered Midian, which stood out of the clear blue sky in
passing grandeur of outline, in exceeding splendid dour of
colouring, and in marvellous sharpness of detail. Once more the
"power of the hills" was on us.
Three p.m. had struck before we found ourselves in broken water
off the fort of El-Muwaylah, where our captain cast a single
anchor, and where we had our first escape from drifting upon the
razor-like edges of the coralline reefs. In fact, everything
looked so menacing, with surging sea around and sable
storm-clouds to westward, that I resolved upon revisiting our old
haunt, the safe and dock-like Sharm Yáhárr. Here we entered
without accident; and were presently greeted by the Sayyid 'Abd
el-Rahím, our former Káfilah-báshi, who had ridden from
El-Muwaylah to receive us. The news was good: a truce of one
month had been concluded between the Huwaytát and the Ma'ázah,
probably for the better plundering of the pilgrims. This year the
latter were many: the "Wakfah," or standing upon Mount Ararat,
fell upon a Friday; consequently it was a Hajj el-Akbar, or
"Greater Pilgrimage," very crowded and very dangerous, in more
ways than one.
I had given a free passage to one Sulaymán Aftáhi, who declared
himself to be of the Beni 'Ukbah, when he was a Huwayti of the
Jeráfín clan. After securing a free passage and provision gratis,
when the ship anchored, he at once took French leave. On return I
committed him to the tender mercies of the Governor, Sa'íd Bey.
The soldiers, the quarry-men, and the mules were landed, and the
happy end of the first stage brought with it a feeling of intense
relief, like that of returning to Alexandria. Hitherto everything
had gone wrong: the delays and difficulties at Cairo; at Suez,
the death of poor Marius Isnard and the furious storm; the
break-down of the engine; the fire in the wasteroom; and, lastly,
the rough and threatening gale between the harbour and
El-Muwaylah. What did the Wise King mean by "better is the end of
a thing than the beginning thereof"? I only hope that it may be
applicable to the present case. In the presence of our working
ground all evils were incontinently forgotten; and, after the
unusual dankness of the Egyptian capital, and the blustering
winds of the Gulf and the sea, the soft and delicate air of the
Midian shore acted like a cordial. For the first time after
leaving Alexandria, I felt justified in taper de l'oeil with the
clearest of consciences.
The preliminary stage ended with disembarking at the Fort,
El-Muwaylah, all our stores and properties, including sundry
cases of cartridges and five hundred pounds of pebble-powder,
which had been stored immediately under the main cabin and its
eternal cigarettes and allumettes. The implements, as well as the
provisions, were made over to the charge of an old Albanian, one
Rajab Aghá, who at first acted as our magazine-man for a
consideration of two napoleons per month, in advance if possible.
This done, the Mukhbir returned into the dock Yáhárr, in order to
patch up her kettle, which seemed to grow worse under every
improvement. We accompanied her, after ordering a hundred camels
to be collected; well knowing that as this was the Bairam, 'Id,
or "Greater Festival," nothing whatever would be done during its
three days' duration.
The respite was not unwelcome to me; it seemed to offer an
opportunity for recovering strength. At Cairo I had taken the
advice of a learned friend (if not an "Apostle of Temperance," at
any rate sorely afflicted with the temperance idea), who, by
threats of confirmed gout and lumbago, fatty degeneration of the
heart and liver, ending in the possible rupture of some valve,
had persuaded me that man should live upon a pint of claret per
diem. How dangerous is the clever brain with a monomania in it!
According to him, a glass of sherry before dinner was a poison,
whereas half the world, especially the Eastern half, prefers its
potations preprandially; a quarter of the liquor suffices, and
both appetite and digestion are held to be improved by it. The
result of "turning over a new leaf," in the shape of a phial of
thin "Gladstone," was a lumbago which lasted me a long month, and
which disappeared only after a liberal adhibition of "diffusible
stimulants."
It required no small faith in one's good star to set out for a
six weeks' work in the Desert under such conditions. My
consolation, however, was contained in the lines attributed to
half a dozen who wrote good English:--
"He either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small,
Who dares not put it to the touch,
To gain or lose it all."
This time, however, Mind was tranquil, whatever Matter might
suffer. As the novelist says, "Lighting upon a grain of gold or
silver betokens that a mine of the precious metal must be in the
neighbourhood." It had been otherwise with my first Expedition: a
forlorn hope, a miracle of moral audacity; the heaviest of
responsibilities incurred upon the slightest of justifications,
upon the pinch of sand which a tricky and greedy old man might
readily have salted. It reminds me of a certain "Philip sober,"
who in the morning fainted at the sight of the precipice which he
had scaled when "Philip drunk." I look back with amazement upon
No. I.
NOTE.
The second Khedivial Expedition to Midian was composed of the
following officers and men. The European staff numbered four, not
including the commander, viz.:--
M. George Marie, of the État-Major, Egyptian army, an engineer
converted into a geologist and mineralogist; he was under the
orders of his Highness Prince Husayn Pasha.
Mr. J. Charles J. Clarke, telegraphic engineer, ranking as major
in Egypt, commissariat officer.
M. Émile Lacaze, of Cairo, artist and photographer.
M. Jean Philipin, blacksmith.
Besides these, Mr. David Duguid,--not related to "Hafed, Prince
of Persia,"--chief engineer of the gunboat Mukhbir (Captain
Mohammed Síráj), accompanied us part of the way on temporary
leave, and kindly assisted me in observing meteorology and in
making collections.
The Egyptian commissioned officers numbered six, viz.:--
Ahmed Kaptán Musallam, commander in the navy, and ranking as
Sakulághási (major). He had been first officer in the Sinnár, and
he was sent to make astronomical observations; but he proved to
be a confirmed invalid.
Of the Arkán-Harb (Staff) were:--
Lieutenant Amir Rushdi, who had accompanied me before.
Lieutenant Yusuf Taufik.
Lieutenant Darwaysh Ukkáb, of the Piyédah or infantry. He was
also a great sufferer on a small scale.
Sub-Lieutenant Mohammed Farahát, of the Muhandism (Engineers), in
charge of the Laggámgiyyah or Haggárah (blasters and quarrymen).
He ended by deserting his duty on arrival at Cairo.
The non-commissioned officers, all Egyptians, amounted to
seven:--
Bulúk-amín (writer) Mohammed Sharkáwi (infantry).
Chawush (serjeant) 'Atwah El-Ashírí (infantry).
Chawush (serjeant) Mabrúk Awadh (quarryman); deserted at Cairo.
Onbáshi (corporal) Higázi Ammár (Staff).
Onbáshi (corporal) Mohammed Sulaymán (infantry) : also our
barber, and a good man.
Onbáshi (corporal) Mahmu'd Abd el-Rahmán (infantry): I had to put
him in irons.
Onbáshi (corporal) Ibráhím Hedíb.
There were three Nafar (privates) of the Staff:--
'Ali 'Brahim Ma'danji, generally known as Ali Marie, from the
officer whom he served; a hard-working man, over-devoted to his
master. I recommended him for promotion.
Ramazán Ramazán.
Hasan Mohammed. He proved useful, as he brought with him all the
necessary tools for mending saddles.
The twenty-five privates of infantry were emancipated negroes, a
few being from the Súdán; composed of every tribe, it was a
curious mixture, good, bad, and indifferent. Some were slaves who
had been given, in free gift, by their owners to the Mírí
(Government), and men never part with a good "chattel," except
for a sufficient cause. As will be seen, many of the names are
"fancy":--
Sayyid Ahmed El-Tawíl.
Yúsuf Faragallah (Faraj-Allah).
Farag 'Ali.
Sa'íd Hasan Básha'. His owner was a Fellah called Hasan
Báshá--peasants often give this title as a name to a boy who is
born under fortunate circumstances. Sa'íd was a fat, jolly
fellow, a Sidi Bháí from the Mrímá, or mainland of Zanzibar, who
had wholly forgotten his Kisawáhílí. Corporal Mahmúd was punished
for keeping him eighteen hours on guard. He was one of the very
few to whom I gave "bakhshísh" after returning to Cairo.
Sa'íd El-Sa'id.
Mirsal Ginaydi.
Mabrúk Rizk.
Abdullah Mohammed Zaghúl.
Sa'íd Katab.
Faragallah Sharaf el-Dín.
Farag Sálih.
Surúr Mustafá.
Salámat el-Nahhás; an excellent and intelligent man, who was
attached to the service of M. Lacaze. He distinguished himself by
picking up antiques, until his weakness, the Dá el-Faranj, found
him out.
Farag Ahmed Bura'í.
Farag Mohammed Amín.
Mirgán Sulaymán.
'Abd el-Maulá.
Mohammedayn.
Mabrúk Hasan Osmán.
Khayr Ramazán, a large and sturdy negro, from Dár-Wadái, with
long cuts down both sides of his face; a hard-working and
intelligent soldier, who naturally took command of his fellows. I
made him an acting corporal, and on return recommended him for
promotion.
Fadl 'Allah 'Ali el-Kholi, a Shillúk, one of the worst tribes of
the Upper Nile, whom it is forbidden to enlist. He began by
refusing to obey an order, he pushed an officer out of his way,
and he struck an Arab Shaykh. Consequently, he passed the greater
part of the time in durance vile at the fort of El-Muwaylah.
Mirgán Yúsuf; flogged for insolence to his officer, January 19.
Abdullah Ibráhím.
Ibráhím Kattáb.
Mabrúk Mansúr Agwah.
The Boruji (bugler) Mersál Abú Dunyá, a "character" who retires
for practice to lonely hills and vales. His progress is not equal
to his zeal and ambition.
The thirty quarrymen were all Egyptians, and it would be hard to
find a poorer lot; they never worked, save under compulsion, and
they stole whatever they could. I examined their packs during the
homeward cruise, and found that many of them had secreted
Government gunpowder:--
Ahmed Ashiri.
Ahmed Badr.
Ahmed el-Wakíl.
Omar Sharkáwi.
5. Mustafá Husayn.
Ismaíl el-Wa'í.
Ali Zalat.
Ali 'Abd el-Rahmán.
Mustafá Sálim.
10. 'Alí Bedawi.
Hanná Bishá'i.
Hamed Hanafi.
Hamed Wahlah.
Mustafá Sa'dáni (died of fever at El-Muwaylah).
15. Mahmu'd Gum'ah.,
Abú Zayd Hassá'nah.
Ismaíl Dusúki.
Sukk el-Fakíh.
Isá el-Dimíkí.
20. 'Ali Atwadh.
Mohammed Sulaymán.
Ibra'hi'm 'Ali Mohammed.
'Ali Isá.
Mohammed 'Abd el-Záhir.
25. 'Ali Wahish.
Abbási Mansúr (a tinman by trade, but without tools).
Gálút Ali.
Usmán Ámir.
Alewá Ahmed.
30. Mohammed Ajízah.
And lastly (31), the carpenter, 'Ali Sulaymán; a "knowing
dodger," who brought with him a little stock-in-trade of tobacco,
cigarette-paper, and similar comforts.
There were five soldiers, or rather matchlock-men, engaged from
the fort-garrison, El-Muwaylah:--
Husayn Bayrakdár; a man who has travelled, and has become too
clever by half. He was equally remarkable as a liar and as a
cook.
Bukháyt Ahmed, generally known as El-Ahmar from his red coat; a
Dinká slave, some sixty years old, and looking forty-five. He was
still a savage, never sleeping save in the open air.
Bukhayt Mohammed, popularly termed El-Aswad; a Foráwi
(Dár-Forian) and a good man. He was called "The Shadow of the
Bey."
Ahmed Sálih; a stout fellow, and the worst of guides.
Sálim Yúsuf.
The head of the caravan was the Sayyid' Abd el-Rahím, accountant
at the Fort el-Muwaylah, of whom I have spoken before. He was
subsequently recommended by me to his Highness for the post of
Názir or commandant.
Haji Wali, my old Cairene friend, who lost no time in bolting.
There were also generally three Bedawi Shaykhs, who, by virtue of
their office, received each one dollar (twenty piastres) per
diem.
The servants and camp followers were:--
Anton Dimitriadis, the dragoman; a Bakkál or small shopkeeper at
Zagázig, and a tenant of Haji Wali.
Giorgi (Jorgos) Sifenus, the cook, whose main disadvantage was
his extreme and ultra-Greek uncleanliness.
Petro Giorgiadis, of Zante; a poor devil who has evidently been a
waiter in some small Greek café which supplies a cup per hour.
These three men were a great mistake; but, as has been said, poor
health at Cairo prevented my looking into details.
Yúsuf el-Fazi, Dumánji or quartermaster from the Mukhbir, acting
servant to Captain Ahmed, and a thoroughly good man. He was also
recommended for promotion.
Ahmed, the Saís or mule-groom; another pauvre diable, rascally
withal, who was flogged for selling the mules' barley to the
Bedawin. He was assisted by the Corporal (and barber) Mohammed
Sulaymán and by five quarrymen.
Husayn Ganínah; a one-eyed little Felláh, fourteen years old,
looking ten, and knowing all that a man of fifty knows. He was
body-servant to Lieutenant Yusuf.
As usual, the caravan was accompanied by a suttler from
El-Muwaylah, one Hamad, who sold tobacco, coffee, clarified
butter, and so forth. He was chaffed with the saying, Hamad fi'
bayt ak--"Thy house is a pauper."
Finally, there were two dogs: Juno, a Clumber spaniel, young and
inexperienced; Páikí, a pariah, also a pup.
Besides these two permanents, various "casuals," the dog 'Brahim,
etc., attached themselves to our camp.
Chapter II.
The Start--from El-muwaylah to the "White Mountain" and 'Aynúah.
I landed at El-Muwaylah, described in my last volume,[EN#18] on
the auspicious Wednesday, December 19, 1877, under a salute from
the gunboat Mukhbir, which the fort answered with a rattle and a
patter of musketry. All the notables received us, in line drawn
up on the shore, close to our camp. To the left stood the
civilians in tulip-coloured garb; next were the garrison, a dozen
Básh-Buzuks en bourgeois, and mostly armed with matchlocks; then
came out quarrymen in uniform, but without weapons; and, lastly,
the escort (twenty-five men) held the place of honour on the
right. The latter gave me a loud "Hip! hip! hurrah!" as I passed.
The tents, a total of twenty, including two four-polers for our
mess and for the stores, with several large canvas sheds--páls,
the Anglo-Indian calls them--gleamed white against the dark-green
fronds of the date-grove; and the magnificent background of the
scene was the "Dibbagh" block of the Tiha'mah, or lowland
mountains.
The usual "palaver" at once took place; during which everything
was "sweet as honey." After this pleasant prelude came the normal
difficulties and disagreeables--it had been reported that I was
the happy possessor of £22,000 mostly to be spent at El-MuwayIah.
The unsettled Arabs plunder and slay; the settled Arabs slander
and cheat.
A whole day was spent in inspecting the soldiers and mules; in
despatching a dromedary-post to Suez with news of our
unexpectedly safe arrival, and in conciliating the claims of
rival Bedawin. His Highness the Viceroy had honoured with an
order to serve us Hasan ibn Salim, Shaykh of the Beni 'Ukbah, a
small tribe which will be noticed in a future page. Last spring
these men had carried part of our caravan to 'Aynúnah; and they
having no important blood-feuds, I had preferred to employ them.
But 'Abd el-Nabi, of the Tagayát-Huwaytát clan, had been spoilt
by over-kindness during my reconnaissance of 1877; besides, I had
given him a bowie-knife without taking a penny in exchange. In my
first volume he appears as a noble savage, with a mixture of the
gentleman; here he becomes a mere Fellah-Bedawi.
The claimants met with the usual ceremony; right hands placed on
the opposite left breasts--this is not done when there is bad
blood--foreheads touching, and the word of peace, "Salám,"
ceremoniously ejaculated by both mouths. Then came the screaming
voices, the high words, and the gestures, which looked as if the
Kurbáj ("whip") were being administered. The Huwayti stubbornly
refused to march with the other tribe, whom, moreover, he grossly
insulted: he professed perfect readiness to carry me and mine
gratis, the while driving the hardest bargain; he spoke of "our
land," when the country belongs to the Khediv; he openly denied
his allegiance; he was convicted of saying, "If these Christians
find gold, there will be much trouble (fitneh) to us Moslems;"
and at a subsequent time he went so far as to abuse an officer. I
had "Shaykh'd" him (Shayyakht-uh), that is, promoted him in rank,
said the Sayyid 'Abd el-Rahím; and the honour had completely
changed his manners. "Nasaggharhu" (We will "small" him), was my
reply. The only remedy, in fact, was to undo what had been done;
to cut down, as Easterns say, the tree which I had planted. So he
was solemnly and conspicuously disrated; the fee, one dollar per
diem, allotted as travelling and escort-allowance to the chiefs,
was publicly taken from him, and he at once subsided into an
ignoble Walad ("lad"), under the lead of his uncle, Shaykh
'Aláyan ibn Rabí. The latter is a man of substance, who can
collect at least two thousand camels. Though much given to
sulking, on the whole, he behaved so well that, the Expedition
ended, I recommended him to his Highness the Viceroy for
appointment to the chieftainship of his tribe, and the usual
yearly subsidy. With him was associated his cousin, Shaykh
Furayj, an excellent man, of whom I shall have much to say; and
thus we had to fee three Bedawi chiefs, including Hasan. The
latter was a notable intriguer and mischief-maker, ever breeding
bad blood; and his termper was rather violent than sullen. When
insulted by a soldier, he would rush off for his gun,
ostentatiously light the match, walk about for an hour or two
threatening to "shyute," and then apparently forget the whole
matter.
All wanted to let their camels by the day, whereas the custom of
Arabia is to bargain for the march. Thus, the pilgrims pay one
dollar per stage of twelve hours; and the post-dromedary demands
the same sum, besides subsistence-money and "bakhshi'sh." But our
long and frequent halts rendered this proceeding unfair to the
Bedawin. I began by offering seven piastres tariff, and ended by
agreeing to pay five per diem while in camp, and ten when on the
road.[EN#19] Of course, it was too much; but our supply of money
was ample, and the Viceroy had desired me to be liberal. In the
Nile valley, where the price of a camel is some £20, the average
daily hire would be one dollar: on the other hand, the animal
carries, during short marches, 700 lbs. The American officers in
Upper Egypt reduced to 300 lbs. the 500 lbs. heaped on by the
Súdáni merchants. In India we consider 400 lbs. a fair load; and
the Midianite objects to anything beyond 200 lbs.
I have no intention of troubling the reader with a detailed
account of our three first stages from El-Muwaylah to the Jebel
el-Abyaz, or White Mountain.[EN#20] On December 21st, leaving
camp with the most disorderly of caravans--106 camels instead of
80, dromedaries not included--we marched to the mouth of the Wady
Tiryam, where we arrived before our luggage and provisions,
lacking even "Adam's ale." The Shaykhs took all the water which
could be found in the palm-boothies near the shore, and drank
coffee behind a bush. This sufficed to give me the measure of
these "wall-jumpers."
Early next morning I set the quarrymen to work, with pick and
basket, at the north-western angle of the old fort. The latter
shows above ground only the normal skeleton-tracery of coralline
rock, crowning the gentle sand-swell, which defines the lip and
jaw of the Wady; and defending the townlet built on the northern
slope and plain. The dimensions of the work are fifty-five mètres
each way. The curtains, except the western, where stood the Báb
el-Bahr ("Sea gate"), were supported by one central as well as by
angular bastions; the northern face had a cant of 32 degrees east
(mag.); and the northwestern tower was distant from the sea
seventy-two me'tres, whereas the south-western numbered only
sixty. The spade showed a substratum of thick old wall, untrimmed
granite, and other hard materials. Further down were various
shells, especially bénitiers ( Tridacna gigantea) the harp (here
called "Sirinbáz"), and the pearl-oyster; sheep-bones and palm
charcoal; pottery admirably "cooked," as the Bedawin remarked;
and glass of surprising thinness, iridized by damp to rainbow
hues. This, possibly the remains of lachrymatories, was very
different from the modern bottle-green, which resembles the old
Roman. Lastly, appeared a ring-bezel of lapis lazuli;
unfortunately the "royal gem," of Epiphanus was without
inscription.
Whilst we were digging, the two staff-officers rode to the
date-groves of Wady Tiryam, and made a plan of the ancient
defences--the results of the first Khedivial Expedition had
either not been deposited at, or had been lost in, the Staff
bureau, Cairo. They found that the late torrents had filled up
the sand pits acting as wells; and the people assured them that
the Fiumara had ceased to show perennial water only about five or
six years ago.
The second march was disorderly as the first: it reminded me of
driving a train of unbroken mules over the Prairies; the men were
as wild and unmanageable as their beasts. It was every one's
object to get the maximum of money for the minimum of work. The
escort took especial care to see that all their belongings were
loaded before ours were touched. Each load was felt, and each box
was hand-weighed before being accepted: the heaviest, rejected by
the rich, were invariably left to the poorest and the lowest
clansmen with the weakest and leanest of animals. All at first
especially objected to the excellent boxes--a great comfort--made
for the Expedition[EN#21] at the Citadel, Cairo; but they ended
with bestowing their hatred upon the planks, the tables, and the
long tent-poles. As a rule, after the fellows had protested that
their camels were weighted down to the earth, we passed them on
the march comfortably riding--for "the 'Orbán can't walk." And no
wonder. At the halting-place they unbag a little barley and
wheat-meal, make dough, thrust it into the fire, "break bread,"
and wash it down with a few drops of dirty water. This copious
refection ends in a thimbleful of thick, black coffee and a pipe.
At home they have milk and Ghí (clarified butter) in plenty
during the season, game at times, and, on extraordinary
occasions, a goat or a sheep, which, however, are usually kept
for buying corn in Egypt. But it is a "caution" to see them feed
alle spalle altrui.
Nothing shabbier than the pack-saddles; nothing more rotten than
the ropes. As these "Desert ships" must weigh about half the
sturdy animals of Syria and the Egyptian Delta, future
expeditions will, perhaps, do well to march their carriage round
by El-'Akabah. The people declare that the experiment has been
tried, but that the civilized animal sickens and dies in these
barrens; they forget, however, the two pilgrim-caravans.
At this season the beasts are half-starved. Their "kitchen" is a
meagre ration of bruised beans, and their daily bread consists of
the dry leaves of thorn trees, beaten down by the Makhbat, a
flail-like staff, and caught in a large circle of matting
(El-Khasaf). In Sinai the vegetation fares even worse: the
branches are rudely lopped off to feed the flocks; only "holy
trees" escape this mutilation. With the greatest difficulty we
prevented the Arabs tethering their property all night close to
our tents: either the brutes were cold; or they wanted to browse
or to meet a friend: every movement was punished with a wringing
of the halter, and the result may be imagined.
We slept that night at Wady Sharmá. Of this ruined town a plan
was made for "The Gold-Mines of Midian," by Lieutenant Amir, who
alone is answerable for its correctness. We afterwards found
layers of ashes, slag, and signs of metal-working to the
north-east of the enceinte, where the furnace probably stood. The
outline measures 1906 metres, not "several kilometres;" and
desultory digging yielded nothing but charcoal, cinders, and
broken pottery. It was not before nine a.m. on the next day that
I could mount my old white, stumbling, starting mule; the delay
being caused by M. Marie's small discovery, which will afterwards
be noticed. We crossed both branches of the Sharmá water; and,
ascending the long sand-slope of the right bank, we again passed
the Bedawi cemetery. I sent Lieutenants Amir and Yusuf to
prospect certain stone-heaps which lay seawards of the graves;
and they found a little heptangular demi-lune, concave to the
north; the curtains varying from a minimum length of ten to a
maximum of eighty me'tres, and the thickness averaging two
metres, seventy-five centimetres. It was possibly intended, like
those above Wady Tiryam, to defend the western approach; and,
superficially viewed, it looks like a line of stones heaped up
over the dead, with that fine bird's-eye view of the valley which
the Bedawi loves for his last sleeping-place.
Thence we passed through the dry Báb ("sea gap"), cut by a
torrent in the regular line of the coralline cliff, the opening
of the Wady Melláh, off which lay our Sambúk. Marching up the
Wady Maka'dah, our experienced eyes detected many small outcrops
of quartz, formerly unobserved, in the sole and on the banks. The
granite hills, here as throughout Midian, were veined and dyked
with two different classes of plutonic rock. The red and pink are
felsites or fine-grained porphyries; the black and bottle-green
are the coarse-grained varieties, easily disintegrating, and
forming hollows [Illustration with caption: Fortification on the
cliff commanding the right bank of Wady Sharma'.] in the harder
granite. The ride was made charming by the frontage of
picturesque Jebel 'Urnub, with its perpendicular Pinnacles upon
rock-sheets dropping clear a thousand feet; its jutting bluffs;
its three huge flying Buttresses, that seemed to support the
mighty wall-crest; and its many spits and "organs," some capped
with finials that assume the aspect of logan-stones. There was no
want of animal life, and the yellow locusts were abroad; one had
been seized by a little lizard which showed all the violent
muscular action of the crocodile. There were small long-eared
hares, suggesting the leporide; sign of gazelles appeared; and
the Bedawin spoke of wolves and hyenas, foxes and jackals.
We camped upon the old ground to the southwest of the Jebel
el-Abyaz; and at the halt our troubles forthwith began. The
water, represented to be near, is nowhere nearer than a two
hours' march for camels; and it is mostly derived from
rain-puddles in the great range of mountains which subtends
maritime Midian. But this was our own discovery. The half-Fellah
Bedawin, like the shepherds, their predecessors, in the days of
Abimelech and Jethro, are ever chary of their treasure; the only
object being extra camel-hire. After eating your salt, a rite
whose significance, by-the-by, is wholly ignored throughout
Midian and its neighbourhood, they will administer under your
eyes a silencing nudge to an over-communicative friend. 'The very
children that drive the sheep and goats instinctively deny all
knowledge of the Themáil ("pits") and holes acting as wells.
At the head of the Wady el-Maka'dah we halted six days (December
24--30); this delay gave us time to correct the misapprehensions
of our flying visit. The height of the Jebel el-Abyaz, whose
colour makes it conspicuous even from the offing when sailing
along the coast, was found to be 350 (not 600) feet above the
plain. The Grand Filon, which a mauvais plaisant of a reviewer
called the "Grand Filou," forms a "nick" near the hill-top, but
does not bifurcate in the interior. The fork is of heavy greenish
porphyritic trap, also probably titaniferous iron, with a trace
of silver,[EN#22] where it meets the quartz and the granite.
Standing upon the "old man" with which we had marked the top, I
counted five several dykes or outcrops to the east (inland), and
one to the west, cutting the prism from north to south; the
superficial matter of these injections showed concentric circles
like ropy lava. The shape of the block is a saddleback, and the
lay is west-east, curving round to the south. The formation is of
the coarse grey granite general throughout the Province, and it
is dyked and sliced by quartz veins of the amorphous type,
crystals being everywhere rare in Midian (?) The filons and
filets, varying in thickness from eight metres to a few lines,
are so numerous that the whole surface appears to be quartz
tarnished by atmospheric corrosion to a dull, pale-grey yellow;
while the fracture, sharp and cutting as glass or obsidian, is
dazzling and milk-white, except where spotted with
pyrites--copper or iron. The neptunian quartz, again, has
everywhere been cut by plutonic injections of porphyritic trap,
veins averaging perhaps two metres, with a north-south strike,
and a dip of 75 degrees (mag.) west. If the capping were removed,
the sub-surface would, doubtless, bear the semblance of a
honeycomb.
The Jebel el-Abyaz is apparently the centre of the quartzose
outcrop in North Midian (Madyan Proper). We judged that it had
been a little worked by the ancients, from the rents in the reef
that outcrops, like a castle-wall, on the northern and eastern
flanks. There are still traces of roads or paths; while heaps,
strews, and scatters of stone, handbroken and not showing the
natural fracture, whiten like snow the lower slopes of the
western hill base. They contrast curiously with the hard
felspathic stones and the lithographic calcaires bearing the
moss-like impress of metallic dendrites; these occur in many
parts near the seaboard, and we found them in Southern as well as
in Northern Midian. The conspicuous hill is one of four mamelons
thus disposed in bird's-eye view; the dotted line shows the
supposed direction of the lode in the Jibál el-Bayzá, the
collective name.
On the plain to the north of the Jebel el-Abyaz also, I found
curdles of porphyritic trap, and parallel trap-dykes, cutting the
courses of large-grained grey granite: as many as three outcrops
of the former appeared within fourteen yards. This convinced me
that the whole of the solid square, thirty kilometres (six by
five), where the quartz emerges, is underlaid by veins and
veinlets of the same rock. Moreover, I then suspected, and
afterwards ascertained, that the quartz of the Jibál el-Bayzá, as
the Bedawin call this section, is not a local peculiarity. It
everywhere bursts, not only the plain between the sea and the
coast-range, but the two parallels of mountain which confine it
on the east. In fact, throughout our northern march the Arabs,
understanding that its object was "Marú," the generic name for
quartz,[EN#23] brought us loads of specimens from every
direction. Nothing is easier than to work the purely superficial
part. A few barrels of gunpowder and half a dozen English miners,
with pick and crowbar, suffice. Even our dawdling, feckless
quarrymen easily broke and "spelled" for camel loading some six
tons in one day.
Our short se'nnight was not wasted; yet I had an uncomfortable
feeling that the complication of the country called for an
exploration of months and not hours. Every day some novelty
appeared. The watercourses of the Gháts or coast-range were
streaked with a heavy, metallic, quartzose black sand which M.
Marie vainly attempted to analyze. We afterwards found it in
almost every Wady, and running north as far as El-'Akabah;
whilst, with few exceptions, all our washings of red earth,
chloritic sand, and bruised stone, yielded it and it only. It is
apparently the produce of granite and syenite, and it abounds in
African Egypt. I was in hopes that tungsten and titaniferous iron
would make it valuable for cutlery as the black sand of New
Zealand. Experiments in the Citadel, Cairo, produced nothing save
magnetic iron with a trace of lead. But according to Colonel
Ross, the learned author of "Pyrology, or Fire Chemistry,"[EN#24]
it is iserine or magnetic ilmenite, titaniferous iron-sand,
containing eighty-eight per cent. of iron (oxides and
sesquioxides), with eleven per cent. of titanic acid.
The Arabs brought in fine specimens of hematite and of copper ore
from Wady Gharr or Ghurr, six miles to the south of camp. Here
were found two water-pits in a well-defined valley; the nearer
some ten miles south-west of the Jebel el-Abyaz, the other about
two miles further to the north-west; making a total of twelve.
About the latter there was, however, no level ground for tents. A
mile and a half walking almost due north led to a veinlet of
copper 30 metres long by 0.30 thick, with an east-west strike,
and a dip of 45 degrees south. This metal was also found in the
hills to the south. Crystalline pyroxene and crystallized
sulphates of lime apparently abound, while the same is the case
with carbonate of manganese, and other forms of the metal so
common in Western Sinai. Briefly, our engineer came to the
conclusion that we were in the very heart of a mining region.
We made a general reconnaisance (December 27th) of a place whence
specimens of pavonine quartz had come to hand. Following the Wady
'Ifriyá round the north and east of the White Mountain, we fell
into the Wady Simákh (of "Wild Sumach"), that drains the great
gap between the Pinnacles and the Buttresses of the
'Urnub-Tihámah section. After riding some two miles, we found to
the south-east fragments of dark, iridescent, and metallic
quartz: they emerge from the plain like walls, bearing
north-south, with 36 degrees of westing and a westward dip of 15
degrees to 20 degrees--exactly the conditions which Australia
seeks, and which produced the huge "Welcome Nugget" of Ballarat.
They crop out of the normal trap-dyked grey granite, and select
specimens show the fine panaché lustre of copper. M. Marie
afterwards took from one of the geodes a pinch of powder weighing
about half a gramme, and cupelled a bright dust-shot bead
weighing not less than two centigrammes. Without further
examination he determined it to be argentiferous, when it was
possibly iron or antimony. On the other hand, the silver
discovered in the Grand Filon by so careful and conscientious an
observer as Gastinel Bey, and the fact that we are here on the
same line of outcrop, and at a horizon three hundred feet lower,
are reassuring.
This vein, which may be of great length and puissance, I took the
liberty of calling the "Filon Husayn," from the prince who had so
greatly favoured the Expedition. Here we had hit upon the
Negros,[EN#25] or coloured quartzose formations of Mexico, in
which silver appears as a sulphure; and we may expect to find the
Colorado, or argillaceous, that produces the noble metal in the
forms of chlorure, bromure, and iodure. The former appears
everywhere in Midian, but our specimens are all superficial,
taken à ciel ouvert. To ascertain the real value and the extent
of the deposits required exposure of the veins at a horizon far
lower than our means and appliances allowed us to reach. If the
rock prove argentiferous I should hope to strike virgin silver in
the capillary or aborescent shape below. Above it, as on the
summit of the Jebel el-Abyaz, and generally in the "Marú" hills
and hillocks of North Midian, the dull white quartz is
comparatively barren; showing specks of copper; crystals of
pyrites, the "crow-gold" of the old English miner, and dark dots
of various metals which still await analysis.
Thus, I would divide the metalliferous quartzes of this
North-Midianite region into two chief kinds: those stained green
and light blue, whose chief metallic element is copper, with its
derivatives; and the iridescent Negro, which may shelter the
Colorado. In South Midian the varieties of quartz are
incomparably more numerous, and almost every march shows a new
colour or constitution.
About the Jebel el-Abyaz, as in many mining countries, water is a
serious difficulty. The principal deposit lies some three miles
east of the camping ground in a Nakb or gorge, El-Asaybah,
offsetting from the great Fiumara, "El-Simákh;" and apparently it
is only a rain-pool. Throughout Midian, I may say, men still
fetch water out of the rock. M. Philipin, whilst pottering about
this place, saw two Beden (ibex) with their young, which suggests
a permanent supply of drink.[EN#26]
However that may be, Norton's Abyssinian pumps, for which I had
vainly applied at Cairo, would doubtless discover the prime
necessary in the Wadys, many of the latter being still damp and
muddy. Moreover, the crible continue à grilles filtrantes, the
invention of MM. Huet and Geyler, introduced, we are told, into
the mechanical treatment of metals, a principle which greatly
economizes fluid. Founded upon the fact that sands of nearly the
same size, but of different densities, when mixed in liquid and
subjected to rapid vertical oscillation, range themselves by
order of weight, the heavier sinking and not allowing passage to
lighter matter, the new sieve offers the advantages of a single
and simple instrument, with increased facility for treating poor
"dirt." Finally, as I shall show, the country is prepared by
nature to receive a tramway; and the distance to the sea does not
exceed fourteen miles, liberally computed.[EN#27]
Either the rain-water affected the health of the party, or it
suffered from the excessive dryness and variations of the
atmosphere, eight to nine hundred feet above sea-level (aner.
29.10), ranging in the tents between 92 degrees by day and 45
degrees at night, a piercing, killing temperature in the Desert.
Moreover, the cold weather is mostly the unwholesome season in
hot lands, and vice versâ: hence the Arab proverb, Harárat
el-Jebel, wa lá Bard-há ("The heat of the hills and not their
cold"). Old Haji Wali lost his appetite, complained of
indigestion, and clamoured to return home; Ahmed Kaptán suffered
from Sulb ("lumbago") and bad headache; whilst Lieutenant Yusuf
was attacked by an ague and fever, which raised the mouth
thermometer to 102 degrees--103 degrees, calling loudly for
aconite. These ailments affected the party more or less the whole
way, but it was not pleasant to see them begin so soon. When our
work of collecting specimens--three tons from the Jebel el-Abyaz,
and three from the Filon Husayn--was finished, I resolved upon
returning to the coast and treating our loads at the Sharmá
water. We reached the valley mouth on December 30th, and we
greatly enjoyed the change from the harshness of the inland to
the mildness of the seaboard air.
We stayed at Sharmá, much disliking its remarkably monotonous
aspect, for another week, till January 7, 1878. Yule, "the
wheel," despite the glorious tree-logs and roaring fires, had
been a failure at the White Mountain. The Dragoman had killed our
last turkey, and had forgotten to bring the plum-pudding from
El-Muwaylah: there was champagne, but that is not the stuff
wherewithal to wash down tough mutton. New Year's Day, on the
other hand, had all the honours. Its birth was greeted with a
flow of whisky-punch, wherein wine had taken the place of water;
and we drank the health of his Highness, the Founder of the
Expedition, in a bottle of dry Mumm. The evening ended with music
and dancing, by way of "praying the Old Year out and the New Year
in." Mersál, the Boruji, performed a wild solo on his bugle; and
another negro, Ahmed el-Shinnáwi, played with the Nái or
reed-pipe one of those monotonous and charming minor-key airs--I
call them so for want of a word to express them--which extend
from Midian to Trafalgar, and which find their ultimate
expression in the lovely Iberian Zarzuela.[EN#28] The boy Husayn
Genínah, a small cyclops in a brown felt calotte and a huge
military overcoat cut short, caused roars of laughter by his
ultra-Gaditanian style of dancing. I have also reason to suspect
that a jig and a breakdown tested the solidity of the plank
table, while a Jew's harp represented Europe. In fact, throughout
the journey, reminiscences of Mabille and the Music Halls
contrasted strongly with the memories of majestic and mysterious
Midian. And, to make the shock more violent, some friend, malè
salsus, sent me copies of the cosmopolitan Spectator and the
courteous Mayfair, which at once became waste paper for Bedawi
cartridges.
Our Rosh há Shanah ("New Year's Day") was further distinguished
by the discovery of a vein and outcrop of metalliferous quartz,
about half an hour's walk, and bearing nearly east (80 degrees
mag.) from camp. We followed the Wady Sharmá, and found above its
"gate" the masonry-foundation of a square work; near it lay the
graves of the Wild Men, one with the normal awning of palm-fronds
honoris causâ. There were signs of stone-quarrying, and at one
place a road had been cut in the rock. Leaving on the north the
left side of the watercourse, with its rushes (Scirpus), and
huge-headed reeds (Arundo donax), its dates and Daums--the two
latter often scorched and killed by the careless Bedawi--we
struck into a parallel formation, the Wady el Wuday, bone-dry and
much trodden by camels. Arrived at the spot, we found that the
confused masses of hill subtending the regular cliff-line of the
old coast, are composed of grey granite, seamed with snowy
quartz, and cut by the usual bands of bottle-coloured porphyritic
trap, which here and there becomes red. Some of the heights are
of greenish-yellow chloritic felspar, well adapted for
brick-making. The surface of the land is scattered with fragments
of white silex and fine red jasper, banded with black oligistic
iron: this rock, close, hard, and fine enough to bear cutting,
appears everywhere in scatters and amongst the conglomerates.
Only one fossil was picked up, a mould so broken as to be quite
useless.
We also followed out M. Marie's find, to which he had been guided
by a patch of red matter, conspicuous on the road from Tiryam to
Sharmá. For forty minutes we skirted the seaward face of the old
cliff, a line broken by many deep water-gashes and buttressed by
Goz, or high heaps of loose white sand. We then turned eastwards
or inland, ascended a Nakb ("gorge"), and saw, as before, the
corallines and carbonates of lime altered, fused, scorified, and
blackened by heated injections; the grey granite scored with
quartz veins, running in all rhumbs; and the porphyritic trap
forming crests that projected from the sands. The cupriferous
stone struck east-west, with a dip to the south; the outcrops,
visible without digging, measured fifteen to twenty metres long,
by one to one and a half in breadth.
New Year's Day also restored to us the pup "Páijí." When quite a
babe, it had walked up to me in the streets of Cairo, evidently
claimed acquaintanceship, and straightway followed me into
Shepheard's, where; having a certain sneaking belief in
metempsychosis, I provided it with bed and board. During our
third march to the White Mountain, being given to violent yelps,
which startled both mules and camels, the small thing had been
left to walk, and had apparently made friends with an Arab
goatherd. After nine days' absence without leave, "Páijí"
reappeared, with dirty rags tied round its bony back and wasted
waist, showing an admirable skeleton, and making the most frantic
demonstrations of joy. The loss of the poor little brute had
affected all our spirits: we thought that the hyenas and the
ravens had seen the last of it; and it received a warm welcome
home.
M. Lacaze, unlike the rest, took a violent fancy for the Wady
Sharmá: the water-scenery enchanted him. His sketches were almost
confined to the palm-growth, and to the greenery so unexpected in
arid Midian, where, according to the old and exploded opinion,
Moses wrote the Book of Job. The idea of Arabia is certainly not
associated with flowing rills, and waving trees, and rustling
zephyrs. Every morning I used to awake surprised by the song of
the Naiad, the little runnel whimpling down its bed of rushes,
stone, and sand; and the response of the palms making music in
the land-breeze.
Finally, on New Year's Day, Lieutenant Amir, guided by Shaykh
Furayj, and escorted by soldiers and miners, made a three days'
trip to the Wady 'Urnub. There he surveyed a large isolated
"Mará," or quartz-hill, some twenty-two to twenty-five direct
miles south-east of the main outcrop; thus giving a considerable
extent to the northern mining-focus. This feature is described as
being four or five times larger than the Jebel el-Abyaz (proper);
and the specimens of quartz and grey granite proved it to be of
the same formation. It showed a broken outline, with four great
steps or dykes, which had apparently been worked. In the basal
valleys, and spread over the land generally, was found a heavy
yellow sand, calcareous and full of silex: the guide called it
Awwal Hismá (the "Hismá frontier").
Our travellers returned by a parallel line, southerly and more
direct. In the Wady 'Urnub, the Ma'ázah of the Salímát clan
received them with apparent kindness, inwardly grumbling the
while at their land being "spied out;" and they especially
welcomed Furayj, who, being a brave soldier, is also noted as a
peacemaker. All the men were armed, and wore the same dress as
the Huwaytát; like these, they also breed camels and asses--that
is, they are not cow-Arabs. Certain travellers on the Upper Nile
have distributed the Bedawin into these two groups; add
horse-Arabs and ass-Arabs, and you have all the divisions of the
race as connected with the so-called "lower animals." About three
hours (= eleven miles) from Sharmá camp, some pyramids of sand
were pointed out in the Wady Rátiyah: the Bedawin call one of
them the Goz et-Hannán ("Moaning Sand-heap"). They declare that
when the Hajj-caravan passes, or rather used to pass, by that
way, before the early sixteenth century, when Sultán Selim laid
out his maritime high-road, a Naubah ("orchestra") was wont to
sound within its bowels. This tale, which, by-the-by, is told of
two other places in Midian, may have been suggested by the Jebel
el-Nákús ("Bell Mountain") in Sinai-land; but as the Arabs
perform visitation and sacrifice to the "Moaning-heap," the
superstition probably dates from ancient days. Ruins are also
reported to exist in the Jebel Fa's, the southern boundary of the
'Urnub valley; and, further south, in the Jebel el-Harb, I was
told by some one whose name has escaped me, of a dolmen mounted
upon three supports. Lieutenant Amir also brought copper ore from
the Wady 'Urnub, and from the Ras Wady el-Mukhbir specimens of a
metal which the Arabs use as a kohl or collyrium. It proved,
however, iron, not antimony; and the same mistake has been made
in the Sinaitic Peninsula.
At Wady Sharmá we rigged up, under the superintendence of M.
Philipin, a trough and a cradle for washing the black sands, the
pounded quartz of the Jebel el-Abyaz, and the red sands; these
latter had shown a trace of silver (1/10000) to the first
Expedition. We mixed it with mercury and amalgamed it in
goatskins; the men moved them to and fro; but, of course, the
water evaporated, and the mass speedily became dry. The upper or
superficial white yielded only, as far as our engineer could
judge, a little copper and bright knobs of pyrites. The Negros,
or iridized formations, of the "Filon Husayn" on a lower horizon,
gave the dubious result already alluded to. All the experiments
were conducted in the rudest way. Of course, a quantity of metal
may have escaped notice; and a fair proportion of the powdered
stone was reserved for scientific treatment in Europe.
During our first trip we had found, upon the right jaw of the
Wady Sharmá, a ruined village of workmen, probably slaves, whose
bothans measured some twelve feet by eight. They differ from the
Nawámis, or "mosquito-huts," as the word is generally translated,
only in shape--the latter are circular, with a diameter of ten
feet--and they perfectly resemble the small stone hovels in the
Wady Mukattab, which Professor Palmer ("Desert of the Exodus," p.
202) supposes to have been occupied by the captive miners and
their military guardians. This time we ascended the coralline
ridge which forms the left jamb. At its foot a rounded and half
degraded dorsum of stiff gravel, the nucleus of its former self,
showed a segment of foundation-wall, and the state of the stone
suggested the action of fire. Possibly here had been a furnace.
The summit also bears signs of human occupation. The southern
part of the buttress-crest still supports a double concentric
circle with a maximum diameter of about fifteen feet; the outside
is of earth, apparently thrown up for a rampart behind a moat,
and the inside is of rough stones. Going south along the dorsum,
we found remains of oval foundations; a trench apparently cut in
the rock, pottery often an inch and more thick, and broken
handmills made of the New Red Sandstone of the Hismá. Finally, at
the northernmost point, where the cliff-edge falls abruptly, with
a natural arch, towards the swamp, about one kilometre broad at
the Báb, we came upon another circle of rough stones. We were
doubtful whether these rude remains were habitations or old
graves; nor was the difficulty solved by digging into four of
them: the pick at once came upon the ground-rock. Hitherto these
ruins have proved remarkably sterile; the only products were
potsherds, fragments of hand-mills, and a fine lump of white
marble (Rukhám), supposed to come from the Jebel el-Lauz.
Amongst our followers was a "Kázi of the Arabs," one Jabr bin
'Abd el-Nabi, who is a manner of judge in civil, but not in
criminal matters. Before the suit begins the plaintiff, or his
surety, deposits a certain sum in coin, corn, or other valuables,
and lays his damages at so much. The defendant, if inclined to
contest the claim, pays into court the disputed amount, and the
question is settled after the traditional and immemorial customs
of the tribe. This man, covetous as any other disciple of
Justinian, was exceedingly anxious to obtain the honorarium of a
Shaykh, and he worked hard to deserve it. Shortly before our
departure from Sharmá, he brought in some scoriae and slag,
broken and streaked with copper--in fact, ekvolades. They are
thinly scattered over the seaward slope of the left jaw, where
the stone nowhere shows a trace of the mineral in situ. As,
however, the Expedition had found native copper in three places,
more or less near the Jebel el-Abyaz, it was decided that the ore
had been brought from the interior.
We were again much puzzled concerning the form of industry which
gave rise to such a large establishment as Sharmá. Agriculture
was suggested and rejected; and we finally resolved that it was a
branch-town that supplied ore to the great smelting-place and
workshop of the coast, 'Aynúnah, and possibly carbonate of lime
to serve for flux.
The distance along the winding Wady, between the settlement and
the sea westward, where the watercourse ends in sand-heaps, is
seven to eight miles, and the coast shows no sign of harbour or
of houses. About three miles, however, to the northwest is the
admirable Bay of 'Aynu'nah, unknown to the charts. Defended on
both sides by sandspits, and open only between the west and the
north-west, where reefs and shoals allow but a narrow passage,
its breadth across the mouth from east to west measures at least
five thousand metres, and the length inland, useful for refuge,
is at least three thousand. At the bottom of this noble Límán,
the Kolpos so scandalously abused by the ancients, are three
sandy buttresses metalled with water rolled stones, and showing
traces of graves. Possibly here may have been the site of an
ancient settlement. The Arabs call the southern anchorage, marked
by a post and a pit of brackish water, El-Musaybah or Musaybat
Sharmá. Its only present use seems to be embarking bundles of
rushes for mat-making in Egypt. The north-eastern end of the
little gulf is the Gád (Jád), or Mersá of El-Khuraybah, before
described as the port of 'Aynu'nah.
At the Musaybah I stationed our tender, the Sambúk El-Musahhil,
which carried our heavy goods, specimens by the ton; rations and
stores; forge, planks, and crowbars. The sailors lost no time in
showing their rapacity. Every day they dunned us for tobacco; and
when we made a counter-demand for the excellent fish which was
caught in shoals, they simply asked, "What will you pay for it?"
I imprudently left my keg of specimen-spirits on board this
ignoble craft, and the consequence was that it speedily became
bone-dry. The Musaybah bight is a direct continuation of the Wady
el-Melláh, which, joining that of El-Maka'dah, runs straight up
to the Jebel el-Abyaz and to the Filon Husayn. These
metalliferous quartzes cannot be further from the coast than a
maximum distance of fourteen miles, and the broad, smooth
watercourse, with its easy gradients, points it out as the site
of the future tramway. I should prefer a simpler form of the
"Pioneer Steam Caravan or Saddleback-Railway System," patented by
Mr John L. Haddan, C.E., formerly of Damascus.[EN#29] He
recommends iron as the best material for the construction; and
the cost, delivered at Alexandria, would not exceed £1200,
instead of £3000 to £20,000 per kilometre, including the rolling
stock. As the distance from the port is nothing, £300 per
kilometre would be amply sufficient for "fixing up;" but I should
reduce the price to £500 for the transport of some 50 tons per
diem. By proper management of the rails or the main rail, it
would be easy for trained camels to draw the train up the Wady;
and the natural slope towards the sea would give work only to the
brake where derailments are not possible.
At Sharmá we saw the crescent, when the Englishmen turned their
money in their pockets, and the Egyptian offficers muttered a
blessing upon the coming moon. Every day we waxed more weary of
the place; possibly the memories of the first visit were not
pleasant. Many in camp still suffered; and an old Bedawi, uncle
to Shaykh 'Alayan, died and was buried at 'Aynúnah. The number of
servants also made us uncomfortable. The head Dragoman, whose
memory was confined to his carnet, forgot everything; and, had we
trusted to him, half the supplies would have returned to Suez,
probably for the benefit of his own shop at Zagázig. I soon found
his true use, and always left him behind as magazine-man,
storekeeper, and guardian of reserve provisions. He was also a
dangerous, mischief-making fellow; and such men always find
willing ears that ought to know better. Petros, the Zante man,
was the model of a tipotenios (an "anybody"), who seemed to have
been born limp, without bones or brains. He was sent back as soon
as possible to Cairo. The worst point of these worthies was, that
they prevented, for their own reasons, the natives working for
us; while they preferred eternal chatter and squabbles to working
themselves. So the Greek element was reduced to George the cook,
a short, squat, unwashed fellow, who looked like a fair-Hercules
out of luck; who worked like three, and who loudly clamoured for
a revolver and a bowie-knife. His main fault, professionally
speaking, was that he literally drenched us with oil till the
store happily ran out. His complexion was that of an animated
ripe olive, evidently the result of his own cookery. His surprise
when I imperatively ordered plain boiled rice, instead of a mess
dripping with grease; and when told to boil the fish in sea water
and to serve up the bouillon, was high comedy. Doubtless he has
often, since his return, astounded his "Hellenion" by describing
our Frankish freaks and mad eccentricities.
The stationary camp also retained Lieutenant Yusuf and MM. Duguid
and Philipin, with thirteen soldiers and sixteen miners. The six
camels were placed under Gabr, Kázi el-'Orbán; and all the
stay-behinds were charged with washing the several earths, with
scouring the country for specimens, and with transporting sundry
tons of the black sand before mentioned. Old Haji Wali, probably
frightened by the Arabs, and maddened by the idea that, during
his absence in the thick of the cotton season, the Fellahs of
Zagázig would neglect to pay their various debts, began to
"malinger" with such intensity of purpose, that I feared lest he
would kill himself to spite us. The venerable Shylock, who ever
pleaded poverty, had made some £300 by lending a napoleon, say,
on January 1st, which became a sovereign on February 1st; not to
speak of the presents and "benevolences" which the debtor would
be compelled to offer his creditor. So he departed for
El-Muwaylah, whence some correspondent had warned him that a
pilgrim boat was about to start; declaring that he was dying, and
trotting his mule as hard as it would go, the moment a safe
corner was turned. He stayed two days on board the gunboat, and
straightway returned to Egypt and the cotton season:--we had the
supreme satisfaction, however, to hear that he had gone through
the long quarantine at Tor. Yet after our return he reproached
me, with inimitable coolness and effrontery, for not having
behaved well to him.
On the morning of January 7th, a walk of two hours and twenty
minutes (= seven miles) northwards, and mostly along the shore of
the noble "Musaybat Sharmá," transferred us to well-remembered
'Aynúnah. The sea in places washed over slabs of the fine old
conglomerates which, in this country, line the banks and soles of
all the greater Wadys: these are the Cascalho of the Brazil, a
rock which is treated by rejecting the pebbles and by pounding
the silicious paste. The air was softer and less exciting than
that of Sharmá; and, although the vegetation was of the crapaud
mort d'amour hue--here a sickly green, there a duller brown than
April had showed--the scene was more picturesque, the "Gate" was
taller and narrower, and the recollection of a happy first visit
made me return to it with pleasure. Birds were more abundant:
long-shanked water-fowl with hazel eyes; red-legged rail; the
brown swallow of Egypt; green-blue fly-catchers; and a black
muscivor, with a snowy-white rump, of which I failed to secure a
specimen. We also saw the tern-coloured plover, known in Egypt as
Domenicain and red kingfishers. The game species were fine large
green mallard; dark pintail; quail, and red-beaked brown
partridge with the soft black eye.
New formations began to develop themselves, and the sickly hues
of the serpentines and the chlorites, so rich in the New World,
appeared more charming than brow of milk or cheek of rose.[EN#30]
There were few changes. A half-peasant Bedawi had planted a strip
of barley near the camping place; the late floods had shifted the
course of the waters; more date-trees had been wilfully burned; a
big block of quartz, brother to that which we had broken, had
been carried off; and where several of the old furnaces formerly
stood, deep holes, dug by the "money-hunter," now yawned. I again
examined the two large fragments of the broken barrage, and found
that they were of uncut stone, compacted with fine cement, which
contained palm-charcoal.
At 'Aynúnah we gave only one day to work. While M. Lacaze
sketched the views, we blasted with gunpowder more than half
charcoal the Ma'dan el-Fayrúz ("turquoise mine"), as the Arabs
called it, on the right side of the Wady. The colour and texture
were so unlike the true lapis Pharanitis that we began to
suspect, and presently we ascertained from the few remaining
fragments, it had been worked for copper,--the carbonates and the
silicates which characterize Cyprus. Presently good specimens of
the latter were brought to us from the Jebel el-Fará by a Bedawi
pauper, 'Ayd of the Tagaygát-Huwaytát tribe. These half-naked
shepherds and goatherds, who know every stone in the land, are
its best guides; not the Shaykhs, who, as a rule, see little or
nothing outside their tents. From our camp the direction, as
reported by Ahmed Kaptán, was 102 degrees (mag.), and the
distance three miles. I afterwards sent Lieutenant Yusuf from
El-Muwaylah to make a detailed plan.[EN#31]
We also dug in an old pit amongst the Christian graves to the
south-east of the camp, and below the left jamb of the "Gate."
Here also the Bedawin had been at work; and, when unable to work
deep enough, they told us wonderful tales of an alabaster slab,
which doubtless concealed vast treasures. In Arabia, as in
Africa, one must look out for what there is not, as well as for
what there is. After spending a morning in sinking a twelve-feet
shaft, we came upon a shapeless coralline-boulder, which in old
times had slipped from the sea-face of the cliff to the left of
the valley. I ascended this height, and saw some stones disposed
by the hand of man; but there were no signs of a large
slave-miner settlement like that on the other side of the Báb.
In the afternoon Mr. Clarke led a party of quarrymen across the
graveyards to El-Khuraybah, the seaport of 'Aynúnah, and applied
them to excavating the floor of a cistern and the foundations of
several houses; a little pottery was the only result. It was a
slow walk of forty minutes; and thus the total length of the
aqueducts would be three miles, not "between four and five
kilometres." I had much trouble and went to some expense in
sending camels to fetch a "written stone" which, placed at the
head of every newly buried corpse, is kept there till another
requires it. It proved to be a broken marble pillar with a modern
Arabic epitaph. In the Gád el-Khuraybah, the little inlet near
the Gumruk ("custom-house"), as we called in waggery the shed of
palm-fronds at the base of the eastern sandspit, lay five small
Sambúks, which have not yet begun fishing for mother-of-pearl.
Here we found sundry tents of the Tagaygát-Huwaytát, the half
Fellahs that own and spoil the once goodly land; the dogs barked
at us, but the men never thought of offering us hospitality. We
had an admirable view of the Tihámah Mountains--Zahd, with its
"nick;" the parrot-beak of Jebel el-Shátí; the three
perpendicular Pinnacles and flying Buttresses of Jebel 'Urnub;
the isolated lump of Jebel Fás; the single cupola of Jebel Harb;
the huge block of Dibbagh, with its tall truncated tower; the
little Umm Jedayl, here looking like a pyramid; and the four
mighty horns of Jebel Shárr.
I left 'Aynúnah under the conviction that it has been the great
Warshah ("workshop") and embarking-place of the coast-section
extending from El-Muwaylah to Makná; and that upon it depended
both Wady Tiryam and Sharmá, with their respective establishments
in the interior. Moreover, the condition of the slag convinced me
that iron and the baser metals have been worked here in modern
times, perhaps even in our own, but by whom I should not like to
say.
Chapter III.
Breaking New Ground to Magháir Shu'ayb.
On January 9th we left 'Aynúnah by the Hajj-road, and passed
along the Quarry Hill visited during my first journey: the crest
has old cuttings and new cuttings, the latter still worked for
Bedawi headstones. The dwarf pillar with the mysterious cup is
reflected by the Nubians, who hollow out the upper part of the
stela to a depth of eight or ten inches without adding any
ornament. Hence, perhaps, the Sawahíli custom of the inserted
porcelain-plate.
After issuing from the stony and sandy gorge which forms the
short cut, we regained the Hajj-road, and presently sighted a
scene readily recognized. Fronting us, the northern horizon was
formed by the azure wall of Tayyib Ism,[EN#32] the "Mountain of
the Good Name," backed by the far grander peaks of Jebel
Mazhafah: the latter rises abruptly from the bluer Gulf of
El-Akabah, and both trend to their culminating points inland or
eastward. On our right followed the unpicturesque metalliferous
heap of Jebel Zahd or 'Aynúnah Mountain, whose Brèche de Roland
seems to show from every angle; its chocolate-coloured heights
contain, they say, furnaces and "Mashghal," or ateliers, where
the Marú ("quartz") was worked for ore. In places it is backed by
the pale azure peaks of Jebel el-Lauz. This "Mountain of Almonds"
is said to take its name from the trees, probably bitter, which
flourish there as within the convent-walls of St. Catherine,
Sinai. They grow, I was told, high up in the clefts and valleys;
and here, also, are furnaces both above and below. Of its white,
sparkling, and crystallized marble, truly noble material, a
tombstone was shown to me; and I afterwards secured a slab with a
broken Arabic inscription, and a ball apparently used for rubbing
down meal. The Lauz appears to be the highest mountain in
Northern Midian-land; unfortunately, it is to be reached only viâ
Sharaf, two long stations ahead, and I could not afford time for
geographical research to the prejudice of mineralogical. Its
nearer foot-hill is the Jebel Khulayf; and this feature contains,
according to the Bedawin, seven wells or pits whose bottom cannot
be seen. Between the "Almond Block" and its northern
continuation, Jebel Munífah, we saw a gorge containing water, and
sheltering at times a few tents of the 'Amírát Arabs; in the same
block we also heard of a Sarbút or rock said to be written over.
The regular cone of El-Maklá' ends the prospect in the
north-eastern direction. Looking westward, we see the ghastly
bare and naked Secondary formation, the Rughám of the Bedawin,
not to be confounded with Rukhám ("alabaster or saccharine
marble"). We afterwards traced this main feature of the 'Akabah
Gulf as far south as the Wady Hamz. It is composed of the
sulphates of lime--alabaster, gypsum, and the plaster with which
the Tertiary basin of Paris supplies the world; and of the
carbonates of lime--marble, chalk, kalkspar, shells, and eggs.
The broken crests of the Jibál el-Hamrá, the red hills backing
Makná,[EN#33] and the jagged black peaks of their eastern
parallel, the Kalb el-Nakhlah, look like plutonic reefs or
island-chains emerging from the Secondary sea. The latter, whose
bleached and skeleton white is stained, here and there, by
greenish-yellow sands, chlorite and serpentine, stands boldly out
from the chaos of purpling mountains composing Sinai, and ending
southwards in the azure knobs of three-headed Tirán Island. The
country, in fact, altogether changed: quartz had disappeared, and
chlorite had taken its place.
We passed the night at El-'Usaylah, a Ghadir (or "hollow")
without drainage, which the sinking of water cakes with mud and
covers with an irregular circle of salsolaceous trees, a patch of
dark metallic green. This "'Usaylah" is eaten by camels, but
rejected by mules. Here our post reached us from Suez on the
seventh day, having started on the 2nd inst. A dollar was offered
to the Bedawi, who eyed the coin indignantly, declaring that it
ought to be a ginni (guinea). I had also given him some tobacco,
and repented, as usual, my generosity.
Next day we finished the last and larger part of the second
pilgrim-stage from El-Muwaylah. Our Arabs had been "dodging;"
and, much disappointed about converting a two days' into a three
days' march, they punished us by feeding their camels on the
road, and by not joining us till the evening. As before, there
was no game till we approached the springs; yet tufts and
scatters of tamarisks, Samur (Inga unguis) and Arák (Salvadora),
looked capable of sheltering it. And now, beyond the level and
monotonous Desert, we began to see our destination;--palms and
tufty trees at the mouth of a masked Wady. This watercourse runs
between a background of reddish-brown rock, the foot-hills and
sub-ranges of the grand block, "El-Zánah," to the north; and a
foreground of pale-yellow, stark-naked gypsum, apparently
tongue-shaped. Above the latter tower two sister-quoins of ruddy
material, the Shigdawayn, to which a tale hangs.
Presently we fell into and ascended the great Wady 'Afár, which
begins in the Hismá, or Red Region, east of the double
coast-range. After receiving a network of Secondary valleys that
enable it to flow a torrent, as in France, every ten to twelve
years, it falls into the Mínat el-'Ayánát, a little port for
native craft, which will presently be visited. We left this Wady
at a bend, some two hundred metres wide, called the "Broad of the
Jujube," from one of the splendid secular trees that characterize
North Midian. Near the camping-ground we shall find another
veteran Zizyphus, whose three huge stems, springing from a single
base, argue a green old age. Here both banks of the Fiumara are
lined with courses of rough stone, mostly rounded and rolled
boulders, evidently the ruins of the water-conduits which served
to feed the rich growth of the lower 'Afa'l. The vegetation of
the gorge-mouth developed itself to dates and Daums, tamarisks
and salsolaceæ, out of which scuttled a troop of startled
gazelles. We turned the right-hand jamb of the "Gate," and found
ourselves at the water and camping-ground of Magháir Shu'ayb.
The general appearance of the station-basin is novel,
characteristic, and not without its charms, especially when the
sunset paints the plain with the red, red gold, and washes every
barren peak with the tenderest, loveliest rosy pink. Under an
intensely clear sapphire-coloured sky rises a distant rim of
broken and chocolate-coloured trap-hills, set off by pale
hillocks and white flats of gypsum, here and there crystallized
by contact with the plutonics. The formation mostly stands up
either in stiff cones or in long spines and ridges, whose
perpendicular wall-like crests are impossible to climb. The snowy
cliffs rest upon shoulders disposed at the "angle of rest," and
the prevailing dull drab-yellow of the base is mottled only where
accidental fracture or fall exposes the glittering salt-like
interior. The gashes in the flank made by wind and rain disclose
the core--grey granite or sandstone coloured by manganese. The
greater part of the old city was built of this
alabaster-like[EN#34] material. When new, it must have been a
scene in fairy-land; Time has now degraded it to the appearance
and the consistence of crumbling salt. The quoin-shaped hills of
the foreground, all uptilted and cliffing to the north, show the
curious mauve and red tints of the many-coloured clays called in
the Brazil Tauá. Even the palms are peculiar. Their tall, upright
crests of lively green fronds, their dead-brown hangings, and
their trunks charred black by the careless Bedawi, form a quaint
contrast with the genteel, nattily dressed, and cockneyfied
brooms of Egypt and the Hejaz. And that grandeur may not be
wanting to the view, on the east rise the peak and pinnacles of
the Almond Mountain (Jebel el-Lauz), whilst northwards the Jebel
el-Za'nah, a huge dome, forms the horizon.
This place, evidently the capital of Madyan Proper, is the which Ptolemy (vi. 7) places amongst his "Mesogeian
towns" in north lat. 28 degrees 15 minutes;[EN#35] and it
deserves more than the two pages of description which Ruppell
bestowed upon it.[EN#36] We will notice its natural features
before proceeding to the remains of man. Here the Wady 'Afár
takes the name of "El-Badá." Sweeping from west to east, it is
deflected to a north-south line, roughly speaking, by the gate of
the Shigdawayn, twin-hills standing nearly east and west of one
another. Now become a broad, well-defined, tree-dotted bed, with
stiff silt banks, here and there twenty to twenty-five feet high,
it runs on a meridian for about a mile, including the
palm-orchard and the camping-ground. It then turns the west end
of the Jebel el-Safrá, a mass of gypsum on the left bank, and it
bends to the east of south, having thus formed a figure of Z.
After escaping from the imprisoning hills, the Fiumara bed, now
about three-quarters of a mile broad, is bisected longitudinally
by a long and broken lump of chloritic or serpentine sandstone;
and rises in steps towards the right bank, upon which the
pilgrims camp. Reaching the plain, the Wady flares out wildly,
containing a number of riverine islands, temporary, but sometimes
of considerable size. It retains sufficient moisture to support a
clump of palms--that which we saw from afar;--it bends to the
south-east, and, lastly, it trends seaward.
The "Water of Bada'" springs from the base of the hill El-Safrá,
oozing out in trickling veins bedded in soft dark mud. It can be
greatly increased by opening the fountains, and economized by a
roofing of mat: we tried this plan, which only surprised the
unready Arab. After swinging to the left bank and running for a
few yards, it sinks in the sand; yet on both sides there are
signs of labour, showing that, even of late years, the valley has
seen better days. Long leats and watercourses have been cut in
the clay, and are still lined with the white-flowered "Rijlah,"
whose nutritive green leaf is eaten, raw or boiled, by the
Fellahs of Egypt: the wild growth, however, is mostly bitter. On
both sides are little square plots fenced against sheep and goats
by a rude abattis of stripped and dead boughs, Jujube and acacia.
Young dates have been planted in pits; some are burnt and others
are torn; for the Bedawi, mischievous and destructive as the
Cynocephalus, will neither work nor allow others to work. The
'Ushash or frond-and-reed huts, much like huge birds'-nests, are
scattered about in small groups everywhere except near the water.
Wherever a collection of bones shows a hyena's lair, the hunters
have built a screen of dry stone.
In fact, Magháir Shu'ayb was spoken of as an Arab "Happy Valley."
But its owners, the Masá'íd, a spiritless tribe numbering about
seventy tents, are protégés of the Tagaygát. This Huwayti clan is
on bad terms with Khizr and 'Brahim bin Makbúl; and the brother
Shaykhs of the 'Imrán, recognized by the Egyptian Government,
claim the land where they have only the right of transit. Bedawi
clans and sub-tribes always combine against stranger families;
but when there is no foreign "war," they amuse themselves with
pilling and plundering, sabring and shooting one another. I
believe that the palms were roasted to death by the 'Imrán,
although the Shaykhs assured me that the damage was done this
year, by a careless Mas'údi when cooking his food. The tribe
appears to be Egypto-Arab, like the Huwayta't and the Ma'ázah,
having congeners at Ghazzah (Gaze) and at Ras el-Wady, near
Egyptian Tell el-Kebir. Consequently Rüppell is in error when he
suspects that die Musaiti are ein Judenstamm. The unfortunates
fled towards the sea and left the valley desolate about seven
months ago. Their Shaykh is dead, and a certain Agíl bin
Muhaysin, a greedy, foolish kind of fellow, mentioned during my
First Journey, aspires to the dignity and the profit of
chieftainship. He worried me till I named a dog after him, and
then he disappeared.
The ruins, of large extent for North Midian, and equal to those
of all the towns we have seen put together, begin with the
palm-orchard on the left bank. The Jebel el-Safrá shows the
foundations of what may have been the arx. It is a double quoin,
the taller to the south, the lower to the north, and both bluff
in the latter direction. The dip is about 45 degrees; the upper
parts of the dorsa are scatters of white on brown-yellow stone;
and below it, where the surface has given way, appear
mauve-coloured strata, as if stained by manganese. Viewed in
profile from the west, the site of El-Muttali'[EN#37], as the
Arabs call the hauteville, becomes a tall, uptilted wedge;
continued northwards by the smaller feature, and backed by a long
sky-line, a high ridge of plaster, pale coloured with glittering
points.
This isolated "Yellow Hill," a "horse" in Icelandic parlance,
rising about two hundred feet above the valley-sole, is separated
by a deep, narrow gorge from the adjacent eastern range. The
slopes, now water-torn and jagged, may formerly have declined in
regular lines, and evidently all were built over to the crest
like those of Syrian Safet. The foundations of walls and rock-cut
steps are still found even on the far side of the eastern
feature. The knifeback is covered with the foundations of what
appears to be a fortified Laura or Palace; a straight street
running north-south, with 5 degrees west (mag.). It serves as
base for walls one metre and a half thick, opening upon it like
rooms: of these we counted twenty on either side. At the northern
end of the "horse," which, like the southern, has been weathered
to a mere spur, is a work composed of two semicircles fronting to
the north and east. A bastion of well-built wall in three
straight lines overhangs the perpendicular face of the eastern
gorge: in two places there are signs of a similar defence to the
south, but time and weather have eaten most of it away. The
ground sounds hollow, and the feet sink in the crumbling heaps:
evidently the whole building was of Rughám (gypsum); and in the
process of decay it has become white as blocks of ice, here and
there powdered with snow.
On the narrow, flat ledge, between the western base of this Safrá
and the eastern side of the Bada' valley, lie masses of ruin now
become mere rubbish; bits of wall built with cut stone, and
water-conduits of fine mortar containing, like that of the
Pyramids, powdered brick and sometimes pebbles. We carried off a
lump of sandstone bearing unintelligible marks, possibly intended
for a man and a beast. We called it "St. George and the Dragon,"
but the former is afoot--possibly the Bedawin stole his steed.
There was a frustum or column-drum of fine white marble, hollowed
to act as a mortar; like the Moslem headstone of the same
material, it is attributed to the Jebel el-Lauz, where ancient
quarries are talked of. There were also Makrákah ("rub-stones")
of close-grained red syenite, and fragments of the basalt
handmills used for quartz-grinding. Part of a mortar was found,
made of exceedingly light and porous lava.
South-east of the hauteville falls in the now rugged ravine,
Khashm el-Muttalí, "Snout of the high" (town). It leads to the
apex of the coralline formations, scattered over with fragments
of gypsum, here amorphous, there crystalline or talc-like, and
all dazzling white as powdered sugar. Signs of tent foundations
and of buildings appear in impossible places; and the heights
bear two Burj or "watchtowers," one visible afar, and dominating
from its mamelon the whole land. The return to the main valley
descends by another narrow gorge further to the south-east,
called Sha'b el-Darak, or "Strait of the Shield:" the tall,
perpendicular, and overhanging walls, apparently threatening to
fall, would act testudo to an Indian file of warriors. High up
the right bank of this gut we saw a tree-trunk propped against a
rock by way of a ladder for the treasure-seeker. The Sha'b-sole
is flat, with occasional steps and overfalls of rock, polished
like mirrors by the rain-torrents; the mouth shows remains of a
masonry-dam some fourteen feet thick by twenty-one long; and
immediately below it are the bases of buildings and watercourses.
Walking down the left bank of the great Wady, and between these
secondary gorges that drain the "Yellow Hill," we came upon a
dwarf mound of dark earth and rubbish. This is the Siyághah
("mint and smiths' quarter"), a place always to be sought, as
Ba'lbak and Palmyra taught me. Remains of tall furnaces, now
level with the ground, were scattered about; and Mr. Clarke, long
trained to find antiques, brought back the first coins picked up
in ancient Midian. The total gathered, here and in other parts of
Magháir Shu'ayb, was 258, of which some two hundred were carried
home untouched; the rest, treated with chloritic and other acids,
came out well. One was a silver oval which may or may not have
been a token. Eleven were thick discs, differing from the normal
type; unfortunately the legends are illegible. The rest, inform
bits of green stuff, copper and bronze, were glued together by
decay, and apparently eaten out of all semblance of money until
the verdigris of ages is removed.
All are cast like the Roman "as", before B.C. 217, and some show
the tail. The distinguishing feature is the human eye; not the
outa of Horus,[EN#38] so well known to those who know the
Pyramids, but the last trace of Athene's profile. Two are Roman:
a Nerva with S.C. on the reverse; and a Claudius Augustus,
bearing by way of countermark a depressed oblong, of 20/100 by
14/100 (of inch), with a raised figure, erect, draped, and
holding a sceptre or thyrsus. There is also a Constantius struck
at Antioch. The gem of the little collection was a copper coin,
thinly encrusted with silver, proving that even in those days the
Midianites produced "smashers": similarly, the Egyptian miners
"did" the Pharaoh by inserting lead into hollowed gold. The
obverse shows the owl in low relief, an animal rude as any
counterfeit presentment of the
ever found in Troy. It has the normal olive-branch, but without
the terminating crescent (which, however, is not invariably
present) on the proper right, whilst the left shows a poor
imitation of the legend (NH). The silvering of
the reverse has been so corroded that no signs of the goddess's
galeated head are visible. My friend, Mr. W. E. Hayns, of the
Numismatic Society, came to the conclusion that it is a barbaric
Midianitish imitation of the Greek tetradrachm, which in those
days had universal currency, like the shilling and the franc. The
curious bits of metal, which also bear the owl, may add to our
knowledge of the Nabathaean coins, first described, I believe, by
the learned Duc de Luynes.[EN#39]
Another interesting "find" was a flat-bottomed, thick-walled clay
crucible of small size (2 10/16 inches high by 2 4/16 inches
across the mouth), exactly resembling the article picked up at
Hamámát. The latter, however, contains a remnant of litharge,
possibly showing that the old Egyptians worked the silver, which
may have been supplied by the Colorado quartz.
I would here crave leave to make a short excursus to the ancient
Ophirs of Egypt Proper, where, we are told by an inscription in
the treasury of Ramses the Great (fourteen centuries before
Christ), the gold and silver mines yielded per annum a total of
32,000,000 minæ = £90,000,000. Dr. H. Brugsch-Bey first drew
attention to Hamámát, where, as he had learned from Diodorus (i.
49--iii 12) and from the papyri, the precious metals had been
extensively worked. The "Wells of Hama'ma't" lie between Keneh on
the Nile and Kusayr (Cosseir) on the Red Sea; and the land is
held by the Abábdah Arabs, who have taken charge, from time
immemorial, of the rich commercial caravans. The formation of the
country much resembles that of Midian; and the metalliferous
veins run from northeast to south-west. In Arabia, however, the
filons are of unusual size; in Africa they are small, the
terminating fibrils, as it were, of the Asiatic focus; while the
Dark Continent lacks that wealth of iron which characterizes the
opposite coast.
By the courtesy of Generals Stone and Purdy I was enabled, after
return to Cairo in May, 1878, to inspect the collection.
Admirably arranged in order of place, and poor as well disposed,
it is, nevertheless, useful to students; and it was most
interesting to us. The only novelty is asbestos produced in the
schist: the raw material is now imported by the United States,
and used for a variety of purposes. It is said to exist in Mount
Sinai; we found none in Midian, where the schist formations are
of great extent, probably because we did not look for it. The
collection was made by Colonel Colston; and Mr. L. H. Mitchell, a
mining engineer attached to the Egyptian Staff, spent several
weeks spalling sundry tons of quartz. After finding a speck of
gold, the work was considered to be done. General Stone, however,
sensibly deprecated any attempt to exploit the minerals: the
country lacks wood and water, and the expense of camel-transport
from Hamámát to Kusayr, and thence in ships to Suez, would
swallow up all the profits.
That Egypt was immensely rich in old days we know from several
sources. Appian tells us that the treasury of Ptolemy
Philadelphus contained 740,000 talents; and assuming with
Ebers[EN#40] the Egyptian at half the Æginetan, we have the
marvellous sum of £83,250,000. According to Diodorus (i. 62), the
treasury of Rhampsinit, concerning which Herodotus (ii. 121, 122)
heard a funny story from his interpreter, contained 4,000,000
talents, equal to at least £450,000,000. This rich king's
treasure-house has been found portrayed in the far-famed Temple
of Medinat Habú: the mass of wealth, gold, silver, copper, and
spices, is enormous; and, while the baser metals are in bars, the
precious are stored in heaps, sacks, and vases.
The gold-mines of the old Coptos-plain, the modern Kobt, south of
Keneh, are preserved to all time by the earliest known map. It
has survived; whilst those of the Milesian Anaximander (B.C. 610-
547), of Hekataeus (ob. B.C. 4 76), also from Miletus and called
the "Father of Geography" (Ebers), and of Ptolemy the Pelusian
are irretrievably lost. A papyrus in the Turin Museum contains a
plan of the mineral region spoken of in two stel, those of
Radesiyyah and Kuban, describing the supply of drinking-water
introduced into the desert between Kuban and the Red Sea.
Chabas[EN#41] has published a coloured facsimile of this map: the
gold-containing mountains are tinted red, and the words "Tu en
nub" (Mons aureus) are written over them in hieratics.
The only modern gold-workings of Egypt are in the Mudíriyyat
(Nomos) of Famaka, the frontier town, better known as Fayzoghlú
from its adjacent heights. The washings were visited lately
(March, 1878) by my enterprising friend, Dr. P. Matteucci, and M.
Gessi. In old days this local Cayenne had a very bad name;
convicts were deported here with a frightful mortality. It is
still a station for galley-slaves, and it has a considerable
garrison, but we no longer hear of an abnormal fatality. The
surface was much turned over by the compulsory miners, and
European geologists and experts were sent to superintend them; at
last the diggings did not pay and were abandoned. But the natives
do by "rule of thumb," despite their ignorance of mineralogy,
without study of ground, and lacking co-ordination of labour,
what the Government failed to do. They have not struck the chief
vein' if any exist; but, during the heavy rains of the Kharif
("autumn") in the valley of the Túmát river, herds of slaves are
sent yearly to wash gold, and they find sufficient to supply the
only known coin--bars or ingots.
Beyond the Siyághah, the left bank is gashed by the ravines
draining the south-eastern prolongation of the "Yellow Hill."
Water cuts through this rotten formation of rubbish like a knife
into cheese; forming deep chasms, here narrow, there broad, with
walls built up, as it were, of fragments, and ready to be
levelled by the first rains. The lines of street and the outlines
of tenements can be dimly traced, while revetments of rounded
boulders show artificial watercourses and defences against the
now dried-up stream. The breadth of this, the eastern settlement,
varies with the extent of the ledge between the gypsum-hills and
the sandy Wady; the length may be a kilometre. The best preserved
traces of crowded building end with the south-eastern spur of the
Jebel el-Safrá. Beyond them is a huge cemetery. The ancient
graves are pits in the ground; a few still uncovered, the many
yawning wide, and all of them ignoring orientation. Those of the
moderns, on the contrary, front towards Meccah. The Bedawin of
this country seem ever to prefer for their last homes the most
ancient sites; they place the body in a pit, covered with a large
slab or a heap of stones, but they never fill in the hollow, as
is usual among Moslems, with earth. The arrangements suit equally
well the hyena and the skull-collector; and thus I was able to
make a fair collection of Bedawi crania.
At the south-eastern end of the outliers projected by the Jebel
el-Safrá, where a gentle slope of red earth falls towards the
valley-bank, is the only group of building of which any part is
still standing. The site may be old, but the present ruins are
distinctly mediæval, dating probably from the days of the
Egyptian "Mameluke" Sultans. Beginning from below and to the
south-west is a Hauz, or "cistern," measuring twenty-six by
nineteen and a half metres, with a depth of nine to ten feet. The
material is cut sandstone, cemented outside with mortar
containing the normal brick-crumbs and pebbles, and inside mixed
with mud. At the north-eastern and south-western corners are
retaining buttresses in two steps, exactly like those in the
inland fort of El-Wijh; at the two other angles are flights of
stairs, and the sole is a sheet of dried silt. To the south-east
lies the remnant of a small circular furnace, and on the
north-north-east a broken wall shows where stood the Bayt
el-Saghir, or smaller reservoir. A narrow conduit of cut stone
leads, with elaborate zigzags, towards two Sakiyah ("draw-wells")
hollowed in the gypsum. The Southern, an oval of five metres ten
centimetres, is much dilapidated; and its crumbling throat is
spanned by a worn-out arch of the surrounding Secondary rock.
Close to the north-west is the other, revetted with cut stone,
and measuring six metres in diameter. It is an elaborate affair;
with a pointed arch and a regular keystone, circular Sadúd, or
"walls for supporting the hauling-apparatus," and minor
reservoirs numbering three. On a detached hillock, a few paces to
the north, stands the Fort which defended the establishment. The
short walls of the parallelogram measure fifteen metres forty
centimetres; and the long, eighteen metres sixty centimetres: the
gate, choked by ruins, leads to a small hall, with a masked
entrance opening to the right. There is a narrow room under the
stone steps to the west, and two others occupy the eastern side.
This Fort is to be restored for the better protection of
pilgrims; and shortly after our departure an Egyptian engineer,
Sulayman Effendi, came from Suez to inspect and report upon it.
According to local modern tradition this scatter of masonry was
the original site of the settlement, called after the builder Bir
el-Sa'idáni--"the Well of Sa'ídán." For watering each caravan the
proprietor demanded a camel by way of fee; at last a Maghribí,
that is, a magician, refused to "part;" betook himself to the
present camping ground, sank pits, and let loose the copious
springs. The old wells then dried up, and the new sources gave to
this section of the great Wady 'Afál its actual name, Wady
el-Badá--"of the innovation," so hateful to the conservative
savage. Hence Rüppell's "Beden," which would mean an ibex.
On the opposite or right bank of the broad and sandy bed, the
traces of ancient buildings extend to a far greater distance, at
least to two kilometres. They have been a continuous line of
forts, cisterns, and tenements, still marked out by the bases of
long thick walls; the material is mostly gypsum, leprous-white as
the skin of Gehazi. But here, and indeed generally throughout
Midian, the furious torrents, uncontrolled during long ages by
the hand of man, have swept large gaps in the masses of homestead
and public buildings. Again the ruins of this section are
distributable into two kinds--the City of the Living, and the
City of the Dead.
The former, of considerable extent, hugs the watercourse, and
crowns all the natural spurs that buttress the bed. Beginning
from the north lie two blocks of building considerable in extent:
the southern, called by the Arabs El-Malká, is a broken
parallelogram. Further down stream the bank is a vast strew of
broken pottery; and one place, covered with glass fragments, was
named by our soldiers El-Khammárah--"the tavern" or "the hotel."
As in ancient Etruria, so here, the people assemble after heavy
rains to pick up what luck throws in the way. It is said that
they often gather gold pieces, square as well as round, bearing
by way of inscription "prayers" to the Apostle of Allah. Some of
us, however, had a shrewd suspicion that the Tibr, or "pure
gold-dust," is still washed from the sands, and cast probably in
rude moulds.
Behind, inland or westward of this southern town, lies the City
of the Dead. Unlike the pitted graveyard to the north-east, the
cemetery is wholly composed of catacombs, which the Bedawin call
Magháir ("caves") or Bíbán ("doors"). The sites are the sides and
mouths of four little branch-valleys which cut through the
hillocks representing the Wady-bank. The northernmost is known as
Wady el-Khurayk, because it drains a height of that name: the
others bear the generic term Wady el-Safrá, so called, like the
hauteville hill, from the tawny-yellow colour of the rocks. The
catacombs, fronting in all directions, because the makers were
guided by convenience, not by ceremonial rule, are hollowed in
the soft new sandstone underlying the snowy gypsum; and most of
the façades show one or more horizontal lines of natural
bead-work, rolled pebbles disposed parallelly by the natural
action of water. In the most ruinous, the upper layer is a
cornice of hard sandstone, stained yellow with iron and much
creviced; the base, a soft conglomerate of the same material, is
easily corroded; and the supernal part caves in upon the
principle which is destroying Niagara. At each side of the
doorways is a Mastabah ("stone bench"), also rock-hewn, and with
triple steps. The door-jambs, which have hollowings for hinges
and holes for bars, are much worn and often broken; they are
rarely inclined inwards after the fashion of Egypt. A few have
windows, or rather port-holes, flanking the single entrance. The
peculiarities and the rare ornaments will be noticed when
describing each receptacle; taken as a whole, they are evidently
rude and barbarous forms of the artistic catacombs and
tower-tombs that characterize Petra and Palmyra.
The "Magháir" may roughly be divided into four topical groups.
These are--the northern outliers; the "Tombs of the Kings," so
called by ourselves because they distinguish themselves from all
the others; the "buttressed caves" (two sets); and the southern
outliers. The first mentioned begin with a ruin on the right jaw
of the Khurayk gorge: it is dug in strata dipping, as usual, from
north-west to south-east; it faces eastward, and the entrance
declines to the south. All external appearance of a catacomb has
disappeared; a rude porch, a frame of sticks and boughs, like the
thatched eaves of a Bulgarian hut, stands outside, while inside
signs of occupation appear in hearths and goat-dung, in smoky
roof, and in rubbish-strewn floor. Over another ruin to the west
are graffiti, of which copies from squeezes and photographs are
here given: there are two loculi in the southern wall; and in the
south-eastern corner is a pit, also sunk for a sarcophagus. A
hill-side to the south of this cave shows another, dug in the
Tauá or coloured sandstone, and apparently unfinished: part of it
is sanded up, and its only yield, an Egyptian oil-jar of modern
make, probably belonged to some pilgrim. Crossing the second
dwarf gorge we find, on the right bank, a third large ruin of at
least fourteen loculi; the hard upper reef, dipping at an angle
of 30 degrees, and striking from north-west to southeast, fell in
when the soft base was washed away by weather, and the anatomy of
the graves is completely laid bare. Higher up the same Wady is a
fourth Maghárah, also broken down: the stucco-coating still shows
remnants of red paint; and the characters **--possibly Arab
"Wasm," or tribe-marks--are cut into an upright entrance-stone.
The precipitous left bank of the third gorge contains the three
finest specimens, which deserve to be entitled the "Tombs of the
Kings." Of these, the two facing eastward are figured by Rüppell
(p. 220) in the antiquated style of his day, with fanciful
foreground and background.[EN#42] His sketch also places solid
rock where the third and very dilapidated catacomb of this group,
disposed at right angles, fronts southwards. Possibly the façades
may once have been stuccoed and coloured; now they show the bare
and pebble-banded sandstone.
The southernmost, which may be assumed as the type, has an
upright door, flanked by a stone bench of three steps. Over the
entrance is a defaced ornament which may have been the bust of a
man: in Rüppell it is a kind of geometrical design. The frontage
has two parallel horizontal lines, raised to represent cornices.
Each bears a decoration resembling crenelles or Oriental ramparts
broken into three steps; the lower set numbers eight, including
the half ornaments at the corners, and the higher seven. The
interior is a mixture of upright recesses, probably intended for
the gods or demons; and of horizontal loculi, whose grooves show
that they had lids. There is no symmetry in the niches, in the
sarcophagi, or in the paths and passages threading the graves.
The disposition will best be understood from the ground-plans
drawn by the young Egyptian officers: their sketches of the
façades are too careless and incorrect for use; but the want is
supplied by the photographs of M. Lacaze.
Above these three "Tombs of the Kings" are many rock-cavities
which may or may not have been sepulchral. Time has done his
worst with them. We mounted the background of a quoin-shaped hill
by a well-trodden path, leading to the remnants of a rude Burj
("watch-tower"), and to a semicircle of dry wall, garnished with
a few sticks for hanging rags and tatters. The latter denotes the
Musallat Shu'ayb, or praying-place of (prophet) Jethro; and here
our Sayyid and our Shaykh took the opportunity of applying for
temporal and eternal blessings. The height at the edge of the
precipice which, cliffing to the north, showed a view of our camp
and of Yubú and Shu'shú' Islands, was in round numbers 450 feet
(aner. 29.40--28.94). From this vantage-ground we could
distinctly trace the line of the Wady Makná, beginning in a round
basin at the western foot of the northern Shigd Mountain and its
sub-range; while low rolling hills, along which we were to
travel, separated it from the Wady Bada'-Afál to the south.
Two other important sets of catacombs, which I will call the
"buttressed caves," are pierced in the right flank of the same
gorge, at the base of a little conical hill, quaintly capped with
a finial of weathered rock. The material is the normal silicious
gravel-grit, traversed and cloisonné by dykes of harder stone.
Beginning at the south, we find a range of three, facing eastward
and separated from one another by flying buttresses of natural
rock. No. 1 has a window as well as a door. Next to it is a
square with six open loculi ranged from north to south. No. 3
shows a peculiarity--two small pilasters of the rudest
(Egyptian?) Doric, the only sign of ornamentation found inside
the tombs; a small break in the south-western wall connects it
with the northernmost loculus of No. 2. Furthest north are three
bevel-holes, noting the beginning of a catacomb; and round the
northern flank of the detached cone are six separate caves, all
laid waste by the furious northern gales.
The second set is carved in the bluff eastern end of an adjoining
reef that runs away from the Wady; it consists of four sepulchres
with the normal buttresses. They somewhat resemble those of the
Kings, but there are various differences. No. 2 from the south is
flanked by pilasters with ram's-horn capitals, barbarous forms of
Ionic connected by three sets of triglyphs: the pavement is of
slabs; there is an inner niche, and one of the corners has
apparently been used as an oven. On a higher plane lies a sunken
tomb, with a deep drop and foot-holes by way of ladder; outside
it the rocky platform is hollowed, apparently for graves. The
other three facades bear the crenelle ornaments; the two to the
north show double lines of seven holes drilled deep into the
plain surface above the door, as if a casing had been nailed on;
while the northernmost yielded a fragmentary inscription on the
southern wall. These are doubtless the "inscribed tablets on
which the names of kings are engraved," alluded to in the
Jihan-numá of Haji Khahífah.[EN#43] Rounding the reef to the
north, we found three catacombs in the worst condition: one of
them showed holes drilled in the façade.
The southern outliers lie far down the Wady 'Afál, facing east,
and hewn in the left flank of a dwarf gulley which falls into the
right bank not far from the site called by our men "the tavern."
The group numbers three, all cut in the normal sandstone, with
the harder dykes which here stand up like ears. The principal
item is the upper cave, small, square, and apparently still used
by the Arabs: in the middle of the lintel is a lump looking like
the mutilated capital of a column. The two lower caves show only
traces.
There is a tradition that some years ago a Frank (Rüppell?),
after removing his Arab guides, dug into the tombs, and found
nothing but human hair. Several of the horizontal loculi
contained the bones of men and beasts: I did not disturb them, as
all appeared to be modern. The floors sounding hollow, gave my
companions hopes of "finds;" but I had learned, after many a
disappointment, how carefully the Bedawi ransack such places. We
dug into four sepulchres, including the sunken catacomb and the
(southern) inscribed tomb. Usually six inches of flooring led to
the ground-rock; in the sarcophagi about eight inches of tamped
earth was based upon nine feet of sand that ended at the bottom.
The only results were mouldering bones, bits of marble and
pottery, and dry seeds of the Kaff Maryam, the Rose of Jericho
(Anastatica), which here feeds the partridges, and which in Egypt
supplies children with medicine, and expectant mothers with a
charm. As the plant is bibulous, opening to water and even to the
breath, it is placed by the couch, and its movement shows what is
to happen. The cave also yielded specimens of bats (Rhinopoma
macrophyllum), with fat at the root of their spiky tails.
I have described at considerable length this ruined Madiáma,
which is evidently the capital of Madyan Proper, ranking after
Petra. In one point it is still what it was, a chief station upon
the highway, then Nabatí, now Moslem, which led to the Ghor or
Wady el-'Arabah. But in all others how changed! "The traveller
shall come; he that saw me in my beauty shall come: his eyes
shall search the field; they shall not find me."
Chapter IV.
Notices of Precious Metals in Midian--the Papyri and the Mediæval
Arab Geographers.
In my volume on "The Gold-Mines of Midian," the popular Hebrew
sources of information--the Old Testament and the Talmud--were
ransacked for the benefit of the reader. It now remains to
consult the Egyptian papyri and the pages of the mediæval Arab
geographers: extracts from the latter were made for me, in my
absence from England, by the well-known Arabist, the Rev. G.
Percy Badger.[EN#44] I will begin with the beginning.
Dr. Heinrich Brugsch-Bey, whose "History of Egypt"[EN#45] is the
latest and best gift to Egyptologists, kindly drew my attention
to an interesting passage in his work, and was good enough to
copy for me the source of his information, tile Harris Papyrus
(No. 1) in the British Museum.
The first king of the twentieth Dynasty, born about B.C. 1200,
and residing at Thebes, was Rameses III., whose title, Ramessu
pa-Nuter (or Nuti), "Ramses the god," became in the hands of the
Greeks Rhampsinitos. This great prince, ascending the throne in
evil days, applied himself at once to the internal and external
economy of his realm; he restored the caste-divisions, and
carried fire and sword into the lands of his enemies. He
transported many captives to Egypt; fortified his eastern
frontier; and built, in the Gulf of Suez, a fleet of large and
small ships, in order to traffic with Pun and the "Holy
Land,"[EN#46] and to open communication with the
"Incense-country" and with the wealthy shores of the Indian
Ocean.
"Not less important," says our author (p. 594), "for Egypt, which
required before all things the copper applied to every branch of
her industry, was the sending of commissioners, by land (on
donkey back!) and by sea, to explore and exploit the rich
cupriferous deposits of 'Atháka (in the neighbourhood of the
'Akabah Gulf?). This metal, with the glance of gold, was there
cast in brick-shape, and was transported by sea to the capital.
"The king also restored his attention to the treasures of the
Sinaitic Peninsula, which had excited the concupiscence of the
Egyptians since the days of King Senoferu[EN#47] (B.C. 3700).
Loaded with rich presents for the sanctuary of the goddess
Hathor, the protectress of Mafka-land, chosen employés were
despatched on a royal commission to the peninsula, for the
purpose of supplying the Pharaoh's treasury with the highly
prized blue-green copper-stones (Mafka, Turkisen?[EN#48])."
These lines were published by Dr. Brugsch-Bey before he had heard
of my discoveries of metals and of a modern turquoise-digging in
the Land of Midian. He had decided that "'Atháka" lay to the east
of Suez, chiefly from the insistence laid upon the shipping;
sea-going craft would certainly not be required for a sail of
three or four hours. Moreover, as I have elsewhere shown, Jebel
'Atakáh, the "Mountain of Deliverance," at the mouth of the Wady
Musá, was referred to the Jews at some time after the Christian
era, and probably during the fourth and fifth centuries, when
pilgrimages to the apocryphal Mounts Sinai became the fashion.
During the summer of 1877, Dr. Brugsch-Bey was kind enough to
copy and to translate the original document, upon which he
founded his short account of the "'Atháka" copper-mines. I offer
it to the reader in full.
The order of the alphabet is that adopted by Dr. Brugsch-Bey. It
relies for the first letter upon the authority of Plutarch, who
asserts that the Egyptian abecedarium numbered the square of five
(twenty-five); and that it opened with ----, which also
expresses the god Thoth;--this is the case with ----
the leaf of some water-plant. The sequence of the letters has been
suggested by a number of minor considerations: we begin with the
vowels, and proceed to the labial, the liquids, and so
forth.[EN#49]
The sense of the highly interesting inscription, in its English
order, would be:--
"I have sent my commissioners to the land 'Atháka; to the (those)[EN#50]
great mines of copper (or coppers)[EN#51] which are in this place
('Atháka); and their (i.e. the commissioners') ships[EN#52] were loaded,
carrying them (the metals); while other (commissioners were sent and)
marched on their asses. No! one never (ter-tot) had heard, since the
(days of the olden) kings, that these (copper) mines had been
found.[EN#53] The loads (i.e. of the ships and the asses) carried copper;
the loads were by myriads for their ships, which went thence (i.e. from
the mines) to Egypt. (After) happily arriving, the loads were landed,
according to royal order, under the Pavilion,[EN#54] in form of copper-
bricks;[EN#55] they were numerous as frogs (in the marsh),[EN#56] and in
quality they were gold (Nub) of the third degree.[EN#57] I made them
admired (by) all the world as marvellous things."
The following lines upon the subject of Midian are from the notes
(p. 143) of Jacob Golius in "Alferganum" (small 4to. Amsterdam,
1669), a valuable translation with geographical explanations.
Ahmad ibn Mohammed ibn Kathír el-Fargháni derived his "lakab" or
cognomen from the province of Farghán (Khokand), to the
north-east of the Oxus; he wrote a work upon astronomy, and he
flourished about A.H. 184 (= A.D. 800).
"Ibidem ( Madyan) Medjan sive Midjan, Antiqui nominis oppidum in
Maris Rubri littore, sub 29 degrees grad. latitudine; ad ortum brumalem
deflectens à montis Sinæ extremitate: ubi feré site Ptolemæi Modiana,
haud dubié eadem cum Midjan. A Geographorum Orientalium quibusdam ad
Ægyptum refertur; à plerisq; omnibus ad Higiazam: quod merito et recté
factum. Nullus enim est, qui Arabibus non annumeret Madianitas; et Sinam,
quæ Madjane borealior, montem Arabiæ facit D. Paulus Gal. iv. Midjan
autem fuit Abrahami ex Kethura filius: unde tribus illa et ab hac urbs
nomen habent. Quam quidem tribum coaluisse, sedibus ut puto et affinitate
in unam cum Ismaëlitis, innuere videntur Geneseos verba. Nam
conspirantibus in Josephi exitium fratribus dicuntur supervenisse
Ismaëlitae; transivisse Midjanite; ipse v ditus ab Ismaëlitis. Ceterum
urbem Midjan Arabes pro ea habent, quæ in Corano vocatur (
Madínat Kúsh): Xaib[EN#58] enim illis idem est, qui Jethro dicitur Exod.
iii. cujus filiam Sipporam Moses uxor duxit, cum ex Ægpto profugisset in
terram Midjan; ubi Jethro princeps erat et Sacerdos. Autonomosia illa
Arabibus familiaris. Ita Hanoch ( Aknúkh) appelatus, Abraham (El-
Khalíl), Rex Saul ( Tálút), etc., licet eorundem propria etiam
usurpentur nomina. Et in ipsis Sacris Libris non uno nomine hic Jethro
designatur. Loci illius puteum[EN#59] Scriptores memorant fano circum
extructo Arabibus sacrum, persuasis Mosem ibi Sipporam et sorores à
pastorum injuriis vindicasse; prout Exod., cap. ii., res describitur. Sed
primis Muhammedici regni bellis universa fere, quae rune extabat, urbs
vastata fuit."
El-Fargháni is followed by the Imám Abú 'Abbás Ahmed bin Yáhyá
bin Jábir, surnamed and popularly known as El-Balázurí, who
flourished between A.H. 232 and 247 (= A.D. 846 to 861), and
wrote the Futú'h el-Buldán, or the "Conquests of Countries." His
words are (pp. 13-14, M. J. de Goeje's edition; Lugduni
Batavorum, 1866)--"It was related to me by Abú Abíd el-Kásim bin
Sallám; who said he was told by Ishák bin Isa, from Malík ibn
Anas and from Rabíat, who heard from a number of the learned,
that the Apostle of Allah (upon whom be peace!) gave in feoff
(Iktá'at) to Bilál bin el-Háris el-Muzni, mines (Ma'ádin, i.e. of
gold) in the district of Furú' (variant, Kurú'). Moreover, it was
related to me by Amrú el-Nákid, and by Ibn Saham el-Antáki (of
Antioch), who both declared to have heard from El-Haytham bin
Jamíl el-Antáki, through Hammád bin Salmah, that Abú Makín,
through Abú Ikrimah Maulá Bilál bin el-Háris el-Muzni, had
averred 'The Apostle of Allah (upon whom be peace!) enfeoffed the
said Bilál with (a bit of) ground containing a mountain and a
(gold) mine; that the sons of Bilál sold part of the grant to one
'Umar bin 'Abd el-'Azíz, when a (gold) mine or, according, to
others, two (gold) mines were found in it; that they said to the
buyer, Verily we sold to thee land for cultivation, and we did
not sell thee (gold) mining-ground; that they brought the letter
of the Apostle (upon whom be peace!) in a (bound) volume: that
'Umar kissed it and rubbed it upon his eyes, and said, Of a truth
let me see what hath come out of it (the mine) and what I have
laid out upon it.' Then he deducted from them the expenses of
working and returned to them the surplus. . . . And I was told by
Musa'b el-Zubayri, from Malik ibn Anas, that the Apostle of Allah
(upon whom be peace!) gave in feoff to Bilál bin Háris mines in
the district of Fara' (sic). There is no difference of opinion
among our learned men on this subject, nor do I know any of our
companions who contradicts (the statement) that the (gold) mine
paid one-fourth per ten (= 2 1/2 per cent.) royalty (to the Bayt
el-Mál, or Public Treasury). Musa'b further relates, from
El-Zahri, that the (gold) mine defrayed the Zakát or poor-rate:
he also said that the proportion was one-fifth (= 2 per cent.);
like that which the people of El-Irák (Mesopotamia) take to this
day from the (gold) mines of El-Fara' (sic), and of Nejrán, and
of Zúl-Marwah, and of Wady El-Kura[EN#60] and others. Moreover,
the fifth is also mentioned by Safáin el-Thauri, and by Abú
Hanífah and Abú Yúsuf, as well as by the people of El-'Irák."
Follows on my list the celebrated Murúj el-Dahab, or "Meads of
Gold," by El-Mas'údi, who died in A.H. 346 (= A.D. 957), and
whose book extends to A.H. 332 (= A.D. 943). Unable to find the
translation of my friend Sprenger, I am compelled to quote from
"Maçoudi. Les Prairies d'Or," texte et traduction par C. Barbier
de Meynard et Pavet de Courteille. Société Asiatique, Paris,
1864, vol. iii. pp. 301-305.
"Les théologians ne sont pas d'accord sur la question de savoir à
quel peuple appartenait Choâïb (Shu'ayb), fils de Nawil, fils de
Rawaïl, fils de Mour, fils d'Anka, fils de Madian, fils
d'Abraham, l'ami de Dieu, quoiqu'il soit certain que sa langue
était l'arabe. Les uns pensent qu'il appartenait aux races arabes
éteintes, aux nations qui ont disparu, à quelque une de ces
générations passées dont nous avons parlé. Suivant d'autres, il
s'agirait ici des descendants d'el-Mahd, fils de Djandal, fils de
Yâssob, fils de Madian, fils d'Abraham, dont Choâïb etait frére
par la naissance. De cette race sortit un grand nombre de rods
qui s'étaient dispersés dans des royaumes contigus les uns aux
autres ou sépare's. Parmi ces rods il faut distinguer ceux qui
étaient nommés Aboudjed, Hawaz, Houti, Kalamoun, Çafas et
Kourichat,[EN#61] tous, comme nous venons de le dire, fils
d'el-Mahd, fils de Djandal. Les lettres de l'alphabet sont
représentées précisément par les noms de ces rois, oú l'on
retrouve les vingt-quatre lettres sur lesquelles roule
l'Aboudjed.[EN#62] Il a e'te' dit beaucoup d'autres choses à
propos de ces lettres, comme nous l'avons fait remarquer dans cet
ouvrage; mais il n'entre pas dans notre sujet de rapporter ici
tous les systèmes contradictoires imaginés pour l'expliquer la
signification des lettres.[EN#63] Aboudjed fut roi de la Mecque
et de la partie du Hédjaz qui y confine. Hawaz et Houti régnérent
conjointement dans le pays de Weddj (El-Wijh), qui est le
territoire de Tayif, et la portion du Nedjd qui lui est contigue.
Kalamoun exerçait la suzeraineté sur le royaume de Madian; il y a
même des auteurs qui pensent que son autorité s'étendait
conjointement sur tous les princes et les pays que nous venons de
nommer. Le châtiment du jour de la nuée (Koran, xxvi. 189) eut
lieu sous le re'gne de Kalamoun. Choâïb appelant ces impies à la
pénitence, ils le traitèrent de menteur. Alors il les mena,ca du
châtiment du jour de la nuée, à la suite de quoi une porte du feu
du ciel fut ouverte sur eux. Choâïb se retire, avec ceux qui
avaient cru, dans l'endroit connu sous le nom d'el Aïkah, qui est
un fourré dans la direction de Madian. Cependant, lorsque lcs
incrédules sentirent les effets de la vengeance céleste, et que,
consumés par une chaleur terrible, ils comprirent enfin la
vérité, ils se mirent à la recherche de Choâïb et de ceux qui
avaient cru en lui. Ils les trouvérent abrités sous un nuage
blanc, doucement rafraichi par le zéphire, et ne ressentant en
rien les atteintes de la douleur. Ils les chassèrent de cet
asile, s'imaginant qu'ils y trouveraient eux-mêmes un refuge
contre le fléau qui les poursuivait. Mais Dieu changea cette nuée
en un feu qui se précipita sur leurs têtes. Mountassir, fils
d'el-Moundir el-Médéni, a parlé de ce peuple et a déploré son
triste sort dans des vers où il dit:
"Les rois des enfants de Houti et de Çafas, qui vivaient dans
l'opulence, et ceux de Hawaz, qui possédaient des palais et des
appartements somptueux,
"Régnaient sur la contrée du Hédjaz, et leur beauté était
semblable à celle des rayons du soleil ou à l'éclat de la rune;
"Ils habitaient l'emplacement de la maison sainte, ils
adoucissaient les moeurs de leurs compatriotes et gouvernaient
avec illustration et honneur....
"Rien de plus curieux que l'histoire de ces rois, le ré'cit de
leurs guerres, de leurs actes, de la manière dont ils
s'emparèrent de ces contrées et établirent leur domination, apres
en avoir exterminé les premières possesseurs. Ceux-ci étaient des
peuples dont nous avons parlé dans nos précédents ouvrages, en
traitant ce sujet; nous appelons l'attention dans ce livre sur
nous premiers écrits, et nous engageons le lecteur à les
consulter."
The next in order of seniority is the well-known Idrísí (A.H. 531
= A.D. 1136). Dr. Badger's Arabic copy not being paged, he has
forwarded to me extracts from the French translation by M. P.
Amadée Jaubert (Paris, 1836), having first compared them with the
original:--
Tome 1 p. 5: "De cette mer de la Chine dérive encore le golfe de
Colzoum (Kulzum), qui commence à Bab el-Mandeb,[EN#64] au point
ou se termine la mer des Indes. Il s'étend au nord, en inclinant
un peu vers l'occident, en longeant les rivages occidentales de
l'Iemen, le Téháma, l'Hédjaz, jusqu'au pays de Madian, d'Aila
(El-'Akabah), et de Faran; et se termine à la ville de Colzoum,
dont il tire son nom."
P. 142: "Les districts fortifiés, dependents de la Mecque, sont .
. . Ceux qui sont sous la dépendance de Médine sont . . .
Madyan."
P. 328: "Pour aller de Misr (Cairo) à' Yetrib (sic pro Yathrib),
on passe par les lieux suivants, Aïlah (Aylah) Madian," etc.
P. 333: "Sur les bords de la mer Colzoum est la ville de Madian
(in orig. Madiyan) plus grande qui Tabouk (Tabúk), et le puits ou
Moïse (sur qui soit le salut!) abreuva le troupeau de Jethro
(E1Shu'ayb). On dit que ce puits est (maintenant) à sec [Note at
foot: Je lis Mu'attilah comme porte le MS. B., et non
Mu'azzamah,[EN#65] leçon donnee par le MS. A.]; et qu'on a élevé
audessus une construction. L'eau nécéssaire aux habitants
provient de sources. Le nom de Madiyan (sic) de'rive de celui de
la tribu à laquelle Jethro appartenait. Cette ville offre trés
peu de ressources et le commerce y est misérable."
The following notice of Madyan is taken from the Kitáb el-Buldán
("Book of Countries"),[EN#66] by Ahmed ibn Abí Ya'kúb bin Wádhih,
surnamed El-Ya'kúbí and El-Kátib (the writer); according to the
Arabic colophon it was completed on the morning of Saturday,
Shawwál 21, A.H. 607 (= A.D. 1210). The author gives (p. 129, T.
G. J. Juynboll, Lugduni Batavorum, 1861) a description of the
route from Misr (Egypt, here Cairo) to Meccah. The first ten
stages are--1. Jubb el-'Umayrah; 2. El-Kerkirah (variant,
Karkírah); 3. 'Ajrúd, the well-known fort on the direct
Suez-Cairo line; 4. Jisr el-Kulzum, where the Gulf was crossed;
and, lastly, six Desert marches (Maráhil) to Aylah.[EN#67] The
latter station is described as a fine city upon the shore of the
Salt Sea, the meeting-place of the pilgrim-caravans from
Syria,[EN#68] Egypt, and the Maghrib (West Africa). It has
merchandise in plenty, and its people are a mixed race (Akhlát
min el-Nás).[EN#69] Here also are sold the fine cloaks called
Burdu habaratin, and also known as the Burd of the Apostle of
Allah[EN#70] (upon whom be peace!). He resumes, "And from Aylah
you march to Sharaf el-Baghl, and from the latter to Madyan,
which is a large and populous city, with abundant springs and
far-flowing streams of wholesome water; and gardens of
flower-beds. Its inhabitants are a mixed race (Akhlát min
el-Nás).[EN#71] The traveller making Meccah from Aylah takes the
shore of the Salt Sea, to a place called 'Aynúná (variant, 'Uyún,
plural of 'Ayn, an eye of water, a fountain): here are buildings
and palm clumps, and seeking-places (Matalib: see Lane for the
authorities), in which men search for gold." Dr. Badger draws my
attention to the last sentence, which seems also to have been
noticed by Sprenger (Alt. Geog. p. 32).[EN#72]
The following is from the Kitáb Asár el-Bitad ("Book of the
Geographical Traditions of Countries"), by the far-famed
Zakariyyá bin Mohammed bin Mahmúd, surnamed El-Kazwíní, who died
A.H. 653 = A.D. 1255:--"Madyan" (p. 173, edidit. F. Wustenfeld,
Göttingen, 1848) "is a city of the tribe (Kaum) of Shu'ayb upon
whom be peace!): it was founded by Madyan, son of Ibrahim, the
Friend (of Allah), the grandfather of Shu'ayb. It exports the
merchandise of Tabúk between El-Medinah and El-Shám (Damascus).
In it is the well whence Musá (upon whom be peace!) watered the
flocks of Shu'áyb, and it is said that the well is of great
depth; and that over it is a building visited by (pious) men.
This settlement Madyan is subject to the district of Tabaríyyah
(Tiberias); and near it is the well, and at it a rock which Moses
uprooted,[EN#73] and which remains there to the present day."
The Imám Abú'l-Abbás Ahmed ibn 'Ali Takiyy el-Dín, better known
as "El-Makrízi," wrote his book El-Mawáiz w'el-I'tibár fi' Zikr
el-Khitat w'el-'Asár ("The Admonition and Examples in
Commemorating Habitations and Traditions") in A.H. 825 (= A.D.
1421), during the latter part of the second Mamlúk dynasty; and
he brings down the history to the reign of Kansu Ghori, whose
fort we shall see at El-'Akabah. He tells us (edition of
Gottingen, 1848, Sahífah 48), "The loftiest mountain in Madyan
is called Zubayr.[EN#74] . . . It is also related that amongst
the settlements of the (Madyanite) tribe are the villages of
Petræa (), namely, the Kúrat (circuit) of El-Tor, and
Fárán (Pharan), and Ráyeh, and Kulzum, and Aylah (El-'Akabah)
with its surroundings; Madyan with its surroundings; and Awíd and
Haurá (Leukè-Kóme) with their surroundings, and Badá[EN#75] and
Shaghab."[EN#76] He speaks of many ruined cities whose
inhabitants had disappeared: forty, however, remained; some with,
and others without, names. Between El-Hejaz and Egypt-Syria were
sixteen cities, ten of them lying towards Palestine. The most
important were El-Khalasah,[EN#77] with its idol-temple destroyed
by Mohammed, and El-Sani'tah, whose stones had been removed to
build Ghazzah (Gaza). The others were El-Mederah, El-Minyah,
El-A'waj, El-Khuwayrak, El-Bírayn, El-Máayn, El-Sebá, and
El-Mu'allak.[EN#78]
The Marásid el-Ittílá 'alá Asmá el-Amkanat w'el-Buká'
("Observations of Information on the Names of Places and
Countries"), which contains two dates in the body of the work,
viz. A.H. 997 ( = A.D. 1589) and A.H. 1168 (A.D. = 1755), and
which is probably compiled from El-Kazwíní, says sub voce Madyan,
after giving the "movement" of the word: "It is a city of the
tribe of Shu'ayb, opposite Tabúk, and upon the sea of El-Kulzum,
six stages (Maráhil) separating the two. It is larger than Tabúk,
and in it is the well whence Moses watered the flocks of
Shu'ayb." Finally, it repeats that Madyan is under the district
of "Tabariyyá" or Tiberias[EN#79] (vol. iii. p. 64, edidit. T. G.
J. Juynboll, Lugduni Batavorum, 1854, e duobus Codd. MSS.).
I conclude this unpopular chapter with some remarks by Dr. Badger
concerning the apparent connection of Jethro and
El-Medínah:[EN#80] "It struck me when studying 'Madyan,' which is
the name of a place as well as of a man,[EN#81] that 'Yáthrib,'
the ancient term of al-Madínah, might have served the same double
purpose. At all events, it was singular to find a Yáthrib
somewhere near Madyan, and that the word was not far removed from
the (Yithro), the name given in Hebrew to Moses'
Midianite father-in-law. I also note that the Septuagint renders
the Hebrew Yithro by Peshito by (Yathrûn),
which the new Arabic version of the Bible, published at Bairu't
(Syria), follows; making it (Yáthrûn). The name in
Hebrew (Exod. iv. 18) is also written (Yether).
"My theory is this. Firstly, there is no dependence to be placed
on the Masoretic points, especially when affixed to names of
places. Secondly, we have no certain knowledge of the language
used by the Midianites in those ancient times. Their territory
extended northwards towards Palestine, and from their very
intimate relations with the Israelites, as friends and as
enemies, both nations appear to have understood each other
perfectly. May not their language, then, have been a dialect of
the Aramean?[EN#82] If so, the (Yithro) of the Bible
might have been (Yithrab, Yathrib, etc.). Instances of
the apocopated (b) are common in the Chaldean or
Syro-Chaldaic at the present day; e.g. (Yáheb Alaha) is
pronounced Yáu-Alaha; (Yashuá'-yaheb) becomes
Yashuá-yau, etc., the final Beth (b) or the
(heb) being converted into a (w). Hence why may not
(Yithro) have been originally (Yithrab or
Yathrib)? Of course, this is only a conjecture of mine."
Mr. E. Stanley Poole (loc. cit.) says that the Arabs dispute
whether the name "Medyen" be foreign or Arabic; and whether
"Medyen" spoke Arabic. He considers the absurd enumeration of the
alphabetical kings (El-Mas'údi, quoted above) to be curious, as
possibly containing some vague reference to the language of
Midian. When these kings are said contemporaneously to have ruled
over Meccah, Western Nejd, Yemen, "Medyen," Egypt, etc., it is
extremely improbable that Midian ever penetrated into Yemen,
notwithstanding the hints of Arab authors to the contrary. Yákút
el-Hamawi (born A.H. 574 or 575 = A.D. 1178-79, and died A.H. 626
= A.D. 1228), in the Mu'jam el-Buldán (cited in the Journ. of the
Deutsch. Morgen. Gesellschaft), declares that a South Arabic
dialect is of Midian, and El-Mas'údi (apud Schultens, pp.
158-159) inserts a Midianite king among the rulers of Yemen. The
latter, however, is more probable than the former; it may be an
accidental and individual, not a material occurrence.
The following list of ruins, some cities, others towns, were all,
with two exceptions (Nos. 2 and 18), visited or explored by the
second Khedivial Expedition. The Mashghal, ateliers or subsidiary
workshops, were in cases learned only by hearsay:--
1. Old 'Akabah (Aylah) Mashghal, up Valley el-Yitm. 3.
2. El-Hakl (pronounced "Hagul"), the of Ptolemy: it
was seen from the sea, and notes were taken of its ruins and
furnaces.
3. Nakhil Tayyib Ism, in mountain of the same name: its ruined
dam (?) and buildings were surveyed by Lieutenant Amir.
4. Makná. Twice visited.
5. Magháir Shu'ayb. Two ateliers inspected, and one heard of on
the Jebel el-Lauz: total, 3.
6. 'Aynúnah. In Jebel Zahd (ruins and furnaces). 1.
7. Sharmá. An atelier on the Jebel Fás, and another on the Jebel
Harb, both high up: total, 2.
8. Tiryam. An atelier in the Wady Urnub. 1.
9. Abu Hawáwít, near El-Muwaylah. Scoriæ found about the fort of
El-Muwaylah and near Sharm Yáhárr. 2.
10. Zibayyib in Wady Surr. Atelier Sayl Umm Laban (Wady Sadr). 1.
11. Khulasah.[EN#83] Saw specimens of worked metal from Wady
Kh'shabríyyah, and the upper Wady Surr; also ruins in the Sayl
Abú Sha'r, south-west and seawards of the Shárr block.
12. Ma' el-Badá, alias Diyár el-Nasárá, in the upper Wady Dámah.
13. Shuwák, the of Ptolemy. Atelier in Jebel
el-Sání. 1.
14. Shaghab, another large city mentioned by El-Makrízi.
15. Ruins of El-Khandakí. Broken quartz, and made road at
El-Kutayyifah; two other ateliers in Wady Ruways to the west:
total, 3.
16. Umm Amil. Near it an atelier still called El-Dayr, or the
Convent. 1.
17. Ziba', old town; Umm Jirmah to the north. 1.
18. Majirmah (pronounced M'jirmah), one day's march south of
Zibá. Large ruins, supposed to have been the classical
Rhaunathos.
Thus, besides a total of eighteen ruins, more or less extensive,
twenty ateliers were seen or heard of; making up a total of
thirty-eight--not far removed from the forty traditional
settlements of the mediæval Arab geographers.
In the plateau of New Red Sandstone called El-Hismá, ruins and
inscriptions are said to be found at the Jebel Rawiyán, whose
Wady is mentioned by Wallin (p. 308); at Ruáfá, between the two
hills El-Rakhamatayn; and at sundry other places, which we were
unable to visit. Beyond the Hisma' I also collected notices of
El-Karáyyá, large ruins first alluded to by Wallin (p.
316).[EN#84]
During our exploration of the region below El-Muwaylah (my
Southern Midian), and our cruise to El-Haura', the following
sites were either seen or reported:--
1. Ruins in the Wady Dukhán, south of the Wady el-Azlam: north of
El-Wijh.
2. El-Nabaghah, in the Wady el-Marrah: north of El-Wijh.
3. Ruins, furnaces and quartz-strews, in the Fara't Lebayyiz.
4. El-Wijh, the port of Strabo's "Egra" (?).
5. Inland fort of El-Wijh; an old metal-working ground.
6. The great mine and ruins, Umm el-Karayya't, everywhere
surrounded by ateliers.
7. El-Kubbah, a small isolated ruin to the east of No. 6.
8. El-Khaur, a working-place to the west of No. 6.
9. The large works called Umm el-Hara'b, with two ruined ateliers
near them.
10. Aba'l-Gezáz, a working-place in the watercourse of the same
name, an upper branch of the Wady Salbah.
11. The fine plain of Bada', with the Mashghal el-'Arayfát heard
of to the north.
12. Marwát, ruins on a ridge near Badá, and signs of a settlement
in the valley. In the Wady Laylah, remains also spoken of.
13. Aba'l-Marú, probably the Zu'l-Marwah of Bilázurí; extensive
remains of buildings; a huge reef of quartz, carefully worked,
and smaller ruins further down the valley.
14. The classical temple or tomb on the left bank of the great
Wady Hamz, dividing Southern Midian from El-Hejaz in the Turkish
dominions.
15. Large remains, in two divisions, at El-Haurá.[EN#85]
Concerning the ateliers, details will be found in the following
pages. Many of them suggest a kind of compromise between the
camps and settlements of the Stone Age, where, e.g. at Pressigny
and Grimes' Graves, the only remnant of man is a vast strew of
worked silexes; and the wandering fraternity of Freemasons who
hutted themselves near the work in hand. And I would here lay
special stress upon my suspicion that the ancestors of the
despised Hutaym may have been the Gypsy-caste that worked the
metals in Midian.
For the date of the many ruins which stud the country, I will
assume empirically that their destruction is coeval with that of
the Christian Churches in Negeb, or the South Country,[EN#86]
that adjoins Midian Proper on the north-west. It may date from
either the invasion of Khusrau Anúshírawán, the conquering
Sassanian King Chosroes (A.D. 531-579); or from the expedition,
sent by the Caliph Omar and his successors, beginning in A.D.
651. But, as will appear in the course of these pages, there was
a second destruction; and that evidently dates from the early
sixteenth century, when Sultán Selim laid out his maritime road
for the Hajj-caravan. Before that time the Egyptian caravans, as
will be seen, marched inland, and often passed from Midian to
El-Hijr.
Chapter V.
Work At, and Excursions From, Magháir Shu'Ayb.
By the blessing of Nebi Shu'ayb and a glance from his eyrie, I at
once suspected that the western Shigd was the "Mountain on a
mountain" alluded to by Haji Wali;[EN#87] and, on January 12,
1878, I ascertained that such was the case. The old man had given
me a hand-sketch of the most artless, showing a gorge between two
rocks, a hill of two stages to the left or west, and a couple of
Wadys draining it to the sea; one (Wady Makná) trending
northwest, and the other (Wady 'Afál) south-west. The word
"Ishmah," affixed to the northern part of the route, is evidently
the Hismá plateau, and not, as I had supposed it to be, the Jebel
Tayyib Ism.
Nor had we any difficulty in discovering Haji Wali's tree, a
solitary Mimosa to the right of the caravan-track, springing from
the sands of the Shigdawayn gorge. The latter is formed by the
sister-blocks before alluded to. The western Shigd, on the right
of the Wady 'Afál, is composed of carbonate of lime and
sandstones dyed with manganese, the whole resting upon a core of
grey granite; the formation is the same as the eastern feature,
but the lines of the latter are gentler, and the culminating
tower is wanting.
The western Shigd, indeed, is sufficiently peculiar. It is the
southern apex of a short range, numbering some four heads: the
eastern flank discharges the Wady Kizáz, which feeds the 'Afál;
and the western the Wady Makná. The summit of the broken and
spiny cone is a huge perpendicular block, apparently inaccessible
as a tower, and composed of the dull yellow ferruginous
conglomerate called "El-Safrá:" the tint contrasts strongly with
a long line of bright white Rugham (gypsum), bisecting the head
of the Wady Makná. Below the apex is a thick stratum of
manganese-stained rock: the upper line, with a dip of 15 deg.
towards the main valley, looks much like a row of bulwarks which
had slipped from the horizontal, while still bluff between the
north-east and east. Indeed, the shape is so regular that M.
Lacaze, at first sight, asked if it was une construction.
As soon as the washing-trough was brought up from Sharmá, we
opened operations by digging a trench, at least twelve feet deep,
in the re-entering angle of the bed close to the Mimosa tree. The
sand, pink above and chloritic yellow below, ended in a thick bed
of water-rolled pebbles, not in ground-rock; nor did it show the
couch of excellent clay which usually underlies the surface, and
which, I have said, is extracted through pits to make sun-dried
brick, swish, and other building materials. We also secured some
of the blood-red earth from the eastern tail of the northern
"Shigh," the manganese-stained Tauá and the gravelly sand washed
out of the Cascalho-gravel, the latter very promising. The result
of our careless working, however, was not successful; the normal
ilmenite, black sand of magnetic iron, took the place of
gold-dust. And this unlooked-for end again made us suspicious of
my old friend's proceedings: the first occasion was that of his
notable "malingering." Had he bought a pinch of "Tibr" (pure
gold) from the Bedawin, and mixed it with the handful of surface
stuff ? Had the assayer at Alexandria played him a trick ? Or had
an exceptionally heavy torrent really washed down auriferous
"tailings"? I willingly believe the latter to have been the case;
and we shall presently see it is within the range of possibility.
Traces of gold were found by Lieutenant-Colonel W. A. Ross,
through his pyrological process, in the sandy clays brought from
the mouth of Wady Makná.
Meanwhile, despite our magnificent offers, the Arabs managed to
keep inviolate their secret--if they had one. An old man, now a
rich merchant and householder at Suez, had repeatedly declared to
Mr. A. G. K. Levick, that in his young days the Bedawin washed
gold in Midian, till the industry fell into disrepute. During my
last visit he was unfortunately absent upon a pilgrimage; after
our return he asserted that he had sent for specimens of the
sand, but that it paid too little even for transport. This 'Abd
el-Hámid el-Shámi, interviewed, after our return, by Mr. Clarke,
declared more than once, and still declares, that many years ago
he obtained from the Wady Zibá, behind the settlement, a certain
quantity of reddish sand which appeared auriferous. He roasted
and washed the contents of three small baskets called
"Coffas"[EN#88] by Europeans; and this yielded a pinch of "what
looked like pure gold."
In camp our men spoke freely of Tibr stored in quills, carried
behind the ear, and sold at Suez--not at Cairo for fear of
consequences. Yet neither promises nor bribes would persuade the
poorest to break through the rule of silence. The whole might
have been a canard: on the other hand, there was also a valid
reason for reticence; the open mouth would not long have led to a
sound throat. So our many informants contented themselves with
telling us frequent tales of gold ornaments picked up after rain;
they showed us a ring made from a bit found on the Tabúk road,
and they invariably assure us that we shall find wondrous
things--about the next station.
At Magháir Shu'ayb we wasted a whole fortnight (January 11-24,
1878) in vain works; and I afterwards bitterly repented that the
time had not been given to South Midian. Yet the delay was
pleasant enough, after the month which is required to acquire, or
to recover, the habit of tent-life. The halting-day was mostly
spent as follows: At six a.m., and somewhat later on cold
mornings, the Boruji sounds his réveillé--Kum, yá Habíbí, sáh
el-Naum ("Rise, friend! sleep is done"), as the Egyptian officers
interpret the call. A curious business he makes of it, when his
fingers are half frozen; yet Bugler Mersál Abú Dunya is a man of
ambition, who persistently, and despite the coarse laughter of
Europeans, repairs for quiet practicing to the bush. We drink tea
or coffee made by Engineer Ali Marie, or by Quartermaster Yusuf,
not by Europeans; two camels supply us with sweet milk; butter we
have brought; and nothing is wanted for complete comfort but
bread.
We then separate to our work, after telling off the quarrymen to
their several tasks. Inveterate idlers and ne'er-do-weels, their
only object in life is not to labour; a dozen of them will pass a
day in breaking ten pounds' weight of stone. They pound in the
style of the Eastern tobacconist, with a very short stroke and a
very long stay. At last they burst the sieves in order to enjoy a
quieter life. They will do nothing without superintendence;
whilst the officer is absent they sit and chat, smoke, or lie
down to rest; and they are never to be entrusted with a
water-skin or a bottle of spirits. The fellows will station one
of their number on the nearest hill, whilst their comrades enjoy
a sounder sleep; they are the greatest of cowards, and yet none
would thus have acted sentinel even in the presence of the enemy.
These useful articles all expect a liberal "bakhshísh" when the
journey is done, with the usual Asiatic feeling: they know that
they deserve nothing, but my "dignity" obliges me to largess. On
this occasion it did not.
Those told off to dig prefer to make a deep pit, because fewer
can work together at it, rather than scrape off and sift the two
feet of surface which yield "antíka's." They rob what they can:
every scrap of metal stylus, manilla, or ring is carefully
tested, scraped, broken or filed, in order to see whether it be
gold. Punishment is plentifully administered, but in vain; we
cannot even cure their unclean habits of washing in and polluting
the fountain source. Three Europeans would easily do the work of
these thirty poor devils.
Mr. Clarke is our camp-manager in general: he is also our jäger;
he shoots the wild poultry, duck and partridge, sand-grouse, and
"Bob White" the quail, for half our dinners; and the Arabs call
him the "Angel of Death belonging to the Birds." He failed to
secure a noble eagle in the Wady 'Afál, whose nest was built upon
an inaccessible cliff: he described the bird as standing as high
as our table, and with a width of six to seven feet from wing to
wing. He also brought tidings of a large (horned?) owl, possibly
the same species as the fine bird noted at Sinai. The Arabs call
it classically Búmah, and vulgarly Umm Kuwayk ("Mother of
Squeaking"): the Fellahin believe that it sucks out children's
eyes, and hence their name, "Massásah." Here, as in the Sinaitic
Peninsula, "the owl and the hyena are used as charms; and the
burnt feathers of the former, and the boiled flesh of the latter
(superior filth!), are considered as infallible specifics for
numerous disorders." In other parts of Arabia the hooting of the
owl portends death; and the cry, Fát--fát, is interpreted, "He is
gone, gone."
The two Staff-officers make plans and sketches of the new places,
or they protract their field-books, working very hard and very
slowly. I have but little confidence in their route-surveys:
sights are taken from mule-back, and distances are judged by the
eye. True, the protractions come out well, but this is all the
worse, suggesting the process commonly called "doctoring." For
the style of thing, however, "dead reckoning" did well enough.
M. Lacaze is the most ardent. Accompanied by his favourite
orderly, Salámat el-Nahhás, an intelligent negro from Dár-For, he
sets out after breakfast with a bit of bread, a flagon of water,
a tent-umbrella, and his tools, which he loses with remarkable
punctuality, to spend the whole day sketching, painting, and
photographing. M. Philipin is our useful man: he superintends the
washing-cradle; he wanders far and wide, gun in hand, bringing us
specimens of everything that strikes the eye; and he is great at
his forge: the Bedawin sit for hours, gazing attentively as he
converts a file into a knife, and illustrating the reverence with
which, in early days, men regarded Vulcan and Wayland Smith.
At eleven a.m. the bugle sounds Tijrí taakul! ("Run and feed"), a
signal for déjeuner à la fourchette. It is a soup, a stew, and a
Puláo ("pilaff") of rice and meat, sheep or goat, the only
provisions that poor Midian can afford, accompanied by onions and
garlic, which are eaten like apples, washed down with bon
ordinaire; followed by cheese when we have it, and ending with
tea or coffee. George the cook proves himself an excellent man
when deprived of oil and undemoralized by contact with his fellow
Greeks. After feeding, the idlers, who have slumbered, or rather
have remained in bed, between eight p.m. and six to seven a.m.,
generally manage a couple of hours' siesta, loudly declaring that
they have been wide awake. One of the party seems to live by the
blessing of him who invented sleep, and he is always good for
half of the twenty-four hours--how they must envy him whose
unhappy brains can be stupefied only by poisonous chloral!
At two p.m., after drinking tea or coffee once more, we proceed
to another four hours' spell of work. As sunset and the cold
hours draw near, all assemble about the fire, generally two or
three huge palm trunks, whose blaze gladdens the soul of the
lonely night-sentinel; and, assembling the Shaykhs of the Arabs,
we gather from them information geographical, historical, and
ethnological. The amount of invention, of pure fancy, of airy
lying, is truly sensational; while at the same time they conceal
from us everything they can; and, more especially, everything we
most wish to know. Firstly, they do not want us to spy out the
secrets of the land; and, secondly, they count upon fleecing us
through another season. During the whole day, but notably at this
hour, we have the normal distractions of the Arabian journey. One
man brings, and expects "bakhshísh" for, a bit of broken metal or
some ridiculous stone; another grumbles for meat; and a third
wants tobacco, medicine, or something to be had for the asking. I
am careful to pay liberally, as by so doing the country is well
scoured.
Dinner, at seven p.m., is a copy of what was served before noon.
It is followed by another sitting round the fire, which is built
inside the mess tent when cold compels. At times the conversation
lasts till midnight; and, when cognac or whisky is plentiful, I
have heard it abut upon the Battle of Waterloo and the
Immortality of the Soul. Piquet and écarté are reserved for life
on board ship. Our only reading consists of newspapers, which
come by camel post every three weeks; and a few "Tauchnitz,"
often odd volumes. I marvel, as much as Hamlet ever did, to see
the passionate influence of the storyteller upon those full-grown
children, bearded men; to find them, in the midst of this wild
new nature, so utterly absorbed by the fictitious weal and woe of
some poor creature of the author's brain, that they neglect even
what they call their "meals ;" allow their "teas" to cool, and
strain their eyesight poring over page after page in the dim
light of a rusty lantern. Thus also the Egyptian, after sitting
in his café with all his ears and eyes opened their widest,
whilst the story-teller drones out the old tale of Abú Zayd, will
dispute till midnight, and walk home disputing about what, under
such and such circumstances, they themselves would have done. To
me the main use of "Tauchnitz" was to make Arabia appear the
happier, by viewing, from the calm vantage-ground of the Desert,
the meanness and the littlenesses of civilized life--in novels.
The marching-day is only the halting-day in movement. By seven
a.m. in winter and four a.m. in spring, we have breakfasted and
are ready to mount mule or dromedary; more generally, however, we
set out, accompanied by the Sayyid and the Shaykhs, for a morning
walk. The tents and, most important of all, the tent-table are
left to follow under the charge of the Egyptian officers, who
allow no dawdling. With us are the cook and the two
body-servants, riding of course: they carry meat, drink, and
tobacco in my big tin cylinder intended to collect plants; and
they prefer to give us cold whilst we fight for hot breakfasts.
After resting between ten a.m. and noon in some shady spot,
generally under a thorn, we ride on to the camping-ground, which
we reach between two and three p.m. This is the worst part of the
day for man and beast, especially for the mules--hence the
necessity of early rising.
The average work rarely exceeds six hours (= eighteen to twenty
miles). Even this, if kept up day after day, is hard labour for
our montures, venerable animals whose chests, galled by the
breast-straps, show that they have not been broken to the saddle.
Accustomed through life to ply in a state of semi-somnolence,
between Cairo and the Citadel, they begin by proving how
unintelligent want of education can make one of the most
intelligent of beasts. They trip over every pebble, and are
almost useless on rough and broken ground; they start and swerve
at a man, a tree, a rock, a distant view or a glimpse of the sea;
they will not leave one another, and they indulge their pet
dislikes: this shies at a camel, that kicks at a dog. Presently
Tamaddun, as the Arabs say, "urbanity," or, more literally, being
"citified," asserts itself, as in the human cockney; and at last
they become cleverer and more knowing than any country-bred. They
climb up the ladders of stone with marvellous caution, and slip
down the slopes of sand on their haunches; they round every
rat-hole which would admit a hoof; and they know better than we
do where water is. They are not always well treated; the
"galloping griff" is amongst us, who enjoys "lambing" and
"bucketing" even a half-donkey. Of course, the more sensible
animal of the two is knocked up; whilst the rider assumes the
airs of one versed in the haute école. The only difficulty, by no
fault of the mules, was the matter of irons: shoeless they could
travel only in sand; and, as has been said, the farrier was
forgotten.
Amongst our recreant Shaykhs I must not include Furayj bin Rafí'a
el-Huwaytí, a man of whom any tribe might be proud, and a living
proof that the Bedawi may still be a true gentleman. A short
figure, meagre of course, as becomes the denizen of the Desert,
but "hard as nails," he has straight comely features, a clean
dark skin, and a comparatively full beard, already, like his
hair, waxing white, although he cannot be forty-five. A bullet in
the back, and both hands distorted by sabre-cuts, attempts at
assassination due to his own kin, do not prevent his using sword,
gun, and pistol. He is the 'Agíd of the tribe, the African
"Captain of War;" as opposed to the civil authority, the Shayhk,
and to the judicial, the Kázi. At first it is somewhat startling
to hear him prescribe a slit weasand as a cure for lying; yet he
seems to be known, loved, and respected by all around him,
including his hereditary foes, the Ma'ázah. He is the only Bedawi
in camp who prays. Naturally he is a genealogist, rich in local
lore. He counteracts all the intrigues by which that rat-faced
little rascal, Shaykh Hasan el-'Ukbi, tries to breed mischief
between friends. He is a walking map; it would be easy to draw up
a rude plan of the country from his information. He does not know
hours and miles, but he can tell to a nicety the comparative
length of a march; and, when ignorant, he has the courage to say
M'adri, "don't know." He never asked me for anything, nor told a
lie, nor even hid a water-hole. Willing and ready to undertake
the longest march, the hardest work, his word is Házir--"I'm
here"--and he will even walk to mount a tired man. Seated upon
his loud-voiced little Hijn,[EN#89] remarkable because it is of
the noble Bishári strain, bred between the Nile and the Red Sea,
he is ever the guide in chief. At last it ends with Nádi Shaykh
Furayj!--"Call Shaykh Furayj"--when anything is to be done, to be
explained, to be discovered. I would willingly have recommended
him for the chieftainship of his tribe, but he is not wealthy; he
wisely prefers to see the dignity in the hands of his cousin
'Alayán, who, by-the-by, is helpless without him. He remained
with us to the end: he seemed to take a pride in accompanying the
expedition by sea to El-Haurá, and by land to the Wady Hamz, far
beyond the limits of his tribe. When derided for mounting a pair
of Government "bluchers," tied over bare feet, with bits of
glaring tassel-string from his camel-saddle, he quoted the
proverb, "Whoso liveth with a people forty days becomes of them."
We parted after the most friendly adieu, or rather au revoir, and
he was delighted with some small gifts of useful weapons:--I
wonder whether Shaykh Furayj will prove "milk," to use Sir Walter
Scott's phrase, "which can stand more than one skimming."
In such wild travel, the traveller's comfort depends mainly upon
weather. Usually the air of Magháir Shu'ayb was keen, pure, and
invigorating, with a distinct alternation of land-breeze by
night, and of sea-breeze by day. Nothing could be more charming
than the flushing of the mountains at sunrise and sunset, and the
magnificence of the windy, wintry noon. The rocky spires,
pinnacles, and domes, glowing with gorgeous golden light, and the
lower ranges, shaded with hazy blue, umber-red, and luminous
purple, fell into picture and formed prospects indescribably pure
and pellucid. But the average of the aneroid (29.19) gave an
altitude of eight hundred feet; and even in this submaritime
region, the minimum temperature was 42 deg. F., ranging to a
maximum of 85 deg F. in the shade. These are extremes which the
soft Egyptian body, reared in the house or the hut, could hardly
support.
Darwaysh Effendi followed suit after Yusuf Effendi; it was a
study to see him swathed to the nose, bundled in the thickest
clothes, with an umbrella opened against the sun, and with a
soldier leading his staid old mule. Bukhayt Ahmar and several of
the soldiers were laid up; Ahmed Kaptán was incapacitated for
work by an old and inveterate hernia, the effect, he said, of
riding his violent little beast; and a sound ague and fever,
which continued three days, obliterated in my own case the last
evils of Karlsbad. We had one night of rain (January 15),
beginning gently at 2.30 a.m., and ending in a heavy
downfall--unfortunately a pluviometer was one of the forgotten
articles. Before the shower, earth was dry as a bone; shortly
after it, sprouts of the greenest grass began to appear in the
low places, and under the shadow of the perennial shrubs. The
cold damp seemed to make even the snakes torpid: for the first
time in my life I trod upon one--a clairvoyante having already
warned me against serpents and scorpions. There were also bursts
of heat, ending in the normal three grey days of raw piercing
norther; and followed by a still warmer spell. Upon the Gulf of
El-'Akabah a violent gale was blowing. On the whole the winter
climate of inland Midian is trying, and a speedy return to the
seaboard air is at times advisable, while South Midian feels like
Thebes after Cairo. The coast climate is simply perfect, save and
except when El-Aylí, the storm-wind from 'Akabat Aylah, is
abroad. My meteorological journal was carefully kept, despite the
imperfection of the instruments. Mr. Clarke registered the
observations during my illness; Mr. Duguid and Násir Kaptán made
simultaneous observations on board the ships; and Dr. Maclean
kindly corrected the instrumental errors after our return to
Cairo.[EN#90]
I had proposed to march upon the Hismá, or sandy plateau to the
east, which can be made from Magháir Shu'ayb without the
mortification of a Nakb, or ladder of stone. Thereupon our
Tagaygát-Huwaytát Shaykhs and camel-men began to express great
fear of the 'Imran-Huwaytát, refusing to enter their lands
without express leave and the presence of a Ghafír ("surety").
Our caravan-leader, the gallant Sayyid, at once set off in search
of 'Brahim bin Makbúl, second chief of the 'Imrán, and recognized
by the Egyptian Government as the avocat, spokesman and
diplomatist, the liar and intriguer of his tribe. This man was
found near El-Hakl (Hagul), two long marches ahead: he came in
readily enough, holding in hand my kerchief as a pledge of
protection, and accompanied by three petty chiefs, Musallam,
Sa'd, and Muhaysin, all with an eye to "bakhshísh." In fact,
every naked-footed "cousin," a little above the average clansman,
would call himself a Shaykh, and claim his Musháhirah, or monthly
pay; not a cateran came near us but affected to hold himself
dishonoured if not provided at once with the regular salary.
'Brahim was wholly beardless, and our Egyptians quoted their
proverb, Sabáh el-Kurúd, wa lá Sabán el-'Ajrúd--"Better (see
ill-omened) monkeys in the morning than the beardless man." As
the corruption of the best turns to the worst, so the Bedawi, a
noble race in its own wilds, becomes thoroughly degraded by
contact with civilization. I remember a certain chief of the Wuld
Ali tribe, near Damascus, who was made a Freemason at Bayrút, and
the result was that "brother" Mohammed became a model villain.
By way of payment for escort and conveyance to the Hismá, 'Brahim
expected a recognition of his claim upon the soil of Magháir
Shu'ayb, which belongs to the wretched Masá'id. He held the true
Ishmaelitic tenet, that as Sayyidná (our Lord) Ádam had died
intestate, so all men (Arabs) have a right to all things,
provided the right can be established by might. Hence the saying
of the Fellah, "Shun the Arab and the itch." Thus encouraged by
the Shaykhs, the "dodges" of the clansmen became as manifold as
they were palpable. They wanted us to pay for camping-ground;
they complained aloud when we cut a palm-frond for palms, or used
a rotten fallen trunk for fuel. They made their sheep appear fat
by drenching them with water. The people of the Fort el-Muwaylah,
determined not to déroger, sent to us, for sale, the eggs laid by
our own fowls. And so forth.
Presently 'Brahim brought in his elder brother, Khizr bin Makbúl,
about as ill-conditioned a "cuss" as himself. Very dark, with the
left eye clean gone, this worthy appeared pretentiously dressed
in the pink of Desert fashion--a scarlet cloak, sheepskin-lined,
and bearing a huge patch of blue cloth between the shoulders; a
crimson caftan, and red morocco boots with irons resembling
ice-cramps at the heels. Like 'Brahim, he uses his Bákúr, or
crooked stick, to trace lines and dots upon the ground;
similarly, the Yankee whittles to hide the trick that lurks in
his eyes. Khizr tents in the Hismá, and his manners are wild and
rough as his dwelling-place; possibly manly, brusque certainly,
like the Desert Druzes of the Jebel Haurán. He paid his first
visit when our Shaykhs were being operated upon by the
photographer: I fancied that such a novelty would have attracted
his attention for the moment. But no: his first question was,
Aysh 'Ujratí?--"What is the hire for my camels?" Finally, these
men threw so many difficulties in our way, that I was compelled
to defer our exploration of the eastern region to a later day.
After a week of washing for metals at Magháir Shu'ayb, it was
time to move further afield. On January 17th, the Egyptian
Staff-officers rode up the Wady 'Afál, and beyond the two
pyramidal rocks of white stone, which have fallen from the
towered "Shigd," they found on its right bank the ruins of a
small atelier. It lies nearly opposite the mouth of the Wady
Tafrígh, which is bounded north by a hill of the same name; and
south by the lesser "Shigd." Beyond it comes the Wady Nimir, the
broad drain of the Jibál el-Nimir, "Hills of the Leopard,"
feeding the 'Afál: the upper valley is said to have water and
palms. After a "leg" to the north-east (45 deg. mag.), they found
the 'Afál running from due north; and one hour (= three miles)
led them to other ruins on the eastern side of the low hills that
prolong to the north the greater "Shigd." The names of both sites
were unknown even to Shaykh Furayj. The foundations of uncut
boulders showed a semicircle of buildings measuring 229 paces
across the horseshoe. They counted eleven tenements--probably
occupied by the slave-owners and superintendents--squares and
oblongs, separated by intervals of from forty-five to
ninety-seven or a hundred paces. On the north-north-east lay the
chief furnace, a parallelogram of some twenty-three paces, built
of stone and surrounded by scatters of broken white quartz and
scoriæ. These two workshops seem to argue that the country was
formerly much better watered than it is now. Moreover, it
convinced me that the only rock regularly treated by the
ancients, in this region, was the metallic Marú (quartz).
I had heard by mere chance of a "White Mountain," at no great
distance, in the mass of hills bounding to the north the
Secondary formations of Magháir Shu'ayb. On January 21st, M.
Marie and Lieutenant Amir were detached to inspect it. They were
guided by the active Furayj and a Bedawi lad, Hamdán of the
Amírát, who on receiving a "stone dollar" (i.e. silver) could not
understand its use. Travelling in a general northern direction,
the little party reached their destination in about three hours
(= nine miles). They found some difficulty in threading a mile
and a quarter of very ugly road, a Nakb, passing through rocks
glittering with mica; a ladder of stony steps and overfalls, with
angles and zigzags where camels can carry only half-loads. The
European dismounted; the Egyptian, who was firm in the saddle,
rode his mule the whole way. We afterwards, however, explored a
comparatively good road, viâ the Wady Murákh, to the seaboard,
which will spare the future metal-smelter much trouble and
expense.
The quartz mountain is, like almost all the others, the expanded
mushroom-like head of a huge filon or vein; and minor filets
thread all the neighbouring heights. The latter are the
foot-hills of the great Jebel Zánah, a towering, dark, and
dome-shaped mass clearly visible from Magháir Shu'ayb. This
remarkable block appeared to me the tallest we had hitherto seen;
it is probably the "Tayyibat Ism, 6000," of the Hydrographic
Chart. The travellers ascended the Jebel el-Marú, trembling the
while with cold; and from its summit, some fifteen hundred feet
above sea-level, they had a grand view of the seaboard and the
sea. They brought home specimens of the rock, and fondly fancied
that they had struck gold: it was again that abominable
"crow-gold" (pyrites), which has played the unwary traveller so
many a foul practical joke.
During our stay at Magháir Shu'ayb the camp had been much excited
by Bedawi reports of many marvels in the lands to the north and
the north-east. The Arabs soon learned to think that everything
was worth showing: they led M. Lacaze for long miles to a rock
where bees were hiving. A half-naked 'Umayri shepherd, one Suwayd
bin Sa'íd, had told us of a Hajar masdúd ("closed stone") about
the size of a tent, with another of darker colour set in it; the
Arabs had been unable to break it open, but they succeeded with a
similar rock in the Hismá, finding inside only Tibn ("tribulated
straw") and charcoal. Another had seen a Kidr Dahab ("golden
pot"), in the 'Aligán section of the Wady el-Hakl (Hagul) where
it leaves the Hismá; and a matchlock-man had brought down with
his bullet a bit of precious metal from the upper part. This
report prevails in many places: it may have come all the way from
"Pharaoh's Treasury" at Petra, or from the Sinaitic Wady Lejá. At
the mouth of the latter is the Hajar el-Kidr ("Potrock"), which
every passing Arab either stones or strikes with his staff,
hoping that the mysterious utensil will burst and shed its golden
shower. Moreover, a half-witted Ma'ázi, by name Masá'í, had
tantalized us with a glorious account of the "House of 'Antar" in
the Hismá, and the cistern where that negro hero and poet used to
water his horses. Near its massive walls rises a Hazbah ("steep
and solitary hillock") with Dims or layers of ashlar atop: he had
actually broken off a bit of greenstone sticking in the masonry,
and sold it to a man from Tor (Khwájeh Kostantin?) for a large
sum--two napoleons, a new shirt, and a quantity of coffee. A
similar story is found in the Bádiyat el-Tíh, the Desert north of
the Sinaitic Peninsula. At the ruined cairns of Khara'bat Lussán
(the ancient Lysa), an Arab saw a glimmer of light proceeding
from a bit of curiously cut stone. "This he carried away with him
and sold to a Christian at Jerusalem for three pounds."[EN#91]
Shaykh 'Brahím had also heard of this marvel; but he called it
the Haráb 'Antar ("Ruin of 'Antar"), and he placed it in the Wady
el-Hakl, about an hour's ride south of the Wady 'Afál. Finally, a
tablet in the Wady Hawwayi', adorned with a dragon and other
animals, was reported to me; and the memory of inscriptions
mentioned in the Jihan-numá was still importunate. Evidently all
these were mere fancies; or, at best, gross distortions of facts.
The Bedawin repeat them in the forlorn hope of "bakhshísh," and
never expect action to be taken: next morning they will probably
declare the whole to be an invention. Yet it is never safe to
neglect the cry of "wolf": our most remarkable discovery, the
Temple at the Wady Hamz, was made when report promised least.
Accordingly, on January 24th, I despatched, with Shaykhs Khizr
and 'Brahím as guides, Mr. Clarke and the two Staff-lieutenants
towards El-Rijm, the next station of the pilgrim-caravan. Riding
up the Wady 'Afál, they reached, after an hour and
three-quarters, the ruins known as Igár Muás--a name of truly
barbarous sound. The settlement had occupied both banks, but the
principal mass was on the left: here two blocks, separated by a
hillock, lay to north-east and south-west of each other.
Apparently dwelling-places, they were composed of a
masonry-cistern and of fourteen buildings, detached squares and
oblongs, irregular both in orientation and in size; the largest
measuring eighty by fifty metres, and the smallest five by four.
The material was of water-rolled boulders, huge pebbles without
mortar or cement. There were no signs of a furnace, nor were the
usual fragments of glass and pottery strewed about. To the north
and running up the north-north-eastern slope stood a line of wall
two metres broad and three hundred long: it ended at the
south-western extremity in five round towers razed to their
foundations. It was suggested that this formed part of a street,
laid out on the plan of the Jebel el-Safrá, the hauteville of
Magháir Shu'ayb. On the right bank of the Wady appeared a heap of
stones suggesting a Burj. Fine, hard, compact, and purple-blue
slate was collected in the ruins; and the red conglomerates on
either side of the watercourse suggested that Cascalho had been
worked.
After riding their dromedaries some three hours, halts not
included, the travellers were asked why they had not brought
their tents. "Because we expect to return to camp this evening!"
Then it leaked out that they had not reached half-way to the
"closed stone," while the dragon-tablet would take a whole day.
Unprepared for a wintry night in the open, some twelve hundred
feet above sea-level, they rode back at full speed, greatly to
the disgust of the Arabs, who, at this hungry season, rarely push
their lean beasts beyond three and a half to four miles an hour.
Lieutenant Amir, who is invaluable in the field, would have
pressed forward: not so the European.
I did not see Shaykhs Khizr or 'Brahím for many a day; nor did we
attempt any more reconnaissances to the north of Magháir Shu'ayb.
Not the least pleasant part of our evening's work was collecting
information concerning the origin of the tribes inhabiting modern
Midian; and, as on such occasions a mixed multitude was always
present, angry passions were often let rise. As my previous
volume showed, the tribes in this Egyptian corner of
North-Western Arabia number three--the Huwaytát, the Maknáwi, and
the Beni 'Ukbah; the two former of late date, and all more or
less connected with the Nile Valley. Amongst them I do not
include the Hutaym or Hitaym, a tribe of Pariahs who, like the
Akhdám ("serviles") of Maskat and Yemen, live scattered amongst,
although never intermarrying with, their neighbours. As a rule
the numbers of all these tribes are grossly exaggerated, the
object being to impose upon the pilgrim-caravans, and to draw
black-mail from the Government of Egypt. The Huwaytát, for
instance, modestly declare that they can put 5000 matchlocks into
the field: I do not believe that they have 500. The Ma'ázah speak
of 2000, which may be reduced in the same proportion; whilst the
Baliyy have introduced their 37,000 into European books of
geography, when 370 would be nearer the mark. I anticipate no
difficulty in persuading these Egypto-Arabs to do a fair day's
work for a fair and moderate wage. The Bedawin flocked to the
Suez Canal, took an active part in the diggings, and left a good
name there. They will be as useful to the mines; and thus shall
Midian escape the mortification of the "red-flannel-shirted
Jove," while enjoying his golden shower.
I first took the opportunity of rectifying my notes on the origin
of the Huwayta't tribe.[EN#92] According to their own oral
genealogists, the first forefather was a lad called 'Alayán, who,
travelling in company with certain Shurafá ("descendants of the
Apostle"), and ergò held by his descendants to have been also a
Sherif, fell sick on the way. At El-'Akabah he was taken in
charge by 'Atíyyah, Shaykh of the then powerful Ma'ázah tribe,
who owned the land upon which the fort stands. A "clerk," able to
read and to write, he served his adopted father by superintending
the accounts of stores and provisions supplied to the Hajj. The
Arabs, who before that time embezzled at discretion, called him
El-Huwayti' ("the Man of the Little Wall") because his learning
was a fence against their frauds He was sent for by his Egyptian
friends; these, however, were satisfied by a false report of his
death: he married his benefactor's daughter; he became Shaykh
after the demise of his father-in-law; he drove the Ma'ázah from
El-'Akabah, and he left four sons, the progenitors and eponymi of
the Midianite Huwaytát. Their names are 'Alwán, 'Imrán, Suway'id,
and Sa'id; and the list of nineteen tribes, which I gave in "The
Gold-Mines of Midian," is confined to the descendants of the
third brother.
The Huwaytát tribe is not only an intruder, it is also the
aggressive element in the Midianite family of Bedawin; and, of
late years, it has made great additions to its territory. If it
advances at the present rate it will, after a few generations,
either "eat up," as Africans say, all the other races or, by a
more peaceful process, assimilate them to its own body.
We also consulted Shaykh Hasan and his cousin Ahmed, alias Abú
Khartúm, concerning the origin of his tribe, the Beni 'Ukbah.
According to our friend Furayj, the name means "Sons of the Heel"
('Akab) because, in the early wars and conquests of El-Islám,
they fought during the day by the Moslems' side; and at night,
when going over to the Nazarenes, they lost the "spoor" by
wearing their sandals heel foremost, and by shoeing their horses
the wrong way. All this they indignantly deny; and they are borne
out by the written genealogies, who derive them from "Ukbah, the
son of Maghrabah, son of Heram," of the Kahtániyyah (Joctanite)
Arabs, some of the noblest of Bedawi blood. They preserve the
memory of their ancestor 'Ukbah, and declare that they come from
the south; that is, they are of Hejázi descent, consequently far
more ancient than the Huwaytát. At first called "El-Musálimah,"
they were lords of all the broad lands extending southward
between Shámah (Syria) and the Wady Dámah below the port of Zibá;
and this fine valley retains, under its Huwayti occupants, the
title of 'Ukbíyyah--'Ukbah-land. Thus they still claim as Milk,
or "unalienable property," the Wadys Gharr, Sharmá, 'Aynúnah, and
others; whilst their right to the ground upon which Fort
el-Muwaylah is built has never been questioned.
The first notable event in the history of the Beni 'Ukbah was a
quarrel that arose between them and their brother-tribe, the Beni
'Amr. The 'Ayn el-Tabbákhah,[EN#93] the fine water of Wady
Madyan, now called Wady Makná, was discovered by a Hutaymi
shepherd of the Beni 'Ali clan, while tending his flocks; others
say that the lucky man was a hunter following a gazelle. However
that may be, the find was reported to the Shaykh of the Musálimah
(Beni 'Ukbah), who had married 'Ayayfah, the sister of Ali ibn
Nejdi, the Beni 'Amr chief, whilst the latter had also taken his
brother-in-law's sister to wife. The discoverer was promised a
Jinu or Sabátah ("date-bunch") from each palm-tree; and the
rivals waxed hot upon the subject. The Musálimah declared that
they would never yield their rights, a certain ancestor,
'Asaylah, having first pitched tent upon the Rughámat Makná, or
white "horse" of Makná. A furious quarrel ensued, and, as usual
in Arabia as in Hibernia, both claimants prepared to fight it
out.
To repeat the words of our oral genealogist, Furayj: "Now, when
the wife of the Shaykh of the Musálimah had heard and understood
what Satan was tempting her husband to do against her tribe, she
rose up, and sent a secret message to her brother of the Beni
'Amr, warning him that a certain person (Fulán) was about to lay
violent hands on the beautiful valley of El-Madyan. Hearing this,
the Beni 'Amr mustered their young men, and mounted their horses
and dromedaries, and rode forth with jingling arms; and at
midnight they found their opponents asleep in El-Khabt,[EN#94]
the beasts being tied up by the side of their lords. So they cut
the cords of the camels, they gagged the hunter who guided the
attack, they threatened him with death if he refused to obey, and
they carried him away with them towards Makná.
"When the Musálimah awoke, they discovered the deceit, they
secured their beasts, and they hastened after the enemy,
following his track like Azrail. Both met at Makná, when a battle
took place, and Allah inclined the balance towards the Beni 'Amr.
The Musálimah, therefore, became exiles, and took refuge in
Egypt. And in the flow of days it so happened that the Shaykh of
the Beni' Amr awoke suddenly at midnight, and heard his wife, as
she sat grinding at the quern, sing this quatrain:--
'If the handmill (of Fate) grind down our tribe
We will bear it, O Thou (Allah) that aidest to bear!
But if the mill grind the foeman tribe,
We will pound and pound them as thin as flour.'
"Whereupon the Shaykh, in his wrath, seized a stone, and cast it
at his wife, and knocked out one of her front teeth. She said
nothing, but she took the tooth and wrapped it in a rag, and sent
it with a message to her brother, the Shaykh of the Musálimah.
Now, this chief was unable to revenge his sister single-handed,
so he travelled to Syria, and threw himself at the feet of the
great Shaykh of the Wuhaydi tribe, who was also a Sherif.
"The Wuhaydi despatched his host together with the warriors of
the Musálimah, and both went forth to do battle with the Beni
'Amr. The latter being camped in a valley near 'Aynúnah, tethered
their dogs and, some say, left behind their old people,[EN#95]
and lit huge bonfires; whence the name of the place is Wady Umm
Nírán ('the Mother of Fires') to this day. Before early dawn they
had reached in flight the Wady 'Arawwah of the Jibál el-Tihámah.
In the morning the Musálimah and the Wuhaydi, finding that a
trick had been practiced upon them, followed the foe, and beat
him in the Wady 'Arawwah, killing the Shaykh. And the chief of
the Musálimah gave his widowed sister as wife to the Wuhaydi, and
settled with his people in their old homes. The Beni 'Amr fled to
the Hismá, and exiled themselves to Kerak in Syria, where they
still dwell, owning the plain called Ganán Shabíb. There is now
peace between the Beni 'Ukbah and their kinsmen the Beni 'Amr."
The second event in the history of the tribe, the "Tale of Abú
Rísh,"[EN#96] shall also be told in the words of Furayj:--"After
the course of time the Beni 'Ukbah, aided by the Ma'ázah, made
war against the Shurafá, who were great lords in those days, and
plundered them and drove them from their lands. The victors were
headed by one Salámah, a Huwayti who dwelt at El-'Akabah, and who
had become their guest. In those ages the daughters of the tribe
were wont to ride before the host in their Hawádig
('camel-litters'), singing the war-song to make the warriors
brave. As Salámah was the chief Mubáriz ('champion in single
combat'), the girls begged him to wear, when fighting, a white
ostrich feather in his chain-helmet, that they might note his
deeds and chant in his name. Hence his title, Abú Rísh--the
'Father of a Feather.' The Sherifs, being beaten, made peace,
taking the lands between Wady Dámah and El-Hejaz; whilst the Beni
'Ukbah occupied Midian Proper (North Midian), between 'Dámah' and
'Shámah' (Syria).
"Abú Rísh, who was a friend to both victor and vanquished,
settled among the Sherifs in the Sirr country south of Wady
Dámah. He had received to wife, as a reward for his bravery, the
daughter of the Shaykh of the Beni 'Ukbah; and she bare him a
son, 'Id, whose tomb is in the Wady Ghál, between Zibá and
El-Muwaylah. On the Yaum el-Subúh ('seventh day after birth'),
the mother of 'Id followed the custom of the Arabs; and, after
the usual banquet, presented the babe to the guests, including
her father, who made over Wady 'Aynúnah in free gift to his
grandson. Now, 'Id used to lead caravans to Cairo, for the
purpose of buying provisions; and he was often plundered by the
Ma'ázah, who had occupied by force the Wadys Sharmá, Tiryam, and
Surr of El-Muwaylah.
"This 'Id ibn Salámah left, by a Huwayti woman, a son 'Alayán,
surnamed Abú Takíkah ('Father of a Scar') from a sabre-cut in the
forehead: he was the founder of the Tugaygát-Huwaytát clan, and
his descendants still swear by his name. Once upon a time, when
leading his caravan, he reached the Wady 'Afál, and he learned
that his enemies, the Ma'ázah, and the black slaves who
garrisoned El-Muwaylah, were lurking in the Wady Marayr. So he
placed his loads under a strong guard; and he hastened, with his
kinsmen of the Huwaytát, to the Hismá, where the Ma'ázah had left
their camels undefended: these he drove off, and rejoined his
caravan rejoicing. The Ma'ázah, hearing of their disaster,
hurried inland to find out the extent of the loss, abandoning the
black slaves, who, nevertheless, were still determined to plunder
the Káfilah. 'Alayán was apprized of their project; and, reaching
the Wady Umm Gehaylah, he left his caravan under a guard, and
secretly posted fifty matchlock-men in El-Suwayrah, east of the
hills of El-Muwaylah. He then (behold his cunning!) tethered
between the two hosts, at a place called Zila'h, east of the tomb
of Shaykh Abdullah,[EN#97] ten camel-colts without their dams.
Roused by the bleating, the negro slaves followed the sound and
fell into the ambush, and were all slain.
"'Alayán returned to the Sirr country, when his tribe, the
Huwaytát, said to him, 'Hayya (up!) to battle with these Ma'ázah
and Beni 'Ukbah; either they uproot us or we uproot them!' So he
gathered the clan, and marched to a place called El-Bayzá,[EN#98]
where he found the foe in front. On the next day the battle
began, and it was fought out from Friday to Friday; a truce was
then made, and it was covenanted to last between evening and
morning. But at midnight the enemy arose, left his tents pitched,
and fled to the Hismá. 'Alayán followed the fugitives, came up
with them in the Wady Sadr, and broke them to pieces. Upon this
they took refuge in Egypt and Syria.
"After a time the Beni 'Ukbah returned, and obtained pardon from
'Alaya'n the Huwayti, who imposed upon them six conditions.
Firstly, having lost all right to the land, they thus became
'brothers' (i.e. serviles). Secondly, they agreed to give up the
privilege of escorting the Hajj-caravan. Thirdly, if a Huwayti
were proved to have plundered a pilgrim, his tribe should make
good the loss; but if the thief escaped detection, the Beni
'Ukbah should pay the value of the stolen property in coin or in
kind. Fourthly, they were bound not to receive as guests any
tribe (enumerating a score or so) at enmity with the Huwaytát.
Fifthly, if a Shaykh of Huwaytát fancied a dromedary belonging to
one of the Beni 'Ukbah, the latter must sell it under cost price.
And, sixthly, the Beni 'Ukbah were not allowed to wear the 'Abá
or Arab cloak."[EN#99]
The Beni 'Ukbah were again attacked and worsted, in the days of
Sultan Selim, by their hereditary foe, the Ma'ázah. They
complained at Cairo; and the Mamlúk Beys sent down an army which
beat the enemy in the Wady Surr. They had many quarrels with
their southern neighbours, the Baliyy: at last peace was made,
and the land was divided, the Beni 'Ukbah taking the tract
between Wadys Da'mah and El-Muzayrib. Since that time the tribe
has been much encroached upon by the Huwayta't. It still claims,
however, as has been said, all the lands between El-Muwaylah and
Makná, where they have settlements, and the Jebel Harb, where
they feed their camels. They number some twenty-five to thirty
tents, boasting that they have hundreds; and, as will appear,
their Shaykh, Hasan el-'Ukbi, amuses himself by occasionally
attacking and plundering the wretched Maknáwis, or people of
Makná, a tribe weaker than his own.
Chapter VI.
To Makná, and Our Work There--the Magáni or Maknáwis.
After a silly fortnight at old Madiáma, I resolved to march upon
its seaport, Makná, the of Ptolemy, which the people
call also "Madyan."[EN#100] We set out at seven a.m. (January
25th); and, after a walk of forty-five minutes, we were shown by
Furayj a Ghadír, or shallow basin of clay, shining and bald as an
old scalp from the chronic sinking of water. In the middle stood
two low heaps of fine white cement, mixed with brick and gravel;
while to the west we could trace the framework of a mortared
Fiskíyyah ("cistern"), measuring five metres each way. The ruin
lies a little south of west (241 deg. mag.) from the greater
"Shigd;" and it is directly under the catacombed hill which bears
the "Praying-place of Jethro." A tank in these regions always
presupposes a water-pit, and there are lingering traditions that
this is the "Well of Moses," so generally noticed by mediæval
Arab geographers. It is the only one in the Wady Makná, not to
mention a modern pit about an hour and a half further down the
valley, sunk by the Bedawin some twenty feet deep: the walls of
the latter are apparently falling in, and it is now bone-dry. But
the veritable "Moses' Well" seems to have been upon the coast;
and, if such be the case, it is clean forgotten. True, Masá'íd,
the mad old Ma'ázi, attempted to trace a well inside our camp by
the seashore; but the Beni 'Ukbah, to whom the land belongs, had
never heard of it.
After marching about six miles, we entered a gorge called Umm
el-Bíbán, "the Mother of Gates," formed by the stony spurs of the
Wady bank: the number of birds and trees, especially in the
syenitic valleys, showed that water could not be far off. At
10.10 a.m. a halt was called at the half-way place, a bay or
hollow in the left cliff, El-Humayrah--"the Little Red"--an
overhanging wall of ruddy grit some eighty feet high, with strata
varying in depth from a few lines to as many fathoms, all
differing in colour, and all honeycombed, fretted, and sculptured
by wind and rain. Above the red grit, weathered into a thousand
queer shapes, stood strata of chloritic sand, a pale
yellow-green, and capping it rose the usual dull-brown carbonate
of lime. Large fossil oysters lay in numbers about the base,
suggesting a prehistoric feast of the Titans. Amongst them is the
monstrous Tridacna (gigantea), which sometimes attains a growth
of a yard and a half; one of these is used as a bénitier at the
church of Saint Sulpice, Paris. Amongst the layers were wavy
bands of water-rolled crystals, jaspers, bloodstones,
iron-revetted pebbles, and "almonds," which, in the Brazil,
accompany and betray the diamond.[EN#101] We had no time to make
a serious search; but, when the metals shall be worked, it will,
perhaps, be advisable to import a skilled prospecter from the
Brazil or the Cape of Good Hope.
At noon we met the "heaven-sent, life-sustaining sea-breeze;" and
now the broad and well-marked Wady Makná, with its rosy-pink
sands, narrowed to a gut, flanked and choked on both sides, north
and south, by rocks of the strangest tricolour, green-black,
yellow-white, and rusty-red. The gloomy peak, which had long
appeared capping the heights ahead, proved to be the culmination
of a huge upthrust of porphyritic trap. Bottle-green when seen
under certain angles, and dull dead sable at others, it was
variegated by cliffs and slopes polished like dark mirrors, and
by sooty sand-shunts disposed at the natural slope. Crumbling
outside, the lower strata pass from the cellular to the compact,
and are often metalliferous when in contact with the quartz: at
these Salbandes the richest mineral deposits are always found.
Set in and on the black flanks, and looking from afar like the
gouts of a bloodstone, are horizontal beds, perpendicular spines,
and detached blocks of felsitic porphyry and of rusty-red
syenite, altered, broken, and burnt by plutonic heat. In places,
where the trap has cut through the more modern formations, it has
been degraded by time from a dyke to a ditch, the latter walled
by the ruddy rocks, and sharply cut as a castle-moat. And already
we could see, on the right of the Wady, those cones and crests of
ghastly, glaring white gypsum, which we had called "the Hats."
These gloomy cliffs, approaching the maritime plain, sweep away
to the south, and melt into the "Red Hills" visited on our first
excursion. They are known as the Jebel el-'Abdayn--"of the Two
Slaves:" this, perhaps, is the Doric pronunciation of the Bedawin
for Abdín--"slaves." Presently we sighted the familiar features
of the seaboard, described in my first volume, especially the
Rughámat el-Margas to the north; and westward the Gulf of
'Akabah, looking cool and blue in the Arabian glare. After five
hours and thirty minutes (= seventeen miles and a half) in the
saddle we reached Makná.
I had thought of encamping near the "Praying-place of Moses," a
fine breezy site which storms would have made untenable. As at
Sharmá, camels must turn off to the right over the banks when
approaching the mouth of the Wady Madyan, whose bed is made
impassable by rocks and palm-thicket. We then proposed to pitch
the tents upon the valley sands within the "Gate," but this was
overruled by the Sayyid, who told grisly tales of fever and ague.
Finally, we returned to our former ground, near the old
conglomerates and the mass of new shells, which ledge the shore
of the little harbour. Approaching it, we were delighted to see
the gunboat Mukhbir steaming up, despite the contrary wind, from
Sharm Yáhárr; she was towing the Sambúk, which brought from
'Aynúnah Bay our heavy gear, rations, and tools. This was a
stroke of good luck: already we were on half rations, and provant
for men and mules threatened to run short.
Our week at Makná (January 25--February 2) justified the pleasant
impression left by the first visit, and enabled us to correct the
inaccuracies of a flying survey.
This "Valley of Waters," with its pink and yellow (chloritic)
sands, is bounded on the right near the sea by a sandbank about
one hundred feet high, a loose sheet thinly covering the dykes of
syenite and the porphyritic trap which in places peep out.
Possibly it contains, like the left flank, veins of quartz,
lowered by corrosion, and concealed by the sand-drift spread by
the prevalent western winds. The high-level abounds in detached
springs, probably the drainage of the Rughámat Makná, the huge
"horse" or buttress of gypsum bearing north-east from the
harbour. The principal veins number three. The uppermost and
sweetest is the Ayn el-Tabbákhah; in the middle height is
El-Túyuri (Umm el-Tuyúr), with the dwarf cataract and its
tinkling song; whilst the brackish 'Ayn el-Fara'í occupies the
valley sole. Besides these a streak of palms, perpendicular to
the run of the Wady, shows a rain-basin, dry during the droughts,
and, higher up, the outlying dates springing from the arid sands,
are fed by thin veins which damp the rocky base. Hence, probably,
Dr. Beke identified the place with the "Elim" of the Exodus: his
artist's sketch from the sea (p. 340) is, however, absolutely
unrecognizable.
The high-level spring and the middle water rise in sandy basins;
course down deeply furrowed beds of grit; and, after passing
through a tangle of vegetation, a dense forest of palms, alive
and dead, and open patches sown with grain, wilfully waste their
treasures in the upper slope of the right bank. This abundance of
water has developed a certain amount of industry; although the
Bedawin tear to pieces the young male-dates, whose tender green
growth, at the base of the fronds, supplies them with a "chaw." A
number of artificial runners has been trained to water dwarf
barley-plots, whose fences of date-fronds defend them from sheep
and goats; and further down the bank are the fruit trees which
first attracted our attention.
The low-level water consists of two springs. The upper is the
'Ayn el-'Aryánah, springing from the sands under the date-trees
which line the right and left sides: apparently it is the
drainage of a gypsum "hat," called El-Kulayb, "the Little
Dog"--in their Doric the Bedawin pronounce the word Galáib.
Further down the bed, and divided by a tract of dry sand, is the
'Ayn el-Fara'i, which also rises from both banks, forms a single
stream, sleeps in deep pellucid pools like fairy baths among the
huge boulders of grey granite, and finally sinks before reaching
the shore. When these waters shall again be regulated, as of old,
they will prove amply sufficient for the vegetable and the
mineral. Anton, the Greek, who everywhere saw the shop, was so
charmed with the spot, that he at once laid out his
establishment: here shall be the hotel; there the billiard and
gambling room, and there the garden, the kiosk, the buvette--in
fact, he projected a miner's paradise.
On the crest of this right bank, above the vegetation, lies the
traditional Musallat Musá ("Moses' Oratory"), of which the
foundations, or rather the base-stones, are in situ. The larger
enceinte measures, without including two walls projecting from
the north-east and north-west angles, an oblong of thirty-seven
by twenty-five feet; and, as usual with Midianite ruins, it has
been built of all manner of material. The inner sanctum opens to
the west, the northern and southern basement-lines only
remaining: the former is composed of eight blocks of gypsum
resembling alabaster, five being larger than the others; and the
southern of three. Upon these the Bedawin still deposit their
simple ex-votos, oyster and other shells, potsherds, and coloured
pebbles.[EN#102]
The left or opposite bank, which wants water, is formed by the
tall conglomerate-capped cliffs, which support the "Muttali'" or
hauteville, and by the warty block called Jebel el-Fahísát. In
"The Gold-Mines of Midian" (Chap. XII.) it is called El-Muzayndi,
an error of my informants for El-Muzeúdi: the latter is the name
of the small red hill north of our camp. I again visited the high
town, which is about a hundred feet above the valley: presently
it will disappear bodily, as its base is being corroded, like the
Jebel el-Safrá of Magháir Shu'ayb. The walls still standing form
a long room running north-south; and the two adjoining closets
set off to the north-east and south-east. This sadly shrunken
upper settlement covers the remnant of the rocky plateau to the
east: there are also traces of building on the southern slopes.
Ruined heaps of the usual material, gypsum, dot and line the
short broad valley to the north, which rejoices in the neat and
handy name, Wady Majrá Sayl Jebel el-Marú. Here, however, they
are hardly to be distinguished from the chloritic spines and
natural sandbanks that stud the bed. The only antiquities found
in the "Muttali"' were a stone cut into parallel bands, and the
fragment of a basalt door with its pivot acting as hinge in the
upper part: it reminded me of the Græco-Roman townlets in the
Haurán, where the credulous discovered "giant Cities" and similar
ineptitudes. Our search for Midianite money was in vain; Mr.
Clarke, however, picked up, near the sea, a silver "Taymúr," the
Moghal, with a curiously twisted Kufic inscription. (A.H. 734).
The 'Ushash or frond-huts of the Maknáwi and the Beni 'Ukbah were
still mostly empty. At this season, all along the seaboard of
North-Western Arabia, the Bedawin are grazing their animals in
the uplands, and they will not return coastwards till July and
August supply the date-harvest. The village shows the
inconséquence of doors and wooden keys to defend an interior made
of Cadjan, or "dry date-fronds," which, bound in bundles, make a
good hedge, but at all times a bad wall. One of its peculiar
features is what looks like a truncated and roofless oven; in
this swish cylinder they pound without soaking the date-kernels
that feed their camels, sheep, and goats. A few youths, however,
who remained in this apology for a "deserted village," assisted
us in night-fishing with the lantern; and they brought from the
adjoining reefs the most delicate of shell and scale fish. The
best were the langoustes (Palinurus vulgaris), the clawless
lobsters called crawfish (crayfish) in the United States, and the
agosta or avagosta of the Adriatic: it was confounded by the
Egyptian officers with "Abú Galambo,"[EN#103] the crab (Cancer
pelagicus). The echinidae of various species, large-spined and
small-spined, the latter white as well as dull-red, were
preserved in spirits.[EN#104] Amongst the excellent fish, the
Marján (a Scina) the Sultan el-Bahr, the Palamita (Scomber), the
Makli (red mullets, Mugil cephalus), and the Búri, were monstrous
animals, with big eyes and long beaks like woodcocks; some of
these were garnished with rows of ridiculously big teeth. I
failed to procure live specimens of small turtle, and yet the
huts were full of carapaces, all broken and eight-ribbed. One
species, the Sakar, supplies tortoise-shell sold at Suez for 150
piastres per Ratl or pound; the Bísa'h, another large kind
without carapace, is used only for eating: both are caught off
the reefs and islets. An eel-like water-snake (Marrína = Murna
Ophis) showed fight when attacked. The Arabs do not eat it, yet
they will not refuse the Shaggah, or large black land-snake.
The enforced delay at Makná gave us the opportunity of making
careful reconnaissances in its neighbourhood. During the last
spring I had heard of a Jebel el-Kibí't ("sulphur-hill") on the
road to 'Aynúnah, but no guide was then procurable. Shortly after
our return, a Bedawi named Jázi brought in fine specimens of
brimstone, pure crystals adhering to the Secondary calcaire, and
possibly formed by decomposition of the sulphate of lime. If this
be the case we may hope to find the mineral generally diffused
throughout these immense formations; of course, in some places
the yield will be richer and in others poorer. Further
investigation introduced us, as will be seen, to two southern
deposits, without including one heard of in Northern Sinai. All
lie within a short distance of the sea, and all are virgin: the
Bedawin import their sulphur from the "Barr el-'Ajam," the
popular name for Egypt, properly meaning Persia or any non-Arab
land. Thus, in one important article Midian rivals, if not
excels, the riches of the opposite African shore, where for a
single mine thirty millions of francs have been demanded by way
of indemnity.
Betimes on January 26th, a caravan of four camels, for the two
quarrymen and the guide, set off southwards, carrying sacks,
tools, and other necessaries. They did not return till the
morning of the third day; Jázi had lost the road, and the Bedawin
rather repented of having been so ready to disclose their
treasures. Of course, our men could not ascertain the extent of
the deposits; but they brought back rich specimens which
determined me to have the place surveyed. Unfortunately I had
forgotten a sulphur-still; and the engineer vainly attempted to
extract the ore by luting together two iron mortars, and by
heating them to a red heat. The only result was the diffusion of
the sulphur crystals in the surrounding gypsum. This discovery
gave me abundant trouble; the second search-party was a failure;
and it was not till February 18th that I could obtain a
satisfactory plan of the northern Jebel el-Kibrít.
At Makná I was much puzzled by the presence of the porous basalt,
which had yielded to the first Expedition a veinlet of
"electron"--gold and silver mixed by the hand of Nature. The
plutonic rock, absent from the Wady Makná, appears in scatters
along the shore to the north. Our friend Furayj knew nothing
nearer than El-Harrah, the volcanic tract bounding the Hismá on
the east, and distant some five days' march. This was going too
far; querns of the same material, found in all the ruins,
suggested a neighbouring outcrop. Moreover, during the last
spring, I had heard of a mining site called Nakhil Tayyib Ism,
the "Palm-orchard (of the Mountain) of the Good Name," in the
so-called range to the north of Makná.
Lieutenant Amir was despatched (January 27th) to seek for basalt,
with a small dromedary-caravan, under the lead of Shaykh Furayj.
After winding for about two hours along the shore, which is cut
by the broad mouths of many a Wady; and whose corallines, grits,
and limestones are weathered into the strangest shapes; he left
to the right (east) the light-coloured Jebel Sukk. On the
southern side of the Wady (Sukk) which drains it to the sea, a
hill of the porous stone which the Arabs call "Hajar el-Harrah"
appeared. The specimens brought home, si vera sunt exposita, if
they be really taken from an outcrop, prove that volcanic
centres, detached, sporadic, and unexpected, like those found
further north, occur even along the shore. As will afterwards
appear, another little "Harrah" was remarked by Burckhardt
("Syria," p. 522), about one hour and a quarter north of Sinaitic
Sherm. He says, "Here for the first and only time, I saw volcanic
rocks," and he considers that their extension towards Ras Abú(?)
Mohammed may have given rise to the name .
Wellsted,[EN#105] who apparently had not read Burckhardt, makes
the same remark. The many eruptive centres in the limestones of
Syria and Palestine were discovered chiefly by my late friend,
the loved and lamented Charles F. Tyrwhitt-Drake. It would be
interesting to ascertain the relation which they bear to tile
great lines of vulcanism in the far interior, the Haura'n and the
Harrah, subtending the coast mountains. And Dr. Beke, another
friend now no more, would have been delighted to know that his
"True Mount Sinai" was not unconnected with a volcanic outbreak.
Beyond the Wady Sukk, a bad rough path leads along the base of
the Tayyih Ism Mountain; then the cliffs fall sheer into the sea,
explaining why caravans never travel that way. Yet there was a
maritime road, for we know that Abú Sufyán, on his way from Syria
to fight the battle of "Bedr" (A.H. 2), passed by a roundabout
path for safety, along the shore of Midian. Thus compelled, the
track bends inland, and enters a Nakb, a gash conspicuous from
the Gulf, an immense cañon or couloir that looks as if ready to
receive a dyke or vein. Curious to say, a precisely similar
formation, prolonged to the south-west, cuts the cliffs south of
Marsá Dahab in the Sinaitic Peninsula. The southern entrance to
the gorge bears signs of human habitation: a parallelogram of
stones, 120 paces by 91, has been partially buried by a land-slip
(?); and there are remnants of a dam measuring about a hundred
metres in length (?). About three hundred yards higher up, water
appears in abundance, and palm clumps grow on both sides of it.
Here, however, all trace of man is wanting; the winter torrents
must be dangerous; and there is no grass for sheep. The crevasse
now becomes very wild; the Pass narrows from fifty to ten paces,
and, in one section, a loaded camel can hardly squeeze through;
whilst the cliff-walls of red and grey granite (?) tower some two
thousand feet above the thread of path.[EN#106] Water which, as
usual, sinks in the sand, is abundant enough in three other
places to supply a large caravan; and two date-clumps were
passed. Hence, if all here told be true, the "Nakhil
(palm-plantation) Tayyib Ism" reported to the first Expedition.
After covering sixteen miles in five hours, the caravan had not
made more than half the distance to the Bir el-Máshi, where a
small Marsá, or anchorage-ground, called El-Suwayhil ("the Little
Shore") nestles in the long sand-slope between the mountain
Tayyib Ism and its huge northern neighbour, the Mazhafah block.
From this "Well of the Walker," a pass leads to the Wady Marsha',
where, according to certain Bedawin, are found extensive ruins
and Bíbán ("doors"), or catacombs. The whole is, however, an
invention; our Sayyid had ridden down the valley during his
journey to El-Hakl.
On the next day another reconnaissance was made. I had been shown
fine specimens of quartz from the Eastern highlands; moreover, a
bottle of "bitter" or sulphur-water from the Wady Mab'úg, the
"oblique" or "crooked" valley, mentioned in "The Gold-Mines of
Midian,"[EN#107] had been brought to us with much ceremony. Those
who tasted it, indeed, were divided as to whether it smacked more
of brimstone or of ammonia. Accordingly, Mr. Clarke and
Lieutenant Yusuf walked up the Wady Makná, and ascended the
Mab'úg, where the mineral spring proved to be a shallow pool of
rain-water, much frequented by animals, camels included. Search
for the "Marú" was more successful: they found a network of veins
in the sandstone grits (?) of the Jebel Umm Lasaf; and they thus
established the fact that the "white stone" abounds to the east
as well as to the south of Makná.
Meanwhile we were working hard at the Jebel el-Fahísát, the great
discovery of the northern journey. I had been struck by the name
of the watercourse to the north of the hauteville, Wady Majrá
Sayl Jebel el-Marú--"the Nullah of the Divide of the Torrent
(that pours) from the Mountain of Quartz." Moreover, a Makna'wi
lad, 'Id bin Mohsin, had brought in fine specimens of the Negro
or iridescent variety, offering to show the place. Lastly, other
Bedawi had contributed fine specimens of Marú, with the grey
copper standing out of it in veins. On the evening of January
27th we walked up the picturesque mouth of the Makná valley.
After passing the conglomerate "Gate," and the dwarf plantations
on both sides above it, we reached in forty-five minutes the spot
where the lower water, 'Ayn el-Fara'í, tumbles over rocks of grit
and granite. On the left bank, denoted by a luxuriant growth of
rushes, is an influent called Sha'b el-Kázi, or "the Judge's
Pass."[EN#108] Ascending it for a few paces, we struck up the
broad and open Fiumara, which I shall call for shortness "Wady
Majrá." The main trunk of many branches, it is a smooth incline,
perfectly practicable to camels; with banks and buttresses of
green-yellow chloritic sands, and longitudinal spines outcropping
from the under surface. It carries off the surplus water from the
north-western slopes of that strange wavelike formation, the
Jebel el-Fahísát, which bounds the right (southern) bank of the
Wady Makná. Presently we sighted the Jebel el-Maru', the
strangest spectacle. The apex of the gloomy porphyritic trap is a
long spine of the tenderest azure-white, filmy as the finials of
Milan Cathedral, and apparently melting into thin air. Its crest
seems abnormally tall and distant; and below it a huge grey vein,
horizontal and wavy, cuts and pierces the peaklet of red rock;
and is cut and pierced, in its turn, by two perpendicular dykes
of porphyritic trap, one flanking the right and the left
shoulders of the low cone. When standing upon the hauteville
during my first visit, I had remarked this "white Lady" of a
vein, without, however, attaching to it any importance.
After a quarter of an hour's walk up the Wady Majrá, we came to
the sandy base of the rocky Fahísát; and climbed up a
torrent-ladder with drops and stiff gradients, which were
presently levelled for the convenience of our quarrymen. A few
minutes' "swarming" placed us upon the narrow knife-like ridge of
snowy quartz, so weathered that it breaks under the hand: this is
the aerial head which from below appears so far. The summit,
distant from our camp about one direct mile and a quarter, gives
355 degrees to the Gypsum-hill, Ras el-Tárah, on the shore; 358
degrees to the palm-clump nearest the sea, and due north (360
degrees, all magnetic) to the tents, which are well in sight. The
altitude is about six hundred feet (aner. 29.40).
The view from this summit of the Fahísát is charming as it is
extensive. Westward and broad stretching to the north-west lies
the fair blue gulf that shows, on its far side, the broken
mountains of the Sinaitic Peninsula. Northwards, at our feet,
stretch the palm-groves of Makná, a torrent of verdure pouring
towards the shore. A little to the left, sheltered from the
boreal wind by the white gypseous ridge, Ras el-Târah ("the Head
that surrounds"), and flanked at both ends by its triangular
reefs, the Sharm Makná, the past and future port of the mines,
supports the miniature gunboat no larger than a "cock," and the
Sambúk dwarfed to a buoy. Beyond the purpling harbour, along the
glaring yellow shore, cut by broad Wady-mouths and dotted here
and there with a date-clump, the corallines, grits, and
sandstones are weathered to the quaintest forms, giant pins and
mushrooms, columns and ruined castles. These maritime lowlands
are bounded on the north by heights in three distinct planes: the
nearest is the Jebel Sukk, low and white; farther rises Tayyib
Ism, a chocolate-coloured mass studded with small peaks; while
the horizon is closed by the grand blue wall, the Jebel
el-Mazhafah. In places their precipices drop bluff to the sea;
but the huge valley-mouths separating the two greater ridges,
have vomited a quantity of sand, forming the tapering tongue and
tip known as the "Little Shore." Turning to the east and the
south-east we have for horizon the Wady el-Kharaj (El-Akhraj?),
backed by its immense right bank of yellow gypsum, which dwarfs
even the Rughámat Makná, and over it we catch sight of the dark
and gloomy Kalb el-Nakhlah, a ridge which, running parallel with
and inland of the Fahísát, will be worked when the latter is
exhausted.
We at once recognized the value of this discovery when, reaching
the tents, we examined the quartz, and found it seamed and pitted
with veins and geodes containing Colorado, earthy and crumbling
metallic dust, chlorure, iodure, and bromure of silver, with
various colours, red, ochre-yellow, and dark chocolate-brown. It
stained the fingers, and was suspiciously light--n'importe. I
must regret that here, as indeed throughout the exploration, all
our specimens were taken from the surface: we had not time to dig
even a couple of feet deep. The lad 'Id almost fainted with joy
and surprise when the silver dollars were dropped into his hand,
one by one, with the reiteration of "Here's another for you! and
here's another!" This lavishness served to stimulate cupidity,
and every day the Bedawin brought in specimens from half a dozen
different places. But the satisfaction was at its height when the
crucible produced, after cupellation, a button of "silver"
weighing some twenty grammes from the hundred grammes of what the
grumbling Californian miners had called, in their wrath, "dashed
black dust;"[EN#109] and when a second experiment yielded
twenty-eight grammes (each fifteen grains and a half) and ten
centigrammes from 111 grammes, or about a quarter of a pound
avoirdupois. In the latter experiment also, the culot came away
without the litharge, which almost always contains traces of
silver and antimony. Hence we concluded that the proportions were
30:110--a magnificent result, considering that 12-1/2:100 is held
to be rich ore in the silver mines of the Pacific States.[EN#110]
The engineer was radieux with pride and joy. The yellow tint of
the "buttons" promised gold--two per cent.? Three per cent.?
Immense wealth lay before us: a ton of silver is worth 250,000
francs. Meanwhile--and now I take blame to myself--no one thought
of testing the find, even by a blow with the hammer.
Alas! THE "SPLENDID BUTTONS" PROVED TO BE IRON, CONTAINING ONLY TWO AND A
HALF GRAMMES OF SILVER TO ONE HUNDRED KILOGRAMMES.[EN#111]
I can afford to make merry on the absurd mistake, which at the
time filled the camp with happiness. The Jebel el-Fahísát played
us an ugly trick; yet it is, not the less, a glorious
metalliferous block, and I am sure of its future.
The rest of our time at Makná was given to the study of this
discovery. The great quartz-wall or vein runs nearly due north
and south, with a dip of 5 degrees west; it has pierced the
syenite, forming a sheet down one peak, spanning a second, and
finally appearing in an apparently isolated knob, that bore from
the apex 215 degrees (mag.) The upper part, like that of the
Jebel el-Abyaz, is apparently sterile: at a lower horizon it
becomes panaché; and at last almost all is iridescent--in fact,
it is the Filon Husayn, still richer in veins and geodes. The
filets and fibrils of dust are exposed to sight in the flanks,
and near the base of the great quartz-vein: we should never have
been able to remove the barren upper capping.
Every day's work brought with it some novelty. The Jebel el-Mará,
the centre or focus of the formation, was found to push out veins
to the north, extending within a few yards of the Wady Makná's
mouth. Here, however, the quartz imbedded in grey granite appears
cupriferous, producing fine grey copper (?); and the same is the
case to the east of the Fahísát block. Other green-tinged veins
were found bearing 205 degrees (mag.) from our camp. There is
also a quartz-hill whose valley-drain, about a mile and a third
long, leads down to the sea, about two minutes' walk south of the
southern clump of "tabernacles" occupied by the Maknáwis. The
dust is richest, as usual, at the walls where the vein is in
immediate contact with the heat-altered granites, whose red
variety, containing very little mica, becomes quasi-syenitic.
Certain of the Expedition thought that the Fahísát showed signs
of having been worked by the ancients: my eyes could see nothing
of the kind. And here, as in other parts of our strange country,
there is a medley, a confusion of different formations.
On February 2nd, the day before we left Makná, the Arabs brought
in heavy masses of purple-black, metalliferous rock, scattered
over the gorges and valleys south of the Jebel el-Fahísát; while
others declared that they could point out a vein in situ. Our
engineer declared it to be argentiferous galena, but it proved to
be magnetic iron. His assays were of the rudest: he broke at
least one crucible per day, lamenting the while that he had been
supplied with English articles, instead of creusets de Bourgogne.
And no wonder! He treated them by a strong blast in a furious
coal-fire without previous warming. His muffle was a wreck, and
such by degrees became the condition of all his apparatus.
However, as we sought, so we found: hardly a Bedawi lad in camp
but unpouched some form of metallic specimens. The Shaykhs
declared that the wealth of "Kárún" must have been dug here; and
I vainly told them that the place of punishment of Korah, Dathan,
and Abiram is still shown by Christians in the Convent of Mount
Sinai.[EN#112]
On January 28th, after a ruddy and cloudy sunset, El-Ayli, the
'Akabah wind, beginning at eleven p.m., gave us a taste of his
quality. These northers are the Tyrants of the Gulf; which,
comparatively unbroken by capes and headlands, allows them all
their own way, carrying a strong swell, and at times huge waves,
to meet the tide inflowing from the Red Sea. The storm began with
a rush and a roar, as if it came from above. The gravel, striking
the canvas, sounded like hail or heavy rain-drops; it then kicked
down at one blow the two large tents: they had been carefully
pitched above the reach of water, when wind only was to be
guarded against. Fortunately most of our goods were packed, in
expectation of embarking on the morrow; but the fall broke all
the breakables that were not under cover, and carried newspapers
and pamphlets, including--again, alas!--the Reseau Pentagonal of
Elie de Beaumont, over the plain southwards till arrested by the
heights of Jebel el-Fahísát. This Bora, as it would be called on
the Adriatic, makes the air exceptionally cold and raw before
dawn: it appears to abate between noon and sunset, and it is most
violent at night: it either sensibly increases or lessens in
turbulence with moonrise; and it usually lasts from three to
seven days. We rigged up one of the native huts with the awning
of a tent, till it looked very like a Gypsy dwelling, and in
patience we possessed our souls, grumbling horridly like Britons.
Poor Captain Mohammed of the Mukhbir, who had already escaped one
shipwreck, was in mortal terror: he at once got up steam, and
kept his weary vigil all night. He was perfectly safe, as the
northern reef, under which the Sambúk Musahhil rode easily as if
in smooth water, and the headland, Ras el-Tárah, formed a
complete defence against the Aylí, while the natural pier to the
south would have protected him from its complement, the Azyab or
"south-easter." But it would have been very different had the
storm veered to the west, and the terrible Gharbi set in. The
port of Makná, which has been described in "The Gold-Mines of
Midian,"[EN#113] can hardly be called safe; on the other hand,
its floor has not been surveyed, and a single brise-lame seawards
would convert it into a dock. I should propose a gallegiante, a
floating breakwater, tree-trunks in bundles strongly bound
together with iron cramps and bands, connected by stout rings and
staples and made fast by anchors to the bottom. And, at any rate,
on the Sinaitic shore opposite, at the distance of thirteen
knots, there is, as will appear, an admirable harbour of refuge.
Next day the cloud-veil lifted; and the mountains of Sinai and
Midian, which before had been hidden as if by a November fog in
London, again stood out in sharp and steely blue. I proposed to
board the gunboat. Afloat we should have been much more
comfortable than ashore in the raw, high, and dusty-laden wind.
The Egyptian officers, however, quoted the unnautical Fellah's
favourite saws, El-barro birr li-Ahlihi--"Earth is a blessing to
those upon her"--Zirtat el-Jimál, wa lá tasbíh el-Samak--"The
roar of the camels and not the prayer[EN#114] of the fish;" and
the sailors' saying, Kalb el-Barr, wa lá Sabá el-Bahr--"Better be
a dog ashore than a lion afloat." The public voice was decidedly
against embarking; so two more days of gale were spent in adding
to our collection of mineralogy. On the other hand, the Sayyid
and the three Shaykhs were anxious for a speedy return to
El-Muwaylah, where the Hajj-caravan was expected on Safar 10 (=
February 11th), and where their presence would be officially
required.
On the last day of January I boated off to the Mukhbir several
tons of the specimens collected during the northern march;
including the iron, the sulphur, and the fine white gypsum,
crystalline and amorphous, which forms the Rughámat Makná
Lieutenant Yusuf and M. Philipin were directed to remain in camp
until they should have collected and placed upon the seashore,
ready for embarkation on our return, one ton of white quartz,
three tons (= one cubic metre) of the iridescent variety, and
four boxes half full of the "silver" (iron) dust whose veins and
pockets seam the Negro. They were also to wash in the cradle two
tons of the pounded Cascalho (conglomerate gravel); one ton of
the green-yellow chloritic or serpentine sand forming the under
surface of the Wady Makná, reduced to four Girbahs or
"water-sacks;" and five tons of the dark metal (not argentiferous
galena). After that they were to visit the northern Sulphur-hill;
estimate its contents, trace, if possible, its connection with
adjoining formations; map the country and prospect for wood,
water, and harbour. Lastly, they were ordered to march with the
whole camp, including our mules, upon El-Muwaylah, and there to
await my return.
The three normal days of El-Aylí had come and gone; still the
Fortuna[EN#115] did not fall. The water, paved with dark slate,
and domed with an awning of milky-white clouds, patched here and
there with rags and shreds of black wintry mist that poured
westward from the Suez Gulf, showed us how ugly the Birkat
'Akabah can look. As in Iceland also, the higher rose the
barometer, the higher rose the norther; the latter being a cold
dry wind is, consequently, a heavy wind. And when the sky was
comparatively clear and blue, the display of cirri was
noticeable. In some places they formed filmy crosses and thready
lozenges; in others the wrack fell into the shape of the letter
Z; and from the western horizon the curl-clouds shot up thin
rays, with a common centre hid behind the mountains of Sinai,
affecting all the airs of the sun.
Before leaving Makná I must give an account of its peculiar
tribe, concerning which "The Gold-Mines of Midian"[EN#116]
contained sundry inaccuracies. These men are not the "pauper
descendants of the wealthy Midianites; they cannot boast of
ancient race or of noble blood; and their speech differs in
nothing from that of the Arabs around them. There can be no
greater mistake than to suppose that they represent in any way
the ancient Nabathæans. In features, complexion, and dress they
resemble the half-settled Bedawin around them; and, like these,
they show a kind of connection with the Sinaitic tribes. The
Magáni,[EN#117] to whom only the southern clump of huts at Makná
belongs, call themselves Fawá'idah, Zubáidah, and Ramázání, after
families of the Juhayni stock; and the Fawá'idah have, by
descent, some title to the name. They are, however, considered to
be Khaddamín ("serviles"), like the Hutaym race, by their
neighbours, who give tile following account of their origin.
An Egyptian silk-seller, who accompanied the Hajj-caravan,
happened to fall asleep at Kubázah, between the stations of
'Aynúnah and Magháir Shu'ayb. His companions went their ways, and
he, like a "bean-eater" as he was, fearing to follow them alone,
made for Makná. Having married and settled there, and seeing in
the fertility of the soil a prospective spec., he sent to his
native country for Fellahín--cultivateurs and peasants--who were
collected from every part of Pharoah-land and its neighbourhood.
The new-comers were compelled to pay one-half of their harvest,
by way of El-Akháwah ("the brother-tax"), in token of
subjugation, to the Beni 'Ukbah, the owners of the soil. They
have gradually acquired Milk ("legal title") to the ground.
According to some, they first settled at Makná in the days of the
Beni 'Amr, whom they subsequently accompanied to the Hismá, when
flying from the victorious Musálimah. After peace was patched up,
they were compelled to make over one-fourth of the date-harvest
as El-Akháwah to the 'Imrán-Huwaytát and to the Ma'ázah; whilst
the Tagaygát-Huwaytát claimed a Bursh, or "mat of fine reeds," as
a poll-tax from every head of man. Under these hard conditions
they are left unmolested; and everything taken from them is
restored by the Shaykhs who receive tribute. They have no chief,
although one Sálim ibn Juwayfili claims the title.
Before 1866 the Magáni numbered about a hundred tents: the Wady
Makná was then, they say, a garden; and its cultivators were
remarkable for their goodness and hospitality to strangers. But
in that year a feud with the Beni 'Ukbah was excited, as often
happens, by the belli teterrima causa; the women quarrelled with
one another, saying,
"Thy husband is a slave to my husband," and so forth. The little
tribe, hoisting two flags of red and white calico with green
palm-fronds for staves, dared the foe to attack it; after a loss
of four killed and sundry wounded, all ran away manfully, leaving
their goods at the mercy of the conqueror. Shaykh Hasan el-'Ukbí
was assisted by the Ma'ázah in looting the Magáni huts, and in
carrying off the camels, while Shaykh Furayj vainly attempted
conciliation. Shortly afterwards the Maknáwis went in a body to
beg aid from Hammád el-Sofi, Shaykh of the Turábín tribe, which
extends from Ghazzah (Gaza) westwards to Egypt. Marching with a
host of armed followers, he took possession of the palm-huts
belonging to the Beni 'Ukbah, when the owners fled in turn,
leaving behind their women and children. Furayj hastened from
'Aynúnah to settle the quarrel; and at last the Sofi said to him,
"Whilst I protect the Magáni, do thou protect the Beni 'Ukbah."
Whereupon the latter returned from their mountain-refuge to
El-Muwaylah. The Magáni at the present time are mostly camped
about 'Aynúnah; and only some fifteen head, old men, women, and
boys, who did not take part in the fight, and who live by
fishing, remain at Makná under the protection of the Beni 'Ukbah.
Hence the waters are waste and the fields are mostly unhoed.
Such is the normal condition of Arabia and the Arabs. What one
does the other undoes; what this creates, that destroys.
Professor Palmer tells us, "Another misconception is that all
Arabs are habitual thieves and murderers."[EN#118] Fear of the
terrible vendetta, the blood feud and the blut-geld, amounting to
about eight hundred dollars, prevents the Bedawin, here as
elsewhere, slaying any but strangers. The traveller's experience,
however, was chiefly of the Towarah or Sinaitic Bedawin, a race
which, bad as bad could be in the early quarter of the present
century, has been thoroughly tamed and cowed by the "fear of
Allah and the Consul." And the curse pronounced by the Jews
against their brother Ishmael, "his hand shall be against every
man," etc., must, as was known even in the days of Gibbon, be
taken with many a grain of salt.
Yet the Bedawin of Midian have till late years been a turbulent
"mixed multitude," and are ready to become troublesome again. It
is only by building forts and by holding the land militarily,
that the civilized can hope to tame this vermin. I repeat,
however, my conviction that the charming Makná Valley is fated to
see happy years; and that the Wild Man who, when ruled by an iron
hand, is ever ready to do a fair day's work for a fair wage
(especially victuals), will presently sit under the shadow of his
own secular vines and fig-trees.
About midnight on February 2nd, the tempestuous northerly gale,
which had now lasted four days and five nights, ceased almost
suddenly: the signs of the approaching calm were the falling of
the mercury, the increased warmth of the atmosphere, and the
shifting of the wind towards the east. All hailed the change with
joy. The travellers looked forward to ending their
peregrinations, while the voyagers, myself included, hoped safely
to steam round the Gulf el-'Akabah, and to trace, as correctly as
possible, the extent, the trend, and the puissance of the
quartz-formations. At Cairo Mr. Consul Rogers told me he had
found them in large quantities veining the red grits of Petra;
and I thought it possible that the "white stone" may extend under
the waters of 'Akabah into the peninsula of Sinai.
Chapter VII.
Cruise from Maknáto El-'Akabah.
This "Red Sea in the Land of Edom" (1 Kings ix. 26) is still, as
Wellsted entitles it, "a vast and solitary Gulf." It bears a
quaint resemblance to that eastern fork of the northern Adriatic,
the Quarnero, whose name expresses its terrible storms; while the
Suez branch shows the longer stretch of the Triestine
bifurcation. Yamm Elath or Eloth, as the Hebrews called
El-'Akabah, has, by the upheaval of the land, lost more of its
fair proportions than its western sister. It was at one time the
embouchure of the Jordan, extending up the Wady el-'Arabah to the
Asphaltite Lake (Dead Sea), before the former became, so to
speak, a hill and the latter a hole. This view dates from olden
times. "Si suppone," says Cornelius à Lapide,[EN#119] "che sia un
sollevamento che accadde, mentre un abbassamento formava il Mar
Morto; e che il Giordano si gettasse nel Golfo Elanitico (Yamm
Ailath), ciò é nel Mar Rosso, prima della destruzione di Sodoma."
For the latter date we have only to read, "When a movement of
depression sank the lower Jordan Valley, and its present
reservoirs, the Tiberias Lake and the Dead Sea, to their actual
level." There is nothing marvellous nor unique in the feature, as
it appears to those suffering from that strange malady, "Holy
Land on the Brain." The Oxus and the Caspian show an identical
formation, only the sinking has been on a smaller scale.
Wellsted was unfortunate, both in his weather and in his craft.
To encounter a "sea of breakers" and "northerly gales with a high
and dangerous swell" in a wretched "bugalá" (i.e. Sambúk), and in
that perfect tub, the Palinurus, was somewhat like tempting
Providence,--if such operation be possible. No wonder that "in
this Gulf, in a course of only ninety miles, the nautical mishaps
were numerous and varied." The surveyor, however, neglected a
matter of the highest interest and importance, namely, to
ascertain whether there be any difference of level between the
heads of the Suez and the 'Akabah waters. The vicinity of
continuous maritime chains, varying from six to nearly nine
thousand feet, suggests an amount of attraction (theoretically)
sufficient to cause a sensible difference of plane. It would be
well worth while to run two lines of survey, one from El-'Akabah
to Suez, and the other down the eastern flank of the Sinaitic
Peninsula.
The Mukhbir, like the Palinurus, promised a certain amount of
excitement. Her boiler, I have said, was honeycombed; it was easy
to thrust one's fist through it. Mr. David Duguid, the engineer,
who on one occasion worked thirty-six hours at a stretch, had
applied for sixty new tubes, and he wanted one hundred and fifty:
we began with two hundred and forty; we lost, when in the Gulf,
from three to nine per diem, a total of seventy five; and the
work of the engine-room and the ship's carpenters consisted in
plugging fractures with stays, plates, and wedges. Presently the
steam-gauge (manomètre) gave way, making it impossible to
register pressure; the combustion chamber showed a rent of
eighteen inches long by one wide, the result of too rapid
cooling; and, lastly, the donkey-engine struck work. Under these
happy circumstances bursting was not to be expected; breaking
down was, a regular collapse which would have left us like a log
upon the stormy waves. A new boiler might have cost, perhaps,
£900, and the want of one daily endangered a good ship which
could not be replaced for £9000. I therefore determined upon a
"Safer Khoriyyah," that is, steaming by day and anchoring at
night in some snug bay. It was also agreed, nem. con., to tow the
Sambúk El-Musahhil, in order that, should accidents happen, it
might in turn act tug to the steamer; or even, at a pinch, serve
us as a lifeboat.
Nothing becomes Makná better than the view on leaving it. A
varied and attractive picture this, with the turquoise-blue of
the deep water, the purple and leek-green tints of the shoaly and
sandy little port, and the tawny shore dotted by six distinct
palm-tufts. They are outliers of the main line, yon flood of
verdure, climbing up and streaming down from the high, dry, and
barren banks of arenaceous drift, heaped up and filmed over by
the wind, and, lastly, surging through its narrow "Gate," with
the clifflets of conglomerate forming the old coast. Add the
bluff headland of the Ras el-Tárah to the north of the harbour,
and behind it the Rughámat Makná, the greenish-yellow,
flat-backed "horse" of Madyan, which, shimmering in the sunset
with a pearly lustre, forms the best of landmarks. Finish to the
south of the Wady with the quaint chopping outlines of the Jebel
el-Fahísát, resembling from afar a huge alligator lying on the
water; with the similar but lower forms to the north of the
valley, both reflected in the Jibál el-Hamrá (the Red Hills),
whose curtains of green-black trap are broken by sheets of dull
dead-white plaster. Cap the whole with the mighty double quoin of
gypseous Jebel el-Kharaj, buttressing the eastern flank of its
valley, and with the low, dark metal-revetted hills of the Kalb
el-Nakhlah, a copy of the Fahísát. Throw in the background,
slowly rising as you recede from the shore, a curtain of plutonic
peaks and buttresses, cones, quoins, cupolas, parrot-beaks; with
every trick of shape, from the lumpy Zahd to the buttressed and
pinnacled 'Urnub; with every shade of mountain-tint between
lapis-lazuli and plum-purple. Dome the whole with that marvellous
transparent sky, the ocean of the air, that spreads loveliness
over the rugged cheek of the Desert; and you have a picture
which, though distinctly Arabian, you can hardly expect to see in
Arabia.
From the offing, also, we note how the later formations, granite
and syenite, seamed with a network, and often topped by cones, of
porphyritic trap, have upthrust, pierced, and isolated the older
Secondaries. We traced this huge deposit of sulphates and
carbonates of lime from the southern Wady Hamz, through the
islets at the mouth of the Birkat 'Akabah, all along the shore of
North Midian. Here it crosses diagonally the northern third of
the 'Akabah Gulf, and forms the north-eastern base of the
Sinaitic Peninsula; whilst eastward it stretches inland as far as
Magháir Shu'ayb. The general disposition suggests that before the
upheaval of the Gháts, the Jibál el-Tihámah, this vast gypseous
sheet was a plain and plateau covering the whole country, till a
movement of depression, caused by the upheaval of the igneous
mountains, sank in it the Gulf of 'Akabah. At present the surface
is here flat, there hilly like huge billows breaking mostly to
the north, and reaching an altitude of twelve hundred feet above
the surface. Hence the lines stretching north-south, the Fahísát,
the Red Hills, and the Kalb el-Nakhlah, look like so many
volcanic island-reefs floating in a sea of greenish-yellow
Secondaries.
Like the old Irish post-horse, the difficulty and danger of our
"kettle" consisted in starting it: two tubes at once burst, and a
new hole yawned in the boiler; moreover, our anchor had been
thrown out in a depth of seventy-three feet. Enfin! At nine a.m.
(February 3rd) we stood straight for the Sinaitic shore, distant
thirteen miles (direct geographical), and in three hours we made
the Sharm, Marsá or Minat el-Dahab--the "Golden Anchorage, Cove,
or Port."[EN#120] Another hour was spent in steaming southwards
to the Dock-harbour, wrongly so called in the charts; the pilots,
and the many Sambúks that take refuge in it, know the place only
as Mínát Ginái (Jinái). The northern baylet, preferred when
southerly winds blow, is simply the embouchure of the Wady Dahab
("Fiumara of Gold"). The name is properly applied to the
sub-maritime section of the valley draining the eastern flanks of
the so-called Mount Sinai. This great watercourse breaks through
the Gháts which, always fringing similar peninsulas, peak to the
south. It reaches the Gulf at a shallow sag marked by a line of
palms, the centre of three: they are fed by their several
Nullahs, and are watered with the brackish produce of sundry
wells. The statio malefida is defended to the north by a short
sandspit and a submerged reef; and southwards by a projection of
sandstone conglomerate. The latter, running from north-east to
south-west, subtends this part of the coast, and serves to build
up the land; after a few years the débris swept down by the
watercourses will warp up the shallows, dividing shore from
outlier. Such, in fact, seems to be the general origin of these
sandspits; beginning as coralline reefs, they have been covered
with conglomerates, and converted into terra firma by the rubbish
shot out by the Wady-mouths.
The southern port, "Ginái," is formed by a bend in the reef which
sweeps round from east to south-west like a scorpion's tail. The
natural sea-wall, at once dangerous and safety-giving, protects,
to the south and south-east, diabolitos of black rock visible
only at high tide: inshore the sickle-shaped breakwater runs by
east to south-west, becoming a "sandy hook," and enclosing a
basin whose depth ranges from seven to twelve fathoms. Its
approach from the south is clean; and the western opening is
protected by the tall screen of coast cliffs, the Jebel el-Ginái,
whose deep-black porphyritic gorge seemingly prolongs that of
Midianite Tayyib Ism. This is a section of the Jibál el-Samghi,
the coast-range which extends as far north as the Wady Wati'r.
The Dock-port, so useful when the terrible norther blows, has an
admirable landmark, visible even from Sináfir Island, and
conspicuous at the entrance of the Gulf. Where the sandy slopes
of South-Eastern Sinai-land end, appears a large white blot,
apparently supporting a block, built, like a bastion, upon a tall
hill of porphyritic trap. We called this remnant of material
harder than the rest, Burj el-Dahab--"the Tower Hill of Dahab." I
have been minute in describing the Golden Harbour: scant justice
has been done to it by the Hydrographic Chart, and it will prove
valuable when the Makna' mines are opened. Ahmed Kaptán vainly
attempted soundings--he was too ill to work. Wellsted's
identification of the site with Ezion-geber (ii. ix.), and the
reef with the rock-ledge which wrecked Jehosaphat's fleet, has
one great objection--no ruins are known to exist near it.[EN#121]
The formation of this part of Sinai, as far as we can see from
the shore, reflects, in wilder forms and more abrupt lines, the
opposite coast of Midian: there is, however, the important
difference that the Secondaries and the quartz-veins, there so
important, are here wanting. The skeletons of mountain and hill
appear as if prolonged under water. The ruddy syenite is dyked
and veined by the familiar network of green-black porphyritic
trap; the filons are disposed in parallels striking north-south,
with a little easting; the dip is westerly (about 35 degrees
mag.), and the thickness extends to hundreds of feet, often
forming a foundation for the upper cliff. The subaerial parts are
the same warty and pimply growth which appears on the other side.
Nothing could be more wearisome to the Alpine climber than such a
country: he would scale the peaks and ridges for fifty feet, to
descend thirty on the other side; and the frequent Wadys,
ankle-deep in loose sand, generally end in steep stony couloirs.
The watercourses, whose broad mouths are scattered with thin
green, contain pebbles and rolled quartzes, including fine
specimens of the crystallized variety.
We landed, after an hour's row in the gig, at the central or main
line of palms; and on the banks of Wady Dahab, here a full mile
wide, we found the works of man, like those of Nature, a copy of
Makná. The date trees and clumps are hedge-closed; two scatters
of 'Ushash (tabernacles) show round towers of rough stone, broken
and patched with palm-frond; and, further north of the Golden
Valley, a few old Arab graves have been weathered into mere heaps
of large stones. These are the Kubur el-Nasárá ("Nazarene's
Graves") of Burckhardt,[EN#122] a name apparently forgotten by
the present generation. We vainly sought and asked after ruins:
of old, however, "Dí'zahab" might have served to disembark cargo
which, by taking the land-route northwards, as the Christian
pilgrims still do from El-Nuwaybi', would avoid the dangerous
headwaters of El-'Akabah. Nor could we believe with
Pococke[EN#123] that the place derived its name from the mica
shining like gold; his theory is stultified by the fact that mica
is by no means a prominent feature, even had the Ancients been so
ignorant as to be deceived by it.
The people were by no means communicative. An elderly man, with a
red turban and sword by side, hurried away from us when we
addressed him, leaving his middle-aged wife to follow with a babe
on shoulder and a boy in hand: she also refused to speak, waving
her hand by way of reply to every question. At last a
semi-civilized being, acquainted with the Convent of St.
Catherine, Selím bin Husayn, of the Muzaynah tribe, satisfied our
curiosity in view of tobacco, and offered a rudely stuffed
ibex-head for a shilling. In the evening our fishermen visited
the reef, which supplied admirable rock-cod, a bream (?) called
Sultan el-Bahr, and Marján (a Sciæna); but they neglected the
fine Sirinjah ("sponges"), which here grow two feet long. The
night was dark and painfully still, showing nought but the
youngest of moons, and the gloomiest silhouettes of spectral
mountains.
We set out at seven a.m. on the next day, when an Azyab or
south-easterly wind was promised by the damp air, the slaty sea,
and the gloomy nimbi on the hill-tops. A small party landed after
two hours' steaming, in search of quartz, which proved to be
chloritic sandstones and limestones. In the broad valley they
found a few Muzayni families, with their camels, sheep, and
goats. These unfortunates had no tents, sleeping under the trees;
they were desperate beggars, and, although half-starved, they
asked a napoleon for a kid, declaring that such was its price at
the quarantine station of Tor. Here the errors of the
Hydrographic Chart, which have been copied literally by the
latest and best popular books such as Professor Palmer's "Desert
of the Exodus," began to excite our astonishment. For instance,
Ras Kusayr ("the Short One") becomes Ras Arser--what a name for a
headland! A good survey will presently become a sine quâ non.
Unfortunately Ahmed Kaptán was suffering so much that I could not
ask him to make solar observations; while the rest of us had
other matters in hand. It was a great disappointment, where so
much useful work remains to be done.
Hereabouts the sterile horrors of the hideous Sinaitic shore seem
to reach their climax. The mountains become huge rubbish-heaps,
without even colour to clothe their indecently nude forms; and
each strives with its neighbour for the prize of repulsiveness.
The valleys are mere dust-shunts that shoot out their rubbish,
stones, gravel, and sand, in a solid flow, like discharges of
lava. And, as Jebel Mazhafah, on the opposite coast, is the apex
of the visible eastern Gháts, so beyond this point the Sinaitic
sea-chain of mountains begins to decline into mere hills, while
longer sand-points project seawards. Such is the near, the real
aspect of what, viewed from Makná, appears a scene in fairy-land,
decked and dight in heavenly hues of blue and purple and rosy
light--
"Where the bald blear skull of the Desert
With golden mountains is crowned."
The first sign of a change of formation appeared near the "Lower
(southern) Nuwaybi'" ("the Little Spring"), which the chart calls
"Wasit." Here the shore shows blots of dead-white and mauve-red,
in which our engineer at once detected quartz. Seeing it
prolonged in straight horizontal lines, and the red overlying the
white, I suspected kaolin and the normal Tauá (coloured clays):
my conjecture was confirmed on the next day. Hereabouts, Wellsted
(ii. 151) also remarked the colouring of the hills, which
resemble those of "Sherm;" some of a deep-blue tinge, and others
streaked with a brilliant red and violet. We then doubled a long
sandspit running out to sea eastward, and forming, on the north,
a deep bay well protected from the souther; whilst several lines
of reef and shallow to the north defend it from the angry Bora.
This anchorage is known to the pilots as "Wásit;" and it occupies
the southern half of the bay, the northern half and its
palm-groves being called the "Upper Nuwaybi'." About "Wásit" the
date-palms are scattered, and the large sand-drifts ever threaten
to bury them alive. Behind it yawns the great gash, "Wady Watír,"
which shows its grand lines even from the opposite side of the
gulf: this is the route by which Christian pilgrims from Syria
make the Sinai monastery, rounding on camels the northern end of
El-'Akabah. The main valley receives from the north the Wady
el-'Ayn, which can be reached in half a day. From the south,
distant one whole march, comes the Wady el-Hazrah. This is
doubtless the Hazeroth of the Exodus, meaning the fenced
enclosures of a pastoral people; and a modern traveller figures
and describes it as "the most beautiful and romantic landscape in
the Desert." At least, so said the lately shipped guide, Mabru'k
ibn Sulayyim el-Muzayni.
After a run of six hours and thirty minutes (= thirty miles), we
cast anchor off Wásit: there was nothing to see ashore, save some
wretched Muzaynah, two males and three females, helpmates meet
for them, living like savages on fish and shell-molluscs;
drinking brackish water, and sleeping in the "bush," rather than
take the trouble to repair the huts. They have no sheep, but a
few camels; and, by way of boats, they use catamarans composed of
two palm-trunks: their home-made hooks resemble the schoolboy's
crooked pin. Yet these starvelings would not fetch specimens of
the white stuff, distant, perhaps, two direct miles of cross-cut,
seen near Nuwaybi', and still visible. They also refused, without
preliminary "bakhshísh," to show or even to tell where certain
ruins, concerning which they spoke or romanced, are found in
their hills. And yet there are theologians who would raise
Poverty, the most demoralizing of all conditions, to the rank of
an "ecclesiastical virtue."
At 6 30 a.m. on the next day, the Mukhbir stood eastwards to
avoid the northern reef. Presently we passed the "Upper
Nuwaybi'," a creeklet to the north-west of Wásit, with a
straggling line of palms fed by the huge Wady Muzayríj. From this
point to the 'Akabah head all the coast is clean of man. The
Jibál el-Samghi now become the Sinaitic Jibál el-Shafah ("Lip
Mountains"), the latter stretching northwards to the Hajj-road,
and forming the western wall of the 'Arabah valley, whose name
they assume (Jibál el-'Arabah). The scene abruptly shifts. A
mottle of clouds sheds moving shadows over the hill-crests, and
relieves them from the appalling monotony of yesterday. Brilliant
rainbow hues, red, green, mauve, purple, yellow and white clays,
gleam in the lowlands, and form dwarf bluffs; while inland,
peering above the granites, the syenites, and the porphyries of
the coast, pale quoins and naked cones again show the familiar
Secondary formation of Midianitish Makná. We were not surprised
to hear that sulphur had been found in the gypsum of these
eastern Gháts of Sinai, when a Jebel el-Kibí't, approached by the
Wady Suwayr, was pointed out to us. The natural deduction is that
the brimstone formation is, like the turquoise, the copper, and
the manganese, a continuation of the beds that gave a name to
Mafka-land; while the metalliferous strata round, in
horseshoe-form, the head of El-'Akabah, and run down the Arabian
shore, till they become parallel with those subtending the
seaboard of Africa.
The view of the eastern or Midianite coast was even more varied
and suggestive. Far inland, and tinged light-blue by distance,
rose the sharp, jagged, and sawlike crests of El-Sharaf, under
which the Hajj-caravan wends its weary way, thus escaping the
mountains which dip perpendicularly into the sea. Then come the
broad and sandy slopes, here and there streaked with dark ridges,
spanned by the Sultáni or Sultan's high-road, and stretching from
the Gulf to the inner heights. The latter are no longer a double
parallel chain: they bend from south-south-east to
north-north-west, and become the Jibál el-Shará', anciently
"Mount Seir;" in fact, the eastern retaining-wall of the great
Wady 'Arabah. Evidently they are primary, but a white and purple
patch, visible from afar, suggested a Secondary remnant. Several
of the peaks, especially the blue block El-Yitm, appeared to be
of great height; we all remarked its towering stature and trifid
headpiece, apparently upwards of five thousand feet high, before
we had heard the tale attached to it. Abreast of us and on the
shore, lie the large inlet and little islet El-Humayzah: the
surveyors have abominably corrupted it to "Omeider." North of it
a palm grove, lining the mouth of a broad Wady which snakes high
up among the sands and stones, denotes the Hajj-station, El-Hakl
(Hagul), backed by tall arenaceous buttresses.
After six hours (= twenty-two knots and a half), we anchored in
the deep channel, about three-quarters of a kilometre wide, that
separates the Sinaitic mainland from the northern one of the only
two islands known in the 'Akabah Gulf, a scrap of rock crowned
with picturesque grey ruins. The Jezírat Fara'ún of the maps, the
Isle of Pharaoh, concerning whom traditions are still current, it
is known to the 'Akabites only as Jebel el-Kala'h or "Fort-hill:"
hence El-Graa in Laborde, and Jezírat El-Q reieh in
Arconati.[EN#124] Burckhardt alone mentions that the ruins are
known as El-Dayr--"the Convent." This human lair is encircled by
barrier-reefs of coralline, broad to the south-west and large in
scattered places: eastward they form a shallow wall-like ledge,
beyond which blue water at once begins. The island-formation is
that of the opposite coasts, Midian and Sinai, grey granite dyked
with decaying porphyritic trap, and everywhere veined with white
and various-coloured quartzes. The shape is a long oval of about
three hundred and twenty by one hundred and fifty-two metres; a
saddleback with two stony heads, the higher to the north, rising
a hundred feet or so above sea-level. Pommel and cantle are
connected by a low seat, a few yards of isthmus; and the three
divisions, all strongly marked, bear buildings. The profile from
east and west shows four groups: to the extreme north a tower,
backed by the castle donjon, on the knob of granite here and
there scarped; the works upon the thread of isthmus; and the
walls and bastions crowning the southern knob, which, being
lower, is even more elaborately cut to a perpendicular.
We landed upon the eastern side of the islet rock, where the
trunk of a broken mole is covered in rear by a ruined work. Here,
being most liable to attack, the fortifications are strongest;
whereas on the west side only a single wall, now strewn on the
ground, with square Burj at intervals, defends the little
boat-harbour. The latter appears at present in the shape of a
fish-pond, measuring sixty by forty metres; sunk below sea-level,
fed by percolation, and exceedingly salt. To the east of this
water, black cineraceous earth shows where the smith had been at
work: we applied the quarrymen to sift it, without other results
but bits of glass, copper, and iron nails.
The pier leads to a covered way, enabling the garrison safely to
circulate round the base of the islet. Behind it a path, much
broken and cumbered by débris of the walls, winds up the southern
face of the northern hill, which supports the body of the place:
it meets another track from the west, and a small work defends
their junction. Below it, outside the walls, we found a well sunk
about eight feet in the granite, and cemented with fine lime, the
red plaster in places remaining. Above this pit a Mihráb, or
prayer-niche, fronting Meccah-wards (more exactly 175 degrees
mag.) shows the now ruinous mosque: the Bedawi declare that it
was built by a "Pasha." Higher again, upon a terreplein, are
lines of tanks laid out with all that lavishness of labour which
distinguishes similar works in Syria: it is, however, difficult
to assign any date to these constructions. The cisterns were
explored by Mr. Clarke and Lieutenant Amir, who dug into and
planned them. They descended by ropes, although there are two
flights of steps to the west and the south-west. The tanks are
built up from the base with blocks one foot nine inches long:
seven inches deep of rubbish were cleared away before reaching
the floor, composed of black stones bedded in layers of cement
above and below, and resting upon the ground-rock. The diggings
yielded only big pieces of salt fallen from the walls, and a
broken handmill of basalt. The sides are supported by pilasters
of cut stone, and the crown by four pillars in a double row: the
dividing arches, according to the plan, are not symmetrical. Hard
by, measuring twelve metres by twelve, is the quarry whence the
stone was taken; and near it stands the normal Egyptian
pigeon-tower, with its nest-niches.
The donjon or body is defended by an enceinte, opening northwards
upon a large yard, where, doubtless, the garrison mustered, and
whence a flight of steps leads to the wicket. The inside of the
works shows the roofless party-walls still standing; and the
ground is scattered over with the remains of many different
races: there are drums of columns and fragments of marble
pillars, but no sign of an inscription. Even in the upper
ramparts two epochs are distinctly traceable, the mediæval and
the modern. The lower ashlar, mostly yellow grit, is cut and
carefully cemented; the upper part is generally of rough dry
stone, the plutonic formations of the islet heaped up with scanty
care. The embrasures are framed with decaying palm-trunks; the
loop-holes belong partly to the age of archery; and nothing can
be ruder than the battlements placed close together, as if to be
manned by bowmen, while in not a few places there are the remains
of matting between the courses. At the highest part we found
another carefully cemented Sehrij, or underground cistern, with
two sharp-topped arches divided by a tall column, Saracenic
certainly and not Doric:[EN#125] above it a circular aperture,
arched round with the finest bricks, serves to lighten the
superstructure. It communicates to the north with a Hammám, whose
plan is easily traced by the double flues and earthenware tubes,
well made and mortared together. Here we found inscribed on the
plaster, "Arona Linant 22 Mars 1846."
The southern knob of the islet supports similar but inferior
constructions, still more ruinous withal: its quarry is on the
lower slopes, and its granitic base has also been scarped
seawards. Two stout walls, twelve feet thick below and six above,
crossing the length of the rock from north to south, here meet in
a Burj which shows signs of fine tiles on an upper floor; whilst
a third wall forms a southern spine bisecting the tail of the
"Jezírat." The castle is much more dilapidated than when sketched
by Ruppell, the first Frank who visited El-'Akabah, in 1826. His
illustration (p. 214) of Ruinen auf der Insel Emrag shows a
single compact building in good preservation, the towers being
round, when all are square; and it is garnished with the
impossible foreground and background of his epoch; the former,
enlivened with a Noah's-Ark camel, being placed quite close, when
it is distant some ten miles. In the German naturalist's time,
the now desolate island was occupied by die Emradi, a tribe which
he suspected to be Jewish, and of which he told the queerest
tales: I presume they are the 'Imrám-Huwaytát of El-Hakl and the
Hismá. Wellsted's short description (II. ix) is still correct as
in 1838.
The castle is evidently European, built during the days when the
Crusaders held El-'Akabah; but it probably rests upon Roman
ruins; and the latter, perhaps, upon Egyptian remains of far
older date. It protected one section of the oldest overland
route, when the islet formed the key of the Gulf-head. It
subsequently became an eyrie whence its robber knights and
barons--including possibly "John, the Christian ruler of 'Akabah"
(A.D. 630), and, long after him, madcap Rainald de Chatillon
(A.D. 1182)--could live comfortably and sally out to plunder
merchants and pilgrims. The Saracenic buildings may date, as the
popular superstition has it, from the reign of Saláh el-Dín
(Saladin) who, in A.D. 1167, cleared his country of the Infidel
invader by carrying ships on camel-back from Cairo. Later
generations of thieves, pirates, and fishermen naturally made it
their refuge and abode. I hardly anticipate for it great things
in the immediate future, although it has been proposed for a
coal-depôt.
After a day given to tube-tinkering with tompions, stays, plugs,
plates, and wedges, to the distraction of the ship's carpenter
and blacksmith, steam was coaxed up; and, at 9.15 a.m. (February
7th), we ran northwards through the deep narrow channel, rounding
the upper end of the Pharaohnic islet. Here the encircling wall
is defended by two square Burj, to the north-east and to the
northwest, flanking what is probably the main entrance. On the
Sinaitic mainland to port, the broad mouth of the Wady el-Masri
leads to the Nakb, the rocky Pass which, so much dreaded till
repaired by Abba's Pasha, is popularly said to be described in
El-'Akabah--"the Steep." The Bedawin, however, declare that the
locale is so called because the Gulf here "heels" (Ya'kkab
el-Bahr), that is, comes to an end. At the head of the sea, the
confused mass of the Sinaitic mountains range themselves in line
to the west, fronting its sister wall, the grand block El-Shará'
(Seir); while in the middle lies the southern section of the
"Ghor," the noble and memorious Wady el-'Akabah, supposed to have
given a name to Arabia.[EN#126] The surface-water still rolls
down it after rains; and the mirage veiling the valley-sole
prolongs the Gulf-waters far to the north, their bed in the old
geologic ages. The view was charming to us; for the first time
since leaving Suez we saw the contrast of perpendicular and
horizontal, of height and flat. Nothing could be more refreshing,
more gladdening to the eye, after niente che montagne, as the
poor Italian described the Morea, than the soft sweeps and the
level lines of the hollow plain: it was enjoyable as a heavy
shower after an Egyptian summer. On the next day also, the play
of light and shade, and the hide and seek of sun-ray and
water-cloud, gave the view a cachet of its own. I am sorry to see
that scientific geologist, Mr. John Milne, F.G.S.,[EN#127]
proposing to cut through the two to five hundred feet of
elevation which separate the Gulf from the Dead Sea, some
thirteen hundred feet below water level. Does he reflect that he
simply proposes to obliterate the whole lower Jordan? to bury
Tiberias and its lake about eight hundred feet under the waves?
in fact, to overwhelm half the Holy Land in a brand-new
nineteenth-century deluge, the Deluge of Milne?
All were delighted at having reached our northernmost point,
without another visit from El-Ayli'. After one hour and
thirty-five minutes (= seven miles) the Mukhbir anchored, in
twelve fathoms of water, a couple of hundred yards off the fort
and its dependent group of brown-grey mud buildings, half
concealed by the luxuriant palms. The roads are safe enough: here
the north wind has not yet gained impetus; the south-easter is
bluffed off by a long point; and in only the strongest Gharbí
("westers") ships must run for refuge under the cliffs of Sinai.
This is not the place to enter into the history of Elath, Ailat,
Ailah, Ælana, 'Akabah, or 'Akabat-Aylah: Robinson (i. 250-254)
and a host of others give ample and reliable details. Suffice it
to say that the site is mentioned in the Wanderings (Deut. ii.
8), which must not be confounded with the Exodus. It is
subsequently connected with the gold-fleet (I Kings ix. 26,
etc.); and, conquered by Rezin, king of Syria (B.C. 740), it was
permanently lost to the Jews (2 Kings xvi. 6). Under the Romans,
this great station upon the "Overland" between the southernmost
Nabathæan port, Leukè Kóme, and Petra, the western capital, was a
Præsidium held by the Tenth Legion; and a highway connected it
with Gaza (Ghazzah), measuring one hundred and twenty direct
miles, when the Isthmus of Suez numbers only ninety-five. In
Christian times it had a prince and a bishop; and, under Mohammed
and the early Moslems, it preserved an importance which lasted
till the days of the Crusaders. El-Makrízi describes its ruins,
and here places the northern frontier of the Hejaz: in his day
"Madyan" was thus a section of the Tihámat el-Hejaz, the maritime
region of the Moslems' Holy Land.
A group of camels had gathered on the shore; and inland lay a mob
of pilgrims, the Hajj el-Magháribah, numbering some three
thousand North-West Africans; an equally large division had
already preceded them to Suez. Letters from Egypt assured us that
cholera had broken out at Meccah and Jeddah, killing in both
places ninety-eight per diem. Here the pilgrims swore by their
Allah that all were, and ever had been, in perfect health; it is
every man's business to ignore the truth, to hide the sick, and
to bury the dead out of sight. Hard swearing, however, did not
prevent the Hajj undergoing a long quarantine before entering
Suez. The English journals had reported another disaster: "Now
that the Sultán's power is collapsing, the most powerful Bedaween
tribes are rising because their subsidies are withheld. For weeks
the great pilgrim-traffic of autumn (? add the other three
seasons) was arrested by them; and even between Medina and Mecca
the road is unsafe." Of this I could hear nothing.
We awaited, on board, the departure of the pauper and infected
"Mogrebbins:" when the place was clear we fired a gun, and, after
an answer of three, I received the visits of the fort officials.
They were civility itself; they immensely admired our two
"splendid buttons" of poor iron; and they privily remarked, with
much penetration, that the colour was that of brass: they were,
in truth, far wiser than we had been. With them came Mohammed ibn
Jád (not Iját) el-'Alawí (of the 'Alawlyyin-Huwaytát), who styles
himself "Shaykh of El-'Akabah:" he is remarkable for frank
countenance, pleasant manners, and exceeding greed. He was
gorgeously arrayed in an overall ('Abáyah) of red silk and gold
thread (Gasab), covering a similar cloak of black wool: besides
which, a long-sleeved Egyptian caftán, striped stuff of silk and
wool, invested his cotton Kamís and Libás ("bag-breeches"). To
his A'kál or "fillet" of white fleecy wool hung a talisman; his
Khuff ("riding-boots") were of red morocco, and his
sword-scabbard was covered with the same material. The Arab ever
loves scarlet, and all varieties of the sanguine hue are as dear
to him as to the British soldier.
We held sundry long confabs with Shaykh Mohammed, who seemed to
know the neighbourhood unusually well. He declared that there
were ruins but no trees at 'Ayn el-Ghadya'n, distant one day's
march up the Wady el-'Arabah, and lying near the western wall.
This is the place first identified by Robinson, who says nothing
about the remains, with Ezion-geber, while Dean Stanley ("Sinai,"
etc., p. 85) opines that we have no means of fixing the position
of the "Giant's shoulder-blade."[EN#128] Josephus ("Antiq.,"
viii. 6, 4) places it near Ælana; and the present distance from
the sea, like that of Heroopolis (Shaykh el-Ajrúd?) from Suez,
may show the rise of the Wady el-'Arabah within historic times.
The Shaykh assured us that "Marú" was to be found everywhere
among the hills east of El-'Akabah, and Mr. Milne (Beke, p. 405)
brought from the very summit of the "true Mount Sinai" (Jebel
el-Yitm) a "fine piece of quartz, the same kind of stone as the
Brazilian pebbles of which they make the best spectacles." We
carried off a specimen of native copper from the Sinaitic Jebel
and Wady Raddádí, some six hours to the north-west of the fort:
it is found strewed upon the ground but not in veins (?). The
stone looked so new that we concluded it to be the work of later
generations; and the traces of smelting furnaces at old Elath
confirmed the idea.
Shaykh Mohammed, who boasted that his tribe could mount five
hundred horses--by which understand five--offered his safeguard
to the Hismá, three easy marches, without pass or climax, up the
Wady Yitm to the east, and behind the range El-Shará'. He made
the region begin northwards at one day south of El-Ma'án, the
fort lying to the east-south-east of Petra; and he confirmed the
accounts of Mabrúk, the guide, who was never tired of expatiating
upon its merits. The fountains flow in winter, in summer the
wells are never dry; the people, especially the Huwaytát, are
kind and hospitable; sheep are cheap as dirt. At Jebel Saur a
Maghrabi magician raised a Kidr Dahab ("golden pot"); but, his
incense failing at the critical moment, it sank before yielding
its treasures.
Pointing north-eastwards to the majestic pile in the Shara" or
Seir Mountains, the Jebel el-Yitm,[EN#129] a corruption of
El-Yatim, the Shaykh told us a tale that greatly interested us.
It appears, I have said, a remarkable formation from whose group
of terminal domes and pinnacles the tomb of Aaron on Mount Hor
is,[EN#130] they say, visible; and it is certainly the highest
visible peak of the grand wall that forms the right bank of the
Wady Yitm. Thus it is but one of a long range; and the Bedawin
visit it, to make sacrifice, according to universal custom, at
the tomb of a certain Shaykh Bákir. Here, some years ago, came an
old man and a young man in a steamer (Erin) belonging to his
Highness the Khediv: the former told the Arabs that in his books
the height was called the Jebel el-Núr ("Mountain of Light"), a
title which apparently he had first applied to the Jebel el-Lauz;
and the latter climbed to the mountain-top. After that they went
their way.
I quite agree with my lamented friend, Dr. Beke, that it is an
enormous blunder to transfer Midian, the "East Country," to the
west of El-'Arabah, and to place it south of the South Country
(El-Negeb, Gen. xx. I). I own that it is ridiculous to make the
Lawgiver lead his fugitives into a veritable cul-de-sac, then a
centre of Egyptian conquest. Evidently we have still to find the
"true Mount Sinai," if at least it be not a myth, pure and
simple. The profound Egyptologist, Dr. Heinrich Brugsch-Bey,
observes that the vulgar official site lies to the south of and
far from the line taken by the Beni Israil, and that the papyri
show no route leading to it; whilst many have remarked that the
Sinai of the Exodus is described as a single isolated mountain or
hill, not as one projection from a range of heights.[EN#131] I
would also suggest that the best proof of how empirical is the
actual identification, will be found in the fact that the
Jews--except only the Rev. Jos. Wolff (1821)--have never visited,
nor made pilgrimages to, what ought to be one of their holiest of
holy places. This crucial point has been utterly neglected by the
officers of the Ordnance Survey of Sinai. It is evident that
Jebel Serbal dates only from the early days of Koptic
Christianity; that Jebel Musá, its Greek rival, rose after the
visions of Helena in the fourth century; whilst the building of
the convent by Justinian belongs to A.D. 527. Ras Sufsafah, its
rival to the north, is an affair of yesterday, and may be called
the invention of Robinson; and Jebel Katerina, to the south, is
the property of Ruppell. Thus the oft-quoted legends of the
Sinaitic Arabs are mere monkish traditions, adopted by
Ishmaelitic ignorance. The great Lawgiver probably led his horde
of fugitive slaves over the plains of El-Negeb and El-Tih, north
of the so-called Sinaitic mountain-blocks, marching in small
divisions like those of a modern Bedawi tribe; and we know from
the latest surveys that the land, now alternately a fiery or
frozen wilderness, was once well supplied with wood and water.
The "true Mount Sinai" is probably some unimportant elevation in
the Desert named by moderns after the Wanderings.
Dr. Beke, I am persuaded, is right in denying that Mount Sinai
occupies the site at present assigned to it; but I cannot believe
that he has found it in the Jebel el-Yitm, near El-'Akabah. His
"Mount Bárghir" is evidently a corruption of the "Wali" on the
summit, Shaykh Bákir--a common Arab name. His "Mountain of Light"
is a term wholly unknown to the Arabs, except so far as they
would assign the term to any saintly place. The "sounds heard in
the mountain like the firing of a cannon," is a legend applied to
two other neighbouring places. All the Bedawin still sacrifice at
the tombs of their Santons: at the little white building which
covers the reputed tomb of Aaron, sheep are slaughtered and
boiled in a huge black cauldron. The "pile of large rounded
boulders" bearing "cut Sinaitic inscriptions" (p. 423) are
clearly Wusúm: these tribal-marks, which the highly imaginative
M. de Saulcy calls "planetary signs," are found throughout
Midian. The name of the Wady is, I have said, not El-Ithem, but
El-Yitm, a very different word. Lastly, the "Mountain Eretówa,"
or "Ertówa" (p. 404), is probably a corruption of El-Taur
(El-Hismá), the "inaccessible wall" of the plateau, which Dr.
Beke calls Jebel Hismá. My old friend, with his usual candour and
straightforwardness, honestly admitted that he had been
"egregiously mistaken with respect to the volcanic character of
(the true) 'Mount Sinai."' But without the eruption, the "fire
and smoke theory," what becomes of his whole argument?[EN#132]
Save for the death of my friend, I should have greatly enjoyed
the comical side of his subject; the horror and disgust with
which he, one of the greatest of geographical innovators, regards
a younger rival theory, the exodist innovation of Dr. Heinrich
Brugsch-Bey. The latter is the first who has rescued the "March
of the Children of Israel" from the condition of mere guesswork
described by the Rev. Mr. Holland.
Under the guidance of our new acquaintances, we rowed to the site
of Elath, which evidently extended all round the Gulf-head from
north-east to north-west. Linant and Laborde ("Voyage de l'Arabie
Petrée," etc., Paris, 1830) confine it to the western shore, near
the mouth of the Wady el-'Arabah, and make Ezion-geber to face it
as suggested by the writings of the Hebrews. Disembarking at the
northern palm-clump, we inspected El-Dár, the old halting-place
of the pilgrim-caravan before New 'Akabah was founded. The only
ruins[EN#133] are large blocks under the clearest water, and off
a beach of the softest sand, which would make the fortune of a
bathing-place in Europe. Further eastward lies an enclosed
date-orchard called El-Hammám: the two pits in it are said to be
wells, but I suspect the treasure-seeker. Inland and to the north
rise the mounds and tumuli, the sole remains of ancient Elath,
once the port of Petra, which is distant only two dromedary
marches. During rain-floods the site is an island: to the west
flows the surface-water of the Wady el-'Arabah, and eastward the
drainage of the Wady Yitm has dug a well-defined bed. A line of
larger heaps to the north shows where, according to the people,
ran the city wall: finding it thickly strewed with scoriae, old
and new, I decided that this was the Siyághah or "smiths'
quarter." Between it and the sea the surface is scattered with
glass, shards, and slag: I inquired in vain for "written stones,"
and for the petroleum reported to exist in the neighbourhood.
Shaykh Mohammed declared that of old a chain stretched from the
Pharaohnic island-castle to the Jebel el-Burayj or Kasr el-Bedawi
on the Midianite shore: this chain is a lieu commun of Eastern
legends. The "Bedawi's Castle" is mentioned by Robinson and
Burckhardt ("Syria," p. 510), as lying one hour south of
El-'Akabah. Moreover, the Wady Yitm, whose upper bed shows two
ruins, was closed, at the narrow above the mouth, by a fortified
wall of stone and lime, thus cutting off all intercourse with the
interior. The Bedawin declare it to be the work of King Hadíd
(Iron), who thus kept out the Bení Hilál of El-Nejd. We were
shown large earth-dams, thrown across the embouchure of the
torrent to prevent the floods injuring the palm-groves of New
'Akabah. These may date from ancient days, when the old city here
extended its south-eastern suburb; as usual, they have become a
cemetery, modern and Moslem; and on the summit of the largest the
holy Shaykh el-Girmí (Jirmí) still names his ruined tomb.
Walking round the eastern bay, where the ubiquitous black sand
striped the yellow shore, we observed that the tide here rises
only one foot,[EN#134] whereas at Suez it may reach a metre and a
half to seven feet. According to the chart, the springs attain
four feet at "Omeider" (El-Humayzah), some nineteen direct knots
to the south; and in the Sharm Yáhárr we found them about one
metre. Presently we entered, by wooden doors with locks and keys,
the carefully kept palm-groves, walled with pisé and dry stone.
Wells were being sunk; and a depth of nine to ten feet gave
tolerably sweet water. Striking the broad northern trail which
leads to the Wady Yitm and to the upper El-'Arabah, still a
favourite camping-ground of the tribes,[EN#135] we reached the
modern settlement, which has something of the aspect of a
townlet, not composed, like El-Muwaylah, of a single house. The
women fled at our approach, as we threaded the alleys formed by
the mud tenements.
The fort[EN#136] is usually supposed to have been built by
Sulta'n Selim I., in A.D. 1517, or three years before his death,
after he had subdued the military aristocracy of the Mamlúks, who
had ruled Egypt for three centuries. Much smaller than that of
El-Muwaylah, it is the normal affair: an enceinte once striped
red and white; curtains flanked by four Burj, all circular,
except the new polygon to the north-west; and a huge, gloomy
main-gateway fronting north, and flanked by two bastions. On the
proper right side is a circle of stone bearing, without date, the
name of "Sultán Selim Khan el-Fátih," who first laid out the
pilgrim-route along the Red Sea shore. Inside the dark cool porch
a large inscription bears the name "El-Ashraf Kansúr
(sic)[EN#137] El-Ghori," the last but one of the Circassian
Mamlúk kings of Egypt, who was defeated and slain by the Turkish
conqueror near Aleppo in A.D. 1501. Above it stand two stone
shields dated A.H. 992 (= A.D. 1583--1584). In the southern wall
of the courtyard is the mosque, fronted by a large deep well dug,
they say, during the building of the fort: it still supplies the
whole Hajj-caravan with warmish sweet water. On the ground lies a
good brass gun with Arabic inscription and numerals; and the
towers, commanding the little kitchen-gardens outside the
fort-wall, are armed with old iron carronades. The garrison,
consisting of half a dozen gunners and a few Ba'sh-Buzuks, looks
pale, bloodless, and unwholesome: the heats of summer are almost
unsupportable; and 'Akabah has the name of a "little hell."
Moreover, they eat, drink, smoke, sleep, chat, quarrel, and never
take exercise: the officers complained sadly that I had made them
walk perhaps a mile round the bay-head. And yet they have, within
two days of sharp ride, that finest of sanitaria, the Hismá,
which extends as far north and south as they please to go.
I at once made arrangements for a dromedary-post to Suez, and
wrote officially to Prince Husayn Pasha, requesting that his
Highness would exchange the Mukhbir for a steamer less likely to
drown herself. Moreover, the delay at Magháir Shu'ayb had
exhausted our resources; and the Expedition required a month's
additional rations for men and mules. The application was, it
will appear, granted in the most gracious manner, with as little
delay as possible; and my wife, who had reached Cairo, saw that
the execution of the order was not put off till the end of March.
Messrs. Voltéra Brothers were also requested to forward another
instalment of necessaries and comforts; and they were as punctual
and satisfactory as before. For this postal service, and by way
of propitiatory present, Shaykh Mohammed received ten dollars, of
which probably two were disbursed. We therefore parted fast
friends, he giving me an especial invitation to his home in the
Hismá, and I accepting it with the firm intention of visiting him
as soon as possible.
Meanwhile Mr. Clarke and Ali Marie were busy with buying up such
stores as El-'Akabah contains; and the officers of the fort, who
stayed with us to the last, were profuse in kind expressions and
in little gifts which, as usual, cost us double their worth. In
these lands one must expect to be "done" as surely as in Italy.
What the process will be, no one knows till it discloses itself;
but all experts feel that it is in preparation.
NOTE ON THE SUPPLIES TO BE BOUGHT AT EL-'AKABAH.
The following is a list of the stores with their prices. It must
be borne in mind that the Hajj-caravan was passing at the time we
visited El-'Akabah.
A large sheep cost half a napoleon; the same was the price of a
small sheep, with a kid.
Fowls (seventy-one bought), thirteen pence each; pigeons,
sixpence a head.
Eggs (sixty), two for threepence.
Tobacco (8 lbs.), coarse and uncut, but welcome to the Bedawin,
one shilling per pound.
Samn ("liquefied butter" for the kitchen) also one shilling per
pound. This article is always dear in Arabia, but much cheaper
than in Egypt.
Pomegranates (fifty), four shillings a hundred.
Onions (one kanta'r or cwt.), one sovereign.
Thin-skinned Syrian raisins, fivepence per pound.
Dried figs, twopence halfpenny per pound.
Matches (sixteen boxes), three halfpence per box.
A small quantity of grain may be bought. Lentils (Revalenta
Arabica) are to be had in any quantity, and they make an
admirable travelling soup. Unfortunately it is supposed to be a
food for Fellahs, and the cook shirks it--the same is the case
with junk, salt pork, and pease-pudding on board an English
cruiser. Sour limes are not yet in season; they will be plentiful
in April. A little garden stuff may be had for salads. The list
of deficiencies is great; including bread and beef, potatoes,
'Ráki, and all forms of "diffusable stimulants."
Here, as at Cairo, the piastre is of two kinds, metallic (debased
silver) and non-metallic. Government pays in the former, which is
called Ságh ("coin"); and the same is the term throughout Egypt.
The value fluctuates, but 97-1/2 may be assumed = one sovereign
(English), and one hundred to the Egyptian "lira." The second
kind, used for small purchases, is not quite half the value of
the former (205:100); in North-Western Arabia it is called Abyas
("white"), and Tarífá ("tariff"); the latter term in Cairo always
signifying the Ságh or metallic. The dodges of the Shroffs, or
"money-changers," make housekeeping throughout Egypt a study of
arithmetic. They cannot change the value of gold, but they "rush"
the silver as they please; and thus the "dollar-sinko" (i.e. the
five-franc piece), formerly fetching 19.10, has been reduced to
18.30. The Khurdah, or "copper-piastre," was once worth a
piastre; now this "coin of the realm" has been so debased, that
it has gradually declined through 195 to 500 and even 650 for the
sovereign. Moreover, not being a legal tender, it is almost
useless in the market.
As regards the money to be carried by such expeditions, anything
current in Egypt will do. The Bedawin prefer sovereigns when
offered five-franc pieces, and vice versa. The Egyptian sovereign
of 100 piastres (metallic) or 250 "current" must not be
confounded with the Turkish = 87.30 (curr. 175.20 to 180). The
napoleon averages 77.6 (curr. 160); the dollar varies according
to its kind; the shilling is 3.35 (curr. 10), and the franc 3.35
(curr. 8). It is necessary to lay in a large quantity of small
change by way of "bakhshísh," such as ten and twenty parah bits
(40 = 1 piastre).
Chapter VIII.
Cruise from El-'Akabah to El-Muwaylah--the Shipwreck
EscapedRésumé of the Northern Journey.
I resolved upon hastening back with all speed to El-Muwaylah,
finishing, by the way, our work of quartz-prospecting on the
'Akabah Gulf. Thus far it had been a success; we heard of "Marú"
in all directions. But all had not gone equally well. We had
already on two occasions been prevented by circumstances from
visiting the mysterious Hismá, and we now determined to devote
all our energies to its exploration.
Two heavy showers having fallen during the dark hours, on
February 8th Aurora looked as if she had passed a very bad night
indeed. The mist-rack trailed along the rock slopes, and rested
upon the Wady-sands; the mountains veiled their heads in clouds,
and--
"Above them lightnings to and fro ran coursing evermore,
Till, like a red, bewildered map, the skies were
scribbled o'er."
Meanwhile, in the north-west and south-west we saw--rare thing in
Arabia!--Iris holding two perfect bows at the same time, not to
speak of "wind dogs." Zephyrus, the wester, here a noted bad
character, rose from his rocky couch strong and rough, beating
down the mercury to 56 degrees F.: after an hour he made way for
Eurus; and the latter was presently greeted by Boreas in one of
his most boisterous and blustering moods.
We steamed off, with only a single stoppage for half an hour to
cool the engine-bearings, at 7.30 a.m.; and, after one mile we
passed, on the Arabian side, a ruin called Kasr el-Bint--"the
Girl's Palace." Beyond it lies the Kasr el-Bedawi, alias
El-Burayj ("of the Little Tower or Bastion"), the traditional
holding-pier of the great chain. When Wellsted (ii. 146) says,
"Here (i.e. at the Kasr el-Bedawi), I am told, there is a chain
extending from the shore to a pier built in the sea"--he
evidently misunderstood the Arabs. The eastern coast of
El-'Akabah begins with an abrupt mountain-wall, like that which
subtends the whole of the Sinai shore, till it trends south of
the Mí'nat el-Dahab. After three miles the heights fall into a
stony, sandy plain, which rises regularly as a "rake," or
stage-slope, to the Shará' (Seir) range, which closes the
horizon. After two hours and forty five minutes we passed into
the fine, open, treacherous Bay of "Hagul" (El-Hakl), distant
thirteen knots from El-'Akabah Fort, to which it is the nearest
caravan-station. On the north-east, and stretching eastward, are
the high "horse," or dorsum, and the big buttresses of the long,
broad Wady, which comes winding from the south-east. They appear
to be a body of sand; but, as usual on this coast, the
superficial sheet, the skin, hardly covers the syenite and
porphyritic trap that form the charpente. Between west and south,
a long spit, high inland, and falling low till where its
sandstone blufflet meets the sea, proves to be the base of a
large and formidable reef, which extends in verdigris patches
over the blue waters of the bay. It is not mentioned by Wellsted
(ii. 149), who describes "Ha'gool on the Arabian shore," as "a
small boat-harbour much exposed to the northerly winds." The
embouchure of the Wady nourishes four distinct clumps of
date-trees, well walled round; a few charred and burnt, the most
of them green and luxuriant. These lines are broken by the
channels which drain the surface water; and between the two
western sections appear the ragged frond-huts. Not a soul was
seen on shore.
The wind blew great guns outside the bay, and the inside proved
anything but calm. As the water was fifty-eight fathoms deep near
the coast, our captain found no moorings for his ship, except to
the dangerous reef; and we kept drifting about in a way which
would have distracted sensitive nerves. I had been told of ruins
and tumuli at El-Hakl, which denote, according to most
authorities, the Mesogeian town (Ancale): Ptolemy
(vi. 7, 27) places this oppidum Mediterraneum between Mákna or
Maína (Madyan), and Madiáma (Magháir Shu'ayb), the old capital.
Unwilling, however, to risk the safety of the gunboat, where
nothing was to be expected beyond what we had seen at El-'Akabah,
I resolved, after waiting half an hour, not to land. The Sambúk
received a cargo of quarrymen and sacks, in order to ship at
Makná the "argentiferous galena" and other rocks left by
Lieutenant Yusuf and M. Philipin upon the shore; and, that done,
she was directed to rejoin us at Tírán Island. As long as the
norther coursed high, she beat us hollow; in the afternoon,
however, when the gale, as usual, abated, she fell off, perhaps
purposely, not wishing to pass a night in the open. By sunset her
white sail had clean disappeared, having slipped into some snug
cove.
The Arabian shore is here of simpler construction than that of
Sinai; consequently the chart has had a better chance. The
Mukhbir resumed her way southwards in glorious weather, a fresh
breath blowing from the north; and fleecy clouds variegating the
sky, which was almost as blue as the waves After six miles and a
half from El-Hakl and nearly twenty from El-Akabah, she ran to
the west of El-Humayzah Island, the "Omasír" of Wellsted (ii.
149), between which and the mainland is a well sheltered berth.
It is a great contrast with the "Hill of the Fort," the
Pharaohnic rock, this lump some eighty feet high, built of
Secondary gypsum and yellow serpentine like the coast behind it.
Gleaming deadly white, pale as a corpse in the gorgeous sunshine,
and utterly bare, except for a single shrub, it is based upon a
broad, dark-coloured barrier-reef. Local tradition here places
the Kasr el-Bedawíyyah, "Palace of the Bedawi Woman (or Girl),"
but we saw neither sign of building nor trace of population in
the second island which the Gulf el-'Akabah owns.
We then passed sundry uninteresting features, and night fell upon
us off Jebel Tayyib Ism, where familiar scenes began to present
themselves. The captain had already reduced speed from four and a
half to three knots, his object being to reach the Bugház or
"Gulf-mouth" after dawn. But as midnight drew near it became
necessary to ride out the furious gale with the gunboat's head
turned northwards. M. Lacaze, a stout-hearted little man, worked
half the night at the engine, assisting Mr. Duguid. About four
a.m. (February 8th) a lull in the storm allowed her to resume her
southerly course; but two hours afterwards, an attempt to make
the Makná shore, placing her broadside on to the wind, created
much confusion in the crockery and commotion among the men.
Always a lively craft, she now showed a Vokes-like agility; for,
as is ever the case, she had no ballast, and who would take the
trouble to ship a few tons of sand? At such moments the engine
was our sole stand-by: had it played one of its usual tricks, the
Mukhbir, humanly speaking, was lost; that is, she would have been
swamped and water-logged. As for setting sail, it was not till
our narrow escape that I could get the canvas out of stowage in
the hold.
As the morning wore on the Gulf became even rougher, with its
deep and hollow waves; they seemed to come from below, as if bent
upon hoisting us in the air. The surface-water shivered; and the
upper spray was swept off by the north wind, which waxed colder
and more biting as we steered sunwards. The Sinaitic side now
showed its long slopes; and at 9.45 a.m. we passed the palms of
the Nebíkí anchorage, some six miles from the "Gate." On the
shore of Midian, south of the dark Fahísát Mountains, four
several buttresses of gypsum, decreasing in size as they followed
one another eastwards, trended diagonally away from the sea. This
part of the Arabian coast ends in a thin point: the maps call it
"Ras Fartak;" and the pilots "Shaykh Hamí,"[EN#138] from a holy
man's tomb to which pious visitation is made. The other
land-tongue, adjoining to the south, is known as the Umm Ruús, or
"Mother of Heads." I cannot find out whence Ruppell borrowed his
"Omel Hassanie" (Umm el-Hassání?).
As we approached the ugly gape of the formidable Gulf, the waves
increased in size, and coursed to all directions, as if distorted
by the sunken reefs. The eastern jamb is formed by Tírán Island;
the western by the sandy Ras Nasráni, whose glaring tawny slope
is dotted with dark basaltic cones, detached and disposed like
great ninepins. Beyond this cape the Sinaitic coast, as far as
Ras Mohammed, the apex of the triangle, is fretted with little
indentations; hence its name, El-Shurúm--"the Creeks." Near one
of these baylets, Wellsted chanced upon "volcanic rocks which are
not found in any other part of the peninsula:" this sporadic
outbreak gives credibility to the little "Harrah" reported to be
found upon the bank of the Midianitish "Wady Sukk." A hideous,
horrid reef, dirty brown and muddy green, with white horses madly
charging the black diabolitos, whose ugly heads form chevaux de
frise, a stony tongue based upon Tírán Island, and apparently
connected from the eastern coast behind, extends its tip to
mid-channel. The clear way of the dreaded Bugház is easily found
in the daytime: at night it would be almost impossible; and when
Midian shall be "rehabilitated," this reef will require a Pharos.
Adieu, small spitfire of a Gulf! The change from the inside to
the outside of the Birkat el-Akabah was magical. We at once
glided into summer seas, a mosaic of turquoise and amethyst,
fanned by the softest of breezes, the thermometer showing on deck
63 deg F. Perhaps the natural joy at our lucky escape from
"making a hole in the water" caused the beauties of the weather
and the glories of the scenery to appear doubly charming. Our
captain might have saved fifteen miles by taking the short cut
north of Tírán Island, under whose shelter we required a day for
boiler-tinkering. His pilot, however, would not risk it, and we
were compelled, nothing loth and little knowing what we did, to
round for a second time the western and southern shores.
The "Hill of Birds," which some have identified with the
classical Island of Isis,[EN#139] shows a triune profile, what
the Brazilians call a Moela or "gizzard." Of its three peaks the
lowest is the eastern; and the central is the highest, reaching
seven hundred, not a thousand, feet. Viewed from within the Gulf,
it is a slope of sand which has been blown in sheets up the
backing hills. The ground plan, as seen from a balloon, would
represent a round head to the north, a thin neck, and a body
rudely triangular, the whole measuring a maximum of five miles in
length: the sandy northern circlet, connected by the narrowest of
isthmuses, sweeping eastward, forms the noted port. The material
is the normal Secondary formation, sulphates and carbonates of
lime supporting modern corallines and conglomerates of shell.
Horizontal lines of harder stone are disposed in huge steps or
roads that number three to six on the flank of the western peak:
the manganese-coloured strata which appeared at Magháir Shu'ayb,
and in the rent bowels of the Rughámat Makná, are conspicuous
from the south. The whole has been upheaved by syenite, which,
again, has been cut by dykes of plutonic stone, trap and
porphyry.
At two p.m. we anchored in a roadstead to the south-east of the
island, open to every wind except the norther. I had sent
Lieutenant Amir and sundry quarrymen ashore, to inspect what
looked like a vein of sulphur. They delayed two hours, instead of
a few minutes; the boiler was grumbling for rest, and, not
wishing to leave them adrift in an open boat, I imprudently
consented to await them in a roadstead where the coast was
dangerous, instead of proceeding, as had been intended, to the
fine land-locked port, nature-hollowed in the eastern side of the
island. The old captain pitifully represented to me that his crew
could not row; and this I found to be generally the case: ten
miles with the oar would be considered a terrible corvée by the
Egyptian man-o'-war's man.
After blowing off steam, we at once went a-fishing. The only
remarkable result was the discovery that this corner of the Red
Sea is a breeding-ground for sharks: we had not seen one in the
Gulf of El-'Akabah, where last April they swarmed. Here, however,
the school contained all sizes and every age, and they regarded
us curiously with their cat's eyes, large, dark, and
yellow-striped down the middle. A small specimen, that had just
cut its teeth, was handed over to the cook, despite his loudly
expressed disgust. The meat was somewhat mealy and shortfibred;
but we pronounced in committee the seadog to be thoroughly
eatable when corrected by pepper, garlic, and Worcester sauce.
The corallines near the shore were finely developed: each bunch,
like a tropical tree, formed a small zoological museum; and they
supplied a variety of animalculae, including a tiny shrimp. The
evening saw a well-defined halo encircling the moon at a
considerable distance; and Mr. Duguid quoted the Scotch saw--
"A far-awa' bruch's a near-awa' blast."
The blast was nearer than we expected; and, during the rest of
the journey, the "bruch" rarely if ever deceived us. Yet the
night was not much disturbed by the furious northerly gusts,
showing that the storm which we had escaped was raging in the
still-vexed 'Akabah.
Next morning we landed to the south-west of Tírán's easternmost
peak, with a view of prospecting and adding to our collections.
On the shore, about three hundred feet from the sea, is a bank of
dead shells which are not found on the northern or sandy end of
the island: near the water most of them are tenanted by paguri
("hermits"). We caught a number of crabs and small fish, and we
carried off a single rock-oyster: as yet we had not found out
that the Ustrída--the vulgar form of the Hellenic and classical
"Istiridiyá"--abounds in these seas. After thirty minutes' walk
up the southern plane of the prism, composed of gypseous and
coralline rocks, veins of white petrosilex resembling broken
columels, streaks of magnetic black sand, and scatters of grit
and harder stones, we reached the summit of the little ridge. It
afforded a fine bird's-eye view of the splendid middle port; of
the false harbour; of the real shoal to its south-east, and of
the basin which seems to form Sináfir Island.
We now bent to the south-west. Here the surface is much cut and
broken by sandy Wadys, dotted with a few straggling plants: to
our right was a Goz or inclined arenaceous bank, where the south
wind had sifted the sand from the gravel, disposing the former in
the hollows, and the latter on the crest of the ripples.
Presently we reached a strange formation which, seen from the
east, appears a huge vein, red and rusty, beginning close to the
sea, and crossing the body of the island from south to north,
while a black cone is so disposed that its southern front
simulates a crater. A narrow gorge opens upon a semicircular
hollow lined with ochraceous or ferruginous matter; in fact, part
of the filon, which sends off fibrils in all directions. The
confusion of formations was startling. The floor was here of
white petrosilex, there of grey granite, variegated with squares
and lozenges, drops and pineapples, red, green, neutral tinted,
and disposed by oxides of iron and copper in natural designs that
looked artificial. Scattered over the bed of the upper ravine
beyond the hollow, were carbonates of lime, ruddy brown and
chocolate-hued, here a pudding-stone, there porous like basalt:
the calcareous sulphates were both amorphous and crystalline, the
latter affected by contact with plutonic matter. The walls of the
gash showed a medley of clay breccias, disposed in every
imaginable way; and divided by horizontal veins of heat-altered
quartz. A few paces further led to the head of the ravine, where
a tumble of huge rocks, choking the bed, showed that the
rain-torrents must at times be violent.
Meanwhile, Mr. Clarke and Lieutenant Amir had walked to the large
central harbour, hoping there to hit upon sweet water and some
stray Hutaym fishermen, who would show us what we wanted. They
did not find even the vestige of a hut. The two exploring parties
saw only three birds in the "Isle of Birds," and not one of the
venomous snakes mentioned at "Tehran" by Wellsted (II. ix.), and
described as "measuring about thirty inches, of a slender form,
with black and white spots." We also utterly failed to discover
the sulphur which was once abundant and the naphtha which,
according to the same authority, was produced here in
considerable quantities, and was used "by the Arab mariners to
pay their boats."
The evening was exceptionally fine and calm; and we expected on
the morrow (February 11th) a quiet return to El-Muwaylah. Yet a
manner of presentiment induced me to summon the engineer and his
native assistants, and to promise the latter a liberal
"bakhshísh," if by hard work at the boiler all night, and by
rigging up the ship's pump instead of a donkey-engine, they could
steam off at dawn.
Unexpectedly, about four a.m., a violent sandy and misty wester
began to blow; and all fancied that we had set sail to the south.
Quite the contrary! The engine was still under repair. The
Mukhbir was being tossed and rolled by the inshore set, and the
sequel is quickest told by an extract from my "Penny":--
"Written in sight of Death. Wind roaring furiously for victims:
waves worse. No chain can stand these sledge-hammer shocks. Chain
parts,[EN#140] and best sheet-anchor with it. Bower and kedge
anchors thrown out and drag. Fast stranding broadside on: sharp
coralline reef to leeward, distant 150 yards. Sharks! Packed up
necessaries. Sambúk has bolted, and quite right too! Engine
starts some ten minutes before the bump. Engineer admirably cool;
never left his post for a moment, even to look at the sea. Giorgi
(cook) skinning a sheep: he has been wrecked four times, and
don't care. Deck-pump acting poorly. Off in very nick of time,
9.15 a.m. General joy, damped by broadside turned to huge
billows. Lashed down boxes of specimens on deck, and wore round
safely. Made for Sináfir, followed by waves threatening to poop
us. Howling wind tears mist to shreds. Second danger worse than
first. Run into green water: fangs of naked rock on both sides
within biscuit-throw; stumps show when the waves yawn. Nice
position for a band-box of old iron! With much difficulty slipped
into blue water. Rounded south end of spit, and turned north into
glorious Sináfir Bay. Safe anchorage in eight fathoms. Anchor
down at 10:15 a.m., after one hour of cold sweat. Distance seven
miles on chart, nine by course: Mukhbir never went so fast; blown
like chaff before wind. Faces cleared up. All-round shaking of
hands; El-Hamdu li'lláhi,' followed by a drink. Some wept for
joy."
The engine, or rather the engineer, had saved us: as the saying
is, it was touch and go--the nearest thing I ever did see. Had
the rotten old boiler struck work for five minutes when we were
clearing out of Tírán, or steaming along Sináfir shore, nothing
could have kept the ship afloat. Those who behaved best, a
fireman, a boy who crept into the combustion-chamber to clear it,
and helmsman who, having been at Liverpool, spoke a little
English, were duly "bakhshísh'd." The same reward was given by
mistake to the boilermaker, Mohammed Sa'íd Haddád, who had
malingered, instead of working, through the night. At Suez he had
the impudence to ask me for a Shahádah ("testimony") to his good
character. On the whole the conduct of the crew was worthy of all
praise.
In a decently equipped English steamer we should have laughed at
this storm, and whistled for more wind; but the condition of the
Mukhbir quite changed the case. The masts might have rolled out,
or she might have sprung a leak at any moment. And supposing that
we had escaped the crash upon the reef, the huge waves, and the
schools of sharks, our situation would have been anything but
pleasant. The Island of Tírán, as has been shown, is a grisly
scrap of desert: it has no sweet water; and its three birds would
not long have satisfied thirty hungry men. It is far from the
mainland; the storm, which lasted through two days, was too
violent for raft or boat to live, and at so early a season native
craft are never seen on these seas. Briefly, a week might have
elapsed before our friends at El-Muwaylah, who were startled by
the wildness of the wind, could have learned our plight, or could
have taken measures to relieve the castaways.
Sináfir Island, which we have to thank for giving us hospitality
on two occasions, consists mainly of a bay. Viewed by the norma
verticalis, it is shaped like an ugly duckling, with an oval
(Wellsted says a circular) body of high ground disposed
north-east to south-west; and with head and neck drooping
westward so as to form a mighty pier or breakwater. The watery
plain within is out of all proportion to the amount of terra
firma. The body-profile shows straight-backed heaps of gypsum,
some two hundred feet high, which become quoin-shaped about the
middle of the isle: these hillocks are connected by low strips of
sand growing the usual vegetation, especially the pink Statice
pruinosa.
Presently our Sambúk, which had also lost chain and anchor before
she could run out of the storm, appeared to the north-west of the
bay; and a pilgrim-craft, bound for Suez, was our companion in
good fortune. A party landed to examine Sináfir, which still
shows signs of a junction with Tírán. In days when the Secondary
formation was an unbroken street, the whole segment of a circle,
extending from Sharm Yáhárr to northern Sinai, must have been dry
land; these reefs and islands are now the only remnants. The
islet itself seems lately to have been two: the neck and head are
one, and the body is another; an evident sea-cliff marks the
junction, and what appears like a Wady below it, is the upraised
sea-bed of coralline. To the north-west, and outside this strip,
lies the little port defended by a network of reefs, in which our
Sambúk had first taken refuge. The bay-shore bears traces of more
than one wreck; and in the graveyard used by the native sailor,
an open awning of flotsam and jetsam looks from afar like a
tumble-down log-hut. The number of reefs and shoals shown by
stripes of vivid green water promised excellent fishing, and
failed to keep its promise.
At length, after a third wasted day, we managed, despite a new
hole in the old boiler, to steam out of hospitable Sináfir at
6:30 a.m. on the auspicious Wednesday, February 13. The
appearance of the Mukhbir must have been originale enough: her
canvas had been fished out of the hold, but in the place of a
mainsail she had hoisted a topsail. We passed as close as
possible to the islet-line of Secondary formation, beginning with
Shu'shu', the wedge bluff-faced to south: the Palinurus anchored
here in a small bight on the north-east side, between two reefs,
and narrowly escaped being wrecked by a northerly gale. At 10:45
a.m. we were alongside of Baráhkán, a double feature, lumpy and
cliffy, connected by a low sandy isthmus: the eastern flank gives
good shelter to native crafts. Lastly came Yubá', the compound
quoin, the loftiest of the group, upwards of 350 feet high, with
its low-lying neighbour Wálih. These islets have classical names,
as I have before mentioned,[EN#141] and appear once to have been
inhabited: even at Yubú', the least likely of all, we heard from
several authorities of a deep rock-cut well, covered with a stone
which the Arabs could not raise.
And now we were able to cast an intelligent glance in review of
the scenes made familiar by our first or northern march. The
surpassing purity of the transparent atmosphere, especially at
this season, causes the land to look as near at twenty as at ten
miles; and thus both distances, showing the horizon with the
utmost distinctness, appear equally close to the ship. Beginning
towards El-Akabah, the Jebel el-Zánah behind Magháir Shu'ayb,
and its mighty neighbour, the Jebel el-Lauz, form the horizon of
mountains which are not the least amongst the giants. Southwards
appear the Jibál el-Tihámah, the noble forms of the seaboard, the
parallel chains noting the eastern boundary of Madyan (Proper);
while behind them the Jibál el-Shafah, reduced to blue heads and
fragments of purple wall, are evidently disposed on a far more
distant plane.
As regards the Jibál el-Tihámah, I have registered ad nauseam the
names of the eight several blocks into which, between El-Zahd
north and El-Shárr south, the curtain, rising from a sea-horizon,
seems to divide itself. Every one consulted gave me a new or a
different term; and apparently seamen and landsmen have their
separate nomenclature. Thus, the pilots call the Fás, Harb and
Dibbagh blocks, Jibál el-Musaybah, Tiryam, and Dámah, after the
Wadys and main valleys that drain them. The Bedawin, again, will
name the whole block after the part most interesting to them:
thus the tower-like formation characterizing Jebel Dibbagh was
often called "Jebel el-Jimm," and even this, as will afterwards
appear, was not quite exact.[EN#142]
We fired a gun off El-Muwaylah, where our camp, ranged in long
line, looked clean and natty. At five p.m. we were once more at
home in our old quarters, the Sharm Yáhárr: the day's work had
numbered fifty direct geographical miles between Sina'fir and
El-Muwaylah, with five more to our dock.
Résumé
Our journey through Madyan Proper (North Midian) had lasted
fifty-four days (December 19, 1877, to February 13, 1878). During
nearly two months the Expedition had covered only 105 to 107
miles of ground: this, however, does not include the various
by-trips made by the members, which would more than double the
total; nor the cruise of two hundred miles round the Gulf of
Akabah, ending at El-Muwaylah. The total of camels employed
varied from 106 to 61, and their hire, including "bakhshísh" and
all minor charges, amounted, according to Mr. Clarke, to £316
14s. 3d.
This section of North Midian may be described as essentially a
mining country, which, strange to say of a province so near
Egypt, has been little worked by the Ancients. The first
Khedivial Expedition brought back specimens of free gold found in
basalt, apparently eruptive, and in corundophyllite, which the
engineer called greenstone porphyry: silver appeared in the red
sands, in the chloritic quartz, and in the titaniferous iron of
the Jebel el-Abayz; the value being 265 to 300 francs per ton,
with traces in the scoriæ. The second Expedition failed to find
gold, but brought back argentiferous galena in copper-stained
quartz, and possibly in the ochraceous red veins seaming the
Secondary gypsum; with silicates and carbonates of copper: select
specimens of the latter yielding the enormous proportion of forty
per cent. In this northern region the great focus of metallic
deposit appears to lie between north lat. 28° 40' and 27° 50';
that is, from the Jebel Tayyib Ism, north of Makná, to the
southern basin which contains the Jebel el-Abyaz or "White
Mountain." Its characteristics are the argentiferous and
cupriferous ores, whereas in South Midian gold and silver were
worked; and the parallelogram whose limits are assigned above,
might be converted into a Northern Grant. Concerning the immense
abundance of gypsum, and the sulphur which is suspected to be
diffused throughout the Secondary formation, ample details have
been given in the preceding pages.
The principal ruins of ancient settlements, and the ateliers, all
of them showing vestiges of metal-working, numbered eight: these
are, beginning from the south, Tiryam, Sharmá, Aynúnah, the
Jebel el-Abyaz, Magháir Shu'ayb, Makná', Tayyib Ism, and
El-Akabah. Magháir Shu'ayb, the Madiáma of Ptolemy, is evidently
the ancient capital of the district. It was the only place which
supplied Midianitish (Nabathæan) coins. Moreover, it yielded
graffiti from the catacombs; fragments of bronze which it will be
interesting to compare by assay with the metal of the European
prehistoric age; and, finally, stone implements, worked as well
as rude.
I will end with a few words concerning the future industry of
North Midian.
For the success of these mines the greatest economy will be
necessary. The poorest ore can be treated on the spot by crushing
and washing, where no expenditure of fuel is required. The richer
stone, that wants roasting and smelting, would be shipped, when
worth the while, from North Midian to Suez: there coal is
abundant, and the deserted premises of Dussaud-Bey, belonging to
the Egyptian Government, would form an excellent site for a great
usine centrale. Finally, the richest specimens--especially those
containing, as many do, a medley of metals--would be treated with
the least expenditure, and the greatest advantage, at Swansea or
in other parts of England, where there are large establishments
which make such work their specialty.
The following analyses of the specimens brought home by the first
Khedivial Expedition, were made at the Citadel, Cairo, by the
well-known chemist, Gastinel-Bey, in conjunction with M. George
Marie, the engineer attached to the Expedition:--
Analyses (Mm. Gastinel-bey and George Marie of Cairo) of Rocks
Brought Home by the First Khedivial Expedition.
(All by Voie Sèche.)
Gold (assay on 100 grammes)--
1. In basalt (lava?).
2. In serpentine.
(None in white quartz.)
Silver--
1. In Filon Husayn, 1/1000 = 265 to 300 francs per ton (very
good).
2. In red sands, 1/10,000 (= 20 francs per ton).
3. In scoriæ, traces.
(None in white quartz or in the black sands.)
Copper--
1. In Aynúnah quartz, 4 1/2 per 100.
2. In Filon Husayn, 2 1/2 to 3.40 per cent.
Filon Husayn = Titaniferous iron, 86.50
Silica, 10.10
Copper, 3.40.
3. In chloritic slate, 1.40 per cent.
(Chloritic slate of Makná' =
Silica, 90.50
Carbonate of lime, 5.60
Oxide of iron, 2.30
Copper, 1.40.)
Sulphur (Jebel el-Kibri't of El-Muwaylah)--
4 per cent. above. 9 ditto below.
Lead everywhere.
Calamine (zinc) very rich.
Part II.
The March Through Central and Eastern Midian.
Chapter IX.
Work in and Around El-Muwaylah.
We arrived at El-Muwaylah too late to meet the Hajj-caravan,
which, home returning, had passed hurriedly through the station
on February 9th. This institution has sadly fallen off from its
high estate of a quarter of a century ago. Then commanded by an
Amir el-Hajj--"Lord of the Pilgrimage"--in the shape of two
Pashas (generals), it is now under the direction of a single Bey
(colonel). The "True Believers," once numbering thousands, were
reduced in 1877-78 to some eight hundred souls, of whom only
eighty appeared at El-Muwaylah; and the peculiar modification of
modern days is that the Mahmal is escorted only by paupers. Yet
the actual number of the Hájis who stand upon Jebel Arafát,
instead of diminishing, has greatly increased. The majority
prefer voyaging to travelling; the rich hire state-cabins on
board well-appointed "Infidel" steamers, and the poor content
themselves with "Faithful" Sambúks. Indeed, it would seem that
all the present measures, quarantines of sixty days (!) and
detention at wretched Tor, comfortless enough to make the
healthiest lose health, are intended to discourage and deter
"palmers" from proceeding by land. If this course be continued, a
very few years will see the venerable institution represented by
only the Mahmal and its guard. The late Sa'id Pasha of Egypt once
consigned the memorial litter per steam-frigate to Jeddah: the
innovation saved Ghafr ("blackmail") to the Bedawin; but it was
not approved of by the Moslem world.
The Hájis were so poor that they had nothing for barter or for
sale. Happily, however, there was a farrier amongst them, and
Lieutenant Yusuf took care that our mules were properly shod. M.
Philipin had been a maréchal ferrant, but a kick or two had left
him no stomach for the craft. Our two fellow-travellers, with the
whole camp, had set out from Makná on February 6th, and marched
up the great Wady el-Kharaj. Along the eastern flank of the Jebel
el-Fahísát, the "Iron Mountain," they found many outcrops of
quartz, a rock which appears sporadically all the way to the
northern soufrière. In two places it was green-stained, showing
copper, while in another hydrated oxide and chromate of iron
(hematite)[EN#143] abounded. After a stage of four hours and
twenty minutes they left the caravan, struck off to the west,
accompanied by Shaykh Furayj, and reached their destination.
Here, however, they met with accidents: the mules bolted,
followed by the Shaykh's dromedary, and they were obliged to
hurry off for fear of losing the caravan, now well ahead of them.
Thus, when I had ordered Lieutenant Yusuf to make a detailed plan
of the formation, he had spent exactly ten minutes on the spot,
and he appeared not a little proud of his work.
This young officer was not a pleasant companion. He had doubtless
received his orders, but he carried them out in a peculiarly
disagreeable way, taking notes of all our proceedings under our
eyes. Together with Lieutenant Amir, he began to make a
collection of geology: both, being utterly innocent of all
knowledge, imitated us in picking up specimens; mixed them
together without notes or labels; and, on return to Cairo, duly
presented them at the Citadel. This was all that was required.
The papers were "written to" and reported as follows: "Closer
examination has shown that the turquoises' brought to Cairo are
merely malachite (!); and that the existence of any such quantity
of gold as would pay for the working is, to say the least of it,
very doubtful."[EN#144]
The whole camp, indeed, was seized with a mania for collecting:
old Háji Wali again gathered bits of quartz, which he once more
presented as gold-stone to his friends and acquaintances at
Zagázig; and Anton, the dragoman, triumphantly bore away
fragments bristling with mica-slate, whose glitter he fondly
conceived to be silver.
Lieutenant Yusuf was presently despatched with three soldiers,
three quarrymen, Jází, the Arab guide of a former visit, and
eight camels, to bring back specimens of the copper silicate to
the south of Aynánah, and to make a regular survey of the
northern solfatara. He set out early on February 18th, and after
twenty-one hours of caravan-marching reached the Jebel el-Fara'.
Here the outcrop is bounded north by the Wady el-Fara', and south
by the Wadys el-Maríkhah and Umm Nírán, the latter forming the
general recipient of these Nullahs. The Jebel is about 120 feet
high, of oval form, stretching 1750 metres from north-north-west
to south-south-east. The rich silicate (not carbonate) of copper,
which disdains a streak and affects the file, is found, as usual
with this ore, only in one part of the valley to the south-west,
some thirty-five feet above the sole: it is a pocket, a
"circumscribed deposit," as opposed to a "true vein" or a
"vein-fissure." The adjoining rocks contain carbonates of iron
and copper, and the ore-mass is apparently carbonate of lime.
This second visit generally confirmed the report of Ahmed Kaptán,
except that there were no signs of working, as he had supposed.
The travellers passed the whole of February 20th at the diggings,
made a plan, and sent back two camel-loads (four sacks) of the
gangue, in charge of a soldier, to the Fort of El-Muwaylah.
On the next day the little party made for the Wady Aynúnah, and,
striking to the left of the straight line, crossed the maritime
country, here a mass of Wadys, including our old friend the
Afál. This highway to the northern Hismá falls, I have said,
into the Mínat el-Ayánát, a portlet useful to Sambúks: its
sickle-shaped natural breakwater, curving from west to south,
resembles that of Sinaitic Marsá el-Ginái, and those which are so
common in Western Iceland. On February 22nd, a very devious path,
narrow and rocky, lasting for one hour, led them, about noon, to
the northern Jebel el-Kibrít. The distance from El-Muwaylah is
about sixty-six miles; and the country west of a line drawn from
Aynúnah to Makná was, before this march, utterly unknown to us,
consequently to all the civilized world.
Lieutenant Yusuf's two journals checking each other, his plan and
his specimens enable me to describe the northern deposit with
more or less accuracy. The Sulphur-hill is a long oval of four
hundred metres (east-west), by a maximum of one hundred and
eighty (north-south); but it extends branches in all directions:
the mineral was also found in a rounded piton, a knob on the Wady
Musayr, attached to the north-eastern side. The flattened dome is
from fifty to sixty feet high, and the piton one hundred and
forty. The metal underlying a dark crust, some twelve to fifteen
centimetres thick, appears in regular crystals and amorphous
fragments of pure brimstone pitting the chalky sulphate of lime:
blasting was not required; the soft material yielded readily to
the pick. This gypseous or Secondary formation was found to
extend, not only over the adjacent hills, but everywhere along
the road to Makná. The important point which now remains to be
determined is, I repeat, whether sulphur-veins can be found
diffused throughout these non-plutonic rocks.
Lieutenant Yusuf fixed his position by climbing the adjacent
hills, whence Sina'fir bore 190°, and Shu'shu' 150° (both
magnetic); while greater elevations to the west shut out the view
of lofty Ti'ra'n, and even of the Sinaitic range. The nearest
water in the Wady el-Nakhil to the north-east was reported to be
a two hours' march with loaded camels (= five miles) Several
little ports, quite unknown to the Hydrographic Chart, were
visited. These are, beginning from the north, the Mínat Hamdán,
lying between Makná and Dabbah; a refuge for Sambúks defended,
like that of old "Madyan," by rising ground to the north. About
three miles and a quarter further south is the Sharm Dabbah, the
"Sherm Dhaba, good anchorage" of the Chart: this mass of reefs
and shoals may have been one of the "excellent harbours"
mentioned by Procopius. It receives the Wady Sha'b el-Gánn
(Jánn), "the Watercourse of the Demons' (Ja'nn) Ravine," flowing
from a haunted hill of red stone, near which no Arab dares to
sleep. From that point the travellers struck nine miles and a
half to south-east of Ghubbat Suwayhil: this roadstead, used only
by native craft, lies eastward of the long point forming the
Arabian staple of the Gulf el-Akabah's gate, where the
coast-line of Midian bends at a right angle towards the rising
sun. Adjoining it to the east, and separated by a long thin spit,
is the Ghubbat el-Wagab (Wajb), the mouth of the watercourse
similarly named: it is also known to the Katírah or "smaller
vessel," and about a mile up its bed, which comes from the
north-east, there is a well. According to Jázi, the guide, this
Ghubbah ("gulf"), distant only four to five hours of slow
marching from the Sulphur-hill, will be the properest place for
shipping produce. In another eastern feature, the Wady Giyál
(Jiyál), distant some eleven miles and a half from Aynúnah and
ending in a kind of sink, there is a fine growth of palms, about
a quarter of a mile long, and a supply of "wild" (brackish) water
in wells and rain-pools. These uninteresting details will become
valuable when the sulphur-mines of North Midian are ripe for
working.
From the Ghubbat el-Wagab, the path, easy travelling over flat
ground, strikes to the north-east; and, fourteen miles and a half
beyond, joins the Aynúnah highway. On February 26th, at the end
of nine days' work, Lieutenant Yusuf returned to El-Muwaylah with
two sacks of sulphur-bearing chalk which justified his previous
report. As will appear, the Expedition was still travelling
through the interior: after a halt for rest at head-quarters, he
rejoined us on our northward route from Zibá, and I again found
useful occupation for his energies.
Upon our happy return "home," i.e. Sharm Yáhárr, preparations for
a march upon the Hismá were at once begun. My heart was firmly
fixed upon this project, hoping to find an "unworked California"
to the east of the Harrah volcanoes; but the Shaykhs and
camel-men, who did not like the prospect of a rough reception by
the Ma'ázah bandits, threw sundry small stumbling-blocks in our
path. It was evidently useless to notice them so far from the
spot; they would develop themselves only too well as we
approached the tribal frontier. While these obstacles were being
cleared away, we carefully examined the little dock that had so
often given us shelter in the hour of need; and I set a small
party to work at the central Jebel el-Kibri't, which had been
explored by the first Expedition.
Sharm Yáhárr is the usual distorted T, a long channel heading in
a shorter cross-piece: it is formed by the confluence of four
valleys, all composed of corallines and conglomerates of new
sandstone. Those to the north and the north-west show distinct
signs of upheaval; the two eastern features, known as the Wady
el-Hárr ("the Hot Watercourse"), of which Yáhárr appears to be a
corruption, bear marks of man's hand. The dock is divided into an
outer and inner "port" by a projecting northern point which is
not sufficiently marked in the Chart (enlarged plan). At this
place, where the tide rises a full metre, the crew of the Mukhbir
had built a jetty of rough boulders, by way of passe-temps and to
prevent wading. Native craft lie inside, opposite the ruins of a
stone house: the existence of a former population is shown by the
many graves on the upper plateau. In the northern Wady el-Hárr,
also, we picked up specimens of obsidian, oligistic iron, and
admirably treated modern (?) slags showing copper and iron;
evidently some Gypsy-like atelier must once have worked upon the
Wady Yáhárr. The obsidian also has apparently been subjected to
the artificial fire; and a splinter of it contains a paillette of
free copper.
What concerned us most, however, was the discovery of oysters,
which, adhering to the reefs projected under water from the rocky
northern cliff, formed a live conglomerate; and from the present
time forwards we found the succulent molluscs in almost every
bay. Those to the south, where the shallows overlie sand and mud,
are not so good. At this season the Ustrída is flat, fleshy, and
full sized; the shell has a purple border, and the hinge muscle
of the savage, far stronger than that of the civilized animal,
together with its exceeding irregularity of shape, giving no
purchase to the knife, makes oyster-opening a sore trouble. We
tried fire, but the thick-skinned things resisted it for a long
time; and, when they did gape, the liquor had disappeared,
thereby spoiling the flavour. The "beard" was neither black, like
that of the Irish, nor colourless, as in the English oyster. The
Bedawin, who ignore the delicacy, could not answer any questions
about the "spatting season"--probably it is earlier than ours,
which extends through June; whether also a close time is
required, as in England to August 4th, we could not guess. The
young probably find a natural "culch" in the many shells, cockle
and others, that strew the rock, sand, and clay.
Knowing that my gallant friend, Admiral McKillop (Pasha) of
Alexandria, takes great interest in "ostreoculture," I sent him
from Suez a barrel of the best Midianites The water had escaped
by the carelessness of the magazine-man: enough, however,
remained alive to be thrown into the harbour Eunostos, where they
will, I hope, become the parents of a fine large progeny of
"natives." Similarly we had laid in a store of forty-two
langoustes (crayfish) for presentation at Court, and to gladden
the hearts of Cairéne friends: our Greeks placed the tubs in the
sun and so close to the funnel, that, after about three hours,
all the fine collection perished ignobly.
We will now proceed to the central Jebel el-Kibri't; a
superficial examination of which by the first Expedition[EN#145]
proved that the upper rock yielded four, and the lower nine, per
cent. of tolerably pure brimstone. The shortest cut from the
dock-harbour lies up the southern Wady Ha'rr, with its strangely
weathered sandstone rocks, soft modern grits that look
worm-eaten. Amongst them is a ledge-like block with undermined
base projecting from the left bank: both the upper and the lower
parts are scattered over with Wasm, or Arab tribal marks. On our
return from El-Wijh we found this sandstone tongue broken in two:
the massive root remained in situ, but the terminal half had
fallen on the ground. This was probably the work of an earthquake
which we felt at Sharm Dumayghah on March 22nd.[EN#146] The track
then strikes the modern Hajj-road, which runs west of and close
to the Sulphur-hill; the line is a succession of
watercourses,[EN#147] and in Wady Khirgah we found blocks of the
hydrous silicate, corundophyllite which may be Serpentine: it is
composed of a multitude of elements, especially pyrites. After an
hour and a quarter's sharp walking, we hit the broad Wady
el-Kibrít, which rounds its Jebel to the south-east, and which
feeds the Wady el-Jibbah, itself a feeder of the Sharm Jibbah.
The latter, which gave us shelter in the corvette Sinnár (Captain
Ali Bey), is a long blue line of water bounding the western base
of the Sulphur-hill.
This central Tuwayyil el-Kibrít is an isolated knob, rising
abruptly from Wady-ground; measuring some 240 feet in height, and
about 880 metres in diameter, not including its tail of four
vertebræ which sets off from north-west to south-east. Viewed
from the north it is, as the Egyptian officers remarked, a
regular Haram ("pyramid"), with a kidney-formed capping of
precipitous rock. Drinkable water, like that of the Wady el-Ghál,
is said to be found in the Wady el-Kibrít to the north-east; and
the country is everywhere tolerably wooded. The Bedawin brought
us small specimens of rock-crystal and fragments of Negro-quartz,
apparently rich in metal, from a neighbouring "Maru." They placed
it amongst the hill-masses to the east and south; and we
afterwards found it for ourselves.[EN#148]
Our middle Sulphur-hill differs essentially from the other two
deposits, the northern near Makná, and the southern near El-Wijh,
in being plutonic and not sedimentary. One would almost say that
it smokes, and the heat-altered condition of the granite, the
greenstone, and other rocks, looking as if fresh from a fire,
suggests that it may be one of the igneous veins, thrown westward
by the great volcanic region, El-Harrah. In parts it is a
conglomerate, where a quantity of quartz takes the place of chalk
and gypsum. Other deposits are iron-stained and have the
appearance of the decomposed iron pyrites which abounds in this
neighbourhood. Usually the yield is the normal brimstone-yellow,
yet some of the beds are deep red, as if coloured by ochre or
oxide of iron: this variety is very common in the solfataras of
Iceland; and I have heard of it in the Jebel Mokattam, near
Cairo. The colour is probably due to molecular changes, and
possibly shows greater age than the yellow.
M. Philipin was directed to take charge of Sergeant Mabrúk, the
nine quarrymen, and the Bedawi owners of two camels to carry his
boring-irons, forge, and water from El-Muwaylah. I advised him to
dig at least forty feet down all round the pyramid, wherever
surface-indications attracted notice: old experience had taught
me that such depth is necessary before one can expect to find
brimstone beds like those of Sicily. The borings brought up
sulphur from fourteen metres; beyond these, six were pierced, but
they yielded nothing. In and around the pyramid M. Philipin sank
five pits; the northernmost shaft, half-way up the hill, gave
crystals of the purest sulphur.
If the depth of the deposit be not great, the surface extent is.
The pyramid evidently forms the apex of a large vein which
strikes north-south. The field consists of this cone with its
dependencies, especially the yellow cliffs to the north and the
south, facing, in the latter direction, a large plain cut by the
Wady el-Kibrít. Moreover, a vein of the red variety, about three
kilometres long by twenty-five to thirty metres broad, lies to
the south-east near a gypsum hill: the latter also yields the
crystallized salt which so often accompanies sulphur, and heaps
of gigantic half-fossilized oyster-shells are strewed about it.
M. Philipin here remained sixteen days (February 18--March 5),
during our absence in the East Country; on return we found our
good blacksmith much changed for the worse. Whilst in hard work
he had been half-starved, the Jeráfín Bedawin of the
neighbourhood having disappeared with their flocks; he had been
terribly worried by the cameleers, and he had been at perpetual
feud with the miserable quarrymen. I never saw a man less fitted
to deal with (two-legged) "natives." The latter instinctively
divined that he would rather work himself than force others to
work; and they acted accordingly.
The Expedition was thus divided into four, three working parties
and one of idlers. Anton and Petros were left behind to do
nothing as magazine-men.
Lieutenant Darwaysh (the linesman) who was too weak to ride, and
Sub-Lieutenant Mohammed (the miner) who was too old to travel,
had charge of the sick; both found the far niente equally sweet.
On February 17th I again bade adieu to the gunboat Mukhbir, and
marched with the largest party upon our camp at El-Muwaylah,
distant about six miles (=one hour and forty-five minutes). The
path from Sharm Yáhárr crosses the hard sands of the maritime
plain, metalled with the natural macadam of the Desert. The stone
is mostly dark silex, the "hen's liver" of the Brazil, and its
surface is kept finely polished, and free from "patina," by the
friction of the dust-laden winds. The line is deeply gashed by
short, broad gullies: the Hajj-road, running further east, heads
these ugly Nullahs. The third and largest channel is Wady Surr,
the great valley of El-Muwaylah, which may be regarded as the
southern frontier of "Madyan" (Proper): we shall trace it to its
head in the Hismá.
I had left the camp-pitching at El-Muwaylah to the Egyptian
officers, who naturally chose the site nearest the two northern
wells; a wave of ground hot by day, cold at night, windy and
dusty at all times; moreover, the water was near enough to be
horribly fouled. No wonder that in such a place many of the men
fell ill, and that one subsequently died--our only loss during
the four months' march.
On February 18th we proceeded, under the misguidance of a
Básh-Buzúk of the fort, Ahmed Sálih el-Mal'ún, to inspect a
neighbouring ruin called Abá Hawáwít--"the Father of (Dwelling-)
Walls." Wallin (p. 30) declares that, "finding no mention made of
Muweilih in Arab manuscripts, nor traces or traditions among the
existing generation in the land, pointing to a high antiquity,"
he is inclined to consider it a town of modern origin, in fact
the growth of the Egyptian pilgrimage. His error is excusable. He
was a passing traveller; and I well remember that for a whole
year the true name of a hill immediately behind our house at
Damascus remained unknown to me: we had called it after our own
fashion, and the term had at once been adopted by all our
over-polite native friends. Indeed, this is one of the serious
difficulties to be encountered, throughout the East, by the
scrupulous traveller whose greatest fear is that of misleading
others. The Expedition had paid four several visits to
El-Muwaylah, and had never heard a word about ruins, when I
happened to read out before the Shaykhs assembled at Magháir
Shu'ayb a passage from El-Makrízi treating of the destroyed
cities of Madyan. They at once mentioned half a dozen names lying
within short distances of the "little salt." Amongst them was Abú
Hawáwít, literally meaning "tenement walls," but here applied, in
the short form Hawáwít, to ruins in general.
Had "Wali Háji," as Wallin was called by the Bedawin, looked only
ten feet beyond the north-eastern tower of the fort, near the ruins
of a modern Mastabah ("masonry bench"), he would have found long-
forgotten vestiges of ovens and slags containing copper and iron.
The same will prove to be the case about the inland defence of El-
Wijh; in fact, all these works seem for obvious reasons to have been
built upon sites that have been utilized long before their modern
day. El-Muwaylah was probably a more important place than it is at
present, when the reef-harbour, which now admits native craft only
by a gap to the south-west, had not been choked by shoals. The sandy
soil wants only water to produce a luxuriant perennial growth, and
every garden can have its well. But more life is wanting; a man
heaps up a thorn-hedge, or builds a swish-wall of the brick-clay
underlying the Wady, and he forgets only to lay out the field
within. Local history does not, it is true, extend beyond two
hundred years or so, the probable date of Shaykh Abdullah's
venerated sepulchre, a truncated parallelogram of cut coralline on
the Wady Sughayyir to the north of the settlement. Yet this "little
salt" is too remarkable a site to have remained unoccupied. Possibly
it is the "," the Horse Village (and fort ?), which Ptolemy
(vi. II) places in north lat. 26° 40' (true 27° 40'), whilst his
"" would be the glorious Shárr, correctly consigned to north
lat. 27° 20'. This argues an error of nearly sixty miles by the
geographer or his copyists. But Chapter XII. will attempt to show
that the latitude of , the modern Shuwák, is also one degree
too low. So on the East African coast Ptolemy places his Aromata
Promontorium, which can only be "Guardafui," between north lat. 5°
and 7°, whereas it lies in north lat. 11° 41' 4".
The Awwal Hawáwít, or first ruins, begin on the right bank of the
Surr after one mile and three quarters from camp; and bear
north-east (55° mag.) from the minaret of El-Muwaylah Fort. The
position is a sandy basin, containing old Bedawi graves, bounded
by a low ridge forming a boulder-clad buttress to the Wady, while
the circuit of the two may be a mile and a half. A crumbling
modern tower, crowning the right bank, and two Mahrákah
("rub-stones") were the principal remains. The situation must
have been well chosen in the days when the heights were wooded,
and the Wady was a river. We afterwards mapped the body of the
place, lying about three miles from the fort, showing the Yubú'
bank to north-west (298° mag.); and nearly due west (260° mag.)
El-Muwaylah's only house, the Sayyid's. The site is a holm or
island in the Wady Surr, which here runs east-west, and splits:
the main line is the southern, and a small branch, a mere gully,
occupies the northern bed-side.
The chief ruin is an oblong of twenty metres by sixteen, the
short ends facing 195° (mag.); the whole built of huge pebbles.
The interior is composed of one large room to the north, with
sundry smaller divisions to the south, east, and west. Defence
was secured by a wall, distant 142 metres, thrown across the
whole eastern part of the islet: outside it are three large pits,
evidently the site of cisterns. The people also told us of a
well, the Bir el-Ashgham, which has long been mysteriously
hidden. Immense labour has also been expended in revetting the
northern and southern banks, both of the islet and the smaller
branch-bed, for many hundreds of yards with round and
water-rolled boulders, even on a larger scale than at Magháir
Shu'ayb. What all this work meant we were unable to divine.
Perhaps it belonged to the days when the seaboard of Midian was
agricultural; and it was intended as a protection against the two
torrents, the Wadys el-Zila' and Abú Zabah, which here fall into
the northern bank.
The 18th of February also made itself memorable to the second
Expedition. M. Marie was strolling near the old furnaces to the
north-east of the fort where, in 1877, he had picked up an
auriferous specimen, unfortunately lost before it reached Cairo.
Here he again found a fragment of serpentine, broken and
water-rolled into the semblance of half a globe; it showed crust
and stains of iron, filets of white quartz, and a curve (~) of
bright yellow dots, disposed like the chainlet of an aneroid.
Thereupon, we gravely debated whether these were the remains of a
vein, or had been brought to the surface by the rubbing and
polishing of the stone in water.
I could not but remark that the interior, which appeared
pyritiferous, did not show the slightest trace of precious metal.
Still the discovery gave fresh courage to all our people. The
trophy was shown to every Bedawi, far and near, with the promise
of a large reward (fifty dollars) to the lucky wight who could
lead us to the rock in situ. The general voice declared that the
"gold-stone" was the produce of Jebel Malayh (Malíh): we
afterwards ascertained by marching up the Wady Surr that it was
not. In fact, the whole neighbourhood was thoroughly well
scoured; but the results were nil. In due course of time the
tarnishing and the disappearance of the metal reduced my
scepticism to a certainty: the "gold dots" were the trace of some
pilgrim or soldier's copper-nailed boot. It was the first time
that this ludicrous mistake arose, but not the last--our native
friends were ever falling into the same trap.
Amongst the minor industries of the Fort el-Muwaylah must be
reckoned selling gazelles. The Bedawin bring them in, and so
succeed in taming the timid things that they will follow their
owner like dogs, and amuse themselves with hopping upon his
shoulders. When thus trained, "Ariel" is supposed to be worth
half a napoleon. The wild ones may be bought at almost every
fort, as Zibá or El-Wijh.
Chapter X.
Through East Midian to the Hismá.
The Land of Midian is by no means one of the late Prince
Metternich's "geographical expressions." The present tenants of
the soil give a precise and practical definition of its limits.
Their Arz Madyan extends from El-Akabah north (north lat. 29°
28') to El-Muwaylah with its Wady, El-Surr (north lat. 27° 40').
It has thus a total latitudinal length of 108 direct geographical
miles.[EN#149] South of this line, the seaboard of North-Western
Arabia, as far as El-Hejaz, has no generic name. The Bedawin are
contented with such vague terms, derived from some striking
feature, as "the Lands of Zibá," "of Wady Salmá," "of Wady
Dámah," "of El-Wijh," to denote the tract lying between the
parallels of El-Muwaylah and of Wady Hamz () in north
lat. 25° 55' 15. Thus the north-south length of the southern
moiety would be 105 direct geographical miles, or a little less
than the northern; and the grand total would be 213 miles.
The breadth of this Egyptian province is determined by the
distance from the sea to the maritime mountains. In Madyan
Proper, or North Midian, the extremes would be twenty-four and
thirty-five miles. For the southern half these figures may be
doubled. Here, again, the Bedawin are definitive as regards
limits. All the Tihámah or "lowlands" and their ranges belong to
Egypt; east of it the Daulat Shám, or Government of Syria, claims
possession.
I have taken the liberty of calling the whole tract Midian; the
section above El-Muwaylah (Madyan Proper) I would term "North
Midian," and that below it "South Midian." In the days of the
ancient Midianites the frontiers were so elastic that, at times,
but never for a continuity, they embraced Sinai, and were pushed
forward even into Central Palestine. Moreover, I would prolong
the limits eastward as far as the Damascus-Medínah road. This
would be politically and ethnologically correct. With the
exception of the Ma'ázah country, the whole belongs to Egypt; and
all the tribes, formerly Nabathæan, are now more or less
Egypto-Arab, never questioning the rights of his Highness the
Viceroy, who garrisons the seaboard forts. Of the other points,
historical and geographical, I am not so sure. My learned friend,
Aloys Sprenger, remarks: "Let me observe that your extending the
name Midian' over the whole country, as far south as the
dominions of the Porte, appears to me an innovation by which the
identity of the race along the shore of the Gulf of Akabah,
coast down to Wajh and Hawrá, is prejudged. Would it not be
better to leave Midian where it always has been, and to consider
Badá[EN#150] the centre of Thamûditis, as it was at the time of
Pliny and Ptolemy, and as it continued to be until the Balee
(Baliyy), and other Qodhâ' (Kudá') tribes, came from Southern
Arabia, and exterminated the Thamûdites?" This is, doubtless, a
valid objection: its only weak point is that it goes too far
back. We cannot be Conservatives in geography and ethnology; nor
can we attach much importance, in the nineteenth century, to a
race, the Beni Tamúd, which had wholly disappeared before the
seventh. On the whole, it still appears to me that by adopting my
innovation we gain more than we lose; but the question must be
left for others to decide.
In our days, two great Sultánis or "highways" bound Madyan the
Less and Midian the Greater. The western, followed by the Hajj
el-Misri (Egyptian caravan), dates from the age of Sultán Selim
Khán the Conqueror; who, before making over the province to the
later Mamlúk Beys, levelled rocks, cut through ridges, dug wells,
laid out the track, and defended the line by forts. Before that
time the road ran, for convenience of water, to the east or
inland: it was, in fact, the old Nabathaean highway which,
according to Strabo, connected Leukè Kóme with the western
capital, Petra. Further east, and far beyond the double chain of
maritime mountains, is the highway followed by the Hajj el-Shámi
(Syrian or Damascus caravan), which sets out from Constantinople,
musters at Damascus, and represents the Sultan. On both these
main lines water is procurable at almost every station; and to
them military expeditions are perforce limited. The parallelogram
between the two, varying in breadth, according to Wallin, from 90
to 120 miles (direct and geographical), is irregularly supplied
in places with springs, wells, and rain-pits, which can always be
filled up or salted by the Bedawin.
The main body of the Expedition, Mr. Clarke, MM. Marie and
Lacaze, Ahmed Kaptán, and Lieutenant Amir, set out from
El-Muwaylah at 6.30 a.m. (February 19th), escorted by the Sayyid
and the three salaried Shaykhs, including our friend Furayj. The
Remingtons numbered ten, and there were also ten picks, of whom
five waited upon the mules; of the sixty-one camels six were
dromedaries, and as the road grew lighter our beasts of burden
increased, somehow or other, to sixty-four. The caravan now loads
in twenty minutes instead of five hours; and when politiké, or
fear of danger, does not delay us, we start in a quarter of an
hour after the last bugle-sound. This operation is under charge
of Lieutenant Amir, who does his best to introduce Dar-Forian
discipline: the camels being first charged with the Finátís
("metal water-barrels"), then with the boxes, and lastly with the
tents.
After passing the ruins of Abú Hawáwit, we began at 9:15 a.m. to
exchange the broad Wady Surr of the flat seaboard, with its tall
banks of stiff drab clay, for a gorge walled with old
conglomerates, and threading the ruddy and dark-green foot-hills
of the main Ghát. As in the Wady el-Maka'dah and other
"winter-brooks," the red porphyritic trap, heat-altered argil,
easily distinguished by its fracture from the syenites of the
same hue, appeared to be iron-clad, coated with a thin crust of
shiny black or brown peroxide (?). This peculiarity was noticed
by Tuckey in the Congo, by Humboldt in the Orinoco, and by myself
in the São Francisco river; I also saw it upon the sandstones of
the wild mountains east of Jerusalem, where, as here, air and not
water must affect the oxide of iron. In both cases, however, the
cause would be the same, and the polish would be a burnishing of
Nature on a grand scale.
After six very slow miles we halted, for rest and refection, at a
thread of water in the section of the Surr which receives the
Wady el-Najil. The sides were crowded with sheep and goats, the
latter, as in the Syrian lowlands, almost invariably black; and
the adjoining rocks had peculiar attractions for hares, hawks,
and partridge. In these upland regions water is almost
everywhere, and generally it is drinkable; hence the Bedawin
naturally prefer them to the coast. An umbrella-shaped
thorn-tree, actually growing on a hill-top, and defined by the
sky-line, excited our wonder and admiration; for here, as in
Pontus--
"Rara, nec hæc felix, in apertis eminet arvis
Arbor, et in terra est altera forma maris."
Indeed, throughout our journey this spectacle always retained its
charms, aiding Fancy to restore the barrens to what they had been
in the prosperous days of yore.
The Wady Surr now began to widen out, and to become more riant,
whilst porphyry was almost the only visible rock. After a total
of ten "dawdling" miles, marching almost due east, we found our
tents pitched in a broad and quasi-circular basin, called El-Safh
("the level ground of") Jebel Malíh ("Mount Pleasant"?), which
the broad-speaking Bedawin lengthen to Malayh. Our camel-men had
halted exactly between two waters, and equally distant from both,
so as to force upon us the hire of extra animals. We did not
grumble, however, as we were anxious to inspect the Afrán
("furnaces") said to be found upon the upper heights of the
Shárr--of these apocryphal features more hereafter. Fresh
difficulties! The Jeráfín-Huwaytát tribe, that owns the country
south of the Surr, could not be reached under a whole day of
dromedary-riding: in reality they were camped a few furlongs off,
but anything to gain £8 per diem for doing nothing! Two Bedawi
shepherd-lads promised to act guides next morning, and duly
failed to appear, or, more probably, were forbidden to appear.
They had also romanced about ruins, fountains, palms, and rushes
in the Wady el-Kusayb, the south-eastern influent. At night Ahmed
el-Ukbi, surnamed Abú Khartúm, arrived in camp: he had travelled
more than once to Tabúk, carrying grain, and though he had failed
as a merchant, he retained his reputation as a guide. As regards
the furnaces, he also, like Furayj, could speak only from
hearsay. Opinions were divided in camp: I saw clearly that a
stand was being made to delay us for four or five days; and,
despite grumbling, I resolved upon deferring the visit till our
return from the interior.
The first march had led us eastward, instead of north-eastward,
in order to inspect the Wady Surr. From the seaboard, this line,
which drains the northern flank of the Shárr Mountains, appears
the directest road into the interior. We shall presently see,
however, why the devious northern way of the Wady Sadr has become
the main commercial route connecting El-Muwaylah with
Tabúk.[EN#151] During the evening we walked up the Wady Surr,
finding, in its precipitous walls, immense veins of serpentine
and porphyritic greenstone, but not a speck of gold. The upper
part of the Fiumara also showed abundant scatters of water-rolled
stones, serpentines, and hard felspars, whose dove-coloured
surface was streaked with fibrils and at times with regular veins
of silvery lustre, as if brought out by friction of the surface.
I offered a considerable sum to a Jeráfín Bedawi if he would show
the rock in situ; he was evidently ignorant of it, but, like
others, he referred us to Jebel Malíh.
The whole of the next day (February 20th) was spent in northing.
Leaving the noisy braying caravan to march straight on its
destination, we set out (6.15 a.m.) up the Wady Guwaymarah,
guided by Hasan el-Ukbí, who declared that he well knew the
sites of the ruined settlements El-Khulasah and El-Zibayyib.
After walking half an hour we turned eastward into a feeder of
the Surr, the Wady el-Khulasah, whose aspect charmed me: this
drain of the inner Jedayl block was the replica of a Fiumara in
Somali-land, a broad tree-dotted flat of golden sand, bordered on
either side by an emerald avenue of dense Mimosas, forming line
under the green-stone hills to the right, and the red-stone
heights to the left. The interior, we again remarked, is
evidently more rained upon, and therefore less sterile and
desolate, than the coast and the sub-maritime regions; and here
one can well imagine large towns being built. At last, after
walking about an hour and a half (= four miles and a half)
towards the Shárr, with our backs turned upon our goal, the
rat-faced little intriguer, Hasan, declared that he knew nothing
about El-Khulasah, but that Zibayyib lay there! pointing to a
bright-red cliffy peak, "Abá'l-bárid," on the left bank of the
Wady, and to others whose heads were blue enough and low enough
to argue considerable distance. He had intended his cousin Gabr
to be the real guide, and to take to himself all the credit; but
I had sent off the parlous "judge" in another direction.
Mr. Clarke, whose cantering mule had no objection to leave its
fellows, rode off with the recreant Hasan, whilst we awaited his
return under a tree.
Instead of hugging Abá'l-bárid, behind which a watercourse would
have taken him straight to his destination, he struck away from
the Wady el-Khulasah. Then crossing on foot, and hauling his
animal over, a rough divide, he fell, after six miles instead of
two, into the upper course of the Wady Surr, which he reported to
be choked with stones, and refusing passage to loaded camels--as
will afterwards appear, the reverse is the case. The ruins of
El-Zibayyib lie at a junction of three, or rather four,
watercourses. The eastern is the Surr, here about five hundred
yards broad, forming a bulge in the bed, and then bending
abruptly to the south; a short line from the south-west, the Wady
Zibayyib, drains the Aba'l-bárid peak; and the northernmost is
the Wady el-Safrá,[EN#152] upon which the old place stands à
cheval. The western part is the larger and the more ruinous. The
thin line, three hundred yards long by thirty broad, never shows
more than two tenements deep, owing to the hill that rises behind
it: here the only furnace was found. The eastern block measures
one hundred yards by forty; both are razed to their basements,
resembling the miners' settlement on the Sharmá cliff. They
attract attention only by their material, red boulders being used
instead of the green porphyries of the hills; and the now
desolate spot shows no signs of water or of palm-groves.
Mr. Clarke rejoined us after a couple of hours, having lost the
dog Brahim: under a sudden change of diet it had become too
confident of its strength, and thus it is that dogs and men come
to grief. We retraced our steps down the Wady el-Khulasah, whose
Jebel is the crupper of the little block Umm Jedayl. The lower
valley shows a few broken walls, old Arab graves, and other signs
of ancient habitation; but I am convinced that we missed the
ruins which lay somewhere in the neighbourhood. One Sulaymán, a
Bedawi of the Selálimah-Huwaytát tribe, who had been rascalized
by residence at El-Muwaylah, was hunted up by the energetic
Sayyid; hoping, as usual, that no action would be taken upon mere
words, he declared that El-Khulasah stood on the top of a
trap-lump. We halted to inspect it, and Lieutenant Amir rode the
Shaytánah, his vicious little she-mule, up and down steeps fit
only for a goat. Again all was in vain.
We then travelled over granite gravel along the western
foot-hills of Umm Jedayl, in which a human figure or statue had
been reported to me: now, however, it became a Sarbút, or
"upright stone." Along the flanks of the chief outlier, the Jebel
el-Ramzah, distinguished by its red crest and veins, the slope
was one strew of quartz, whole and broken; like that which we had
seen to the north, and which we were to see on our southern
journey. Despising the "rotten water" offered in two places by
the Umm Jedayl, we pitched camp on the fine gravel of the Sayl
Wady el-Jimm. Here I heard for the first time, after sighting it
for many weeks, that the latter is the name, not of a
mountain,[EN#153] but of a Sha'b or "gully" in the Jebel Dibbagh
where waters "meet." The Wady Kh'shabriyyah, separating the Umm
Jedayl from its northern neighbour, the Dibbagh, looks like a
highway; but all declare that it is closed to camels by Wa'r, or
"stony ground." Of its ruins more when we travel to the Shárr.
This day's march of four hours (= ten miles and a half) had been
a series of zigzags--north, north-east, west, and again north.
After a cool, pleasant night we set out at 6.30 a.m. (February
21st), across the broad Sayl, towards a bay in the mountains
bearing north-north-west, the mouth of the Wady Zennárah.
Entering the block, we made two short cuts to save great bends in
the bed. The first was the Sha'b el-Liwéwi', the Weiwî of Wallin
(p. 304)--wild riding enough; the path often winding almost due
east, when the general direction was north-north-east. We saw,
for the first time, pure greenish-yellow chlorite outcropping
from the granite. The animals were apparently hibernating, and
plants were rare; we remarked chiefly the sorrel and the blue
thistle, or rather wild artichoke, the Shauk el-Jemel, a thorn
loved by camels (Blepharis edulis), which recalled to mind the
highlands of Syria. The second short-cut, the Wady el-Ga'agah,
alias Sawáwín, was the worse of the two: the deep drops and
narrow gutters in the quartz-veined granite induced even the
Shaykhs to dismount before attacking the descents. This is rarely
done when ascending, for their beasts climb like Iceland ponies.
One of M. Lacaze's most effective croquis is that showing monture
and man disappearing in the black depths of a crevice. Some of
the hill-crests were weathered with forms resembling the
artificial. At the mid-day halting-ground we saw a stone-mother
nursing a rock-child, which might still be utilized in lands
where "thaumaturgy" is not yet obsolete.
Our course thence lay eastward up the easy bed of the Fiumara, an
eastern section of an old friend, the Wady Tiryam; it now takes
the well-known name "Wady Sadr," and we shall follow it to its
head in the Hismá. The scene is rocky enough for Scotland or
Scandinavia, with its huge walls bristling in broken rocks and
blocks, its blue slides, and its polished sheets of dry
watercourse which, from afar, flash in the sun like living
cataracts. On the northern or right bank rises the mighty Harb,
whose dome, single when seen from the west, here becomes a
Tridactylon, splitting into three several heads. Facing it, the
northernmost end of the Dibbagh range forms a truncated tower,
conspicuous far out at sea: having no name, it was called by us
Burj Jebel Dibbagh. A little further to the east it will prove to
be the monstrous pommel of a dwarf saddleback, everywhere a
favourite shape with the granite outcrop.
MM. Clarke and Lacaze, who had never before seen anything higher
that the hillocks of the Isle of Wight or the Buttes de
Montmartre were hot upon ascending the almost perpendicular sides
of the Burj, relying upon the parallel and horizontal fissures in
the face, which were at least ten to twenty feet apart. These
dark marks, probably stained by oxide of iron, reminded me of
those which wrinkle the granitic peaks about Rio de Janeiro, and
which have been mistaken for "hieroglyphs."
The valley-sole is parti-coloured; the sands of the deeper line
to the right are tinctured a pale and sickly green by the
degradation of the porphyritic traps, here towering in the
largest masses yet seen; while the gravel of the left bank is
warm, and lively with red grit and syenitic granite. Looking down
the long and gently waving line, we feel still connected with the
civilized world by the blue and purple screen of Sinai forming
the splendid back-ground. Everything around us appears deserted;
the Ma'ázah are up country, and the Beni Ukbah have temporarily
quitted these grazing-grounds for the Surr of El-Muwaylah. We
camped for the night, after a total march of eleven miles, at the
Sayl el-Nagwah, a short Nullah at the foot of a granite block
similarly named; and a gap supplied us with tolerable rain-water.
On the next day (February 22nd) we left the "Nagwah" at seven
instead of six a.m., and passed to the right a granitic outcrop
in the Wady bed, a reduced edition of the Burj. After an hour's
slow walking we were led by a Bedawi lad, Hasan bin Husayn, to a
rock-spur projected northwards from the left side and separating
two adjacent Sayls or "torrent-beds," mere bays in the bank of
mountains. A cut road runs to the top of the granite tongue,
which faces the westernmost or down-stream outbreaks of the huge
porphyritic masses on the other side of the Wady Sadr. The ridge
itself is strewed with spalled stone, quartz broken from the
veins that seam the granite, and with slag as usual admirably
worked. Not a trace of human habitation appears, nor is there any
tradition of a settlement having existed here; consequently we
concluded that this was another atelier of wandering workmen.
Below the rock-tongue we found for the first time oxydulated iron
and copper, either free or engaged in trap and basaltic dykes:
the former metal, also attached in layers to dark-red vermeilled
jasper, here appears streaked with white quartz.
Resuming our ride, we dismounted, after four miles, at the
half-way Mahattah ("halting-place"): it is a rond-point in the
Wady Sadr, marked from afar by a tall blue pyramid, the Jebel
el-Ga'lah (Jálah). We spent some time examining this interesting
bulge. Here the Jibál el-Tihámah end, and the eastern parallel
range, the Jibál el-Shafah, begins. The former belong to the
Huwaytát and to Egypt; the latter, partly to the Ma'ázah and to
Syria. The geographical frontier is well marked by two large
watercourses disposed upon a meridian, and both feeding the main
drain, the Sadr-Tiryam. To the north the Wady Sawádah divides the
granitic Harb from the porphyritic Jebel Sawádah; while the
southern Wady Aylán separates the Dibbagh from the Jebel Aylán, a
tall form distinctly visible from the Upper Shárr. The rest of
our eastward march will now be through the Shafah massif. It
resembles on a lower scale the Tihámah Gháts; but it wholly wants
their variety, their beauty, and their grandeur. The granites
which before pierced the porphyritic traps in all directions, now
appear only at intervals; and this, I am told, is the case
throughout the northern, as we found it to be in the southern,
prolongation of the "Lip"-range. At the same time there is no
distinct geographical separation between the two parallels; and
both appear, not as if parted by neutral ground, but rather as
topographical continuations of each other.
While breaking our fast and resting the mules, a few shots
ringing ahead caused general excitement: we were now on the edge
of the enemy's country. Presently three of the Ma'ázah came in
and explained, with their barking voices, that their people had
been practicing at the Níshán ("target"); which meant "We have
powder in abundance." One of them, at once dubbed El-Nasnás ("the
Satyr") from his exceeding monstrous ugliness--a baboon's muzzle
with a scatter of beard--kindly volunteered to guide us, with the
intention of losing the way. The dialogue that took place was
something as follows:--
What are your names ?
A. Na'akal wa nashrab! Our names are "We eat and We drink!"
Where do we find water to-day?
Furayj ejaculates, "The water of the Rikáb!"
A. No, by Allah! The Arabs will never allow you to drink! You
should be killed for carrying off in Dumús ("skins") the sand of
the Wady Jahd (alluding to Lieutenant Amir's trip).
We did not pay much heed to these evil signs. Ahmed el-Ukbí had
been sent forward to obtain a free pass from the chiefs, and we
hardly expected that the outlying thieves would be daring enough
to attack us.
Resuming our way, in a cold wind and a warm sun, up the upper
Wady Sadr, we threaded the various bends to the south and
south-east, with a general south-south-eastern direction. The
normal dark-green traps and burnished red porphyries and grits
were sparsely clad with the Shauhat and the Yasár trees,
resembling the Salvadora and the Tamarix. The country began to
show a few donkeys and large flocks of sheep and goats; the
muttons have a fine "tog," and sell for three dollars and a half.
The women in charge, whose complexions appeared notably lighter
than those of the seaboard, barked like the men. They were much
puzzled by a curious bleating which came from the mules; and
hurriedly counted their kids, suspecting that one had been
purloined, whilst they had some trouble to prevent the whole
flock following us. All roared with laughter when they found that
Mr. Clarke was the performer.
We crossed two short cuts over long bends in the Wady; and at the
second found a pot-hole of rain-water by no means fragrant,
except to nostrils that love impure ammonia. It has a grand name,
Muwah (for Miyáh) el-Rikáb ("the Waters of the Caravan"); and we
made free with it, despite the morning's threats. We again camped
in the valley at an altitude of 2200 feet (aner. 27.80); and,
though the thermometer showed 66° F. at five p.m., fires inside
and outside the mess-tent were required. A wester or sea-breeze,
deflected by the ravines to a norther, was blowing; and in these
regions, as in the sub-frigid zones of Europe, wind makes all the
difference of temperature. During the evening we were visited by
the Ma'ázah Bedawin of a neighbouring encampment: they began to
notice stolen camels and to wrangle over past times--another bad
sign.
Setting out on a splendidly lucent morning (6:45 a.m., February
23rd), when the towering heads of Harb and Dibbagh looked only a
few furlongs distant, we committed the imprudence of preceding,
as usual, the escort. Our men had become so timid, starting at
the sight of every wretched Bedawi, that they made one long for a
"rash act." After walking about a mile and a half, we passed some
black tents on the left bank, where the Sadr enters a narrow
rocky gorge; and suddenly about a dozen varlets were seen
scampering over the walls, manning the Pass, and with lighted
matches threatening to fire. Then loud rang the war-song--
"Hill el-Zawáib, hilla-há;
W'abdi Nuhúdak kulla-há!"
"Loose thy top-locks with a loosing (like a lion's mane);
And advance thy breast, all of it (opponite pectora without
shrinking)."
Other varieties of the slogan are:--
"O man of small mouth (un misérable)!
If we fail, who shall win?"
And--
"By thy eyes (I swear), O she-camel, if we go (to the
attack) and gird (the sword),
We will make it a day of sorrow to them, and avert from
ourselves every ill."
We dismounted, looked to our weapons, and began to parley. The
ragged ruffians, some of them mere boys, and these always the
readiest to blow the matches of guns longer than themselves,
began with high pretensions. They declared that they would be
satisfied with nothing less than plundering us; they flouted
Shaykh Furayj, and they insulted the Sayyid, threatening to take
away his sword.
Presently the escort and the Arab camel-men were seen coming up
at the double. The Ma'ázah at once became abject; kissed our
heads and declared "there was some mistake." I had already
remarked, whilst the matchlock-men were swarming up the
Wady-sides, that the women and children remained in camp, and the
sheep and goats were not driven off. This convinced me that
nothing serious had been intended: probably the demonstration was
ordered from head-quarters in order to strike us with a wholesome
awe.
The fellows gently reproached us with travelling through their
country without engaging (and paying) Ghafír--"guides and
protectors." So far, as owners of the soil, they were "in their
right;" and manning a pass is here the popular way of levying
transit dues. On this occasion the number of our Remingtons
sufficed to punish their insolence by putting the men to flight,
and by carrying off their camels and flocks; but such a step
would have stopped the journey, and what would not the
"Aborigines Protection Society" have said and done? I therefore
hired one of the varlets, and both parties went their ways
rejoicing that the peace had not been broken.
The valley, winding through the red and green hills, was dull and
warm till the cool morning easter, which usually set about eight
a.m., began to blow. The effect of increasing altitude showed
itself in the vegetation. We now saw for the first time the Kidád
(Astragalus), with horrid thorns and a flower resembling from
afar the gooseberry: it is common on the Hismá and in the South
Country. The Kahlá (Echium), a bugloss, a borage-like plant, with
viscous leaves and flowers of two colours,--the young light-pink
and the old dark-blue,--everywhere beautified the sands, and
reminded me of the Istrian hills, where it is plentiful as in the
Nile Valley. The Jarad-thorn was not in bloom; and the same was
the case with the hyacinth (Dipcadi erythraeum), so abundant in
the Hisma', which some of us mistook for a "wild onion." The
Zayti (Lavandula) had just donned its pretty azure bloom. There
were Reseda, wild indigo, Tribulus (terrestris), the blue
Aristida, the pale Stipa, and the Bromus grass, red and yellow.
The Ratam (spartium), with delicate white and pink blossoms, was
a reminiscence of Tenerife and its glorious crater; whilst a
little higher up, the amene Cytisus, flowering with gold, carried
our thoughts back to the far past.
Presently the great Fiumara opened upon a large basin denoting
the Ras ("head") Wady Sadr: native travellers consider this their
second stage from El-Muwaylah. In front the Jibál Sadr extended
far to the right and left, a slight depression showing the
Khuraytah, or "Pass," which we were to ascend on the morrow.
Buttressing the left bank of the broad watercourse was the dwarf
hill of which we had been told so many tales. By day its red
sands gleam and glisten like burnished copper; during the night
fire flashes from the summit: in truth, its sole peculiarity is
that of being yellow amongst the gloomy heights around it; whilst
the Wady el-Safrá, higher up to the left, discharges from its
Jebel a torrent of quartz and syenite, gravel and sand. Abú
Khartám, the author of the romance, was among the party: he only
smiled when complimented upon the power of his imagination.
This was a day of excitement: even the mules kept their ears
pricked up. After a short nine miles we had camped below the
Jebel Kibár, and we had remounted our animals to ascend a
neighbouring hill commanding a bird's-eye view of the Hismá
plain. There was evidently much excitement amongst the Bedawi
shepherds around us; and presently Ahmed el-Ukbí, our messenger,
appeared in sight, officially heading the five chiefs of the
Ma'ázah, who were followed by a tail of some thirty clansmen.
Only two rode horses, wretched garrons stolen from the Ruwalá,
the great branch of the Anezah, which holds the eastern regions;
the rest rode fine sturdy and long-coated camels, which looked
Syrian rather than Midianite.[EN#154] We returned hurriedly to
make arrangements for the reception: our Shaykhs could not,
without derogating, go forth to meet the strangers; but the
latter were saluted with due ceremony by the bugler and the
escort, drawn up in line before the mess-tent.
After the usual half-hour's delay, the "palaver," to speak
Africanicè, "came up," and M. Lacaze had a good opportunity of
privily sketching the scene. The Shaykh, Mohammed bin Atíyyah,
who boasts (falsely) that he commands more than half the two
thousand males composing the tribe, is a tall, sinewy man of
about fifty, straight-featured, full-bearded, and gruff-voiced:
his official style of speaking from the throat, a kind of vaccine
low, imitated in camp for many a day, never failed to cause
merriment. His costume rose to the height of Desert-fashion,
described when pourtraying Shaykh Khizr the Imráni; his manners
were those of a gentleman below the Pass, and above it he became
an unmitigated ruffian, who merited his soubriquet El-Kalb ("the
Hound"). On one side sat his son Sálim, a large, beardless lad,
who had begun work by presenting us with a sheep--Giorgi (cook)
said it cost us £40. On the other was his eldest brother and
alter ego: the wrinkled Sagr (Sakr) has been a resident at Cairo,
and still boasts that he received the "tribute" of a horse from
the Viceroy, whom he affects to treat as an equal or rather an
inferior. The others were old Sagr's ill-visaged son Ali, and,
lastly, a cunning-eyed villain, Abayd bin Sálim, the rightful
heir to the chieftainship, which, however, he had been unable to
keep. All the Shaykhs were dressed in brand-new garments and
glaring glossy Kúfíyahs ("head-kerchiefs"); they trade chiefly
with Mezáríb in the Haurán; and, during the annual passage to and
fro of the Damascus caravan, they await it at Tabúk, and threaten
to cut off the road unless liberally propitiated with presents of
raiment and rations. The Murátibah (honorarium) contributed by
El-Shám would be about one hundred dollars in ready money to the
headman, diminishing with degree to one dollar per annum: this
would not include "free gifts" by pilgrims. The Ma'ázah are under
Syria, that is, under no rule at all; and they are supposed to be
tributary to, when in reality they demand tribute from, the
Porte. In fact, nothing can be more pronounced than the contrast
of the Bedawin who are subject to Egypt, and those supposed to be
governed by the wretched Ottoman.
During the palaver all outside was sweet as honey, to use the
Arab phrase, and bitter as gall inside. The Ma'ázah, many of whom
now saw Europeans for the first time, eyed the barnetá (hat)
curiously, with a certain facial movement which meant, "This is
the first time we have let Christian dogs into our land!" They
were minute in observing the escort, and not a little astonished
to find that all were negroes--in the old day Egyptian soldiers,
under the great Mohammed Ali Pasha and his stepson, Ibrahim
Pasha, had made themselves a terror to the Wild Man. "What had
now become of them?" was the mental question. When asked whence
they had procured the two horses, they answered curtly, Min
Rabbiná--"From our Lord," thus signifying stolen goods; and, like
mediaeval knights, they took a pride in avowing that not one of
their number could read or write. Finally a tent was assigned to
them; food was ordered, and they promised us escort to their dens
on the morrow.
During the raw and gusty night the mercury sank to 38° F., the
aneroid (26.91) showing about three thousand feet above
sea-level; and blazing fires kept up within and without the
tents, hardly sufficed for comfort. On the morning of February
24th
"Over the wold the wind blew cold;"
and the Egyptian officers all donned their gloves. The early
hours were spent in a last struggle with our Shaykhs, who now
felt themselves and their camels hopelessly entering the lion's
lair. The sole available pretext for delay was that their animals
could never carry the boxes and tents up the Pass; but, though
very ugly reports prevailed concerning the reception of Ahmed
el-Ukbí, and the observations that had been made last night, not
a word was suffered to reach my ears until our retreat had been
resolved upon. Such concealment would have been inexcusable in a
European; in the East it is the rule.
At 7.15 a.m. we struck the camp at Jebel Kibár, and moved due
eastward towards the Pass. This north-eastern Khuraytah (Col) is
termed the Khuraytat el-Hismá or el-Jils, after a hillock on the
plateau-summit, to distinguish it from the similar feature to the
south-west: the latter is known as the Khuraytat el-Zibá; or
el-T h m , the local pronunciation of Tihámah. About two miles of
rough and broken ground lead to the foot of the ladder. The
zigzags then follow the line of a mountain torrent, the natural
Pass, crossing its bed from left to right and from right again to
left: the path is the rudest of corniches, worn by the feet of
man and beast; and showing some ugly abrupt turns. The absolute
height of the ascent is about 450 feet (aner. 26.70--26.25) and
the length half a mile. The ground, composed mostly of irregular
rock-steps, has little difficulty for horses and mules; but
camels laden with boards (the mess-table) and long tent-poles
must have had a queer time--I should almost expect after this to
see an oyster walking up stairs. Of course, they took their
leisure, feeling each stone before they trusted it, but they all
arrived without the shadow of an accident; and the same was the
case during the two subsequent descents.
We halted on the Sath el-Nakb ("the Passtop") to expect the
caravan, and to prospect the surrounding novelties. Heaps and
piles of dark trap dotted the summit like old graves; many of the
stones were inscribed with tribal marks, and not a few were
capped with snowy lumps of quartz detached from their veins in
the porphyry. This custom, which appears universal throughout
Midian, has many interpretations. According to some it denotes
the terminus of a successful raid; others make it show where a
dispute was settled without bloodshed; whilst as a rule it is an
expression of gratitude: the Bedawi erects it in honour of the
man who protected or who did a service to him, saying at the same
time, Abyaz alayk yá Fula'n--"White (or happy) be it to thee!"
naming the person. Amongst these votive stones we picked up
copper-stained quartz like that of Aynúnah, fine specimens of
iron, and the dove-coloured serpentine, with silvery threads, so
plentiful in the Wady Surr. The Wasm in most cases showed some
form of a cross, which is held to be a potent charm by the
Sinaitic Bedawin; and on two detached water-rolled pebbles were
distinctly inscribed lH and Vl, which looked exceedingly like
Europe. Apparently the custom is dying out: the modern Midianites
have forgotten the art and mystery of tribal signs (Wusúm). In
many places the people cannot distinguish between inscriptions
and "Bill Snooks his mark," and they can interpret very few of
the latter.
Looking westward through the inverted arch formed by the two
hill-staples of the Khuraytah, and down the long valley which had
given us passage, the eye distinguishes a dozen distances whose
several planes are marked by all the shades of colour that the
most varied vegetation can show. There are black-browns,
chocolate-browns, and light umber-browns; bright-reds and
dull-reds; grass-greens and cypress-greens; neutral tints and
French greys contrasting with the rosy pinks, the azures, the
purples, and the golden yellows with which distance paints the
horizon. From a few feet above the Col-floor appear the eastern
faces of the giants of the coast-range; and our altitude, some
3800 feet, gave us to a certain extent a measure of their grand
proportions.
We now stand upon the westernmost edge of the great central
Arabian plateau, known as El-Nejd ("the Highlands"), opposed to
El-Tihámah, the lowland regions. In Africa we should call it the
"true" subtending the "false" coast; delightful Dahome compared
with leprous Lagos. This upland, running parallel with the
"Lip"-range and with the maritime Gháts, is the far-famed Hismá.
It probably represents a remnant of the old terrace which, like
the Secondary gypseous formation, has been torn to pieces by the
volcanic region to the east, and by the plutonic upheavals to the
west. The length may be 170 miles; the northern limit is either
close to or a little south of Fort Ma'án; and we shall see its
southern terminus sharply defined on a parallel with the central
Shárr, not including "El-Jaww."[EN#155] An inaccessible fortress
to the south, it is approached on the south-west by difficult
passes, easily defended against man and beast. Further north,
however, the Wadys Afál near El-Sharaf, El-Hakl (Hagul), and
El-Yitm at El-Akabah, are easy lines without Wa'r ("stony
ground") or Nakb ("ravines").
The Hismá material is a loose modern sandstone, showing every hue
between blood-red, rose pink, and dead, dull white: again and
again fragments had been pointed out to us near the coast, in
ruined buildings and in the remains of handmills and rub-stones.
Possibly the true coal-measures may underlie it, especially if
the rocks east of Petra be, as some travellers state, a region of
the Old, not the New Red. According to my informants, the Hismá
has no hills of quartz, a rock which appears everywhere except
here; nor should I expect the region to be metalliferous.
We ascended the Jebel el-Khuraytah, a trap hillock some 120 feet
high, the southern jamb of the Khuraytah gate: the summit, where
stands a ruined Burj measuring fourteen metres in diameter, gives
a striking and suggestive view. After hard dry living on grisly
mountain and unlovely Wady, this fine open plain, slightly
concave in the centre, was a delightful change of diet to the
eye--the first enjoyable sensation of the kind, since we had
gazed lovingly upon the broad bosom of the Wady el-Arabah. The
general appearance is that of Eastern Syria, especially the
Haurán: at the present season all is a sheet of pinkish red,
which in later March will turn to lively green. On this parallel
the diameter does not exceed a day's march, but we see it
broadening to the north. Looking in that direction over the
gloomy-metalled porphyritic slopes upon which we stand, the
glance extends to a manner of sea-horizon; while the several
planes below it are dotted with hills and hill-ranges, white,
red, and black, all dwarfed by distance to the size of thimbles
and pincushions. The guides especially pointed out the ridge
El-Mukaykam, a red block upon red sands, and a far-famed
rendezvous for raid and razzia. Nearer, the dark lumps of
El-Khayráni rise from a similar surface; nearer still lie the two
white dots, El-Rakhamatayn; and nearest is the ruddy ridge Jebel
and Jils el-Rawiyán, containing, they say, ruins and inscriptions
of which Wallin did not even hear.
The eastern versant of the Hismá is marked by long chaplets of
tree and shrub, disposed along the selvage of the watercourses;
and the latter are pitted with wells sunk after the fashion of
the Bedawin. In this rhumb the horizon is bounded by El-Harrah,
the volcanic region whose black porous lavas and honey-combed
basalts, often charged with white zeolite, are still brought down
even to the coast to serve as mortars and handmills. The profile
is a long straight and regular line, as if formed under water,
capped here and there by a tiny head like the Syrian Kulayb
Haurán: its peculiar dorsum makes it distinguishable from afar,
and we could easily trace it from the upper heights of the Shárr.
It is evidently a section of the mighty plutonic outburst which
has done so much to change the aspect of the parallel Midian
seaboard. Wallin's account of it (p. 307) is confined to the
place where he crossed the lava-flood; and he rendered El-Harrah,
which in Arabic always applies to a burnt region, by
"red-coloured sandstone."
The Bedawin far more reasonably declare that this Harrah is not a
mere patch as it appears in Wallin's map, a narrow oblong not
exceeding sixty miles (north lat. 27°--28°), disposed diagonally
from north-west to south-east. According to them, it is a region
at least as large as the Hismá; and it extends southwards not
only to the parallel of El-Medínah, but to the neighbourhood of
Yambú'. The upper region has two great divisions: the
Harrat-Hismá or the Harrah par excellence, which belongs to the
Ma'ázah, and which extends southwards through El-Sulaysilah as
far as the Jaww. The latter region, a tract of yellow sand,
dotted with ruddy hills, apparently a prolongation of the Hismá,
separates it from the Harrat el-Awayraz, in which the Jebel
el-Muharrak lies.[EN#156] This line of volcanism is continued
south by the Harrat el-Mushrif (P.N. of a man); by the Harrat
Sutúh Jaydá; and, finally, by the Harrat el-Buhayri. the latter
shows close behind the shore at El-Haurá, in nearly the same
latitude as El-Medínah, where we shall presently sight it. There
is great interest and a general importance in this large
coast-subtending eruptive range, whose eastern counterslope
demands long and careful study.
Sweeping the glance round to south, we see the southern of the
two Jilsayn, tall mounds of horizontal strata, with ironstone in
harder lines and finial blocks. This is the Jils el-Dáim, so
distinguished from the northern Jils el-Rawiyán. The lower edge
of the Hismá swells up in red and quoin-like masses, the Jibál
el-Záwiyah, and then falls suddenly, with a succession of great
breaks, into the sub-maritime levels. During our next ten days'
travel we shall be almost in continuous sight of its southern
ramparts and buttresses. Far over the precipices lie the low
yellow sands of the Rahabah, alias the Wady Dámah; and behind it
rises the sky-blue mountain block, which takes a name from the
ruins of Shaghab and Shuwák.
We breakfasted upon the Khuraytah crest; and Mr. Clarke set out
to shoot the fine red-legged "Greek" partridges (caccabis) that
haunt the hilltops, whilst the rest of us marched with the
caravan to the nearest camping-ground. About a mile from the Col,
and lying to the west of the Jils el-Rawiyán, it is supplied with
excellent drinking-water by the Miyáh el-Jedayd, lying nine
hundred to a thousand metres to the south-east. On the other
hand, fuel, here a necessary of life, was wanting; nor could the
camels find forage. Thus we were camped upon the western edge of
the Hismá. The Ma'ázah Shaykhs, who vainly urged us forwards,
showed a suspicious disappointment at our not reaching their
quarters on the far side, where, they said, a camel was awaiting
to be slaughtered for our reception.
Meanwhile, we were enjoying the reverse of hospitality. The
Bedawin evidently now held that all which was ours had become
theirs. Their excessive greed made them imprudent. Not satisfied
with "eating us up," with a coffee-pot ever on the fire, with
demanding endless tobacco, and with making their two garrons
devour more barley than our eight mules, they began to debate,
aloud as usual, how much ready money they should demand. This was
at last settled at four hundred dollars; and the talk was
reported to me by the Básh-Buzúk Husayn, whom they had compelled
to cook for them. At the same time unpleasant discussions were
beginning: "This man stole my camel!" "That man killed my
father," already took the form of threats; in fact, I almost
repented having brought the Huwaytát and their camels into the
trap. Still they all respected Furayj, as might be seen by their
rising and making room for him whenever he approached the fire.
At last an evil rumour arose that the Ma'ázah had determined to
supply us with transport, and had sent messengers in all
directions to collect the animals. This step looked uncommonly
like a gathering of war-men. I was sorely disappointed, for more
reasons than one. The state of affairs rendered a distant march
to the east highly unadvisable. The principal object of this
journey had been to investigate the inland depth of the
metalliferous deposits; in fact, their extent from west to east.
Their north-south length would be easily ascertained, but the
width would still remain unknown. The "Land of Midian," through
which we have been travelling, has evidently been worked, and in
places well worked; thus the only chance of finding a virgin
California would be in the unknown tracts lying to the east of
the "Harrahs." Too bad to be thwarted in such a project by the
exorbitant demands of a handful of thieves!
The disappointment was aggravated by other considerations. From
all that I had heard, the Hismá is a region full of archæological
interest. Already we were almost in sight of the ruins of Ruáfá,
lying to the north between the two white dots El-Rakhamatayn.
Further eastward, and north of the pilgrim-station Zát-Hajj, are
the remains of Karáyyá, still unvisited by Europeans. Finally, I
had been shown, when too late to inspect the place, a fragment of
a Nabathæan inscription, finely cut in soft white
sandstone:[EN#157] it had been barbarously broken, and two other
pieces were en route. The stone is said to be ten feet long (?),
all covered with "writings," from which annalistic information
might be expected: it lies, or is said to lie, about two hours'
ride north of our camp, and beyond the Jils el-Rawiyán famed for
Hawáwít. At first I thought of having it cut to portable size;
but second thoughts determined me to leave it for another visit
or for some more fortunate visitor. Lastly, we were informed, a
few weeks afterwards, that the Ma'ázah Shaykhs had carried it off
to their tents--I fear piecemeal.
It was not pleasant to beat a retreat; but, under the
circumstances, what else could be done? No one was to be relied
upon but the Europeans, and not all even of them. The black
escort, emancipated slaves, would have run away at the first
shot; except only Acting-Corporal Khayr. And when I told the
officers assembled at mess that we should march back early next
morning, the general joy showed how little they relished the
prospect of an advance. Then came out in mass the details--many
doubtless apocryphal--which should have been reported to me, and
which had carefully been kept secret. The Ma'ázah, when our
messenger first notified our visit, had declared that they would
have no Nazarenes in their mountains; that they did not care a
fico for Egypt. Why had not "Effendíná" written to them? they
were his equals, not his subjects! It was then debated whether
they should not raise a force of dromedary-men to fall upon us.
Some of them proposed to summon to their aid the rival chief, Ibn
Hermás; but the majority thought it would be better to reserve
for themselves the hundred dollars per diem, of which they
proposed to fleece us.
Of course, everything around us was intrigue; the Máyat taht
el-Tibn ("water under the straw") of the Arab saying. Furayj, it
is true, looked serene, and privately offered me to fight the
affair out; but he was alone in the idea. The Sayyid was
tranquil, as usual; Hasan the Ukbi wore an unpleasant appearance
of satisfaction, as if he had been offered a share in the plunder
of the Huwaytát; and Alayán, a brave man on his own ground,
could hardly conceal his dejection. I might, it is evident, have
seized Shaykh Mohammed, placed a pistol to his ear, and carried
him off a prisoner; but such grands moyens must be reserved for
great occasions. The worst symptoms in camp were that the Ma'ázah
at once knew the whole of my project; while the Egyptian officers
were ever going to their tents, and one stayed talking with them
till near midnight.
February 25th was a day of humiliation. I aroused the camp at
4.30 a.m., and at once gave orders to strike the tents and load.
The command was obeyed in double quick time; but not before
Shaykh Mohammed had visited us to propose a march to his home in
the east. He was not comfortable; probably his reinforcements had
still to arrive: his face was calm, as the Eastern's generally
is; but his feet trembled, and his toes twitched. I drily told
him of our changed plans, and he left us in high dudgeon. The
tragi-comedy which followed may be divided into six acts:--
1. The Ma'ázah mount their horses and camels: I walk up to them,
and expostulate about so abrupt a departure without even drinking
a friendly cup of coffee.
2. They dismount, and squat in council round the fire, sending on
three dromedary-riders to crown a hill commanding the pass. The
"burning question" is now whether armed clansmen are or are not
lurking behind the heights.
3. Shaykh Mohammed comes forward, and demands blackmail to the
extent of two hundred dollars. I offer one hundred dollars.
4. Our hosts break off the debate in a towering rage; refuse
coffee, and declare that the caravan of "Effendíná" (the Viceroy)
shall not be loaded. Mohammed's feet twitch more violently as the
camels are made to kneel.
5. The caravan shows too much emotion. I pay the two hundred
dollars into the chief's hands. He at once demands his Sharaf
("honour") in the shape of a Kiswah, or handsome dress, and, that
failing, an additional twenty-five dollars for each of the five
headmen. I promise that a robe shall be sent from
El-Muwaylah.[EN#158]
6. The caravan sets out for the Pass, when the three
dromedary-riders open with the war-cry: it is stopped with much
apparatus by the Shaykhs, who affect to look upon it as
dangerous.
* * * * *
We now marched without delay upon the Col, which was reached at
8:15 a.m.; Mohammed bin Atíyyah having meanwhile disappeared. We
descended the Khuraytat el-Jils in twenty-six minutes, and
dismissed the remainder of our Ma'ázah escort at the foot. I
vainly offered them safeguard to El-Muwaylah, which they have not
visited for the last dozen years; all refused absolutely to pass
their own frontiers.
Au revoir Mohammed ibn Atíyyah and company!
Having broken our fast and sent forward the caravan, we at once
began to descend the southern Pass, the Khuraytat el-Zibá. Here
the watershed of the Wady Surr heads; and merchants object to
travel by its shorter line, because their camels must ascend two
ladders of rocks, instead of one at the top of the Wady Sadr. The
Col was much longer and but little less troublesome than its
northern neighbour; the formation was the same, and forty-five
minutes placed us in a gully, that presently widened to a big
valley, the Wady Dahal or El-Khuraytah. We reached it at 12:30
p.m., and laid down the distance from the summit of the northern
Col at about five miles and a quarter. The air felt tepid, the
sun waxed hot; drinking-water was found on the left of the bed,
and a hole in the sole represented a spring, which the people say
is perennial: we were dismounting to quench our thirst at the
latter, when Juno plunged into it, and stood quietly eyeing us
with an air of intense satisfaction.
We spent that night at a place lower down the Wady Dahal, known
as the Jayb el-Khuraytah ("Collar of the Col"). The term "Jayb"
is locally applied to two places only; the other being the Jayb
el-Sa'lúwwah, which we shall presently visit. A larger feature
than a Wady, it reminds us of a Norfolk "broad," but it is of
course waterless. Guards were placed around the camp; and a
wholesome dread of the Ma'ázah kept them wide awake. The only
evil which resulted was that none dared to lead our mules to
water; and the poor animals were hardly rideable on the next day.
Of the Hismá in its present state, we may say as of Ushant, Qui
voit Ouessant, voit la mort. Nothing can be done towards working
the mines of Midian until this den of thieves is cleared out. It
is an asylum for every murderer and bandit who can make his way
there--a centre of turbulence which spreads trouble all around
it. Under the sham rule of miserable Shám (Syria), with its
Turkish Wális, men like the late Ráshid Pasha, matters can only
wax worse. Subject to Egypt, the people will learn discipline and
cease to torment the land.
Happily for their neighbours there will be no difficulty in
reducing the Ma'ázah. They are surrounded by enemies, and they
have lately been obliged to pay "brother-tax" to the Ruwalá as a
defence against being plundered: the tribute consists of one
piece of hair-cloth about twenty cubits long. On the north, as
far as El-Ma'án, they meet the hostile Beni Sakr (Jawázi), under
the Shaykh Mohammed ibn Jázi; southwards the Baliyy, commanded by
Shaykh Afnán, are on terms of "blood" with them; eastward stand
the Anezah and the warlike Sharárát-Hutaym, who ever covet their
two thousand camels: westward lie in wait their hereditary foes,
the Huwaytát. Shaykh Furayj, the tactician, has long ago proposed
a general onslaught of his tribesmen by a simultaneous movement
up the Wadys Surr, Sadr, Urnub, and Afál: they seemed to have
some inkling of his intentions, as they hastened to conclude with
him a five months' Altwah or "truce." Finally, a small
disciplined force, marching down the Damascus-Medínah
pilgrimage-road to the east, and co-operating with the Huwayta't
on the west would place this vermin between two fires.
The tale of my disappointment may conclude with an ethnological
notice of those who caused it.
The Ma'ázah is a Syro-Egypto-Bedawi clan, originally Arab, or
rather Syrian, but migratory, as are all Arabs. It now extends
high up the valley of the Nile, and it is still found in the Wady
Musá (of Suez) and on the Za'faránah block. Even in Egypt it is
turbulent and dangerous: the men are professional robbers; and
their treachery is uncontrolled by the Bedawi law of honour--they
will eat bread and salt with the traveller whom they intend to
murder. For many years it was unsafe to visit the camps within
sight of Suez, until a compulsory residence at head-quarters
taught the Shaykhs manners. The habitat in Arabia stretches from
the Wady Musá of Petra, where they are kinsmen of the Tiyáhah,
the Bedawin of the Tíh-desert; and through Ma'án as far as the
Birkat el-Mu'azzamah, south of Tabúk. Finally, they occupy the
greater part of the Hismá and the northern Harrah.
According to Mohammed el-Kalb, these bandits own the bluest of
blue blood. Their forefather was one Wáíl, who left by his
descendants two great tribes. The first and the eldest took a
name from their Ma'áz ("he-goats"); while the junior called
themselves after the Annáz ("she-goats"): from the latter sprung
the great Anezah family, which occupies the largest and the
choicest provinces of the Arabian peninsula. Meanwhile
genealogists ignore the Ma'ázah.
Wallin would divide the tribe into two, the Ma'ázah and the "Beni
Atiyá:" of the latter in Midian I could hear nothing except that
they represent the kinsmen of the Shaykh's family. We find "Benoo
Ateeyah" in maps like that of Crichton's (1834), where the
Ma'ázah are laid down further south; and northwards the Beni
Atiyyah are a powerful clan who push their razzias as far as the
frontiers of Moab. My informants declare that the numbers of
fighting men in the Midianite division of the race may be two
thousand (two hundred?), and that they are separated only by
allegiance to two rival Shaykhs. The greater half, under Ibn
Hermás, is distributed into five clans, of whom the first, Orbán
Khumaysah, contain two septs. Under Mohammed ibn Atíyyah
(El-Kalb) they number also five divisions. Amongst them are the
Subút or Beni Sabt, "Sons of the Sabbath," that is, Saturday;
whom Wallin suspects to be of Jewish origin, relying, it would
appear, principally upon their name. The ringing of the large
bell suspended to the middle pole of the tents at sunset, "to
hail the return of the camels and the mystic hour of descending
night," is an old custom still maintained, because it confers a
Barakat ("blessing") upon the flocks and herds. Certainly there
is nothing of the Bedawi in this practice, and it is distinctly
contrary to the tradition of El-Islam; yet many such survivals
hold their ground amongst the highly conservative Wild Men, and
they must be looked upon only as local and tribal peculiarities.
End of Vol. I.
Endnotes
[EN#1] My collection dates from between the first century B.C.
and the first century A.D.; this can be gathered from comparison
with the coins of Alexander Jannaeus and his successor, Alexander
II. The tetradrachm may belong to the reign of Alexander the
Great, or the ages preceding it.
[EN#2] Here probably disappeared some fine specimens of silicate
of copper which caused a delay of three months in the report.--R.
F. B.
[EN#3] Messrs. Edgar Jackson found in the same box:--
Silver (per statute ton)...............2 oz. 17 dwts. 11 grs.
[EN#4] "Box No. 37" yielded silver....13 dwts. 1.6 grs.
[EN#5] "Box. No. 47" yielded silver...12 dwts. 1.6 grms.
[EN#6] In boxes Nos. 48 and 51 Mr. Jenken found silver 2 oz. 13
dwts. 8 grs.; and 4 oz. 5 dwts. 12 grms.
[EN#7] In a fragment of similar "turquoise rock," from the same
site (Ziba), Dr. L. Karl Moser, of Trieste, found silver.
[EN#8] In a fragment of similar chalcedony, from the same site
(Aba'l-Maru), Dr. Moser found specks of "free gold."
[EN#9] This was the "splendid button" smelted at Makna.
[EN#10] The "button" was pronounced to be almost pure antimony in
the Government Establishment of Mines, Trieste.
[EN#11] In "box No. 4" Messrs. Jackson found rough crystals of
corundum; and a qualitative analysis of this sample and "box No.
7" yielded quartz, carbonate of lime, alumina, and oxide of iron.
[EN#12] The italics are mine. Mr. Mathey remarks of the specimen
containing 48 grains of gold per ton, "It would be worthless in
its present condition; if however, it could be enriched by proper
washing and dressing, and the cost in labour, etc., be not too
great, it might be made to give fair returns."
[EN#13] "Little health" at Cairo prevented my choosing the
instruments; and the result was that at last I had to depend upon
my pocket-set by Casella. Even this excellent maker's maxima and
minima failed to stand the camel-jolting. The barometer, lent by
the Chief of Staff (Elliott Brothers, 24), contained amalgam, not
mercury. The patent messrad, or odometer (Wittmann, Wien), with
its works of soft brass instead of steel, was fit only to measure
a drawing-room carpet. M. Ebner sold us, at the highest prices,
absolutely useless maxima and minima, plus a baromètre aneroide,
whose chain was unhooked when it left the box. M. Sussmann, of
the Muski, supplied, for fifty francs, a good and useful
microscope magnifying seventy-five times. The watches from M.
Meyer ("Dent and Co.!") were cheap and nasty Swiss articles; but
they were also subjected to terrible treatment:--I once saw the
wearers opening them with table-knives. Fortunately M. Lacaze,
the artist, had a good practical knowledge of instruments; and
this did us many a good turn.
[EN#14] For Arabian travel I should advise aconite, instead of
Dover's powder; Cockle's pills, in lieu of blue mass; Warburg's
Drops, in addition to quinine; pyretic saline and Karlsbad,
besides Epsom salts; and chloral, together with chlorodyne. "Pain
Killer" is useful amongst wild people, and Oxley's ginger, with
the simple root, is equally prized. A little borax serves for
eye-water and alum for sore mouth. I need not mention special
medicines like the liqueur Laville, and the invaluable Waldöl
(oil of the maritime pine), which each traveller must choose for
himself.
[EN#15] It is Lane's "Kiyakh, vulgó Kiyák," and Michell's "Kyhak,
the ancient Khoiak," or fourth month. The Copts begin their solar
year on our September 10-11; and date from the 2nd of Diocletian,
or the Era of the "Martyrs" (A.D. 284). It is the old Sothic, or
annus quadratus, which became the Alexandrine under the
Ptolemies; and which Sosigenes, the Egyptian, converted into the
Julian, by assuming the Urbs condita as a point de départ, and by
transferring New Year's Day from the equinox to the solstice.
Thus Kayhák I, 1594, would correspond with December 9, A.D. 1877,
and with Zúl-Hijjah 4, A.H. 1294. On the evening of Kayhák 14
(December 22nd) winter is supposed to set in. The fifth month,
Tubá--Lane's "Toobeh," and Michell's "Toubeh, the ancient
Tobi"--is the coldest of the year at Suez, on the isthmus and in
the adjacent parts of Arabia; rigorous weather generally lasts
from January 20th to February 20th. In Amshír, about early March,
torrents of rain are expected to fall for a few hours. The people
say of it, in their rhyming way, Amshír, Za'bíb
el-kathir--"Amshír hath many a blast;" and
"Amshir
Yakul li'l-Zará 'Sir!
Wa yalhak bi'l-tawi'l el-kasi'r."'
"Amshír saith to the plants, 'Go (forth), and the little shall
reach the big."' It is divided into three 'Asharát or tens--1.
'Asharat el-'Ajúz ("of the old man"), from the cold and killing
wind El-Husúm; 2. 'Asharat el-'Anzah ("of the she-goat"), from
the blasts and gales; and 3. 'Asharat el-Rá'í' ("of the
shepherd"), from its change to genial warmth. Concerning Barmahát
(vulgó Barambát), of old Phamenoth (seventh month), the popular
jingle is, Ruh el-Ghayt wa hát--"Go to the field and bring (what
it yields);" this being the month of flowers, when the world is
green. Barmúdah (Pharmuthi)! dukh bi'l-'amúdah ("April! pound
with the pestle!") alludes to the ripening of the spring crops;
and so forth almost ad infinitum. For more information see the
"Egyptian Calendar," etc. (Alexandria: Mourès, 1878), a valuable
compilation by our friend Mr. Roland L. N. Michell, who will, let
us hope, prefix his name to a future edition, enlarged and
enriched with more copious quotations from the weather-rhymes and
the folk-lore of Egypt.
[EN#16] This is a most interesting feature. According to Forskâl
(Descriptiones xxix.), "Suénsia litora, a recedente mari serius
orta, nesciunt corallia;" and he makes the submaritime
"Cryptogama regio animalis" begin at Tor (Raitha) and extend to
(Gonfoda). Near Suez is the Newport Shoal, which could be sailed
over with impunity twenty years ago, and which is now dangerous:
it resembles, in fact, the other reef at the entrance of the
Gulf, where tile soundings have changed, in late years, from 7-7
1/2 fathoms to 3-3 1/2. Geologists differ as to the
cause--elevation or accretion by current-borne drift.
[EN#17] In Chap. XIV, we will return to this subject.
[EN#18] "The Gold-Mines of Midian," etc. (London: C. Kegan Paul &
Co., 1878).
[EN#19] Assuming the sovereign at 97 piastres 40 parahs, this
hire would be in round numbers one and two shillings; the
shilling being exactly 4 piastres 24 parahs. See Chap. VII. for
further details.
[EN#20] Besides a popular account of the stages in "The Gold
Mines of Midian," a geographical itinerary has been offered to
the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society.
[EN#21] They were, perhaps, a trifle too long for small beasts:
seventy-seven centimètres (better seventy); and too deep, sixty,
instead of fifty-eight. The width (forty-six) was all right. The
best were painted, and defended from wet by an upper plate of
zinc; the angles and the bottoms were strengthened with iron
bands in pairs; and they were closed with hasps. At each end was
a small block, carrying a strong looped rope for slinging the
load to the pack-saddle; of these, duplicates should be provided.
In order to defend our delicate apparatus from excessive shaking,
we divided the inside, by battens, into several compartments. The
smaller cases of bottles and breakables should have been cut to
fit into the larger, but this had been neglected at Cairo.
Finally, not a single box gave way on the march: that was
reserved for the Suez-Cairo Railway, and for landing at the
London Docks.
[EN#22] MM. Gastinel (Bey) and Marie give it per cent.:--
Titaniferous iron . . . .. . . . . . . 86.50
Silica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.10
Copper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.40 (2 1/2 per cent.)
Silver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0
[EN#23] Hence, evidently, the derivation of the "Marwah" hill
near Meccah, and the famous "Marwah" gold mine which we shall
visit in South Midian. The Arabs here use Jebel el-Mará and Jebel
el-Abyaz (plur. Jibál el-Bayzá) synonymously.
[EN#24] Spon: London, 1875. A book opening a new epoch, and duly
neglected.
[EN#25] So said the engineer. He relied chiefly upon M. Amedée
Burat, p. 229, "Géologic Appliquáe" (Paris: Garnier, 1870), who
quotes the compte rendu of M. Guillemin, C.E. to the Exposition
of 1867. The latter gentleman, who probably did not, like the
former, place Mexico in South America, makes the metalliferous
lands measure four-fifths of the total surface. I am much
mistaken if the same is not the case with Midian.
[EN#26] In "The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 171, I erroneously
asserted that the Beden does not extend to these mountains. The
second Expedition could learn nothing about the stag with large
branches vaguely spoken of by the Bedawin.
[EN#27] When "miles" are given, I mean the statute of 1760 yards
as opposed to the geographical; the latter equals 1 minute (of a
degree) = 1 Italian or Arab = 1/4 German = 1 1/4 Roman = 10
stadia.
[EN#28] Were I a wealthy man, nothing would delight me more than
to introduce London to La Zarzuela, the Spanish and Portuguese
opera bouffe. Sir Julius Benedict tells me that it has reached
Paris.
[EN#29] See Le Pionnier, Chemin de Fer Abyssinien d'apré's les
desseins de M. J. L. Haddan. Another valuable form is "The
Economical" (Mr. Russell Shaw).
[EN#30] Chloritic slate is the matrix of gold in the Brazil and
in Upper Styria.
[EN#31] Chap. IX.
[EN#32] Not Tayyibat Ism, as I wrongly wrote in "The Gold Mines
of Midian," misled by the Hydrographic Chart. None of the Bedawin
could explain the origin of the flattering title.
[EN#33] "The Gold-Mines of Midian." Chap. XII.
[EN#34] The so-called Oriental, stalactitic, or variegated
alabaster of Upper Egypt was nowhere hit upon.
[EN#35] The Ptolemeian parallel is nearly right; the place must
not be confounded with Modi'ana or Modouna (ibid.), a
coast-settlement in north lat. 27 degrees 45', between Onne and
the Hippos Mons, Monte Cavallo.
[EN#36] I have no wish to criticize my able predecessor. His map,
all things considered, is a marvel of accuracy; and the high
praise of Wellsted (ii. 148) only does it justice.
[EN#37] The "Muttali" (high town) when small is termed a Burj,
pyrgos, tower, Pergamus (?)
[EN#38] The Masháb or "camel-stick" of all Arabia is that
carried by the Osiris (mummy), and its crook is originally the
jackal-headed Anubis.
[EN#39] The collection has been submitted to Mr. R. Stanley
Poole, who kindly offered them for inspection to the Numismatic
Society of London (Nov. 21, 1878).
[EN#40] "Ægypten," etc., p. 269, et seq.
[EN#41] "Les Inscriptions des Mines d'Or," etc. Paris, 1862.
[EN#42] In Tafel viii. (p. 387), he has added some cursory notes
on the Sepulcral-Monumente in dem Thale Beden.
[EN#43] Wellsted, vol. ii., appendix.
[EN#44] All the useful matter has already been borrowed from
Abulfeda. Dr. Badger tells me that he looked through his Jarídat
el-'Ajáib, wa Farídat el-Gharáib, by Siráj el-Din Umar ibn
el-Wardí, A.H. 940 (= A.D. 1533--1534), where he expected to
find, but did not find, notices of Madyan.
[EN#45] Geschichte Ægyptens unter den Pharaonen. Nach den
Denkmählern bearbeitet, von Dr. Heinrich Brugsch-Bey. Erste
deutsche Ausgabe. Leipzig: Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, 1877.
Already the Première Partie had appeared in French, "Histoire
d'Égypte, Introduction--Histoire des Dynasties i.--xvii.;"
published by the same house with a second edition in 1875. An
English translation of this most valuable compendium, whose
German is of the hardest, is now being printed in London.
[EN#46] Pun, or Punt, the region on both sides of the Red
Seamouth, including El-Yemen and Cape Guardafui, was made holy by
the birth of Osiris, Isis, and Horus. Dr. Brugsch-Bey shows that
one of the titles of the he-god was Bass, the cat or the leopard
(whence our "Puss"); whilst his wife, Bast (the bissat or
tabby-cat of modern Arabic), gave her name to Bubastis (Pi-Bast,
the city of Bast). From the Osiric term (Bass) the learned
Egyptologist would derive Bacchus and his priests, the Bacchoi
and the Bacchantes, whose dress was the leopard's skin. Could
Osiris have belonged to the race whose degenerate descendants are
the murderous Somal of modern days?
[EN#47] Vulg. Snefrou, "he who makes it good;" the ninth of the
third Dynasty; the twenty-fourth successor of Mena (Menes) in the
papyri, and the twenty-sixth according to Manetho the priest. He
conquered the "Mafka-land," as the Sinaitic Peninsula was then
called; and Wady Maghárah still shows his statue, habited in
warrior garb, with the proud inscription, "Vanquisher of Stranger
Races." This campaign lends some colour to my suspicion that
Sináfir Island, at the mouth of the Gulf el-'Akabah, may preserve
his name.
[EN#48] The German Türkis, and the English and French Turquoise,
are both evidently derived from Gemma Turcica, Western Turkistan
being considered tile source of the finest stones.
[EN#49] The accompanying lithograph gives a list of the letters
and the syllabic signs which occur in the inscription. {not
included in this e-text}
[EN#50] The article "Ná" is emphatic, the with the sense of that
or those.
[EN#51] "Khomet" signifies, 1. Copper, 2. Metal generally, as
argent, etc.
[EN#52] "Mensh" is always applied to sea-going ships, as opposed
to Bari, Uáu, Kerer, etc., riverine craft.
[EN#53] "Kemi" signifies, 1. Found, 2. Found out, discovered.
[EN#54] That is, the royal pavilion at Thebes.
[EN#55] The word "Deb" (brick) still survives in the Arabic Tob,
and, perverted to the Iberian Adobe (Et-tob) it has travelled to
Mexico.
[EN#56] "Hefennu," as is shown by the ideograph to the right over
the three perpendiculars denoting plurality, may be either a frog
or a lakh (one hundred thousand).
[EN#57] The Egyptians divided gold into four qualities--1, 2, 3,
and two-thirds. But it is not known whether No. 1 was the best,
and we can only guess that two-thirds alluded to some alloy.
[EN#58] The same as the Shu'ayb of my pages.
[EN#59] For a notice of "Moses' Well," now quite forgotten by the
Arabs, see Chapter VI.
[EN#60] For an account of these diggings, see "The Gold-Mines of
Midian," Chap. IX.
[EN#61] This strange legend will be found copied into many
subsequent authors.
[EN#62] El-Abjad, the oldest existing form of the Arabic
alphabet; to judge from its being identical with the Hebrew. It
is supposed to date from after the beginning of the Christian
era, when the Himyaritic form fell into disuse, and it is now
used in chronograms only.
[EN#63] L'auteur est doublement inexact en avanc, ant que
l'Aboudjed se compose de vingt-quatre lettres seulement, d'abord
parce que les six mots qu'il énumère ne renferment que vingt-deux
lettres, et en second lieu, parce qu'il oublie de citer les deux
derniers mots techniques, et , lesquels
complétent les vingt-huit lettres prises comme valeurs
nume'riques ("Voyez l'Exposé des signes de numération chez les
Orientaux," par M. Pihan, p. 199 et suiv.). To this I may add
that the French translators have sadly corrupted the words which
should be Abjad, Hawwaz, Hutti, Kalaman, Sa'fas, and Karashat;
whilst Sakhiz and Zuzigh are not found in the Hebrew and cognate
dialects.
[EN#64] The "Gate of Lamentation," vulgarly and most erroneously
written, "Babelmandel."
[EN#65] That is, "spoiled," dry; instead of "honoured,"
respected. The difference of the words is in the "pointing" of
the third letter, and the change of m and l.
[EN#66] Not to be confounded with a cosmography of the same name
by Ahmed ibn Yahyá el-Shá'ir. Cf. Journal of the Royal
Geographical Society, vol. xx. of 1850, p. 343.
[EN#67] This route, from Suez to El-'Akabah, probably one of the
oldest in this world, has been traversed perfunctorily by
Burckhardt and by Beke. It still wants a detailed survey, and
even hieroglyphic inscriptions may be expected. Beke's map marks
Hawáwit ("ruins") near one of his nighting-places, but apparently
the remains were not visited.
[EN#68] The Syrian Hajj no longer pass through El-'Akabah to
Makná, but inland or eastward of it. The reason is made evident
in Chap. VII.
[EN#69] Thus the Khálú or Khárú of the old Egyptians, meaning a
"mixed multitude," were originally Phoenicians and domiciled from
earliest ages about Lake Menzálah. So the "mixed multitude," or
mingled people, which followed Israel from Egypt would be a
riff-raff of strangers. D'Herbelot says (sub voce Midian):
"Quoyque les Madianites soient reputez pour Arabes, neanmoins ils
ne sont pas du nombre des Tribus qui partageoient l'Arabie, et
dont les Auteurs nous ont rendu un compte exact dans leur
Histoire et dans leurs Genealogies; de sorte qu'il passe pour un
peuple étranger qui s'est établi parmi eux." Yet, as we have seen
by the foregoing extracts, Madyan was reckoned within the
territory of El-Medi'nah, i.e. the Hejaz.
Caussin de Perceval ("Essai sur l'Histoire des Arabs avant
l'Islamisme") regards the old Midianites as one of the "Races
éteintes;" and he makes them (vol. i. p. 23) descendants of
Céthura, Abraham's second wife. In vol. ii. p. 232, he brings the
Banu-Djodha'm (Juzám) from El-Yemen, and settles them in the
country of the ancient Midianites. He adds: "La region sur
laquelle ils étaient répandus avec leurs frères les Benou-Lakhm,
et, je crois aussi, avec les families Codhaites, de Bali (Baliyy)
et de Cayn, touchait par l'ouest à la Mer Rouge, par le nord au
pays que les Romains appelaient troisième Palestine, par le sud
aux déserts . . . par l'est, enfin, au territoire de
Daumat-Djandal sur laquelle campaient les Benou-Kelb, tribu
Codhaïte, alors Chrétienne, et alliée ou sujette des Romains." In
vol. iii. p. 159, he recounts from the Táríkh el-Khamísí, and the
Sírat el-Rasúl, how Zayd made an expedition against the "Djodhám
(Juzám) established at Madyan on the coast of the Red Sea." The
warrior captured a number of women and children who were exposed
for sale, but the "Prophet," hearing the wails of the mothers,
ordered that the young ones should not be sold apart from the
parents.
[EN#70] The "Burd," or "Burdah," was worn by Mohammed, as we know
from a celebrated poem, for which see D'Herbelot, sub voce
"Bordah."
[EN#71] Michaud ("Hist. des Croisades," ii. 27) says: "Une fois
qu'il (Saladin) fût maitre de la capitale (Damascus); son armée
victorieuse et l'or pur appelé Obreysum (Ubraysun ou Hubraysum)
qu'il tirait de l'E'gypte, lui soumirent les autres cités de la
Syrie." The question is whether this gold was not from Midian: my
friend Yacoub Artin Bey, who supplied me with the quotation,
thinks that it was.
[EN#72] The most curious form, perhaps, which the ancient
Midianitic tradition has assumed, was in the thirteenth century,
when the Russians believed that the Tartars, "with their
four-cornered faces," were the ancient Midianites coming in the
latter days to conquer the world. Lieutenant C. R. Conder, R.E.
("Tentwork in Palestine," Bentley, 1878), has done his best to
rival this style of ethnology by declaring that "the hosts of
Midian" were, no doubt, the ancestors of the modern Bedawin.
[EN#73] Alluding to the legend that the shepherds, after watering
their flocks, rolled a great stone over the mouth of the well, so
that the contents might not be used by Jethro's daughters. Musá
waxed wroth, and, weak as he was with travel, gave the stone such
a kick that it went flying full forty cubits from the spot. See
"Desert of the Exodus," Appendix, p. 539.
[EN#74] A name now unknown to the Bedawin of Madyan. The
culminating peak is now supposed to be either the Shárr, the
Jebel el-Lauz, or the Jebel Zánah.
[EN#75] The Badais of Ptolemy, which we shall presently visit.
[EN#76] A large ruin east of Zibá, also visited.
[EN#77] For a notice of El-Khalasah, also called El-Khulusah,
El-Khulsah, or Zu'l-Khalasah, consult the art. "Midian," Smith's
"Dict. of the Bible," by E. S. Poole, vol. ii. p. 356. For the
Khalasah of the Negeb, "where Venus was worshipped with all the
licentious pomp of the Pagan ritual," see Professor Palmer's
"Desert of the Exodus," p. 385. The text, however, alludes to a
ruin called El-Khulasah, one march from El-Muwaylah to the east
(Chap. VIII.).
[EN#78] El-Mederah is possibly Hasíyat el-Madrá, which, like
El-A'waj, El-Bírayn, and Ma'ín, is now included in Syria.
El-Mu'allak may be Jebel Yalak,--at least, so say the Bedawin.
[EN#79] In the last remark, also found in El-Kazwíní, the Madyan
of El-Shu'ayb is referred to the district of Tiberias. Thus it
would belong to Syria, whilst the majority of geographers refer
it to the Hejaz, and a minority to El-Yemen.
[EN#80] Alluded to in a note to p. 331 of "The Gold Mines of
Midian," etc.
[EN#81] This means only according to Hebrew and Arabic tradition,
neither of them being, in this case, of much value. As I remarked
before ("The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 177), the hieroglyphic
name of the land is Mádí, in the plural Mádí-án or Mádí-ná; on
the other hand, we have no information concerning the origin and
derivation of Mádí, except that it is not Egyptian.
[EN#82] None of the tribes or families now inhabiting Midian
represent the ancient Midianites; and all speak the vulgar
half-Fellah Arabic, without any difference of accent or
vocabulary from their neighbours.
[EN#83] See the preceding notes on El-Makrízi.
[EN#84] The Ma'ázah spoke of Kanátir (arches, i.e. aqueducts) and
Bibán (doors or catacombs).
[EN#85] I inquired in vain concerning the ruins near Sharm
Burayttah, south of Yambú' in the Harb country. Wellsted, who
visited the site (11. xi.), conjectures them to be Niebuhr's
"El-Jár." He makes that near the point "as large as Yembo,
extending about a mile in length, and half that space in breadth,
with a square fort in the vicinity, the remains of which have
towers at the corners and gates." Near the middle on either side,
the tall walls are six feet thick, strong enough where artillery
is unknown. At the landing-place are a quay paved with large hewn
stones, and a jetty of solid masonry in ruins. The sailors dug
and found only shapeless fragments of corroded copper and brass;
coloured glass, as usual more opaque than the modern, and
earthenware of the kind scattered about Egyptian ruins. About one
mile from the fort were other remains, built of coral, now much
blackened by exposure; and similar constructions on the further
side of the Sharm could not be examined, as the Harb Bedawin were
jealous and hostile.
[EN#86] The name is from Gen. xx. 1, and it signifies the country
lying to the south of Palestine. See "The Negeb," by the late
Rev. E. Wilton (London, 1863), and vol. ii. "The Desert of the
Exodus," so often alluded to in these pages.
[EN#87] "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. IX.
[EN#88] Kúfah or in Persian means a basket or
a coffin.
[EN#89] Roaring when the rider mounts, halts, or dismounts, is
considered a proof of snobbish blood among the Bisha'ri'n: for
some months the camel-colt is generally muzzled on such occasions
till it learns the sterling worth of silence.
For an admirable description, far too detailed to place before
the general public, of the likeness and the difference between
the dromedary of the Bishárín and the Númaní and Maskatí, the
purest blood of the Arabs, see pp. 145--154, "L' Etbaye, etc.,
Mines d Or," by my old friend Linant de Bellefonds Bey, now
Sulayman Pasha. Paris: Arthus Bertrand (no date).
[EN#90] The contents worked into shape by Mr. William J. Turner,
of the Royal Geographical Society, appear in the Appendix.
[EN#91] "Desert of the Exodus," p. 347.
[EN#92] "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. VI.
[EN#93] In "The Gold-Mines of Midian" (passim) this "Spring of
the She-Cook" appeared as the "She-Cork!"
[EN#94] A region to the north-west of 'Aynúnah, afterwards
visited by Lieutenant Yusuf. See Chap. IX.
[EN#95] Such an act would disgrace an Arab tribe, and of course
it is denied by the Beni 'Ukbah. We visited this valley, which is
one of the influents of the Wady 'Aynúnah, during the first
Expedition ("The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 165).
[EN#96] The modern Beni 'Ukbah ignore the story of Abú Rísh, not
wishing to confess their obligations to the Huwaytát.
[EN#97] The tomb on the hillock north of El-Muwaylah.
[EN#98] South-east of EI-Muwaylah.
[EN#99] These hard conditions were actually renewed some
twenty-five years ago.
[EN#100] For ample notices on this subject, see "The Gold-Mines
of Midian," Chap. XII. In p. 337, however, I made the mistake of
supposing Makná to be the capital, instead of the port of the
capital. The true position is north lat. 28 degrees 24'.
[EN#101] For historical notices of the diamond in North-Western
Arabia, see "The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 168.
[EN#102] Dr. Beke's artist made a plan of this rude affair (p.
349), and nothing can be worse. The Egyptian Staff-officers drew
the ruin correctly; but the poor remains by no means deserve the
honour of a wood-cut.
[EN#103]. The word is corrupted from Jamb, "the side," alluding
to the animal's gait; we did not find the true lobster (Homarus
vulgaris), the astica of the Adriatic, whose northern waters
produce such noble specimens.
[EN#104] The spirit-tins, prepared for me at Trieste, were as
most things there are, very dear and very bad; after a short use
they became full of holes. So the bowie-knives, expressly made to
order at old Tergeste, proved to be of iron not of steel.
[EN#105] "Travels," Vol. II. Chap. IV.
[EN#106] Confirmed by Dr. Beke, p. 533.
[EN#107] P. 351.
[EN#108] I am doubtful about this name, which the Bedawi apply to
more than one place.
[EN#109] Strictly speaking, the dust of the Nevada country was
oxide of silver.
[EN#110] M. Burat ("Géologie Appliqée," i. 8) gives the following
minima proportions in which metal may be worked on a grand scale,
of course under the most favourable circumstances. The extremes
are 0.25 (iron), and 0.00001 (gold); and antimony, bismuth,
cobalt, and nickel are neglected, because the proportions vary so
much.
Iron, 0.25
Zinc, 0.20
Lead, 0.02 (two per cent.)
Copper and mercury, 0.01
Tin, 0.005 (1/2 per cent.)
Silver, 0.0005 (1/2 per 1000)
Gold, 0.00001 (1/100,000)
This table is recommended to the many "profane" who do not
believe a rock to be auriferous or argentiferous, unless they can
see the gold and silver with the naked eye.
[EN#111] The button, when assayed by the official mining office
at Trieste, was pronounced to be antimony! It was extracted from
ruddle (red ochre) and limonite (brown ochre or hydrous oxide of
iron): both are sesquioxides (Fe2O3) which become dark when
heated and change to magnetic oxide (Fe3O4). M. Marie is probably
the first who ever "ran down" iron oxide with lead. No wonder
that Colonel Ross pronounced his culot a marvellous alloy.
[EN#112] Kárún was a pauper cousin of Musá, who had learned
alchemy from Kulsum, the Lawgiver's sister. The keys of his
treasure loaded forty mules; and his palace had doors and roof of
fine gold. As he waxed fat he kicked against his chief, who as
usual became exceeding wroth, and prayed that the earth might
swallow him.
[EN#113] Pp. 337--339.
[EN#114] "Tasbíh" literally means uttering Subhán Allah!--"Praise
be to Allah!"
[EN#115] It is curious how this goddess has extended, through the
Dalmatian "Fortunale" and the Slav "Fortunja" of the Bosnian
peasants, to Turkey, Egypt, and even Arabia. Applied to a violent
storm, perhaps it is a euphuism for the Latin word in the sense
of good sign or omen; so in Propertius--"Nulla ne placatæ veniet
fortuna procellæ."
[EN#116] P. 341.
[EN#117] The singular is Maknáwi, pronounced Magnáwi.
[EN#118] Loc. cit. p. 79.
[EN#119] The passage was brought to my notice by my excellent
friend, Mr. James Pincherle of Trieste. In the "Atlante Storico e
Geografico della Terra Santa, esposto in 14 Tavole e 14 Quadri
storici della Palestina," republished (without date) by Francesco
Pagnoni of Milan, appears an annexed commentary by Cornelius à
Lapide. The latter, Cornelius Van den Steen (Corneille de la
Pierre), born near Liege, a learned Jesuit, profound theologian,
and accomplished historian, was famous as a Hebraist and lecturer
on Holy Writ. He died at Rome March 12, 1637; and a collected
edition of his works in sixteen volumes, folio, appeared at
Venice in 1711, and at Lyons in 1732. It is related of him that,
being called to preach in the presence of the Pope, he began his
sermon on his knees. The Holy Father commanded him to rise, and
he obeyed; but his stature was so short that he appeared to be
still kneeling. The order was reiterated; whereupon Zacchaeus,
understanding its cause, said modestly, "Beatissime Pater, ipse
fecit nos, et non ipsi nos."
[EN#120] The name and other points connected with it have been
noticed in "The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 338.
[EN#121] See "The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 338.
[EN#122] "Travels in Syria, etc.," p. 524.
[EN#123] In "The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 338, this name became,
by virtue of the author's cacography, "Beoche."
[EN#124] "Diario in Arabia Petrea" (1865) di Visconte Giammartino
Arconati. Roma, 1872.
[EN#125] Wellsted, ii. 143.
[EN#126] "Ghor" is the whole depression including the Jordan and
the Dead Sea, while El-'Akabah is its southernmost section. In
older maps this gulf is made to fork at the north--a
topographical absurdity. I have also fallen into a notable
blunder about the Jebel el-Shará', in "The Gold-Mines of Midian,"
note ?, p. 175.
[EN#127] See Appendix, p. 537, "Geological Notes," etc., in Dr.
Beke's "Sinai in Arabia."
[EN#128] See "The Gold-Mines of Midian," pp. 338, 339.
[EN#129] This Yitm, which Burckhardt first wrote El-Ithem,
unfortunately gave Dr. Beke an opportunity of finding, in his
"Wady el-Ithem," the "Etham of the Exodus." (See "The
Gold-Mines of Midian," pp. 359--361). The latter has been
conclusively shown by Brugsch-Bey in his lecture, "La Sortie des
Hébreux d'E'gypte" (Alexandrie: Mourès, 1874), p. 31, to be the
great fort of Khatom, on the highway to Phoenicia. The roots
Khatam, Asham, Tam, like the Arabic "Khatm" () signify to
seal up, close; and thus Khatom in Egyptian, as Atham, Etham in
Hebrew, means a closed place, a fortress. Wallin calls the
"Yitm," which he never visited, "Wâdî Lithm, a cross valley
opening through the chain at about eight hours (twenty-four
miles) north of 'Akaba'"--possibly Lithm is a misprint, but it is
repeated in more than one page.
[EN#130] Dr. Beke, who afterwards changed his mind, would
identify Hor, the burial-place of Aaron, with Horeb of the Rock
("Orig. Biblicae," 195). He then adopted ("Sinai in Arabia," p.
77) the opinion of St. Jerome ("De Situ," etc., p. 191), "Mihi
autem videtur quod duplice nomine mons nunc Sina, nunc Choreb
vocatur." Wellsted (ii. 103) also makes Horeb synonymous with
"Wilderness of Sinai." Professor Palmer (118) translates Horeb by
"ground that has been drained and left dry:" he would include in
it the whole Desert of Sinai, together with "the Mountain;"
whilst he warns us that the monks call the whole southern portion
of their mountain "Horeb." Others confine "Horeb" to Jebel Musá,
and even to its eastern shoulder.
[EN#131] For the Mount or Mountain see Exodus xix. 2, 12, 20, 23;
also xxxii. 19; Deut. iv. II, and v. 23; Heb. xii. 18. Josephus
("Antiq.," II. ii. I) speaks of it similarly as a "mountain," and
describes it with all the apparatus of fable; while his
compatriot and contemporary, St. Paul (Epist. to the Galatians
iv. 25), calls it only "Mount Sinai in Arabia," i.e. east of
Jordan.
[EN#132] See Athenaeum, February 8th and 15th, 1873.
[EN#133] They were heard of by Burckhardt ("Syria," p. 510).
[EN#134] Beke (p. 446), on February 6th, estimated the rise of
the tide at 'Akabah head to be three to four feet. This is
greatly in excess of actuality; but, then, he was finding out
some rational way of drowning "Pharaoh and his host."
[EN#135] Those living further north, the 'Ammárín and the
Liyásinah, are unmitigated scoundrels and dangerous ruffians:
amongst the former Shaykh Sala'mah ibn 'Awwád with his brother,
and among the latter Ibrahím el-Hasanát, simply deserve hanging.
In Edom, too, 'Abd el-Rahmán el-'Awar ("the One-eyed"), Shaykh of
the Fellahín, is "wanted;" and the 'Alawín-Huwaytát would be
greatly improved were they to be placed under Egyptian, instead
of Syrian, rule.
[EN#136] Dr. Beke's artist (p. 374) has produced a work of
imagination, especially in the foreground and background of his
"Migdol or Castle of Akaba."
[EN#137] Commonly written Kansúh (Kansooh) and corrupted by
Europeans to Campson (like Sampson) Goree.
[EN#138] Not Hámid, as some mispronounce the word.
[EN#139] "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. XII.
[EN#140] The chain did not part. The anchor was afterwards fished
up by divers from El-Muwaylah, and its shank was found broken
clean across like a carrot. Yet there was no sign of a flaw. Mr.
Duguid calculated the transverse breaking strain of average
anchor-iron (8 1/2 inches x 4 = 22 square inches), at 83 1/10
tons; and the tensile breaking strain at 484 tons, or 22 tons to
the square inch; while the stud-length cable of 1 1/8 inch chain,
150 fathoms long, would carry, if proof, 24 tons. Captain
Mohammed was persevering enough, after the divers had failed, to
recover his chain when on his cruise homewards; and the Rais of
the Sambúk was equally lucky.
[EN#141] "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Ch. XII. p. 317.
[EN#142] See Chap. X.
[EN#143] Lieutenant-Colonel Bolton kindly compared the specimens
with those in his cabinet. The first, which was accompanied by
quartz, resembled the produce of Orenburg. A Peruvian
mine-proprietor had pronounced it to be "Rosicler" silver. The
magnetic sand bore a tantalizing resemblance to the highly
auriferous black sand of Ekaterinburg.
[EN#144] Correspondence of the Sheffield Telegraph (May 18),
copied into the Globe of May 25, etc., etc., etc.
[EN#145] "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. XI. It was then
visited from its creek, Sharm Jibbah.
[EN#146] Chap. XIV.
[EN#147] A water-rolled fragment of this rock is called
Korundogeschieb by Dr. L. Karl Moser, Professor of Natural
History at the Gymnasium of Trieste, who kindly examined my
little private collection of "show things."
[EN#148] Chap. XII.
[EN#149] Let me at once protest against the assertions contained
in an able review of "The Gold-Mines of Midian" (Pall Mall
Gazette, June 7, 1878). The writer makes ancient Midian extend
from the north of the Arabic Gulf (El-'Akabah?) and Arabia Felix
(which? of the classics or of the moderns?) to the plains of
Moab"--exactly where it assuredly does not now extend.
[EN#150] Described in Chap. XV.
[EN#151] This place is noticed in "The Gold-Mines of Midian,"
Chap. X.
[EN#152] I am not certain of this name, as several variants were
given to me. For historical notices of the ruined town of
Khulasah, see Chap. IV.
[EN#153] In "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. V., occur several
differences of nomenclature, which may or may not be mistakes.
They are corrected in my "Itineraries," part ii. sect. 2.
[EN#154] To this breed belonged the beast which carried me on the
first Expedition.
[EN#155] For a short notice of this region, hitherto unvisited by
Europeans, see Chap. XVIII.
[EN#156] For a note on the "Burnt Mountain," so well known at
El-Wijh, see Chap. XVIII.
[EN#157] It was afterwards exhibited at the Hippodrome, Cairo,
and was carefully photographed by M. Lacaze. Others said that it
came from the east of our camp, near the Jils el-Dáim.
[EN#158] It was duly committed to the charge of our Sayyid.
End of The Land of Midian (Revisited) By Richard F. Burton,
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