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Title: The Land of Midian, Vol. 2
Author: Richard Burton
Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7113]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on March 11, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAND OF MIDIAN, VOL. 2 ***
Produced by JC Byers and proofread by MaryAnn Short
The Land of Midian (Revisited).
By Richard F. Burton.
In Two Volumes.
Vol. II.
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.
CONTENTS
PART II.
The March Through Central and Eastern Midian. (Continued)
Chapter XI. The Unknown Lands South of the Hismá--Ruins of
Shuwák and Shaghab
Chapter XII. From Shaghab to Zibá--Ruins of El-Khandakí and Umm
Ámil--The Turquoise Mine--Return to El-Muwaylah
Chapter XIII. A Week Around and Upon the Shárr Mountain--Résumé
of the March Through Eastern or Central Midian
Chapter XIV. Down South--To El-WijhNotes on the Quarantine--
The Hutaym Tribe.
Chapter XV. The Southern Sulphur-Hill--The Cruise to El-Haurá-
-Notes on the Baliyy Tribe and the Volcanic
Centres of North-Western Arabia
Chapter XVI. Our Last March--The Inland Fort--Ruins of the
Gold-Mines at Umm El-Karáyát and Umm El-Haráb
Chapter XVII. The March Continued to El-Badá--Description of the
Plain Badais
Chapter XVIII. Coal a "Myth"--March to Marwát--Arrival at the
Wady Hamz
Chapter XIX. The Wady Hamz--The Classical Ruin--Abá'l-
Marú, The Mine of "Marwah"--Return to El-
Wijh--Résumé of the Southern Journey
Conclusion
Appendix I. Dates of the Three Journeys (Northern,
Central, and Southern) made by the Second
Khedivial Expedition
Appendix II. EXpenses of the Expedition to Midian,
Commanded by Captain R. F. Burton, H.B.M.
Consul, Trieste
Appendix III. Preserved Provisions and other Stores,
Supplied by Messrs. Voltéra Bros., of the
Ezbekiyyah, Cairo
Appendix IV. Botany and List of Insects
Appendix V. Meteorological Journal
Index
PART II.
The March Through Central and Eastern Midian.
(Continued.)
Chapter XI.
The Unknown Lands South of the HismáRuins of Shuwák and Shaghab.
We have now left the region explored by Europeans; and our line
to the south and the south-east will lie over ground wholly new.
In front of us the land is no longer Arz Madyan: we are entering
South Midian, which will extend to El-Hejáz. As the march might
last longer than had been expected, I ordered fresh supplies from
El-Muwaylah to meet us in the interior viâ Zibá. A very small boy
acted dromedary-man; and on the next day he reached the fort,
distant some thirty-five and a half direct geographical miles
eastward with a trifling of northing.
We left the Jayb el-Khuraytah on a delicious morning (6.15 a.m.,
February 26th), startling the gazelles and the hares from their
breakfast graze.
The former showed in troops of six; and the latter were still
breeding, as frequent captures of the long-eared young proved.
The track lay down the Wady Dahal and other influents of the
great Wady Sa'lúwwah, a main feeder of the Dámah. We made a
considerable détour between south-south-east and south-east to
avoid the rocks and stones discharged by the valleys of the
Shafah range on our left. To the right rose the Jibál el-Tihámah,
over whose nearer brown heights appeared the pale blue peaks of
Jebel Shárr and its southern neighbour, Jebel Sa'lúwwah.
At nine a.m. we turned abruptly eastward up the Wady
el-Sulaysalah, whose head falls sharply from the Shafah range.
The surface is still Hismá ground, red sand with blocks of ruddy
grit, washed down from the plateau on the left; and, according to
Furayj, it forms the south-western limit of the Harrah. The
valley is honeycombed into man-traps by rats and lizards, causing
many a tumble, and notably developing the mulish instinct. We
then crossed a rough and rocky divide, Arabicè a Majrá, or, as
the Bedawin here pronounce it, a "Magráh,"[EN#1] which takes its
name from the tormented Ruways ridge on the right. After a hot,
unlively march of four hours (= eleven miles), on mules worn out
by want of water, we dismounted at a queer isolated lump on the
left of the track. This Jebel el-Murayt'bah ("of the Little
Step") is lumpy grey granite of the coarsest elements, whose
false strata, tilted up till they have become quasi-vertical, and
worn down to pillars and drums, crown the crest like gigantic
columnar crystallizations. We shall see the same freak of nature
far more grandly developed into the "Pins" of the Shárr. It has
evidently upraised the trap, of which large and small blocks are
here and there imbedded in it. The granite is cut in its turn by
long horizontal dykes of the hardest quadrangular basalt,
occasionally pudding'd with banded lumps of red jasper and
oxydulated iron: from afar they look like water-lines, and in
places they form walls, regular as if built. The rounded forms
result from the granites flaking off in curved laminæ, like
onion-coats. Want of homogeneity in the texture causes the
granite to degrade into caves and holes: the huge blocks which
have fallen from the upper heights often show unexpected hollows
in the under and lower sides. Above the water we found an immense
natural dolmen, under which apparently the Bedawin take shelter.
After El-Murayt'bah the regular granitic sequence disappears, nor
will it again be visible till we reach Shaghab (March 2nd).
About noon we remounted and rounded the south of the block,
disturbing by vain shots two fine black eagles. I had reckoned
upon the "Water of El-Murayt'bah," in order to make an
exceptional march after so many days of deadly slow going. But
the cry arose that the rain-puddle was dry. We had not brought a
sufficient supply with us, and twenty-two miles to and from the
Wady Dahal was a long way for camels, to say nothing of their
owners and the danger of prowling Ma'ázah. In front water lay
still farther off, according to the guides, who, it will be seen,
notably deceived us. So I ordered the camp to be pitched, after
reconnoitering the locale of the water; and we all proceeded to
work, with a detachment of soldiers and quarrymen. It was not a
rain-puddle, but a spring rising slowly in the sand, which had
filled up a fissure in the granite about four feet broad; of
these crevices three were disposed parallel to one another, and
at different heights. They wanted only clearing out; the produce
was abundant, and though slightly flavoured with iron and
sulphur, it was drinkable. The thirsty mules amused us not a
little: they smelt water at once; hobbled as they were, all
hopped like kangaroos over the plain, and with long ears well to
the fore, they stood superintending the operation till it was
their turn to be happy.
Our evening at the foot of El-Ruways was cheered, despite the
flies, the earwigs, and the biting Ba'úzah beetle, which here
first put in an appearance, by the weird and fascinating aspect
of the southern Hismá-wall, standing opposite to us, and distant
about a mile from the dull drab-coloured basin, El-Majrá. Based
upon mighty massive foundations of brown and green trap, the
undulating junction being perfectly defined by a horizontal white
line, the capping of sandstone rises regular as if laid in
courses, with a huge rampart falling perpendicular upon the
natural slope of its glacis. This bounding curtain is called the
Taur el-Shafah, the "inaccessible part of the Lip-range." Further
eastward the continuity of the coping has been broken and
weathered into the most remarkable castellations: you pass mile
after mile of cathedrals, domes, spires, minarets, and pinnacles;
of fortresses, dungeons, bulwarks, walls, and towers; of
platforms, buttresses, and flying buttresses. These Girágir
(Jirájir), as the Bedawin call them, change shape at every new
point of view, and the eye never wearies of their infinite
variety. Nor are the tints less remarkable than the forms. When
the light of day warms them with its gorgeous glaze, the
buildings wear the brightest hues of red concrete, like a certain
house near Prince's Gate, set off by lambent lights of lively
pink and balas-ruby, and by shades of deep transparent purple,
while here and there a dwarf dome or a tumulus gleams sparkling
white in the hot sun-ray. The even-glow is indescribably lovely,
and all the lovelier because unlasting: the moment the red disc
disappears, the glorious rosy smile fades away, leaving the pale
grey ghosts of their former selves to gloom against the gloaming
of the eastern sky. I could not persuade M. Lacaze to transfer
this vividity of colour to canvas: he had the artist's normal
excuse, "Who would believe it?"
The next morning saw the Expedition afoot at six a.m., determined
to make up for a half by the whole day's work so long intended.
The track struck eastward, and issued from the dull hollow, Majrá
el-Ruways, by a made road about a mile and a half long, a cornice
cut in the stony flanks of a hill whose head projected southwards
into the broad Wady Hujayl ("the Little Partridge"). This line
seems to drain inland; presently it bends round by the east and
feeds the Wady Dámah. Rain must lately have fallen, for the earth
is "purfled flowers," pink, white, and yellow. The latter is the
tint prevailing in Midian, often suggesting the careless European
wheat-field, in which "shillock" or wild mustard rears its
gamboge head above the green. Midian wants not only the charming
oleander and the rugged terebinth, typical of the Desert; but
also the "blood of Adonis," the lovely anemone which lights up
the Syrian landscape like the fisherman's scarlet cap in a
sea-piece. This stage introduced us to the Hargul (Harjal, Rhazya
stricta), whose perfume filled the valley with the clean smell of
the henna-bloom, the Eastern privet--Mr. Clarke said
"wallflowers." Our mules ate it greedily, whilst the country
animals, they say, refuse it: the flowers, dried and pounded,
cure by fumigation "pains in the bones." Here also we saw for the
first time the quaint distaff-shape of the purple red Masrúr
(Cynomorium coccineum, Linn.), from which the Bedawi "cook
bread." It is eaten simply peeled and sun-dried, when it has a
vegetable taste slightly astringent as if by tannin, something
between a potato and a turnip; or its rudely pounded flour is
made into balls with soured milk. This styptic, I am told by Mr.
R. B. Sharpe, of the British Museum, was long supposed to be
peculiar to Malta; hence its pre-Linnaean name (Fungus
Melitensis).[EN#2] Now it is known to occur through the
Mediterranean to India. Let me here warn future collectors of
botany in Midian that throughout the land the vegetable kingdom
follows the rule of the mineral: every march shows something new;
and he who neglects to gather specimens, especially of the
smaller flowers, in one valley, will perhaps find none of them in
those adjoining.
A denser row of trees lower down the Wady Hujayl led to the water
of Amdán (Mídán?), about an hour and a half from our last
nighting-place; yesterday it had been reported six hours distant.
High towering on our left (north) rose three huge buttresses of
the Girágir. In front stood a marvellous background of domes and
arches, cones and ninepins, all decayed Hismá, blurred and broken
by the morning mist, which could hardly be called a fog; and
forming a perspective of a dozen distances. Now they curve from
north-east to south-west in a kind of scorpion's tail, with
detached vertebrae torn and wasted by the adjacent plutonic
outcrops; and looking from the west they suggest blood-red islets
rising above the great gloomy waves of trap and porphyry. This
projection will remain in sight until we reach Shuwák; and in
places we shall see it backed by the basalts and lavas of the
straightlined Harrah.
Presently turning sharp to the right (south-east), we struck
across a second divide, far more shallow than the first; and fell
into the northern basin of the great Dámah valley, also known as
El-Rahabah, "the Open;"--the Rehoboth ("spaces") of the Hebrews.
Like yesterday's, the loose red sand is Hismá; and it is also
scattered with Harrah lava. After a four hours' ride we halted to
enable the caravan to come up. Our Shaykhs were bent upon making
twelve miles the average day's work; and their "little game" was
now to delay as much as possible. Here we again found flocks of
sheep and goats tended by young girls, who ran away like
ostriches, and by old women who did not: on the contrary, Sycorax
enjoyed asking the news and wrangling over a kid. The camels
throughout this country seem to be always under the charge of men
or boys.
Here began our study of the great Wady Da'mah, whose fame as an
Arabian Arcadia extends far and wide, and whose possession has
caused many a bloody battle. We now see it at its best, in early
spring morning, when
"The landscape smiles
Calm in the sun, and silent are the hills
And valleys, and the blue serene of air."
This notable feature is a Haddúdah ("frontier divider"), which in
ancient days separated the Ukbíyyah ("Ukbah-land") to the north
from the Balawi'yyah ("Baliyy-land") south. The latter still
claim it as their northern limit; but the intrusive Egypto-Arabs
have pushed their way far beyond this bourne. Its present Huwayti
owners, the Sulaymiyyín, the Sulaymát, the Jeráfín, and other
tribes, are a less turbulent race than the northerns because they
are safe from the bandit Ma'ázah: they are more easily managed,
and they do not meet a fair offer with the eternal Yaftah
Allah--"Allah opens."[EN#3]
The head of the Dámah, a great bay in the Hismá-wall to the east,
is now in sight of us; and we shall pass its mouth, which
debouches into the sea below Zibá. This tract is equally abundant
in herds (camels), flocks, and vegetation: in places a thin
forest gathers, and the tree-clumps now form a feature in the
scenery. The sole, a broad expanse of loose red arenaceous
matter, the washings of the plateau, is fearfully burrowed and
honeycombed; it is also subject, like its sister the Sadr, to the
frequent assault of "devils," or sand-pillars. That it is
plentifully supplied with water, we learn from the presence of
birds. The cries of the caravane, the "knock-kneed" plover of
Egypt, yellow-beaked and black-eyed, resounded in the more barren
belts. A lovely little sun-bird (Nectarinia ose?), which the
Frenchmen of course called colibri, with ravishing reflections of
green and gold, flashed like a gem thrown from shrub to shrub:
this oiseau mouche is found scattered throughout Midian; we saw
it even about El-Muwaylah, but I had unfortunately twice
forgotten dust-shot. The Egyptian Rakham (percnopter), yellow
with black-tipped wings; a carrion-eater, now so rare, and the
common brown kite, still so common near civilized Cairo, soared
in the sky; while the larger vultures, perching upon the
rock-ridges, suggested Bedawi sentinels. The ravens, here as
elsewhere, are a plague: flights of them occupy favourite places,
and they prey upon the young lambs, hares, and maimed birds.
We advanced another five miles, and crossed to the southern side
of the actual torrent-bed, whose banks, strewed with a quantity
of dead flood-wood entangling the trees, and whose flaky clays,
cracked to the shape of slabs and often curling into tubes of
natural pottery, show that at times the Hismá must discharge
furious torrents. We camped close to the Dámah at the foot of the
Jebel el-Balawi; the water, known as Máyat el-Jebayl ("of the
Hillock"), lay ahead in a low rocky snout: it was represented as
being distant a full hour, and the mules did not return from it
till three had passed; but thirty minutes would have been nearer
the truth. The Nile-drinkers turned up their fastidious noses at
the supply, but Lieutenant Amir, who had graduated in the rough
campaigning-school of the Súdán, pronounced it "regular."
The nighting-place on the Dámah was as pretty and picturesque as
the Majrá was tame and uncouth. While the west was amber clear,
long stripes of purpling, crimson, flaming cloud, to the south
and the east, set off the castled crags disposed in a semicircle
round the Wady-head; and the "buildings" appeared art-like
enough to be haunted ground, the domain of the Fata Morgana, a
glimpse of the City of Brass built by Shaddaá, son of Ad. When
the stars began to glitter sharp and clear, our men fell to
singing and dancing; and the boy Husayn Ganinah again
distinguished himself by his superior ribaldry. Our work was more
respectable and prosaic, firing a mule with a swollen back.
Within a mile or so of us stood some Bedawi tents, which we had
passed on the march: they were deserted by the men, here
Sulaymát, who drive their camels to the wilds sometimes for a
week at a time. An old wife who brought us a goat for sale, and
who begged that Husayn, the Básh-Buzúk, might pass the night with
her, in order to shoot an especially objectionable wolf, had a
long tale to tell of neighbouring ruins. She also reported that
near the same place there is a well with steps, into which the
Arabs had descended some seven fathoms; presently they found
houses occupying the galleries at the bottom, and fled in terror.
Lieutenant Amir was sent to sketch and survey the site next
morning; and he was lucky enough to be guided by one Sa'id bin
Zayfullah, the Sulaymi, whose prime dated from the palmy days of
the great Mohammed Ali Pasha. He acknowledged as his friends the
grandfather, and even the father, of our guide Furayj; but the
latter he ignored, looking upon him as a mere Walad ("lad").
Moreover, he remembered the birth of Shaykh Mohammed Afnán,
chief of the Baliyy, which took place when he himself had already
become a hunter of the gazelle.[EN#4] According to him, the
remains are still known as the Dár ("house") or Diyár ("houses")
El-Nasárá--"of the Nazarenes," that is, of the Nabathaeans. The
former term is retained here, as in Sinai, by popular tradition;
and the latter is clean forgotten throughout Midian.[EN#5]
Riding down the Wady Dámah to the southwest, Lieutenant Amir came
upon a spring in a stone-revetted well near the left bank: this
Ayn el-Bada' is not to be confounded with the Badí' water, or
with the Badá plain, both of which we shall presently visit. A
strew of broken quartz around it showed the atelier, and
specimens of scattered fragments, glass and pottery, were
gathered. The settlement-ruins, which the guide called
El-Kantarah, lie further down upon a southern influent of the
main line: they are divided into two blocks, one longer than the
other. Lieutenant Amir made a careful plan of the remains, and
then pushed forward to Shuwák by the direct track, westward of
that taken by the caravan. He arrived in camp, none the worse for
a well-developed "cropper;" his dromedary had put its foot in a
hole, and had fallen with a suddenness generally unknown to the
cameline race.
By way of geographical exercitation, we had all drawn our several
plans, showing, after Arab statement, the lay of Shaghab and
Shuwák, the two ruins which we were about to visit. Nothing could
be more ridiculous when the sketch-maps came to be compared. This
was owing to the route following the three sides of a long
parallelogram; whilst the fourth is based upon the Wady Dámah,
causing considerable complication. And, the excursus ended, all
were convinced that we had made much southing, when our furthest
point was not more than five miles south of Zibá (north lat. 27°
20').
We quitted the great valley at six a.m. (February 28th), and
struck up the Wady Shuwák, an influent that runs northwards to
the Dámah's left bank. On the stony ground above the right side
of this Fiumara lay six circles of stones, disposed in a line
from north-east to south-west: they may have been ruins of Hufrah
("water-pits"). As we rose the Nullah surface was pied with white
flowers, the early growth which here takes the place of
primroses. I had some difficulty in persuading our good friend
Furayj, who had not seen the country for fifteen years, to engage
as guide one of the many Bedawin camel-herds: his course seemed
to serpentine like that of an animal grazing--he said it was
intended to show the least stony road--and, when he pointed with
the wave of the maimed right hand, he described an arc of some
90°. The Sulaymi lad caught the nearest camel, climbed its sides
as you would a tree, and, when the animal set off at a lumbering
gallop, pressed the soles of his feet to the ribs, with exactly
the action of a Simiad; clinging the while, like grim Death, to
the hairy hump.
After some six miles we attempted a short cut, a gorge that
debouched on the left bank of the Shuwák valley. It showed at
once a complete change of formation: the sides were painted with
clays of variegated colours, crystallized lime and porphyritic
conglomerates, tinted mauve-purple as if by manganese. Further
on, the path, striking over broken divides and long tracts of
stony ground, became rough riding: it was bordered by the usual
monotonous, melancholy hills of reddish and greenish trap, whose
slaty and schist-like edges in places stood upright. On the
summit of the last Col appeared the ruins of an outwork, a large
square and a central heap of boulder-stones. Straight in front
rose the block that backs our destination, the Jebel el-Sáni', or
"Mountain of the Maker," the artificer par excellence, that is,
the blacksmith: it is so called from a legendary shoer of horses
and mules, who lived there possibly in the days before Sultán
Selim. It is remarkable for its twin peaks, sharp-topped blocks,
the higher to the east, and called by the Bedawin Naghar and
Nughayr. The guides spoke of a furnace near the summit of these
remarkable cones; excellent landmarks which we shall keep in
sight during several marches. At length, after ten miles of slow
work, we saw before us, stretched as upon a map, the broad valley
with its pink sands; the Daum-trees, the huge Ushr or "Apple of
Sodom," the fan-palm bush, and the large old Jujubes--here an
invariable sign of former civilization--which informed us that
there lay fair Shuwák.
The dull gorge introduced us to what was then a novelty in
Midian; but we afterwards found it upon the cold heights of the
Shárr, where it supplied us with many a dainty dish. This was the
Shinnár[EN#6] (caccabis), a partridge as large as a pheasant, and
flavoured exactly like the emigrant from Phasis.
The coat, the clock! clock! and the nimble running over the
rocks, ever the favourite haunt, denote the "perdix." The head is
black, as in the C. melanocephala of Abyssinia, and the legs and
feet are red like the smaller "Greek" caccabis that inhabits the
Hismá; the male birds have no spurs, and they are but little
larger than their mates. There seems to be no difficulty in
keeping them; we bought a hen and chicks caged at El-Wijh, but
whether they lived or not I neglected to note. Here, too, we
learned the reason why the falcons and the hawks (Falco milvus,
F. gentilis, etc.) are so fierce and so well-fed. The tyrant of
the air raises the partridge or the quail by feinting a swoop,
and, as it hurries away screaming aloud, follows it leisurely at
a certain distance. Finally, when the quarry reaches the place
intended--at least, the design so appears--the falcon stoops and
ends the chase. The other birds were ring-doves, turtles, and the
little "butcher" impaling, gaily as a "gallant Turk," its live
victim upon a long thorn.
Shuwák, which lies in about north lat. 27° 15', can be no other than
the placed by Ptolemy (vi. 7) in north lat. 26° 15'; and, if
so, we must add one degree to his latitudes, which are sixty miles
too low.[EN#7] According to Sprenger ("Alt. Geog.," p. 25),
and do not fit into any of the Alexandrian's routes; and
were connected only with their ports Rhaunathos (M'jirmah?) and
Phoenicon Vicus (Zibá?). But both these cities were large and
important centres, both of agriculture and of mining industry,
forming crucial stations on the great Nabathæan highway, the
overland between Leukè Kóme and Petra. The line was kept up by the
Moslems until Sultán Selim's superseded it; and hence the modern
look of the remains which at first astonished us so much. The
tradition of the Hajj-passage is distinctly preserved by the
Bedawin; and I have little doubt that metal has been worked here as
lately, perhaps, as the end of the last century. But by whom, again,
deponent ventures not to say, even to guess.
The site of Shuwák is a long island in the broad sandy Wady of
the same name, which, as has been remarked, feeds the Dámah. Its
thalweg has shifted again and again: the main line now hugs the
southern or left bank, under the slopes and folds of the Jebel
el-Sáni'; whilst a smaller branch, on the northern side, is
subtended by the stony divide last crossed. At the city the lay
of the valley is from north-east to south-west, and the altitude
is about seventeen hundred feet (aner. 28.28). The head still
shows the castellations of the Hismá. Looking down-stream, beyond
the tree-dotted bed and the low dark hills that divide this basin
from the adjoining Wady to the south, we see the tall grey tops
of the Jebel Zigláb (Zijláb) and of the Shahbá-Gámirah--the
"ashen-coloured (Peak) of Gámirah"--the latter being the name of
a valley. Both look white by the side of the dark red and green
rocks; and we shall presently find that they mark the granite
region lying south and seaward of the great trap formations. We
were not sorry to see it again--our eyes were weary of the gloomy
plutonic curtains on either side.
At Shuwák we allowed the camels a day of rest, whilst we planned
and sketched, dug into, and described the ruins. A difficulty
about drinking-water somewhat delayed us. The modern wells, like
those of the Haurán, are rudely revetted pits in a bald and shiny
bit of clay-plain below the principal block of ruins: only one in
the dozen holds water, and that has been made Wahsh ("foul") by
the torrent sweeping into it heaps of the refuse and manure
strewed around. The lower folds of the Sáni' block also supply
rain-pools; but here, again, the Arabs and their camels had left
their marks. The only drinkable water lies a very long mile down
the southern (left) bank, above the old aqueduct, in a deep and
narrow gorge of trap. The perennial spring, still trickling down
the rocks, was dammed across, as remnants of cement show us, in
more places than one. There are also signs of cut basins, which
the barrages above and below once divided into a series of tanks.
Up the rough steps of the bed the camel-men drove their beasts;
and the name of a Gujráti maker, printed upon a sack of
Anglo-Indian canvas, had a curious effect among such Bedawi
surroundings.
At last we sank a pit some five feet deep in a re-entering angle
of the northern or smaller branch; we lined it with stone
down-stream, where the flow made the loose sand fall in, and we
obtained an ample and excellent supply. Doubtless it was spoiled,
as soon as our backs were turned, by the half-Fellah
Jeráfín-Huwaytát, to whom the place belongs. The sea-breeze
during the day was high and dust-laden, but we passed a cool
delicious night upon the clean sweet sand, which does not stick
or cling. At this altitude there is no fear of bugs and
fleas--the only dread is Signor "Pediculus."
We will begin, with our surveyors, at the valley head, and note
the ruins as we stroll down. This section, Shuwák proper, is
nearly a mile and a half long, and could hardly have lodged less
than twenty thousand souls. But that extent by no means
represents the whole; our next march will prolong it along the
valley for a total of at least four miles. The material is
various--boulders of granite and syenite; squares of trap and
porphyry; the red sandstones of the Hismá; the basalts of the
Harrah; and the rock found in situ, a brown and crumbling grit,
modern, and still in process of agglutination. The heaps and
piles which denote buildings are divided by mounds and tumuli of
loose friable soil, white with salt,--miniatures of Babylon,
Nineveh, and Troy. On either flanks of the river-holm the
periodical torrents have done their worst, cutting up the once
regular bank into a succession of clay buttresses. On the right
side we find a large fort, half sliced away, but still showing
the concrete flooring of a tower. About the centre of the length
are the remnants of a round Burj; blocks of buildings, all
levelled to the foundations, lie to the north-west, and on the
west appear signs of a square. Perhaps the most interesting
discovery is that of catacombs, proving a civilization analogous
to Magháir Shu'ayb, but ruder, because more distant from the
centre. The "caves" are hollowed in a long reef of loose breccia,
which, fronting eastward, forms the right bank of the smaller
branch. They are now almost obliterated by being turned into
sheep-folds; the roofs have fallen in, and only one preserves the
traces of two loculi.
The arrangements touching fuel and water in this great
metal-working establishment are on a large scale. The biggest of
the Afrán ("furnaces") lies to the north-west, near the right
bank of the valley: all are of the ordinary type, originally some
five or six feet high, to judge from the bases. They are built of
fire-brick, and of the Hismá stone, which faces itself into a
natural latex. We dug deep into several of them; but so careful
had been the workmen, or perhaps those who afterwards ransacked
these places, that not the smallest tear of metal remained: we
found only ashes, pottery, and scoriae, as usual black and green,
the latter worked sub-aerially; many of them had projections like
stalactite. Round the furnaces are strewed carbonate of lime,
stained black with iron, like that of Sharmá; and a quantity of
the chlorite-enamelled serpentine still used in the Brazil as a
flux.
Quartz was absent, and we were at a loss to divine what stone had
been worked. At last we observed near the catacombs sundry heaps
of pinkish earth, evidently washed out; and our researches in the
South Country afterwards suggested that this may have been the
remains of the micaceous schist, whose containing quartz was so
extensively worked at Umm el-Haráb. Moreover, a short study of
Shaghab threw more light on the matter.
Water also had been stored up with prodigious labour. We could
easily trace the lines of half a dozen aqueducts, mostly
channelled with rough cement, overlying a fine concrete; some of
them had grooved stones to divert the stream by means of lashers.
The Fiskíyyah or "tanks," as carefully built, were of all sizes;
and the wells, which appeared to be mediaeval, were lined with
stones cut in segments of circles: we shall see the same curve in
Sultán Selim's work near Zibá. The greatest feat is an aqueduct
which, sanded over in the upper part, subtends the left side of
the valley. It is carefully but rudely built, and where it
crosses a gully, the "horizontal arch" is formed of projecting
stone tiers, without a sign of key. This magnum opus must date
from the days when the southern part of the Wady was nearly what
it is now.
About a mile and a quarter below our camp, the Wady, which
broadens to a mile, shows on the left bank a wall measuring a
thousand metres long, apparently ending in a tank of 110 feet
each way. Around it are ruined parallelograms of every size,
which in ancient times may have been workshops connected with the
buildings in the island higher up. The torrents have now washed
away the continuation, if ever there was any; and, though the
lower remnants are comparatively safe upon their high ledge, the
holm is evidently fated to disappear.
I did not learn till too late that a single day's march
southwards from the Wady Shuwák, along the old main line of
traffic, leads to the Wady Nejd, upon whose upper course is the
plain of Badá; and which, after assuming four different names,
falls, as will be seen, into the sea about thirty-five miles
north of El-Wijh.
We left Shuwák considerably posed, puzzled, and perplexed by what
it had shown us. A little pottery had been picked up, but our
diggings had not produced a coin or even a bit of glass. The
evidences of immense labour are the more astonishing when
compared with the utter absence of what we call civilization. The
Greek and Latin inscriptions of the Hauranic cities declare their
origin: these, absolutely unalphabetic, refuse a single hint
concerning the mysterious race which here lived and worked, and
worked so nobly. And, finally, who were the Moslems that
succeeded them in a later day, when the Hajj-caravan, some three
centuries and a half ago, ceased to march by this road? How is it
that the annalists say nothing of them? that not a vestige of
tradition remains concerning any race but the Nazarenes?
From Shuwák to the Wady Dámah there are two roads, a direct and
an indirect; the latter passing by the ruins of Shaghab. The
caravan begged hard to take the former, but was summarily
refused. At six a.m. we rode down the Shuwák valley, again noting
its huge constructions, and then striking away from it to the
left, we passed over a short divide of brown hill, where the
narrow Pass was marked only by Bedawi graves. The morning showed
a peculiar rainbow, if a bow may be called so when no rain
appeared; a perpendicular stripe, brilliant enough, and lasting
at least twenty minutes. The cloud behind it had no skirt, no
droop in fact, no sign of dissolution; and what made it the
stranger was that this "bull's-eye" lay north of, and not
opposite to, but quite near, the rising sun. We shall note
another of these exceptional rainbows at El-Badá.[EN#8]
After marching some seven miles to the south with westing, we saw
inform heaps to the left: half an hour afterwards,
boulder-encircled pits of a brighter green on the right, the
Themáil el-Má ("artificial cisterns") of the Arabs, announced
that we were reaching Shaghab. The caravan punished us by wasting
five hours on the way, in order to force a halt; and by camping
at the wrong place, when I objected to the delay. It brought with
it, however, a fine young Beden (ibex), killed by one of the
Bedawin; and we determined to stuff, to bury, and to bake it,
Arab fashion, under the superintendence of the Básh-Buzúk Husayn.
Unfortunately it was served to us on the next day cold, whereas
it should have been eaten at once, piping hot. The meat was dark,
with a beefy rather than a gamey flavour, palatable, but by no
means remarkable. There were loud regrets that a cuisse de
chevreuil had not been marinée; in fact, an infect odour of the
Quartier Latin everywhere followed us; and when a guide told us
the pattern lie, that we should not reach Umm Amir before the
fourth day, the poor "Frogs" croaked, and croaked audibly as
dismally. Their last bottle of ordinaire was finished; Gabr, the
Kázi, had come into camp, bearing a long official Arabic document
from Lieutenant Yusuf, but not a single Journal de Genève; there
was no news of a steamer being sent with rations and forage from
Suez: briefly, c'était embetant--to use the milder of the two
favourite synonyms.
The ruins of Shaghab are built upon a more complicated site than
those of Shuwák. The position is charming. The Wady Shaghab,
flowing to the south, here spreads out in a broad bulge or basin
open to the west. Down-stream we see a "gate" formed by the
meeting of two rocky tongue-tips, both showing large works.
Beyond these narrows the valley bends to the south-west and feeds
the Wady Aznab, which falls into the sea south of the Dámah. The
mass of the ruined city lies upon the left bank, where a high and
artificial-looking remblai of earth masks an eastern influent,
the Wady el-Aslah (Athlah), or "of the Kali-plant." It drains the
mountain of the same name, and the Jebel Zigláb (Zijláb), the
cones of pale granite visible from Shuwák; and upon its broad
mouth the old settlement stood à cheval. A little north of west
rises profiled the great Shárr, no longer a ridge with a coping
of four horns, but a tall and portly block, from whose summit
spring heads and peaks of airy blue-pink. Slightly east of north
the twins Naghar and Nughayr, combining to form the "Mountain of
the Maker" (Jebel el-Sáni'), tower in the shape of a huge
pyramid. Lastly, a regular ascent, the Majrá el-Wághir, fronts
the city, sloping up to the west-north-west, and discloses a view
of the Jibál el-Tihámah: this broad incline was, some three
centuries ago, the route of the Hajj-caravan.
We walked down the Shaghab valley-bed, whose sides, like those of
the Dámah, are chevaux de frise of dead wood. The characteristic
rock is a conglomerate of large and small stones, compacted by
hard silicious paste, and stained mauve-purple apparently by
manganese: we had seen it on the way to Shuwák; and the next
day's march will pave the uplands with it. The wells in the sole
are distinctly Arab, triangular mouths formed and kept open by
laying down tree-trunks, upon which the drawer of water safely
stands. On the right bank up-stream no ruins are perceptible;
those on the left are considerable, but not a quarter the size of
Shuwák. Here again appear the usual succession of great squares:
the largest to the east measures 500 metres along the sides; and
there are three others, one of 400 metres by 192. They are
subtended by one of many aqueducts, whose walls, two feet thick,
showed no signs of brick: it is remarkable for being run
underground to pierce a hillock; in fact, the system is rather
Greek or subterranean, than Roman or subaerial. Further down are
the remains apparently of a fort: heaps of land-shells lie about
it; they are very rare in this region, and during our four
months' march we secured only two species.[EN#9]
Still descending, we found the ancient or mediaeval wells,
numbering about a dozen, and in no wise differing from those of
Shuwák. At the gorge, where the Wady escapes from view,
Lieutenant Amir planned buildings on the lower right bank, and on
the left he found a wall about half a mile long, with the remains
of a furnace and quartz scattered about it. This stone had
reappeared in large quantities, the moment we crossed the divide;
the pale grey of the Jebel Zigláb and its neighbours was
evidently owing to its presence; and from this point it will be
found extending southwards and seawards as far as El-Hejaz. He
brought with him a hard white stone much resembling trachyte, and
fragments of fine green jasper.
A cursory inspection of Shaghab removed some of the difficulties
which had perplexed us at Shuwák and elsewhere. In the North
Country signs of metal-working, which was mostly confined to the
Wadys, have been generally obliterated; washed away or sanded
over. Here the industry revealed itself without mistake. The
furnaces were few, but around each one lay heaps of Negro and
copper-green quartz, freshly fractured; while broken handmills of
basalt and lava, differing from the rubstones and mortars of a
softer substance, told their own tale.
At Shaghab, then, the metalliferous "Marú" brought from the
adjacent granitic mountains was crushed, and then transported for
roasting and washing to Shuwák, where water, the prime necessary
in these lands, must have been more abundant. Possibly in early
days the two settlements formed one, the single of
Ptolemy; and the south end would have been the headquarters of
the wealthy. Hence the Bedawin always give it precedence--Shaghab
wa Shuwák; moreover, we remarked a better style of building in
the former; and we picked up glass as well as pottery.
As a turkey buzzard (vulture) is the fittest emblem for murderous
Dahome, so I should propose for Midian, now spoiled and wasted by
the Wild Man, a broken handmill of basalt upon a pile of spalled
Negro quartz.
Chapter XII.
From Shaghab to Zibá--ruins of El-Khandakí' and Umm Ámil--the
Turquoise MineReturn to El-Muwaylah.
Leaving Lieutenant Amir to map the principal ruins, we followed
the caravan up the Majrá el-Wághir, the long divide rising to the
west-north-west. The thin forest reminded me of the wooded slopes
of the Anti-Libanus about El-Kunaytarah: there, however,
terebinths and holm-oaks take the place of these unlovely and
uncomfortable thorn-trees. They are cruelly beaten--an operation
called El-Ramá--by the Bedawi camel-man, part of whose travelling
kit, and the most important part too, here as in Sinai, is the
flail (Murmár or Makhbat) and the mat to receive the leaves:
perhaps Acacias and Mimosas are not so much bettered by "bashing"
as the woman, the whelp, and the walnut-tree of the good old
English proverb. After three miles we passed, on the left, ruins
of long walls and Arab Wasm, with white memorial stones perched
on black. In front rose the tall Jebel Tulayh, buttressing the
right or northern bank of the Dámah; and behind it, stained
faint-blue by distance, floated in the flickering mirage the
familiar forms of the Tihámah range, a ridge now broken into half
a dozen blocks. I had ordered the caravan to march upon the
Tuwayl el-Súk; but, after one hour and fifteen minutes, we found
the tents pitched some three miles short of it, on a bleak and
ugly wave of the Wághir. The Shaykhs swore, by all holy things,
that this was the veritable Tuwayl; and a Bedawi, who declared
that he knew where water lay in the neighbourhood, refused to
show it sans the preliminary "bakhshísh." Mashallah! It is a
noble race.
Early next morning (six a.m., March 3rd) we followed the right
bank of the Wady el-Khandakí, which runs north with westing.
Beyond it lay the foot-hills of gloomy trap leading to the Jebel
el-Raydán, a typical granitic form, a short demi-pique saddleback
with inwards-sloping pommel like the Pao d'Assucar of picturesque
Rio de Janeiro. Here as elsewhere, the granites run parallel with
and seaward of the traps. The Tuwayl el-Súk is nothing but an
open and windy flat, where the Hajj-caravan used to camp an
adjoining ridge, the Hamrá el-Tuwayl, shows spalled quartz, Wasm
and memorial stones. The principal formation here is the
mauve-purple conglomerate before described.
After riding nine miles we came unexpectedly upon a large and
curious ruin, backed by the broad Wady Dámah gleaming white in
the sun. The first feature noticed was a pair of parallel walls,
or rather their foundations, thirty-five feet apart, and nearly a
kilometre in length: it looked like a vast hangar. To the left
lie three tracings of squares; the central is a work of earth and
stone, not unlike a rude battery; and, a few paces further north,
a similar fort has a cistern attached to its western curtain.
Heaps of rounded boulders, and the crumbling white-edged mounds
which, in these regions, always denote old habitations, run down
the right bank of the Wady el-Khandakí to its junction with the
Dámah. For want of a better name I called this old settlement
Kharábát (the "Ruins of") el-Khandakí, and greatly regretted that
we had not time enough to march down the whole line of the Dámah.
Half an hour more placed us at the great Wady, whose general
direction is here west with a little southing, and which still
merits its fame as an Arabian Arcadia. The banks were thickly
bordered with secular tamarisks (T. orientalis), those hardy
warriors with the Hebrew-Arabic name Asl (Athl), that battle
against wind and weather, as successfully at Dovercourt (Essex)
as at Haydarábád (Sind).
The tint was the normal grey-green, not unlike that of the traps
in arrière plan. The clumps sheltered goats, sheep, and camels;
and our mules now revel every day on green meat, growing fatter
and fatter upon the Aristida grass, the Panicum, the Hordeum
murinum, and the Bromus of many varieties. Fronting us rose the
twin granitic peaks of Jebel Mutadán, one with a stepped side
like an unfinished pyramid. They are separated from the Dámah by
a rough and stony divide; and ruins with furnaces are reported to
be found in their valley-drain, which feeds the great Wady Amúd.
We halted, after some sixteen to seventeen miles, at the water
El-Ziyayb, slightly brackish but relished by our animals; and
resumed our way in the cool sea-breeze at one p.m., passing the
Jebel Tulayh on the north bank. The track then left the Dámah and
turned up a short broad bed to the north-west. On the right rose
a block of syenite, ruddy with orthose, all rounded lumps and
twisted finials; it discharged a quantity of black sand that
streaked the gravel plain. At four p.m. we camped on a broad
divide, El-Kutayyifah, where an adjacent Sha'b, or "fold,"
supplied fresh rain-water. The march had teen long (seven hours =
twenty-two miles); and Shaykhs and camel-men looked, the Sayyid
said, as if they had "smelt Jehannum."
This divide, also called the Jayb el Sa'lúwwah, with granites to
the east, and traps mixed with granites on the west, shows signs
of labour. Hard by, to the south-west, some exceptionally
industrious Bedawi, of the Jeráfín-Huwaytát, had laid out a small
field with barley. In the evening we walked westward to the hills
that bound the slope; and came upon a rock-cut road leading to an
atalier, where "Marú" has been spalled from the stone in situ.
Some specimens had a light-bluish tinge, as if stained by cobalt,
a metal found in several slags; and there were veins of
crystalline amethyst-quartz, coloured, said the engineer by
chlorure of silver (?). The filons and filets cut the granite in
all directions; and the fiery action of frequent trap-dykes had
torn the ground-rock to tatters. The western side of
El-Kutayyifah also showed modern ruins.
The guides reported, as usual when too late, that to the
west-south-west lies a Nakb, called Abú'l Marwah ("Father of the
Quartz-place"), whose waters flow viâ the Mutadán to the Amúd
valley. For some days I had cold shudders lest this Pass, thus
left unvisited, might be the Zúl-Marwah, the classical
"Móchoura," one of the objects of our Expedition. The alarm
proved, however, as will be seen, false. A Bedawi youth also
volunteered a grand account of three "written stones;" a built
well surrounded by broken quartz; and, a little off the road from
El-Kutayyifah to Umm Ámil, the remains of El-Dayr ("the
Convent"). As Leake well knew, the latter is "a name which is
often indiscriminately applied by the Arabs to ancient ruins."
The lad said they were close by, but the Garíb ("near") and the
Gurayyib ("nearish") of the Midianite much resemble the Egyptian
Fellah's Taht el-Wish, "Under the face"--we should say "nose"--or
Taht el-Ka'b, "Under the heel." They may mean a handful of miles.
As he refused to guide us, we secured the services of an old
shepherd, who, objecting to sleep in camp, caused abundant
trouble and delay next morning.
From this divide two roads lead to the ruins of Umm Ámil: one
makes a considerable detour up a branch-valley in order to avoid
an ugly Pass on the direct line. I again refused the camel-men
permission to proceed by the indirect route, well knowing that
they would do their best to miss us. On March 4th, at six a.m., a
long descent and a similar rise led us to a Col, which presently
became a broad open plain, 2100 feet above sea-level (aner.
28.85). Tents were scattered about the valleys; the lads tended
their goats, and we greatly admired one fellow who had fallen
asleep in the hot ascending steams. Here the old guide halted us,
and declared that on the top of the dark trap-block the left
(south) was a Mashghal, or "work-place," with a strew of quartz
and nothing else. Thus ended the "built well." Descending to a
lower plane, bounded in front by low rolling hills, I sent
Lieutenant Amir to examine the "Convent" and the "written
stones." He came up with us at the halt; having been led over a
rough divide by an abominable path; and he had seen only a few
ruined heaps and three Arab Wusúm. Moreover, he had not dared to
show disappointment before the old shepherd, who would probably
have bolted in fear, and left him to find his own way.
Meanwhile the caravan continued its course down the broad smooth
Wady Ruways, on whose left side was a large atelier, with broken
walls and spalled quartz of the Negro variety. Here we found, for
the first time, the handmills made of the hardest grey granite,
so beautifully worked further south; they explained the fine and
carefully polished tube which had been brought to the first
Expedition at Zibá.[EN#10] Several of these articles were all but
whole, an exception in this land of "clasts." We then struck
over the stony divide to the left, towards a fine landmark--a
Khitm, or "block," shaped like a seal cut en cabochon: its name
is the barbarous sounding Khurm el-Badaríyyah. During the ascent,
which was easy, we passed a second strew and scatter of the white
stone broken into small pieces. From the Col, reached at 9.45
a.m., a descent, vile for camels not for mules, presently landed
us in the Wady Umm Ámil. The left bank of the hideous narrow
gorge showed a line of wells or water-pits, made, said Furayj, by
the Mutakaddimín (veteres),--the Ancients who were probably
Mediævals. Crossing the torrent-gully we left on its right bank
the ruins of large works, especially the upper parallelogram.
After a thirteen miles' ride we halted at 10.40 a.m. under a rock
on the left side, opposite three couthless heaps of water-rolled
stones surrounded by fine quartz. By far the poorest thing we had
yet seen, this "town" had been grandiosely described to the first
Expedition at Zibá. Many blessings were heaped upon the head of
Ámil and his mother: the name, however, as the Sayyid suggested,
is evidently a corruption of Mu'ámil--"the workman, the
employee."[EN#11] I would conjecture that here the slave-miners
were stationed, Old Zibá being the master's abode: our caravan
entitled it El-Lomán--"the bagnio, the prison for galériens." On
the coast-town I procured some specimens of heavy red copper
which had been dug out of a ruined furnace; the metal is
admirable, and it retrieves to a certain extent the lost
reputation of Umm Ámil.
At noon we resumed a hot ride down the ugly, rocky watercourse,
both of whose banks showed long lines of ruins. Presently,
crossing a divide marked by two stone-heaps, we fell into the
broader but equally unpicturesque Wady Salmá. It is on about the
same parallel as Ziba' (north lat. 27° 20'); and more than the
usual allowance for the error of low latitude must be admitted if
we would identify it with the Mediterranean of
Ptolemy (vi. 7), , in north lat. 260°, or fifteen
miles south of Sóaka.
Wady Salmá is the smallest and the northernmost of the three
basins which we have just visited; the central being the Dámah,
and the southern Wady Shaghab-Aslah-Aznab. Steaming southwards we
shall note the mouths of all these watercourses. We presently
passed on the right bank the debouchure of the Wady Ruways, and
left there a guard to direct the caravan, in case it should
disobey orders, and march up to Umm Ámil. Here the valley gave
forage to a herd of milch-camels, apparently unguarded; each had
her foal, some newborn, others dating from January or February.
After one hour and forty-five minutes (= six miles) we camped on
the fine sands that floor the dull line hemmed in by tall masses
of red and green trap. The adjacent scatter of Arab wells in the
bed is known as the Má el-Badí'ah. I carefully inquired
concerning ruins in the neighbourhood; and we climbed the
torrent-sides to command a (very limited) bird's-eye view of the
hills. According to the guides, there are no remains of the "old
ones" nearer than Umm Ámil
Setting out early next morning (5.45 a.m., March 5th), after half
an hour down the Wady Salmá, we saw its lower course becoming a
mere gorge, constricted by two opposite rocks. On the left bank,
above this narrow, lies a group of Arab graves, which may have
been built upon older foundations. The right side here receives
the Wady Haraymal ("Little Peganum-plant"), the Haráímil of the
broad-speaking Bedawin. As we struck up its dull ascent, the
southern form of the Shárr-giant suddenly broke upon us, all
glorious in his morning robes of ethereal gauzy pink. The
foreshortened view, from the south as well as the north, shows a
compact prism-formed mass which has been compared with an
iceberg. The main peak, Abú Shenázir, here No. 4 from the north,
proudly bears a mural crown of granite towers, which it hides
from El-Muwaylah; and the southern end, a mere vanishing ridge at
this angle, but shown en face to the seaboard abreast of it,
breaks into three distinctly marked bluffs and heads.[EN#12]
A divide then led upwards and downwards to the Wady Abá Rikayy,
remarkable only for warm pools, and crystal-clear runners,
springing from the sole. The fringings of white show the presence
of salt; the shallows are covered with the greenest mosses, and
beetles chase one another over the depths where the waters sleep.
The lower course takes the name of Wady Kifáfí, and discharges
into the sea north of the Wady Salmá, with which it has
erroneously been united, as in Niebuhr's Selmá wa Kafâfa.
According to the Kátib Chelebi, who, over two centuries ago, made
the "Kabr Shaykh el-Kifáfí" the second pilgrim-station south of
El-Muwaylah, a certain Bedawi chief, El-Kifáfí, was killed with a
spear, and his tomb became a place of pious visitation. It is
said still to exist between the Wadys Salmá and Kifáfí. A third
divide to the north led along the eastern flank of the Jebel Abú
Rísh, which exposes its head to the sea; and, reaching the Col,
we had the pleasure of once more greeting the blue cove that
forms the port of Zibá.
We then descended into the Wady Sidrah, whose left bank is formed
by the Safrá Zibá--"the Yellow (hill) of Zibá." This small
outlying peak is clad in the gaudiest of colours, especially a
vivid citron-yellow, set off by red and rusty surroundings, which
are streaked with a dead chalky-white. The citizens declare that
it is absolutely useless, because it does not supply sulphur.
During our day's halt at Zibá, M. Marie brought from it quartz of
several kinds; the waxy, the heat-altered, and the blue, stained
with carbonate of copper. Possibly this metal may be abundant at
a lower horizon
The "Valley of the (one) Jujube-tree," after narrowing to a stony
gut, suddenly flares out into the Wady Zibá, the vulgar feature of
these regions, provided with the normal "Gate" some three hundred
yards broad. Beyond it, the flat surrounding the head of the cove is
remarkably well grown with palms, clumps of the Daum, and scattered
date-trees, of which one is walled round. Hence I am disposed to
consider Zibá the , or Phoenicon Vicus, of Ptolemy: although
he places it in north lat. 26° 20', or between Sharm Dumayghah and
El-Wijh, when it lies in north lat. 27° 20'. I have already
protested against the derivation of the word--which is written
"Dhoba" by Wallin, "Deba" by Niebuhr, and "Zibber" by the
Hydrographic Chart--proposed by my learned friend Sprenger.[EN#13]
His theory was probably suggested by El-Yákút (iii. 464), who, in
the twelfth century, describes "Dhabba" as "a village on the coast,
opposite to which is a settlement with flowing water, called Badá:
the two are separated by seventy miles." An older name for the
station is Bir el-Sultáni--the "Well of the Sultán" (Selim?): we
shall presently inspect these remains. Itineraries also give Kabr
el-Tawáshi, "the Eunuch's Tomb;" and this we still find near the
palms at the head of the inner baylet. It is a square measuring six
paces each way, mud and coralline showing traces of plaster outside.
Like Wellsted (II. X.) we failed to discover any sign of the Birkat
("tank") mentioned in a guide-book which Burckhardt quotes; nor had
the citizens ever heard of a "reservoir."
The camping-ground of the pilgrims lies between the "Gate" and
the cove-head. Around the wells sat at squat a small gathering of
the filthy "Moghrebin" (Allah yakharrib-hum!). About 260 of these
rufffians were being carried gratis, by some charitable merchant,
in a Sambúk that lay at the harbour-mouth. A party had lately
slaughtered a camel, of course not their own property; and yet
they wondered that the Bedawin shoot them. They showed their
insolence by threatening with an axe the dog Juno, when she
sportively sallied out to greet them; and were highly offended
because, in view of cholera and smallpox, I stationed sentries to
keep them at a distance. Had there been contagious disease among
them, it would have spread in no time. They haunted the wells,
which were visited all day by women driving asses from the
settlement; even the single old beggar of Zibá--unfailing sign of
civilization--was here; and the black tents of the Arabs, who
grazed their flocks at the cove-head, lay within easy shot of
infection. On the evening of the next day, when the Sambúk made
sail, the shouting and screaming, the brawling, cudgelling, and
fighting, heard a mile off, reminded me of the foul company of
Maghrabís on board the Golden Wire.
"Sultán Selim's Well" has now grown to four, all large and
masonry-lined. That to the south-east is dry; travellers are
confined to the western, whose strong coping they have managed to
tear down; whilst the northern shows hard old kerb-stones, deeply
grooved and rope-channelled like that of Beersheba. We
breakfasted at the head of the inner bay, whilst the Sayyid rode
forward to meet his brother Mahmúd, who had kindly brought us the
news from El-Muwaylah. Here we could see the townlet covering a
low point projecting into the Sharm; a few large and some small
tenements formed the body, whilst the head was the little Burj
built, some fourteen years ago, upon the tall sea-bank to the
north. It bore, by way of welcome, the Viceroy's flag.
The camp was pitched upon the northern shore of the inner cove,
behind the new town, and sheltered by the tall sea-cliff: here
stood Old Zibá, whose stones, buried for ages under the sand, are
now dug up to build its successor. I thought better of the
settlement and of the port after visiting them a second time. We
had looked forward to it even as to a petit Paris: so Damascus
and the Syrian cities appear centres of civilization to Westerns
coming from the East--not from the West. It is far superior,
especially in the article water, to El-Muwaylah; it exports
charcoal in large quantities, and it does a thriving business
with the Bedawi. Here are signs of a pier, and a mosque is to be
built. The fish is excellent and abundant; lobsters are caught by
night near the reef, and oysters in the bay when the tide is out.
We succeeded, at last, in having our batterie de cuisine properly
tinned, and we replenished our stores.[EN#14] As at El-Akabah,
"Hashísh" may be bought in any quantity, but no Ráki--hence,
perhaps, the paleness and pastiness of the local complexion--and
yet our old acquaintance, Mohammed el-Musalmáni, is a Copt who
finds it convenient to be a Moslem. He aided us in collecting
curiosities, especially a chalcedony (agate) intended for a
talisman and roughly inscribed in Kufic characters, archaic and
pointed like Bengali, with the Koranic chapter (xcii.) that
testifies the Unity, "Kul, Huw' Allah," etc. As regards the port,
Wellsted (Il. X.) is too severe upon it: "At Sherm Dhobá the
anchorage is small and inconvenient, and could only be made
available for boats or small vessels." Dredging the sand-bar and
cutting a passage in the soft coralline reef will give excellent
shelter and, some say, a depth of seventeen fathoms.
Our first care was to walk straight into the sea, travelling
clothes and all. I then received the notables, including Mohammed
Selámah of El-Wijh, and at once began to inquire about the Jebel
el-Fayrúz. The chief trader pleaded ignorance: he was a stranger,
a new-comer; he had never been out of the settlement. The others
opposed to me hard and unmitigated Iying: they knew nothing about
turquoises; there were no such stones; the mines were exhausted.
And yet I knew that this coast is visited for turquoises by
Europeans; and that the gem has been, and still is, sold at Suez
and Cairo. Mr. Clarke had many uncut specimens at Zagázig,
embedded in a dark gangue, which he called "porphyry," as opposed
to the limestone which bears the silicate of copper. Upon our
first Expedition, we had noticed a splendid specimen, set in a
Bedawi matchlock; and the people of El-Akabah praised highly the
produce of the Jebel el-Ghál. Lastly, I happened to have heard
that an Arab lately brought to Zibá a turquoise which sold there
for £3. Evidently the mine, like the gold-sands before alluded
to, would be carefully hidden from us. This reticence explained
how, on our first visit, the two Staff-officers sent to prospect
the diggings had been misdirected to a block lying north of the
townlet, the "Red Hills," alias the Jebel el-Shegayg.
Shortly after I left Egypt an Italian, Sig. F--, returned to Suez
from El-Muwaylah, with some fine pearls worth each from £20 to
£30, and turquoises which appeared equally good. He was then
bound for Italy, but he intended returning to Midian in a month
or two. These are the men who teach the ready natives the very
latest "dodges;" such as stimulating the peculiar properties of
the pearl-oyster by inserting grains of sand.
I also collected notes concerning the ruins of M'jirmah, of which
we had heard so many tales. The site, they said, is a branch of
the Wady Azlam, the first of the three marches between Zibá and
El-Wijh, and seven and a half hours' sail along the coast. This
watercourse shows, above the modern Hajj-station, the ruins of a
fort built by Sultán Selim: Wellsted (II. X.) also mentions a
castle lying three miles inland. From the head of the Sharm
Dumayghah, seventy to seventy-two knots south of El-Muwaylah,
Shaykh Furayj pointed out to us the pale-blue peaks of the Jebel
Zafar:[EN#15] in the upper part of its Wady, the Amúd Zafar, a
southern branch valley of the Azlam, lies the ruin. He made it
six hours' march from the seaboard. It was an ancient gold-mine
(?), whose house-foundations and a "well with steps" still
remain. "M'jirmah," which must not be confounded with the "Umm
Jirmah," an atelier that we shall visit to-morrow, has been
identified with the (Rhaunathi Pagus) of Ptolemy
(north lat. 25° 40'). We will return to this subject when
steaming down coast.
Our day of rest ended, at seven p.m., with a heavy storm of wind
and rain from the north: the sun had been unusually hot for some
days, and the sky looked ugly in the evening. As usual, all
assured us that the clouds contained wind, not rain. Despite
which, when the mess-tent had been nearly blown down, owing to
our men being unwilling to leave their warm retreats, a heavy
drenching downfall set in, and continued till eleven p.m. After a
short lull, wind and rain again raged at midnight; and then the
gale gradually blew itself out. The next two mornings were
delightfully brisk and bracing; and deep puddles dotted the
rocks.
On March 7th the caravan marched straight northwards, by the
Hajj-road, along the shore to its camping-ground, an affair of
two hours, while M. Marie and I set off for the turquoise mine.
Furayj, who had never passed that way, engaged as guide one
Sulaym el-Makrafi; and this old dromedary-rider's son had been
sent on to bring into camp all the Fayruz he could find. Crossing
at six a.m. the broad pilgrim-track, we struck eastward at a
place where the Secondary gypsum subtends the old coralline
cliff. After three-quarters of an hour, we traversed the Wady
Zahakán, the southernmost Pass over the Shárr (proper); and
presently we ascended a branch that falls into the right bank. As
we advanced, it became a rock-walled, stonesoled tunnel; winding,
contracting and widening, rising and flattening, and generally
interesting, compared with the dull flat breadth of such features
as the Wady Salmá. The overfalls of rock and the unfriendly
thorn-trees, selfishly taking up all the room, necessitate
frequent zigzags up and down the rocky, precipitous banks. After
a number of divides we entered the Wady Háskshah, which was wider
and good for riding; and at 8.30 a.m. we passed into the Wady Umm
Jirmah.
In this broad basin we found none of the ruins so often reported;
but immense quantities of broken quartz showed the Mashghal or
atelier. The material was distinguished, from all the outcrops
hitherto observed, by its pretty pink, stained with oxide of
iron: it appeared in large ramifications mostly striking
east-west, and in little pitons dotting the valley sole and
sides. A subsequent visit to Wady Umm Jirmah found many furnaces
surrounded by well-worked scoriae; of these, specimens were
secured.
After another half-hour, we dismounted at the watershed of the
Wady el-Ghál, where the old guide lost no time in losing his
head. The Jebel el-Ghál, whose folds fall into its watercourse,
is a detached block, rising nearly due south of the "Sharp Peak,"
as the Chart calls Abú Kusayb, the northernmost horn of the
Shárr; while the Ghál cove, breaking the sea-cliff, bears 270°
(mag.) from the summit. The hill, which may measure 250 feet
above sea-level (aner. 29.75), is composed of porphyritic trap
and of the hardest felspars, veined with chocolate-coloured
quartz, the true gangue. While we examined the formation, Furayj
and old Sulaym, who became more and more "moony," ransacked the
block in all directions, and notably failed to find a trace of
mining. Evidently Athor, the genius of the "Turquoise Mountain,"
was not to be conquered by a coup de main; so I determined to
tire her out.
After building a stone-man on the finial of the Jebel el-Ghál,
and a short rest in the north-western Wady, we remounted and
struck seawards. Some ugly divides led us, after half an hour, to
a broad Fiumara, well grown with palm-bush, the veritable Wady
el-Ghál. From this point a total of four miles, and a grand total
of fourteen, led us to the camp: it had been pitched at the
Mahattat el-Gha'l, on the north bank, where the "winter-torrent,"
falling into the cove, has broken through the sea cliff.
Here the best of news was in store for us. Lieutenant Yusuf, who
had this morning rejoined the Expedition, brought our mails from
the Sambúk, which I had ordered by letter at El-Akabah; and
reported that his Highness's frigate Sinnár, an old friend, would
relieve the lively Mukhbir in taking us to our last journey
southwards. Rations for men and mules, and supplies for
ourselves, all were coming. We felt truly grateful to the Viceroy
and the Prince Minister for the gracious interest they had taken
in the Expedition; and we looked forward with excitement to the
proper finish of our labours. Without the third march, the
exploration of Midian would have been Abtar, as the Arabs say,
"tail-less;" that is, lame and impotent in point of conclusion.
But I would not be beaten by the enemy upon the subject of the
lapis Pharanitis mine. During the course of the day, a Jeráfín
Bedawi, Selím ibn Musallim, brought in scoriae of copper and
iron; and on the morrow I sent him as guide to Lieutenant Yusuf,
with an escort of two soldiers and eight quarrymen on seven
camels. After three days' absence (March 8--10) the officer
rejoined us and reported as follows:--
Leaving the Mahattat el-Ghál, he rode up its watercourse, and
then turned southwards into the long Wady Umm Jirmah. After seven
miles and a half (= direct five and three-quarters), he came upon
the Jebel el-Fayrúz. It is a rounded eminence of no great height,
showing many signs of work, especially three or four cuttings
some twenty metres deep. A hillock to the north-west supplied the
scoriæ before mentioned. Lieutenant Yusuf blasted the
chocolate-coloured quartzose rock in four places, filled as many
sacks, and struck the pilgrim-road in the Wady el-Mu'arrash,
leaving its red block, the Hamrá el-Mu'arrash, to the left. His
specimens were very satisfactory; except to the learned
geologists of the Citadel, Cairo, who pronounced them to be
carbonate of copper! Dr. L. Karl Moser, of Trieste, examined them
and found crystals of turquoise, or rather "johnite," as Dana has
it, embedded in or spread upon the quartz. One specimen,
moreover, contained silver. So much for the Zibá or southern
turquoise-diggings.
Our journey ended on March 8th with a dull ride along the
Hajj-road northwards. Passing the creek Abú Sharír, which, like
many upon this coast, is rendered futile by a wall of coral reef,
we threaded a long flat, and after two hours (= seven miles) we
entered a valley where the Secondary formation again showed its
débris. Here is the Mahattat el-Husan ("the Stallion's Leap"), a
large boulder lying to the left of the track, and pitted with
holes which a little imagination may convert into hoof-prints.
The name of the noble animal was El-Mashhúr; that of its owner
is, characteristically enough, forgotten by the Arabs: it lived
in the Days of Ignorance; others add, more vaguely still, when
the Beni Ukbah, the lords of the land, were warring with the
Baliyy. The gorge was then a mere cutting, blocked up by this
rock. El-Mashhúr "negotiated" it, alighting upon the surface like
a Galway hunter taking a stone wall; and carried to Wady Tiryam
its rider, whose throat was incontinently cut by the foeman in
pursuit. The legend is known to all, and the Bedawin still scrape
away the sands which threaten to bury the boulder: it has its
value, showing that in regions where the horse is now unknown,
where, in fact, nothing but a donkey can live, noble blood was
once bred. The same remark is made by Professor Palmer ("The
Desert of the Exodus," p. 42) concerning the Mangaz Hisán Abú
Zená ("Leap of the Stallion of the Father of Adultery"), two
heaps of stone near the Sinaitic Wady Gharandal. There, however,
the animal is cursed, while here it is blessed: perhaps, also,
the Midianite tradition may descend from a source which, still
older, named the . Is this too far-fetched? And yet,
peradventure, it may be true.
We then fell into the Wady Jibbah; passed the Jebel el-Kibrít,
examined M. Philipin's work, and, led over a very vile and very
long "short cut," found ourselves once more on board the Mukhbir.
Note on the Supplies Procurable at Zibá.
The chief stores are:--
Rice (good Yemani), per Kis, or bag of five and a half Kaylah
(each twenty-one Ratl = eighteen pounds), four to six dollars.
Durrah (Sorghum), per Ardebb (each = twelve Kaylah), seven and a
half to eight dollars.
Dukhn (millet), not common, per Ardebb, eight dollars.
Wheat, always procurable, per Ardebb, ten to twelve dollars.
Barley, always procurable, per Ardebb, five to six dollars.
Adas (lentils, Revalenta Arabica), per Ardebb, ten to twelve
Samn (liquified butter), per Ratl, seven and a half to eight
dollars.
Coffee (green), per pound, eighteen-pence.
Ajwah (pressed dates), 100 to 110 piastres per Kantar (= 100
Ratl).
Eggs, thirty-five to the shilling.
It is generally possible to buy small quantities of Hummus
(lupins or chick-peas), Kharru'b (carob-pods), "hot" and coarse
tobacco for the Arabs, and cigarette-paper, matches, etc.
Chapter XIII.
A Week Around and upon the Shárr MountainRésumé of the March
Through Eastern or Central Midian.
For months the Jebel Shárr, the grand block which backs
El-Muwaylah, had haunted us, starting up unexpectedly in all
directions, with its towering heads, that shifted shape and
colour from every angle, and with each successive change of
weather. We could hardly leave unexplored the classical "Hippos
Mons," the Moslem's El-Ishárah ("the Landmark"), and the
Bullock's Horns of the prosaic British tar.[EN#16] The few vacant
days before the arrival of the Sinnár offered an excellent
opportunity for studying the Alpine ranges of maritime Midian.
Their stony heights, they said, contain wells and water in
abundance, with palms, remains of furnaces, and other
attractions. Every gun was brought into requisition, by tales of
leopard and ibex, the latter attaining the size of bullocks (!)
and occasionally finding their way to the fort:--it was curious
to hear our friends, who, as usual, were great upon "le shport,"
gravely debating whether it would be safe to fire upon le
léopard. I was anxious to collect specimens of botany and natural
history from an altitude hitherto unreached by any traveller in
Western Arabia; and, lastly, there was geography as well as
mineralogy to be done.
The Hydrographic Chart gives the Mountain a maximum of nine
thousand[EN#17] feet, evidently a clerical error often
repeated--really those Admiralty gentleman are too incurious:
Wellsted, who surveyed it, remarks (II. X.), "The height of the
most elevated peak was found to be 6500 feet, and it obtained
from us the appellation of Mowilabh High Peak"'--when there are
native names for every head. We had been convinced that the
lesser is the true measure, by our view from the Hismá plateau,
3800 feet above sea-level. Again, the form, the size, and the
inclination of the noble massif are wrongly laid down by the
hydrographers. It is a compact block, everywhere rising abruptly
from low and sandy watercourses, and completely detached from its
neighbours by broad Wadys--the Surr to the north and east, while
southwards run the Kuwayd and the Zahakán. The huge long-oval
prism measures nineteen and a half by five miles (= ninety-seven
and a half square miles of area); and its lay is 320° (mag.),
thus deflected 40° westward of the magnetic north. The general
appearance, seen in profile from the west, is a Pentedactylon, a
central apex, with two others on each side, tossed, as it were,
to the north and south, and turning, like chiens de faïence,
their backs upon one another.
Moreover, the Chart assigns to its "Mount Mowilah" only two great
culminations--"Sharp Peak, 6330 feet," to the north; and south of
it, "High Peak, 9000." The surveyors doubtless found difficulty
in obtaining the Bedawi names for the several features, which are
unknown to the citizens of the coast; but they might easily have
consulted the only authorities, the Jeráfín-Huwaytát, who graze
their flocks and herds on and around the mountain. As usual in
Arabia, the four several main "horns" are called after the
Fiumaras that drain them. The northernmost is the Abú Gusayb
(Kusayb) or Ras el-Gusayb (the "Little Reed"), a unity composed
of a single block and of three knobs in a knot; the tallest of
the latter, especially when viewed from the south, resembles an
erect and reflexed thumb--hence our "Sharp Peak." Follows Umm
el-Furút (the "Mother of Plenty"), a mural crest, a quoin-shaped
wall, cliffing to the south: the face, perpendicular where it
looks seawards, bears a succession of scars, upright gashes, the
work of wind and weather; and the body which supports it is a
slope disposed at the natural angle. An innominatus, in the shape
of a similar quoin, is separated by a deep Col, apparently a
torrent-bed, from a huge Beco de Papagaio--the "Parrot's Bill" so
common in the Brazil. This is the Abú Shenázir or Shaykhánib (the
"Father of Columns"); and, as if two names did not suffice, it
has a third, Ras el-Huwayz ("of the Little Cistern"). It is our
"High Peak," the most remarkable feature of the sea-façade, even
when it conceals the pair of towering pillars that show
conspicuously to the north and south. From the beak-shaped apex
the range begins to decline and fall; there is little to notice
in the fourth horn, whose unimportant items, the Ras Lahyánah,
the Jebel Maí'h, and the Umm Gisr (Jisr), end the wall. Each has
its huge white Wady, striping the country in alternation with
dark-brown divides, and trending coastwards in the usual network.
The material of the four crests is the normal grey granite,
enormous lumps and masses rounded by degradation; all chasms and
naked columns, with here and there a sheet burnished by ancient
cataracts, and a slide trickling with water, unseen in the shade
and flashing in the sun like a sheet of crystal. The granite,
however, is a mere mask or excrescence, being everywhere based
upon and backed by the green and red plutonic traps which have
enveloped it. And the prism has no easy inland slopes, as a first
glance suggests; instead of being the sea-wall of a great
plateau, it falls abruptly to the east as well as to the west.
The country behind it shows a perspective of high and low hills,
lines of dark rock divided from one another by Wadys of the usual
exaggerated size. Of these minor heights only one, the Jebel
el-Sahhárah looks down upon the sea, rising between the
Dibbagh-Kh'shabríyyah block to the north, and the Shárr to the
south. Beyond the broken eastern ground, the ruddy Hismá and the
gloomy Harrah form the fitting horizon.
After this much for geography, we may view the monarch of
Midianite mountains in the beauty and the majesty of his
picturesque form. Seen from El-Muwaylah, he is equally
magnificent in the flush of morning, in the still of noon, and in
the evening glow. As the rays, which suggested the obelisk, are
shooting over the southern crests, leaving the basement blue with
a tint between the amethyst and the lapis lazuli, its northern
third lies wrapped in a cloak of cold azure grey, and its central
length already dons a half-light of warmer hue. Meanwhile, the
side next the sun is flooded with an aerial aureole of subtle
mist, a drift of liquid gold, a gush of living light, rippling
from the unrisen orb, decreasing in warmth and brilliancy, paling
and fading and waxing faint with infinite gradations proportioned
to the increase of distance. Again, after the clear brooding
sheen of day has set off the "stark strength and grandeur of
rock-form contrasted with the brilliancy and sprightliness of
sea," the sinking sun paints the scene with the most gorgeous of
blazonings. The colours of the pale rock-skeleton are so faint
that there is nothing to interfere with the perfect development
of atmospheric effects: it is a white sheet spread to catch the
grand illumination, lambent lights of saffron and peach-blossom
and shades of purple and hyacinth. As indescribably lovely is the
after-glow, the zodiacal light which may have originated the
pyramid; the lively pink reflection from the upper atmosphere;
the vast variety of tints with which the greens and the reds, the
purples and the fiery crimsons of the western sky tincture the
receptive surface of the neutral-hued granites; and the
chameleon-shiftings of the dying day, as it sinks into the arms
of night. Nor less admirable are the feats of the fairy
Refraction. The mighty curtain seems to rise and fall as if by
magic: it imitates, as it were, the framework of man. In early
morning the dancing of the air adds many a hundred cubits to its
apparent stature: it is now a giant, when at midnight, after the
equipoise of atmospheric currents, it becomes a dwarf replica of
its former self.
* * * * * *
I had neglected to order overnight the camels from El-Muwaylah, a
penny-wise proceeding which delayed our departure. It was nearly
nine a.m. (March 13th) before we left the Mukhbir, whose
unhappies still sighed and yearned for the civilization and
dissipation of Suez; landed at the head of the Sharm Yáhárr, and
marched up the Wady Hárr. We were guided by two Jeráfín, Sulayman
ibn Musallim and Farj ibn Awayz; the former a model hill-man, a
sturdy, thick-legged, huge-calved, gruff-voiced, full-bearded
fellow, hot-tempered, good-humoured, and renowned as an
ibex-hunter. His gun, marked "Lazari Coitinaz," was a
long-barrelled Spanish musket, degraded to a matchlock: it had
often changed hands, probably by theft, and the present owner
declared that he had bought it for seventy dollars--nearly £15!
Yet its only luxury was the bottom of a breechloader brass
cartridge, inlaid and flanked by the sharp incisors of the little
Wabar, or mountain coney. These Bedawin make gunpowder for
themselves; they find saltpetre in every cavern, and they buy
from Egypt the sulphur which is found in their own hills.
After a few minutes we left the Hárr, which drains the tallest of
the inland hillock-ranges, and the red block "Hamrá el-Maysarah;"
and we struck south-east into the Wady Sanawíyyah. It is a vulgar
valley with a novelty, the Tamrat Faraj. This cairn of
brick-coloured boulders buttressing the right bank has, or is
said to have, the Memnonic property of emitting sounds--Yarinn is
the Bedawi word. The boomings and bellowings are said to be
loudest at sunrise and sunset. The "hideous hum" of such
subterraneous thunderings is alluded to by all travellers in the
Dalmatian Island of Melada, and in the Narenta Valley. The marvel
has been accounted for by the escape of imprisoned air unequally
expanded, but "a veil of mystery hangs over the whole."[EN#18]
The valley-sides of dark trap were striped with white veins of
heat-altered argil; the sole with black magnetic sand; and
patches of the bed were buttercup-yellow with the Handán
(dandelion), the Cytisus, and the Zaram (Panicum turgidum) loved
by camels. Their jaundiced hue contrasted vividly with the red
and mauve blossoms of the boragine El-Kahlá, the blue flowerets
of the Lavandula (El-Zayti), and the delicate green of the
useless[EN#19] asphodel (El-Borag), which now gave a faint and
shadowy aspect of verdure to the slopes. Although the rise was
inconsiderable, the importance of the vegetation palpably
decreased as we advanced inland.
After four miles we reached the Wady-head, and wasted a couple of
hours awaiting the camels that carried our supplies. The path
then struck over a stony divide, with the Hamrá to the left or
north, and on the other side the Hamrá el-Mu'arrash, made
familiar to us by our last march. The latter ends in an isolated
peak, the Jebel Gharghúr, which, on our return, was mistaken for
the sulphur-hill of Jibbah. Presently we renewed acquaintance
with the Wady el-Bayzá, whose lower course we had crossed south
of Sharm Yáhárr: here it is a long and broad, white and
tree-dotted expanse, glaring withal, and subtending all this
section of the Shárr's sea-facing base. We reached, after a total
of eight miles, the Jibál el-Kawáim, or "the Perpendiculars," one
of the features which the Bedawin picturesquely call the Aulád
el-Shárr ("Sons of the Sha'rr"). The three heads, projected
westwards from the Umm Furút peak and then trending northwards,
form a lateral valley, a bay known as Wady el-Káimah. It is a
picturesque feature with its dark sands and red grit, while the
profile of No. 3 head, the Káimat Abú Rákí, shows a snub-nosed
face in a judicial wig, the trees forming an apology for a beard.
I thought of "Buzfuz Bovill."
We camped early, as the Safh el-Shárr (the "Plain of the Shárr")
and the lateral valley were found strewed with quartzes, white,
pink, and deep slate-blue. The guides had accidentally mentioned
a "Jebel el-Marú," and I determined to visit it next morning. The
night was warm and still. The radiation of heat from the huge
rock-range explained the absence of cold, so remarkable during
all this excursion--hence the African traveller ever avoids
camping near bare stones. Dew, however, wetted our boxes like
thin rain: the meteor, remarked for the first time on March 13th,
will last, they say, three months, and will greatly forward
vegetation. It seems to be uncertain, or rather to be influenced
by conditions which we had no opportunity of studying: at times
it would be exceptionally heavy, and in other places it was
entirely absent. Before evening new contract-boots, bought from
the Mukhbir, were distributed to the soldiers and all the
quarrymen, who limped painfully on their poor bare feet:--next
day all wore their well-hidden old boots.
Early on March 14th we ascended the Wady el-Káimah, which showed
a singular spectacle, and read us another lecture upon the
diversity of formation which distinguishes this region. An abrupt
turn then led over rough ground, the lower folds of the Umm
Furút, where a great granite gorge, the Nakb Abú Shár, ran up to
a depression in the dorsum, an apparently practicable Col.
Suddenly the rocks assumed the quaintest hues and forms. The
quartz, slaty-blue and black, was here spotted and streaked with
a dull, dead white, as though stained by the droppings of myriad
birds: there it lay veined and marbled with the most vivid of
rainbow colours-- reds and purples, greens and yellows, set off
by the pale chalky white. Evident signs of work were remarked in
a made road running up to the Jebel el-Marú (proper), whose
strike is 38° (mag.), and whose dip is westward. It is an arête,
a cock's-comb of snowy quartz some sixty feet high by forty-five
broad at the base; crowning a granitic fold that descends
abruptly, with a deep fall on either side, from the "Mother of
Plenty." This strangely isolated wall, left standing by the
denudation that swept away the containing stone, had been broken
by perpendicular rifts into four distinct sections; the colour
became whiter as it neared the coping, and each rock was crowned
with a capping that sparkled like silver in the sudden glance of
the "cloud-compelling" sun. The sight delighted us; and M. Lacaze
here made one of his most effective croquis, showing the
explorers reduced to the size of ants. As yet we had seen nothing
of the kind; nor shall we see a similar vein till we reach
Abú'l-Marwah, near our farthest southern point. I expected a
corresponding formation upon the opposite eastern versant: we
found only a huge crest, a spine of black plutonic rock,
intensely ugly and repulsive. As we rode back down the "Valley of
the Perpendiculars," the aspect of the Jebel el-Marú was
épâtant--to use another favourite camp-word. Standing sharply out
from its vague and gloomy background made gloomier by the morning
mists, the Col, whose steep rain-cut slopes and sole were
scattered with dark trees and darker rocks, this glittering wall
became the shell of an enchanted castle in Gustave Doré.
Returning to our old camping-ground after a ride of three hours
and thirty minutes (= nine miles), we crossed two short divides,
and descended the Wady el-Kusayb, which gives a name to "Sharp
Peak." Here a few formless stone-heaps and straggling bushes
represented the ruins, the gardens of palms, and the bullrushes
of the Bedawi shepherd lads.[EN#20] Our tents had been pitched in
the rond-point of the Wady Surr, which before had given us
hospitality (February 19th), on a Safh or high bouldery ledge of
the left bank, where it receives the broad Kusayb watercourse.
The day had been sultry; the sun was a "rain sun," while the
clouds massed thick to the south-west; and at night the lamps of
heaven shone with a reddish, lurid light. The tent-pegs were
weighted with camel-boxes against the storm; nevertheless, our
mess-tent was levelled in a moment by the howling
north-easter--warm withal--which, setting in about midnight, made
all things uncomfortable enough.
Whilst the caravan was ordered to march straight up the noble
Wady Surr, we set off next morning at six a.m. up the Wady Malíh,
the north-eastern branch of the bulge in the bed. A few Arab
tents were scattered about the bushes above the mouth; and among
the yelping curs was a smoky-faced tyke which might have been
Eskimo-bred:--hereabouts poor Brahim had been lost, and was not
fated to be found. A cross-country climb led to the Jebel Malíh,
whose fame for metallic wealth gave us the smallest
expectations--hitherto all our discoveries came by surprise. A
careful examination showed nothing at all; but a few days
afterwards glorious specimens of cast copper were brought in, the
Bedawi declaring that he had found them amongst the adjoining
hills. In the re-entering angles of the subjacent Wady the thrust
of a stick is everywhere followed by the reappearance of
stored-up rain, and the sole shows a large puddle of brackish and
polluted water. Perhaps the Malayh of the Bedawin may mean "the
salt" (Málih), not "the pleasant" (Malíh). Malíh, or Mallih, is
also the name of a plant, the Reaumuria vernice of Forskâl.
Resuming our ride up the torrent-bed, and crossing to the Wady
Daumah (of the "Single Daum-palm"), we dragged our mules down a
ladder of rock and boulder, the left bank of the upper Surr. The
great valley now defines, sharply as a knife-cut, the
northernmost outlines of the Shárr, whose apex, El-Kusayb,
towered above our heads. Thorn-trees are abundant; fan-palm bush
grows in patches; and we came upon what looked like a flowing
stream ruffled by the morning breeze: the guides declared that it
is a rain-pool, dry as a bone in summer. Presently the rocky bed
made a sharp turn; and its "Gate," opened upon another widening,
the meeting place of four Wadys, the northern being the Wady
Zibayyib that drains ruddy Abál-bárid.
After a short halt to examine the rude ruins reported by Mr.
Clarke,[EN#21] we resumed the ascent of the Surr, whose left bank
still defines the eastern edge of the Shárr. The latter presently
puts forth the jagged spine of black and repulsive plutonic rock,
which notes the Sha'b Makhúl, the corresponding versant of the
Nakb Abú Sha'r. The Bedawin, who, as usual, luxuriate in
nomenclature, distinguish between the eastern and western faces
of the same block, and between the Wadys of the scarp and the
counter-scarp. For instance, the eastern front of the Ras
el-Kusayb is called Abú Kurayg (Kurayj). This is natural, as the
formations, often of a different material, show completely
different features.
A little further on, the continuity of the right bank is broken
by the Wady el-Hámah. It receives the Wady Kh'shabríyyah, which,
bifurcating in the upper bed, drains the Dibbagh and the Umm
Jedayl blocks; and in the fork lie, we were told, the ruins of
El-Fara', some five hours' march from this section of the Surr.
At the confluence of El-Hámah we found the camels grazing and the
tents pitched without orders: the two Shaykhs were determined to
waste another day, so they were directed to reload while we
breakfasted. Everything was in favour of a long march; the dusty,
gusty north-easter had blown itself out in favour of a pleasant
southerly wind, a sea breeze deflected from the west.
After marching three miles we camped at the foot of the ridge to
be ascended next morning: the place is called Safhat el-Mu'ayrah
from a slaty schistose hill on the eastern bank. The guides
declared that the only practicable line to the summit was from
this place; and that the Sha'bs (Cols) generally cannot be
climbed even by the Arabs--I have reason to believe the reverse.
Musallim, an old Bedawi, brought, amongst other specimens from
the adjacent atelier, the Mashghal el-Mu'ayrah, a bright bead
about the size of No. 5 shot: in the evening dusk it was taken
for gold, and it already aroused debates concerning the proper
direction of the promised reward, fifty dollars. The morning
light showed fine copper. Here free metal was distinctly
traceable in the scoriæ, and it was the first time that we had
seen slag so carelessly worked. Not a little merriment was caused
by the ostentatious display of "gold-stones," marked by M.
Philipin's copper-nailed boots. Sulaymán, the Bedawi, had killed
a Wabar, whose sadly mutilated form appeared to be that of the
Syrian hill coney: these men split the bullet into four; "pot" at
the shortest distance, and, of course, blow to pieces any small
game they may happen to hit.
Early on March 16th we attacked the Shárr in a general direction
from north to south, where the ascent looked easy enough. On the
left bank a porphyritic block, up whose side a mule can be
ridden, is disposed in a slope of the palest and most languid of
greens, broken by piles of black rock so regular as to appear
artificial. This step leads to a horizontal crest, a broken wall
forming its summit: it is evidently an outlier; and experience
asked, What will be behind it? The more distant plane showed only
the heads of the Shenázir or "Pins," the two quaint columns which
are visible as far as the Shárr itself. This lower block is
bounded, north and south, by gorges; fissures that date from the
birth of the mountain, deepened by age and raging torrents:
apparently they offered no passage. In the former direction yawns
the Rushúh Abú Tinázib, so called from its growth--the
Tanzub-tree[EN#22] (Sodada decidua); and in the latter the Sháb
Umm Khárgah (Khárjah). I should have preferred a likely looking
Nakb, south of this southern gorge, but the Bedawin, and
especially Abú Khartúm, who had fed his camels and sheep upon the
mountain, overruled me.
The ascent of the outlier occupied three very slow hours, spent
mostly in prospecting and collecting. At nine a.m. we stood 3200
feet above sea-level (aner. 26.79), high enough to make our tents
look like bits of white macadam. What most struck us was the
increased importance of the vegetation, both in quantity and
quality; the result, doubtless, of more abundant dew and rain, as
well as of shade from each passing mist-cloud. The view formed a
startling contrast of fertility and barrenness. At every hundred
yards the growths of the plain became more luxuriant in the rich
humus filling the fissures, and, contrary to the general rule,
the plants, especially the sorrel (Rumex) and the dandelion
(Taraxacum), instead of dwindling, gained in stature. The
strong-smelling Ferula looked like a bush, and the Sarh grew into
a tree: the Ar'ar,[EN#23] a homely hawthorn (hawthorn-leaved
Rhus), whose appearance was a surprise, equalled the Cratgus of
Syria; and the upper heights must have been a forest of fine
junipers (Habíbah = Juniperus Phnicea), with trunks thick as a
man's body. The guides spoke of wild figs, but we failed to find
them. Our chasseurs, who had their guns, eagerly conned over the
traces of ibex and hyenas, and the earths, as well as the large
round footprints, of un léopard; but none of the larger animals
were seen. The Bedawi matchlock has made them wary; chance might
give a shot the first day: on the other hand, skill might be
baffled for a month or two--I passed six weeks upon the
Anti-Libanus before seeing a bear. The noble Shinnár-partridge
again appeared; an eagle's feather lay on the ground; two white
papillons and one yellow butterfly reminded me of the Camarones
Mountain; the wild bee and the ladybird-like Ba'úzah stuck to us
as though they loved us; and we were pestered by the attentions
of the common fly. The Egyptian symbol for "Paul Pry" is supposed
to denote an abundance of organic matter: it musters strong
throughout Midian, even in the dreariest wastes; and it
accompanies us everywhere, whole swarms riding upon our backs.
The only semblance of climbing was over the crest of brown,
burnished, and quartzless traps. Even there the hands were hardly
required, although our poor feet regretted the want of
Spartelles.[EN#24] Here the track debouched upon an inverted
arch, with a hill, or rather a tall and knobby outcrop of rock,
on either flank of the keystone. The inland or eastward view was
a map of the region over which we had travelled; a panorama of
little chains mostly running parallel with the great range, and
separated from it by Wadys, lateral, oblique, and perpendicular.
Of these torrent-beds some were yellow, others pink, and others
faint sickly green with decomposed trap; whilst all bore a fair
growth of thorn-trees--Acacias and Mimosas. High over and beyond
the monarch of the Shafah Mountains, Jebel Sahhárah, whose blue
poll shows far out at sea, ran the red levels of the Hismá,
backed at a greater elevation by the black-blue Harrah. The whole
Tihámah range, now so familiar to us, assumed a novel expression.
The staple material proved to be blocks and crests of granite,
protruding from the younger plutonics, which enfolded and
enveloped their bases and backs. The one exception was the dwarf
Umm Jedayl, a heap composed only of grey granite. The Jebel
Kh'shabríyyah in the Dibbagh block attracted every eye; the head
was supported by a neck swathed as with an old-fashioned cravat.
The summit of the outlier is tolerably level, and here the
shepherds had built small hollow piles of dry stone, in which
their newly yeaned lambs are sheltered from the rude blasts. The
view westwards, or towards the sea, which is not seen, almost
justifies by its peculiarity the wild traditions of built wells,
of a "moaning mountain," and of furnaces upon the loftiest
slopes: it is notable that the higher we went, the less we heard
of these features, which at last vanished into thin air. Our
platform is, as I suspected, cut off from the higher plane by a
dividing gorge; but the depth is only three hundred feet, and to
the south it is bridged by a connecting ridge. Beyond it rises
the great mask of granite forming the apex, a bonier skeleton
than any before seen. Down the northern sheet-rocks trickled a
thin stream that caught the sun's eye; thus the ravine is well
supplied with water in two places. South of it rises a tempting
Col, with a slope apparently easy, separating a dull mass of
granite on the right from the peculiar formation to the left. The
latter is a dome of smooth, polished, and slippery grey granite,
evidently unpleasant climbing; and from its landward slope rise
abrupt, as if hand-built, two isolated gigantic "Pins," which can
hardly measure less than four hundred feet in stature. They are
the remains of a sharp granitic comb whose apex was once the
"Parrot's Beak." The mass, formerly mammilated, has been broken
and denticulated by the destruction of softer strata. Already the
lower crest, bounding the Sha'b Umm Khárgah, shows perpendicular
fissures which, when these huge columns shall be gnawed away by
the tooth of Time, will form a new range of pillars for the
benefit of those ascending the Shárr, let us say in about A.D.
10,000. Such are the "Pins" which name the mountain; and which,
concealed from the coast, make so curious a show to the north,
south, and east of this petrified glacier.
After breaking their fast, M.M. Clarke, Lacaze, and Philipin
volunteered to climb the tempting Col. None of them had ever
ascended a mountain, and they duly despised the obstacles offered
by big rocks distance-dwarfed to paving-stones; and of sharp
angles, especially the upper, perspective-blunted to easy slopes.
However, all three did exceeding well: for such a "forlorn hope"
young recruits are better than old soldiers. They set out at
eleven a.m., and lost no time in falling asunder; whilst the
quarrymen, who accompanied them with the water-skins, shirked
work as usual, lagged behind, sat and slept in some snug hollow,
and returned, when dead-tired of slumber, declaring that they had
missed the "Effendis."
M. Philipin took singly the sloping side of the connecting ridge;
and, turning to the right, made straight for the "Pins," below
which was spread a fleck of lean and languid green. The ascent
was comparatively mild, except where it became a sheet of smooth
and slippery granite; but when he reached a clump of large
junipers, his course was arrested by a bergschrund, which divides
this block--evidently a second outlier--from the apex of the
Shárr, the "Dome" and the "Parrot's Beak." It was vain to attempt
a passage of the deep gash, with perpendicular upper walls, and
lower slopes overgrown with vegetation; nor could he advance to
the right and rejoin his companions, who were parted from him by
the precipices on the near side of the Col. Consequently, he beat
a retreat, and returned to us at 2.30 p.m., after three hours and
thirty minutes of exceedingly thirsty work: the air felt brisk
and cool, but the sun shone pitilessly, unveiled by the smallest
scrap of mist. He brought with him an ibex-horn still stained
with blood, and a branch of juniper, straight enough to make an
excellent walking-stick.
The other two struck across the valley, and at once breasted the
couloir leading to the Col, where we had them well in sight. They
found the ascent much "harder on the collar" than they expected:
fortunately the sole of the huge gutter yielded a trickle of
water. The upper part was, to their naive surprise, mere climbing
on all fours; and they reached the summit, visible from our
halting-place, in two hours. Here they also were summarily
stopped by perpendicular rocks on either side, and by the deep
gorge or crevasse, shedding seawards and landwards, upon whose
further side rose the "Parrot's Beak." The time employed would
give about two thousand feet, not including the ascent from the
valley (three hundred feet); and thus their highest point could
hardly be less than 5200 feet. Allowing another thousand for the
apex, which they could not reach,[EN#25] the altitude of the
Shárr would be between 6000 and 6500 feet.
The shadows were beginning to lengthen before the two reappeared,
and the delay caused no small apprehension; the Sayyid showed a
kindly agitation that was quite foreign to his calm and collected
demeanour, when threatened by personal danger. To be benighted
amongst these cruel mountains must be no joke; nor would it have
been possible to send up a tent or even mouth-munition. However,
before the sun had reached the west, they came back triumphant
with the spoils of war. One was a snake (Echis colorata,
Günther), found basking upon the stones near the trickle of
water. It hissed at them, and, when dying, it changed colour,
they declared, like a chameleon--that night saw it safely in the
spirit-tin. They were loaded with juniper boughs, and fortunately
they had not forgotten the berries; the latter establish the
identity of the tree with the common Asiatic species. M. Lacaze
brought back several Alpine plants, a small Helix which he had
found near the summit, and copious scrawls for future
croquis--his studies of the "Pins" and the "Dome" were greatly
admired at Cairo.
Ere the glooms of night had set in, we found ourselves once more
at the tents. Only one man suffered from the ascent, and his
sunstroke was treated in Egyptian fashion. Instead of bleeding
like that terrible, murderous Italian school of Sangrados, the
Fellahs tie a string tightly round the head; and after
sunset--which is considered de rigueur--they fill the ears with
strong brine. According to them the band causes a bunch of veins
to swell in the forehead, and, when pressed hard, it bursts like
a pistol-shot. The cure is evidently effected by the cold
salt-and-water. The evening ended happily with the receipt of a
mail, and with the good news that the Sinnár corvette had been
sent to take the place of El-Mukhbir, the unfortunate. Once more
we felt truly grateful to the Viceroy and the Prince who so
promptly and so considerately had supplied all our wants, and
whose kindness would convert our southern cruise into a holiday
gîte, without the imminent deadly risk of a burst boiler.
We set out in high spirits on the next morning (6.15 a.m., March
17th), riding, still southwards, up the Surr: the stony, broken
surface now showed that we were fast approaching its source.
Beyond the Umm Khárgah gorge on the western bank, rose a tall
head, the Ras el-Rukabíyyah; and beyond it was a ravine, in which
palms and water are said to be found. The opposite side raised
its monotonous curtain of green and red traps, whose several
projections bore the names of Jebel el-Wu'ayrah--the hill behind
our camping-ground--Jebel el-Maín, and Jebel Sháhitah. A little
beyond the latter debouched the Darb el-Kufl ("Road of
Caravans"), alias Darb el-Ashárif ("Road of the Sherifs"), a
winding gap, the old line of the Egyptian pilgrims, by which the
Sulaymáyyán Bedawin still wend their way to Suez. The second
name, perhaps, conserves the tradition of long-past wars waged
between the Descendants of the Apostle and the Beni
Ukbah.[EN#26] The broad mouth was dotted with old graves, with
quartz-capped memorial-cairns, and, here and there, with a block
bearing some tribal mark. The Wady-sole grew a "stinkhorn" held
to be poisonous, and called, from its fetor, "Faswat el-Agúz"
(Cynophallus impudicus): one specimen was found on the tip of an
ibex-horn, and the other had been impaled with a stick. After two
hours and thirty minutes (= seven miles) we sighted the head of
the Wady Surr proper, whose influents drain the southern
Khurayatah or Hismá Pass. Here the amount of green surface, and
the number of birds, especially the blue-rock and the
insect-impaling "butcher," whose nests were in the thin forest of
thorn-trees, argue that water is not far off. The Ras Wady Surr
is a charming halting-place.
Our Arabs worked hard to gain another day. The only tolerable
Pass rounding the southern Shárr was, they declared, the Wady
Aújar, an influent of the Wady Zahakán, near Zibá. The Col
el-Kuwayd, now within a few yards of us, is so terrible that the
unfortunate camels would require, before they could attempt it,
at least twenty-four hours of preparatory rest and rich feeding;
and so forth. However, we pushed them on with flouts and jeers,
and we ourselves followed at eleven a.m.
The Pass proved to be one of the easiest. It began with a gradual
rise up a short broad Wady, separating the southernmost
counterforts of the Shárr from the north end of the Jebel
el-Ghuráb. This "Raven Mountain" is a line of similar but lower
formation, which virtually prolongs the great "Landmark," down
coast. The bottom was dotted with lumps of pure "Marú," washed
from the upper levels. We reached the summit in forty minutes,
and the seaward slope beyond it was a large outcrop of quartz in
situ, that assumed the strangest appearance,--a dull, dead
chalky-white, looking as if heat-altered or mixed with clay. The
rock-ladder leading to the lower Wady Kuwayd, which has an upper
branch of the same name, offered no difficulty to man or beast;
and the aneroid showed its height to be some 470 feet
(28.13--28.50). The caravan, having preceded us, revenged itself
by camping at the nearest pool, distant nineteen and a half
direct geographical miles from our destination.
This day was the first of the Khamsín or, as M. Loufti (?), a
Coptic student, writes it, "Khamasín," from Khama ("warm") and
Sina ("air").[EN#27] The Midianites call it El-Daufún, the hot
blasts, and expect it to blow at intervals for a couple of
months. This scirocco has been modified in Egypt, at least during
the spring, apparently by the planting of trees. About a
quarter-century ago, its regular course was three days: on the
first it set in; the second was its worst; and men knew that it
would exhaust itself on the third. Now it often lasts only a
single day, and even that short period has breaks.
The site of the camp made sleep well-nigh impossible--a bad
preparation for the only long ride of this excursion. Setting off
at dark (4.20 a.m., March 18th), we finished the monotonous Wady
Kuwayd, which mouths upon the rolling ground falling coastwards.
The track then struck to the north-west, across and sometimes
down the network of Wadys that subtends the south-western
Shárr--their names have already been mentioned. As we sighted the
cool green-blue sea, its horizon-line appeared prodigiously
uplifted, as if the Fountains of the great Deep were ready for
another Deluge. I remembered the inevitable expressions of
surprise with which, young Alpinists and ballooners, expecting
the rim of the visible circle to fall away, see it rising around
them in saucer-shape. The cause is simply that which breaks the
stick in water, and which elevates the Sha'rr every
morning--Refraction.
After a march of seven hours (= twenty-two miles), we debouched,
viâ the Wady Hárr, upon our old Sharm, the latter showing, for
the first time since its creation, two war-steamers, with their
"tender," a large Sambúk. The boats did not long keep us waiting;
and we were delighted to tread once more the quarter-deck of the
corvette Sinnár. Captain Ali Bey Shukri's place had been taken by
Captain Hasan-Bey, an Osmanli of Cavala who, having been
forty-eight years in the service, sighed for his pension. He did,
however, everything in his power to make us feel "at home;" and
the evening ended with a fantasia of a more pronounced character
than anything that I had yet seen.[EN#28]
Résumé of the March Through Eastern or Central Midian.
Our journey through Eastern or Central Midian lasted eighteen
days (February 19--March 8), with an excursion of six (March
13--18) to its apex, the mighty Shárr, which I would add to our
exploration of Central Midian. Despite enforced slow marches at
the beginning of the first section, we visited in round numbers,
according to my itinerary, 197 miles: Lieutenant Amir's map gives
a linear length of 222 miles, not including the offsets. The
second part covered fifty-five miles, besides the ascent of the
mountain to a height of about five thousand feet: the mapper also
increased this figure to 59 2/3. Thus the route-line shows a
grand total of 252 to 281 2/3 in direct statute miles. The number
of camels engaged from Shaykhs Alayán and Hasan was sixty-one;
and the hire, according to Mr. Clarke, represented £147 6s. 6d.,
not including the £40 of which we were plundered by the bandit
Ma'ázah. The ascent of the Shárr also cost £40, making a grand
total of £187 6s. 6d.
The march to the Hismá gave us a fair idea of the three main
formations of Madyan, which lie parallel and east of one
another:--1. The sandy and stony maritime region, the foot-hills
of the Gháts, granites and traps with large veins and outcrops of
quartz; and Wadys lined with thick beds of conglomerate. 2. The
Jibál el-Tihámah, the majestic range that bounds the seaboard
inland, with its broad valleys and narrow gorges forming the only
roads. 3. The Jibál el-Shafah, or interior ridge, the "lip" of
North-Western Arabia; in fact, the boundary-wall of the Nejd
plateau.
The main object of this travel was to ascertain the depth from
west to east of the quartz-formations, which had been worked by
the Ancients. I had also hoped to find a virgin region lying
beyond El-Harrah, the volcanic tract subtending the east of the
Hismá, or plateau of New Red Sandstone. We ascertained, by
inquiry, that the former has an extent wholly unsuspected by Dr.
Wallin and by the first Expedition; and that a careful
examination of it is highly desirable. But we were stopped upon
the very threshold of the Hismá by the Ma'ázah, a tribe of
brigands which must be subjected to discipline before the
province of Madyan can be restored to its former status.
This northern portion had been visited by Dr. Wallin; the other
two-thirds of the march lay, I believe, over untrodden ground. We
brought back details concerning the three great parallel Wadys;
the Salmá, the Dámah, that "Arabian Arcadia," and the
Aslah-Aznab. We dug into, and made drawings and plans of, the
two principal ruined cities, Shuwák and Shaghab, which probably
combined to form the classical ; and of the two less
important sites, El-Khandaki and Umm Ámil.
The roads of this region, and indeed of all Midian, are those of
Iceland without her bogs and snows: for riding considerations we
may divide them into four kinds:--
1. Wady--the Fiumara or Nullah; called by travellers
"winter-brook" and "dry river-bed." It is a channel without
water, formed, probably, by secular cooling and contraction of
the earth's surface, like the fissures which became true streams
in the tropics, and in the higher temperate zones. Its geological
age would be the same as the depressions occupied by the ocean
and the "massive" eruptions forming the mountain-skeleton of the
globe. Both the climate and the vegetation of Midian must have
changed immensely if these huge features, many of them five miles
broad, were ever full of water. In modern days, after the
heaviest rains, a thin thread meanders down a wilderness of bed.
The Wady-formation shows great regularity. Near the mouth its
loose sands are comfortable to camels and distressing to man and
mule. The gravel of the higher section is good riding; the upper
part is often made impassable by large stones and overfalls of
rock; and the head is a mere couloir. Flaked clay or mud show the
thalweg; and the honeycombed ground, always above the line of
highest water, the homes of the ant, beetle, jerboa, lizard, and
(Girdi) rat, will throw even the cautious camel.
2. Ghadír--the basin where rain-water sinks. It is mostly a
shining bald flat of hard yellow clay, as admirable in dry as it
is detestable in wet weather.
3. Majrá--here pronounced "Maghráh"[EN#29]--the divide;
literally, the place of flowing. It is the best ground of all,
especially where the yellow or brown sands are overlaid by hard
gravel, or by a natural metalling of trap and other stones.
4. Wa'r--the broken stony surface, over which camels either
cannot travel, or travel with difficulty: it is the horror of the
Bedawi; and, when he uses the word, it usually means that it
causes man to dismount. It may be of two kinds; either the Majrá
proper ("divide") or the Nakb ("pass"), and the latter may safely
be left to the reader's imagination.
The partial ascent of the mighty Shárr gave an admirable study of
the mode in which the granites have been enfolded and enveloped
by the later eruptions of trap. Nor less curious, also, was it to
remark how, upon this Arabian Alp, vegetation became more
important; increasing, contrary to the general rule, not only in
quantity but in size, and changing from the date and the Daum to
the strong smelling Ferula, the homely hawthorn, and the tall and
balmy juniper-tree. There is game, ibex and leopard, in these
mountains; but the traveller, unless a man of leisure, must not
expect to shoot or even to sight it.
Chapter XIV.
Down South--to El-WijhNotes on the Quarantine--the Hutaym Tribe.
There remained work to do before we could leave El-Muwaylah. The
two Shaykhs, Alayán and Hasan el-Ukbi, were to be paid off end
dismissed with due ceremony; provisions were to be brought from
the fort to the cove; useless implements to be placed in store;
mules to be embarked--no joke without a pier!--and last, but not
least, the ballastless Mukhbir was to be despatched with a mail
for Suez. The whole Expedition, except only the sick left at the
fort, was now bound southwards. The Sayyid and our friend Furayj
accepted formal invitations to accompany us: Bukhayt, my
"shadow," with Husayn, chef and romancer-general, were shipped as
their henchmen; and a score of soldiers and quarrymen represented
the escort and the working-hands. Briefly, the Sinnár, though
fretting her vitals out at the delay, was detained two days
(March 19--20) in the Sharm Yáhárr. Amongst other things that
consoled us for quitting the snug dock, was the total absence of
fish. At this season the shoals leave the coast, and gather round
their wonted spawning-grounds, the deep waters near the Sha'b
("reefs"), where they find luxuriant growths of seaweed, and
where no ships disturb them.
Bidding a temporary adieu to our old fellow voyagers on board the
Mukhbir, including the excellent engineer, Mr. David Duguid, we
steamed out of the quiet cove, at a somewhat late hour (6.30
a.m.) on March 21st; and, dashing into the dark and slaty sea,
stood to the south-east. For two days the equinoctial weather had
been detestable, dark, cloudy, and so damp that the dry and the
wet bulbs showed a difference of only 4°--5°. This morning, too,
the fire of colour had suddenly gone out; and the heavens were
hung with a gloomy curtain. The great Shárr, looming unusually
large and tall in the Scandinavian mountain-scene, grey of shadow
and glancing with sun-gleams that rent the thick veils of
mist-cloud, assumed a manner of Ossianic grandeur. After three
hours and a half we were abreast of Zibá, around whose dumpy
tower all the population had congregated. Thence the regular
coralline bank, whose beach is the Bab, runs some distance down
coast, allowing passage to our ugly old friend, Wady Salmá. The
next important mouth is the Wady Amúd, showing two Sambúks at
anchor, and a long line of vegetation like the palm-strips of the
Akabah Gulf: this valley, I have said, receives the Mutadán,
into which the Abú Marwah gorge discharges.[EN#30]
It would appear that this "Amúd" represents the "Wady el-Aúníd," a
name utterly unknown to the modern Arabs, citizens and Bedawin, at
least as far south as El-Haurá. Yet it is famed amongst mediaeval
geographers for its fine haven with potable water; and for its
flourishing city, where honey was especially abundant. El-Idrísí
settles the question of its site by placing it on the coast opposite
the island El-Na'mán (Nu'mán), but can El-Idrísí be trusted?
Sprenger (p. 24), induced, it would appear, by similarity of sound,
and justly observing that in Arabic the letters Ayn and Ghayn are
often interchanged, would here place the (Rhaunathi Vicus)
of Ptolemy (north lat. 25 degrees 40'). According to my friend,
also, the Ras Abú Masárib, the long thin point north of which the
Wady Dámah, half-way to the Wady Azlam, falls in, represents the
(Chersónesi Extrema) on the same parallel. I cannot help
suspecting that both lie further south--in fact, somewhere about El-
Haurá.[EN#31]
Here the maritime heights, known as the Jibál ("Mountains" of
the) Tihámat-Balawiyyah (of "the Baliyy tribe"), recede from the
sea, and become mere hills and hillocks; yet the continuity of
the chain is never completely broken. At noon we slipped into the
channel, about a mile and a half broad, which separates the
mainland from the Jebel ("Mount") Nu'mán, as the island is
called: so the Arabs speak of Jebel (never Jezírat)
Hassáni.[EN#32] The surface of the water was like oil after the
cross seas on all sides, the tail of an old gale which the Arab
pilots call Bahr madfún ("buried sea"), corresponding with the
Italian mar vecchio. On our return northwards we landed upon
Nu'mán, whose name derives from the red-flowered Euphorbia
retusa; bathed, despite the school of sharks occupying the waters
around; collected botany, and examined the ground carefully. Like
the Dalmatian Archipelago, it once formed part of the mainland,
probably separated by the process that raised the maritime range.
The rolling sandy plateau and the dwarf Wadys are strewed with
trap and quartz, neither of which could have been generated by
the new sandstones and the yellow corallines. It has two fine
bays, facing the shore and admirably defended from all winds; the
southern not a little resembles Sináfir-cove.
The "top," or dwarf plateau, commands a fine view of the coast
scenery; the "Pins" of the Shárr; the Mutadán Mountain, twin ridges
of grey white granite, and, further south, the darker forms of
Raydán and Zigláb. Here, during springtide, the Huwaytát transport
their flocks in the light craft called Katirah, and feed them till
the pasture is browsed down. We made extensive inquiries, but could
hear of no ruins. Yet the islet, some three to four miles long by
one broad, forming a natural breakwater to the coast, is important
enough to bear, according to Sprenger, a classical name, the
(Timagenis Insula) of Ptolemy. If this be the case, either the
Pelusian or his manuscripts are greatly in error. He places the bank
in north lat. 25° 45', whilst its centre would be in north lat. 27°
5'; and the sixty miles of distance from the coast, evidently the
blunder of a copyist, must be reduced to a maximum of three.
Passing another old friend, the Aslah-Aznab, down whose head we
had ridden to Shaghab, about two p.m. we steamed along the mouth
of the Wady Azlam, the Ezlam of Wellsted,[EN#33] which he unduly
makes the southern frontier of the Huwaytát, and the northern of
the Baliyy tribes. Beyond it is the gape of the once populous
Wady Dukhán--of "the (furnace?) Smoke"--faced by a large splay of
tree-grown sand. Ruins are reported in its upper bed. Beyond
Marsá Zubaydah (not Zebaider), the sea is bordered by the
red-yellow coast-range; and the fretted sky line of peaks and
cones, "horses" and "hogs'-backs," is cut by deep valleys and
drained by dark "gates." The background presents a long, regular
curtain of black hill, whose white sheets and veins may be
granite and quartz. We were then shown the Mínat el-Marrah, one
of the many Wady-mouths grown with vegetation; and here the ruins
El-Nabagah (Nabakah) are spoken of. At four p.m. we doubled the
Ras Labayyiz (not Lebayhad), a long flat tongue projecting from
the coast range, and defending its valley to the south. In the
Fara't or upper part, some five hours' march from the mouth, lie
important remains of the Mutakkadimín ("ancients"). The report
was confirmed by an old Arab Básh-Buzúk at El-Wijh; he declared
that in his youth he had seen a tall furnace, and a quantity of
scoriæ from which copper could be extracted, lying northwards at
a distance of eighteen hours' march and five by sea.
The next important feature is the Wady Salbah, the Telbah of the
Chart, up whose inland continuation, the Wady el-Nejd, we shall
travel. Here the coast-range again veers off eastward; and the
regular line is cut up into an outbreak of dwarf cones, mere
thimbles. Above the gloomy range that bounds it southwards,
appear the granitic peaks and "Pins" of Jebel Libn, gleaming
white and pale in the livid half-light of a cloudy sunset. After
twelve hours' steaming over seventy to seventy-two knots of reefy
sea, we ran carefully into the Sharm Dumayghah.[EN#34] This
lake-like, land-locked cove is by far the best of the many good
dock-harbours which break the Midian coast. Its snug retreat gave
hospitality to half a dozen Juhayni Sambúks, fishers and divers
for mother-of-pearl, riding beyond sight of the outer world, and
utterly safe from the lighthouse dues of El-Wijh.
I resolved to pass a day at these old quarters of a certain Háji
Abdullah. The hydrographers have given enlarged plans of Yáhárr
and Jibbah, ports close to each other; while they have ignored
the far more deserving Sharm Dumayghah. Distant only thirty miles
of coasting navigation, a line almost clear of reefs and shoals,
it is the natural harbour for the pilgrim-ships, which ever run
the danger of being wrecked at El-Wijh; and it deserves more
notice than we have hitherto vouchsafed to it. The weather also
greatly improved on the next day (March 22nd): the cloud-canopy,
the excessive moisture, and the still sultriness which had
afflicted us since March 19th, were in process of being swept
away by the strong, cool, bright norther.
The survey of the Egyptian officers shows an oval extending from
north-west to south-east, with four baylets or bulges in the
northern shore. The length is upwards of a knot, and the breadth
twelve hundred yards. It may be described as the embouchure of
the Wady Dumayghah, which falls into its head, and which,
doubtless, in olden times, when the land was wooded, used to roll
a large and turbulent stream. As is often seen on this coast, the
entrance is defended by a natural breakwater which appears like a
dot upon the Chart. Capped with brown crust, falling bluff
inland, and sloping towards the main, where the usual stone-heaps
act as sea-marks, this bank of yellowish-white coralline,
measuring 310 metres by half that width, may be the remains of
the bed in which the torrents carved out the port. The northern
inlet is a mere ford of green water: my "Pilgrimage" made the
mistake of placing a fair-way passage on either side of the
islet. The southern channel, twenty-five fathoms deep and three
hundred metres broad, is garnished on both flanks with a hundred
metres of dangerous shallow, easily distinguished by green
blazoned upon blue. The bay is shoal to the south-east; the best
anchorage for ships lies to the north-west, almost touching land.
A reef or rock is reported to be in the middle ground, where we
lay with ten fathoms under us: it was seen, they say, at night,
by the aid of lanterns; but next morning Lieutenants Amir and
Yusuf were unable to find it. Native craft usually make fast in
three fathoms to a lumpy natural mole of modern sandstone, north
of the entrance: a little trimming would convert it into a
first-rate pier.
At this place we landed to prospect the country, and to gather
information from the Sambúk crews before they had time to hoist
sail and be off. The owners of the land are not Juhaynah, the
"Wild Men" with whom the Rais of the Golden Wire had threatened
us in 1853. The country belongs to the Baliyy; now an inoffensive
tribe well subject to Egypt, mixed with a few Kura'án-Huwaytát
and Karáizah-Hutaym. The fishermen complained that no fish was to
be caught, and the strong tides, setting upon the stony flank of
the mole, had broken most of the shells, not including, however,
the oysters. The usual eight-ribbed turtle appeared to be common.
On the sands to the north, M. Lacaze picked up a large old and
bleached skull, which went into my collection; we failed to find
any neighbouring burial-ground. Striking inland, however, towards
the dotted square, marked "Fort (ruin)" in the Chart, we came
upon an ancient cemetery to the north of the bay, and concluded
that these graves had been mistaken for remains of building.
We then bent eastward towards the Jibál el-Salbah, and examined
the two dwarf valleys which, threading the heights, feed the Wady
Dumayghah. That to the south showed us a perfectly familiar
formation; conglomerates of water-rolled pebbles in the lower
levels, and hills of the normal dark porphyries, with large
quartz-seams of many colours trending in every direction. The
mouth of the northern gorge was blocked by a vein of finely
crystallized carbonate of lime, containing geodes and bunches.
The taste is astringent, probably from the alumina; and it is
based upon outcrops of a sandy calcaire apparently fit for
hydraulic cement. The only novelty in the vegetation was the
Fashak-tree, a creeper like a gigantic constrictor, with sweet
yellow wood somewhat resembling liquorice.
Signs of Arab everywhere appeared, but there were no tents.
Consequently we were unable to ascertain the extent of the
water-supply--an important matter if this is to become the port
of El-Wijh. The Sambúks might bring it, but the people on shore
would be dependent upon what they can find. The Hajj-road,
running some miles inland, is doubtless supplied with it. Even,
however, were the necessary wanting, the pilgrim-ships, whilst
taking refuge here, could easily transport it from the south.
Shaykh Furayj; pointed out to us the far northern blue peaks of
the Amúd Zafar, in whose branch-Wady lie the ruins of M'jirmah.
The day ended with a sudden trembling of the ship, as if
straining at anchor; but the crew was again performing fantasia,
and the earthquake or sea-quake rolled unheededly away.
Apparently the direction was from north to south: I noted the
hour, 9.10 p.m., and the duration, twenty seconds. According to
the Arabs the Zilzilah is not uncommon in Midian, especially
about the vernal equinox: on this occasion it ended the spell of
damp and muggy weather which began on March 19th, and which may
have been connected with it.
The survey soundings were not finished till nearly eight a.m.
(March 23rd), when the old corvette swung round on her heel; and,
with the black hills of Salbah to port, resumed her rolling,
rollicking way southwards. Her only ballast consisted of some six
hundred conical shot, or twelve tons for a ship of eight hundred.
After one hour of steaming (= seven miles) we passed the green
mouth of the Wady Antar, in whose Istabl ("stable"), or upper
valley-course, the pilgrimage-caravan camps. It drains a small
inland feature to the north-east, the true "Jebel Antar," which
the Hydrographic Chart has confounded with the great block,
applying, moreover, the term Istabl to the height instead of the
hollow. This Jebel Libn, along which we are now steaming, is a
counterpart on a small scale, a little brother, of the Shárr,
measuring 3733 instead of 6000 to 6500 feet. We first see from
the north a solid block capped with a mural crown of three peaks.
When abreast of us the range becomes a tall, fissured, and
perpendicular wall: this apical comb, bluff to the west, reposes
upon a base sloping, at the angle of rest, to the environing
sandy Wady. To complete the resemblance, even the queer "Pins"
are not wanting; and I should expect to find in it all the
accidents of the giant of El-Muwaylah.
The complexion of the Libn, which the people pronounce "Libin,"
suggests grey granite profusely intersected with white quartz:
hence, probably, the name, identical with Lebanon and
Libanus--"the Milk Mountain." The title covers a multitude of
peaks: the Bedawin have, doubtless, their own terms for every
head and every hollow. The citizens comprehensively divide the
block into two, El-Áli ("the Upper") being its southern, and
El-Asfal ("the Lower") its northern, section. It is said to
abound in water; and a Nakhil ("date-grove") is described as
growing near the summit. The Hutaym, who own most of it, claim
the lover and hero-poet, Antar, as one of their despised
tribe--hence, probably, his connection with the adjoining
mountain and "the stable."
"Jebel Libin" is the great feature of the Tihámat-Balawíyyah; for
many days it will appear to follow us, and this is the proper
place for assigning its rank and status to it. About El-Akabah,
the northern head of the Gháts or coast-range, we have prospected
the single chain of Jebel Shará'; the "Sa'ar of the tribes of the
Shasu" (Bedawin)[EN#35] in the papyri, and the Hebrew Mount Seir,
the "rough" or "rugged." Further south we have noted how this
tall eastern bulwark of the great Wady el-Arabah bifurcates;
forming the Shafah chain to the east, and westward of it, in
Madyan Proper, the Jibál el-Tihámah, of which the Shárr is
perhaps the culmination. We have noted the accidents of the
latter as far as Dumayghah Cove, and now we descry in the offing
the misty forms--how small they look!--of the Jebel el-Ward; the
Jibál el-Safhah; the two blocks, south of the Wady Hamz, known as
the Jibál el-Rál; and their neighbours still included in the
Tihámat-Balawíyyah. Lastly, we shall sight, behind El-Haurá, the
Abú Ghurayr and a number of blocks which, like the former, are
laid down, but are not named, in the Chart.
Beyond El-Haurá the chain stretches southwards its mighty links
with smaller connections. The first is the bold range Jebel
Radwah, the "Yambo Hills" of the British sailor, some six
thousand feet high and lying twenty-five miles behind the new
port.[EN#36] Passing it to left on the route to El-Medínah, I
heard the fables which imposed upon Abyssinian Bruce: "All sorts
of Arabian fruits grew to perfection on the summit of these
hills; it is the paradise of the people of Yenbo, those of any
substance having country-houses there." This was hardly probable
in Bruce's day, and now it is impossible. The mountain is held by
the Beni Harb, a most turbulent tribe, for which see my
"Pilgrimage."[EN#37] Their head Shaykh, Sa'd the Robber, who
still flourished in 1853, is dead; but he has been succeeded by
one of his sons, Shaykh Hudayfah, who is described with simple
force as being a "dog more biting than his sire." Between these
ill-famed haunts of the Beni Harb and Jeddah rises the Jebel
Subh, "a mountain remarkable for its magnitude" (4500 feet),
inhabited by the Beni Subh, a fighting clan of the "Sons of
Battle."
The largest links of these West-Arabian Gháts are of white-grey
granite, veined and striped with quartz; and they are subtended
inland by the porphyritic traps of the Jibál el-Shafah, which we
shall trace to the parallel of El-Hamz, the end of Egypt. I
cannot, however, agree with Wellsted (II. xii.) that the ridges
increase in height as they recede from the sea; nor that the
veins of quartz run horizontally through the "dark granite." The
greater altitudes (three to six thousand feet) are visible from
an offing of forty to seventy miles; and they are connected by
minor heights: some of these, however, are considerable, and here
and there they break into detached pyramids. All are maritime,
now walling the shore, like the Tayyib Ism; then sheering away
from it, where a broad "false coast" has been built by Time.
These western Gháts, then, run down, either in single or in
double line, the whole length of occidental Arabia; and, meeting
a similar and equally important eastern line, they form a mighty
nucleus, the mountains of El-Yemen. After carefully inspecting,
and making close inquiries concerning, a section of some five
hundred miles, I cannot but think that the mines of precious
ores, mentioned by the mediæval Arabian geographers,[EN#38] lay
and lie in offsets from the flanks either of the maritime or the
inland chain; that is, either in the Tihámah, the coast lowlands,
or in the El-Nejd, the highland plateau of the interior.
What complicates the apparently simple ground is the long line of
volcanic action which, forming the eastern frontier of the
plutonic granites and of the modern grits, may put forth veins
even to the shores of the Akabah Gulf and the Red Sea.[EN#39]
The length, known to me by inquiry, would be about three degrees
between north lat. 28° and 25°, the latter being the parallel of
El-Medínah; others make them extend to near Yambú', in north lat.
24° 5'. They may stretch far to the north, and connect, as has
been suggested, with the Syrian centres of eruption, discovered
by the Palestine Exploration. I have already explained[EN#40] how
and why we were unable to visit "the Harrah" lying east of the
Hismá; but we repeatedly saw its outlines, and determined that
the lay is from north-west to south-east. Further south, as will
be noticed at El-Haurá, the vertebrae curve seawards or to the
south-west; and seem to mingle with the main range, the mountains
of the Tihámat-Jahaníyyah ("of the Juhaynah"). Thus the formation
assumes an importance which has never yet been attributed to it;
and the five several "Harrahs," reported to me by the Bedawin,
must be studied in connection with the mineralogical deposits of
the chains in contact with them. It must not be forgotten that a
fragment of porous basalt, picked up by the first Expedition near
Makná, yielded a small button of gold.[EN#41]
Dreadfully rolled the Sinnár, as she ran close in-shore before
the long heavy swell from the north-west, and the old saying, Bon
rouleur, bon marcheur, is cold consolation to an active man made
to idle malgré lui. This section of the coast, unlike that to the
north, is remarkably free from reefs. A little relief was felt
while sheltered by the short tract of channel between the
mainland and the shoals. But the nuisance returned in force as,
doubling the Ras Muraybit (not Marabat), we sighted the two
towers of El-Wijh, both beflagged, the round Burj of the fort,
and the cubical white-washed lighthouse crowning its rocky point.
And we were quiet once more when the Sinnár, having covered the
thirty miles in four hours and thirty minutes, cast anchor in the
usual place, south-east of the northern jaw. The main objection
to our berth is that the prevailing north wind drives in a
rolling sea from the open west. The log showed a total of 102
miles between the Sharms Yáhárr and El-Wijh, or 107 from the
latter to El-Muwaylah.
"El-Wijh," meaning the face, a word which the Egyptian Fellah
perverts to "Wish," lies in north lat. 26° 14'. It is the
northernmost of the townlets on the West Arabian shore, which
gain importance as you go south; e.g., Yambá', Jeddah, Mocha, and
Aden. It was not wholly uncivilized during my first visit, a
quarter of a century ago, when I succeeded in buying opium for
feeble patients. Distant six stations from Yambá', and ten from
El-Medínah, it has been greatly altered and improved. The
pilgrim-caravan, which here did penance of quarantine till the
last two years, has given it a masonry pier for landing the
unfortunates to encamp upon the southern or uninhabited side of
the cove. A tall and well-built lighthouse, now five years old,
boasts of a good French lantern, wanting only soap and decent
oil. Finally, guardhouses and bakehouses, already falling to
ruins like the mole, and an establishment for condensing water,
still kept in working order, are the principal and costly
novelties of the southern shore.
The site of El-Wijh is evidently old, although the ruins have
been buried under modern buildings. Sprenger (p. 21) holds the
townlet to be the port of "Egra, a village" (El-Hajar, or "the
town, the townlet"?) "in the territory of Obodas," whence,
according to Strabo (xvi. c. 4, § 24), Ælius Gallus embarked his
baffled troops for Myus Hormus.[EN#42] Formerly he believed
El-Aúníd to be Strabo's "Egra," the haven for the north; as
El-Haurá was for the south, and El-Wijh for the central regions.
Pliny (vi. 32) also mentions the "Tamudæi, with their towns of
Domata and Hegra, and the town of Badanatha." It is generally
remarked that "Egra" does not appear in Ptolemy's lists; yet one
of the best texts (Nobbe, Lipsia, 1843) reads instead
of the "Negran" which Pirckheymerus (Lugduni, MDXXXV.) and others
placed in north lat. 26°.
My learned friend writes to me--"El-Wijh, on the coast of Arabia,
is opposite to Qoçayr (El-Kusayr), where Ælius Gallus landed his
troops. We know that Egra' is the name of a town in the
interior, and it was the constant habit to call the port after
the capital of the country, e.g., Arabia Emporium = Aden. We have
now only to inquire whether El-Wijh had claims to be considered
the seaport of El-Hijr." This difficulty is easily settled.
El-Wijh is still the main, indeed the only, harbour in South
Midian; and, during our stay there, a large caravan brought
goods, as will be seen, from the upper Wady Hamz.
Under the influence of the quarantine, El-Wijh, the town on the
northern bank of its cove, has blossomed into a hauteville,
dating from the last dozen years. The ancient basseville,
probably the site of many former settlements, is now used chiefly
for shops and stores. Another and a more pretentious mosque has
supplanted the little old Záwiyah ("chapel") with its barbarous
minaret, whose finial, a series of inverted crescents, might be
taken for a cross; while a Jámi' or "cathedral," begun in the
upper town, has stopped short through want of funds. Some of the
best houses now extend towards the northern point. As usual in
Arab settlements, they are long, tall claret-cases of coral-rag
and burnt lime; flat-roofed, whitewashed in front, and provided
with wooden doors and shutters. Lastly, on the slope still
appears the smoky coffee-shed that witnessed the memorable
encounter between its surly proprietor and "Saad the
Devil."[EN#43]
Stony ramps, stiff as those of Gibraltar, connect the low with
the high town, the cool breezy new settlement upon the crest of
the northern cliff, whose noble view of the Jebel Libn and the
palm-scattered Wady el-Wijh were formerly monopolized by the fort
and its round tower. This work, only sixty-five years old, now
stands so perilously near the undermined edge of the
rock-cornice, that some day it will come down with a run. It is
used by the garrison, and serves as a jail; but lately a Bedawi
prisoner, like a certain Mamlúk Bey, jumped down the precipitous
cove-face and effected his escape. Behind it are the "Doctors'
Quarters," empty and desolate, because the sanitary officers have
been removed. They are sheds of white-washed boarding, brought
from the Crimea, like those of the Suez Canal; and comfortably
distributed into Harem, kitchens, offices, and other necessaries.
The inhabitants of El-Wijh may number twelve hundred, without
including chance travellers and the few wretched Bedawin, Hutaym
and others, who pitch their black tents, like those of
Alexandrian "Ramleh," about and beyond the town. The people live
well; and the merchants are large and portly men, who evidently
thrive upon meat and rice. Flesh is retailed in the bazar, and
mutton is cheap, especially when the Bedawin are near; a fine
large sheep being dear at ten shillings. Water is exceptionally
abundant, even without the condenser's aid. The poorer classes
and animals are watered at the pits and the two regular wells
near the valley's mouth, half an hour's trudge from the town. The
wealthy are supplied by the inland fort, which we shall presently
visit: the distance going and coming would be about four slow
hours, and the skinful costs five Khurdah, or copper piastres =
three halfpence. The inner gardens grow a small quantity of green
meat: water-melons are brought from Yambá(?): opium and Hashísh
abound, but no spirits are for sale since the one Greek Bakkál,
or petty shopkeeper, "made tracks." He borrowed from a certain
Surúr Selámah, negro merchant and head miser, 150 napoleons, in
order to buy on commission certain bales of cotton shipwrecked up
coast; he left in pledge the keys of his miserable store, which,
by-the-by, la loi refuses to open; he was never seen again, and
poor rich Surur is in the depths of despair.
One of the small industries of El-Wijh is the pearl trade. Mr.
Clarke bought for £4 (twenty dollars) a specimen of good round
form but rather yellow colour; and presently refused £5 for it.
Those of pear-shape easily fetch thirty-six to forty dollars.
Turquoises set in sealing-wax are sold cheap by the returning
Persian pilgrims: the Zib el-Bahr ("Sea-wolf"), an Egyptian
cruiser, had carried off the best shortly before our arrival. The
people speak of an Akík ("carnelian") which, rubbed down in
vinegar, enters into the composition of a favourite philtre--we
could not, however, find any for sale. On our return, an Anezah
caravan of some ninety camels, driven by a hundred or so of
spearmen and matchlockmen, came in loaded with valuable Samn or
clarified butter: the fact suggests that the time has come for
establishing a Gumruk ("custom-house") at El-Wijh. Another source
of wealth will be El-Melláhah, "the salina," along which we shall
travel: every man who has a donkey may carry off what he pleases,
and sell to pilgrims and Bedawin the kilogramme for four piastres
copper (= one piastre currency = five farthings). This again
should be taken in hand by Government; and regular "salterns,"
like those of Triestine Capodistria, would greatly increase the
quantity. Nothing can be better than the quality except
rock-salt. There is another salina about one hour down the coast,
formed by a reef, near the Ras el-Ma'llah.
The afternoon of arrival was spent in receiving visits. The
Muháfiz or "civil governor," Hasan Bey, calls himself a
Circassian: he is a handsome old man, whose straight features
suggest the Greek slave, and who served in the Syrian campaigns
under Ibrahim Pasha. Forty years ago he left his home; he has
been here six years, and yet he knows absolutely nothing of the
interior. He ought to reside at the inland fort, but he prefers
the harbour-town; and he had not the common-sense to ride out
with us. He shows his zeal by inventing obstacles; for instance,
he suggests that the Bedawin should leave, during our journey,
hostages at the fort: this is wholly unnecessary, and means only
piastres. The Yuzbáshi, or "military commandant," Sid-Ahmed
Effendi, has charge of the forty-five regulars, half a company,
who garrison the post and outpost. The chief merchant, who
afterwards volunteered to be our travelling companion, is
Mohammed Shahádah, formerly Wakil ("agent") of the fort, a charge
now abolished by a pound-foolish policy: he is an honest and
intelligent, a charitable and companionable man, who has
travelled far and wide over the interior, and who knows the
tribes by heart. I strongly recommended him to his Highness the
Viceroy. His brothers, Bedawi and Ali Shahádah, are also
open-handed to the poor; very unlike their brother-in-law Surúr
Selámah, formerly a slave to the father of Mohammed Selámah whom
we had met at Zibá. The list of notables ends with the Sayyid
Ibrahim El-Mara'í and with the sturdy Abd el-Hakk, pearl and
general merchant. All recognized our friend the Sayyid, whom even
the "gutter-boys" saluted by name; and, although the Arab manner
is blunt and independent, all showed perfect civility. It is
needless to say that our late work, and our future plans, were
known to everybody at El-Wijh as well as to ourselves; and that
the tariffs of pay and hire, established in the North Country, at
once became the norm of the South.
Our favourite walk at old "Egra" was to the quarantine-ground and
the lighthouse. The situation of the town is by no means
satisfactory, and the heavy dews of April, wetting the streets,
cause frequent fevers. En revanche, nothing can be more healthy
or exhilarating than the air of the tall plateau to the south of
the cove. The quarantine-ground, with its grand view of the
mountains inland, ends seawards in the Pharos that commands an
horizon of blue water. The latter, according to the charts, is
one hundred and six feet above sea-level, and is theoretically
visible for fourteen miles; practice would reduce this radius to
ten, and the least haze to six and even five.
The lighthouse-charges are strongly objected to by the skippers
of Arab fishing-boats, although very small in their case.
Square-rigged vessels pay per ton twenty parahs (tariff): thus it
costs a ship of five hundred tons £2 10s. (Turkish). The keeper.
under Admiral M'Killop (Pasha), a young Greek named "Gurjí," as
"George" here sounds, is assisted by a Moslem lad, Mohammed
Effendi of Alexandria. They serve for three years, and they look
forward to the end of them. The former also superintends the
condensing establishment: this office is a sinecure, except
during the three months of pilgrim-passage. The machine can
distil eighteen tons per diem; and there is another
water-magazine, an old paddle-wheeler moored to the beach under
the town. Behind the establishment lies the pilgrim-cemetery.
frequented by hyenas that prowl around the lighthouse,
threatening the canine guard. I found a new use for this vermin's
brain: it is administered by the fair ones at El-Wijh to jealous
husbands, upon whom, they tell me, it acts as a sedative.
El-Wijh has been heard of in England as the prophylactic against
the infected Hejaz. It is admirably suited for quarantine
purposes, and it has been abolished, very unwisely, in favour of
"Tor harbour." The latter, inhabited by a ring of thievish
Syro-Greek traders; backed by a wretched wilderness, alternately
swampy and sandy, is comfortless to an extent calculated to make
the healthiest lose health. Moreover, its climate, says Professor
Palmer (p. 222), is very malarious: "owing to the low and marshy
nature of the ground, there is a great deal of miasma even in the
winter season." Finally, and worst of all, it is near enough to
Suez for infection to travel easily. A wealthy pilgrim has only
to pay a few gold pieces, his escape to the mountains is winked
at; and thence he travels or voyages comfortably to Suez and
Cairo. Even without such irregularities, the transmission of
contaminated clothing, or other articles, would suffice to spread
cholera, typhus, and smallpox. Tor is, in fact, an excellent
medium for focussing and for propagating contagious disease; and
its vicinity to Egypt, and consequently to Europe, suggests that
it should at once be abolished.
At first I lent ear to the popular statement at El-Wijh; namely,
that the visiting doctors and the resident sanitary officers
naturally prefer the shorter to the longer voyage, and the nearer
station to that further from home. Moreover, inasmuch as, if
inclined to be dishonest, they find more opportunities in the
north, it was their interest to transfer the establishment to
Tor. The local authorities, the people assured me, were induced
to report that the single fort-well had run dry; that the
condensers had proved a failure, and that the old
steamer-magazine, into which they had poured brine, was leaky and
inefficient. But what was my astonishment when, after return to
Cairo, I was told that the change had been strongly advocated by
the English Government?
The objections to El-Wijh are two, both equally invalid. The port
is dangerous, especially when westerly winds are blowing: ships
during the pilgrimage-season must bank their fires, ever ready to
run out. True; but it has been shown that Sharm Dumayghah, the
best of its kind, lies only thirty knots to the north. The
second, want of water, or of good water, is even less cogent. We
have seen that the seaboard wells supply the poorer classes and
animals; and we shall presently see the Fort-wells, which, in
their day, have watered caravans containing twenty to thirty
thousand thirsty men and beasts. So far from the condensers being
a failure, the tank still holds about twenty tons of distilled
water, although it gives drink to some thirty mouths composing
the establishment. Finally, the old steamer has done its duty
well, and, like the proverbial Marine, is still ready to do its
duty again.[EN#44]
Thus the expense of laying out the quarantine-ground at El-Wijh
has been pitifully wasted. That, however, is a very small matter;
the neglect of choosing a proper position is serious, even
ominous. Unlike Tor, nothing can be healthier or freer from fever
than the pilgrims' plateau. From El-Wijh, too, escape is
hopeless: the richest would not give a piastre to levant;
because, if a solitary traveller left the caravan, a Bedawi
bullet would soon prevail on him to stop. This, then, should be
the first long halt for the "compromised" travelling northwards.
When contagious disease has completely disappeared, the second
precautionary delay might be either at Tor or, better still, at
the "Wells of Moses" (Uyun Músá), near the head of the Suez
Gulf: here sanitary conditions are far more favourable; and here
supplies, including medical comforts, would be cheaper as well as
more abundant. Briefly, it is my conviction that, under present
circumstances, "Tor" is a standing danger, not only to Egypt, but
to universal Europe.
The coast about El-Wijh is famed for shells; the numerous reefs
and shoals favouring the development of the molluscs. We were
promised a heavy haul by the citizens, who, however, contented
themselves with picking up the washed-out specimens found
everywhere on the shore: unfortunately we had no time to
superintend the work. A caseful was submitted to the British
Museum, and a few proved interesting on account of their
locality. The list printed at the end of this chapter was kindly
supplied to me by Mr. Edgar A. Smith, superintendent of the
Conchological Department.
I will conclude this chapter with a short notice the Hutaym or
Hitaym, a people extremely interesting to me. They are known to
travellers only as a low caste. Wellsted (II. xii.) tells us that
the "Huteimi," whom he would make the descendants of the
Ichthyophagi described by Diodorus Siculus and other classics,
are noticed by several Arabian authorities. "In one, the Kitab
el-Mush Serif[EN#45] (Musharrif?), they are styled Hooteïn,' the
descendants of Hooter,' a servant of Moses." He also relates a
legend that the Apostle of Allah pronounced them polluted,
because they ate the flesh of dogs. Others declare that they
opposed Mohammed when he was rebuilding the Ka'bah; and thereby
drew upon themselves the curse that they should be held the
"basest of the Arabs." These tales serve to prove one fact, the
antiquity of the race.
The Hutaym, meaning the "Broken" (tribe), hold, in Midian and
Egypt, the position of Pariahs, like the Akhdám "serviles", or
Helots, of Maskat and El-Yemen. No clan of pure Arabs will
intermarry with them; and when the Fellahs say, Tatahattim
(=tatamaskin or tatazalli), they mean, "Thou cringest, thou makest
thyself contemptible as a Hutaymi." Moreover, they must pay the
dishonouring Akháwat, or "brother-tax," to all the Bedawin
amongst whom they settle.
The Hutaym are scattered as they are numerous. They have
extended, probably in ancient times, to Upper Egypt, and occupy
parts of Nubia; about Sawákin they are an important clan. They
number few in the Sinaitic Peninsula and in Midian, but they
occupy the very heart of the Arabian Peninsula. Those settled on
Jebel Libn, we have seen, claim as their kinsman the legendary
Antar, who was probably a negro of the noble Semitic stock. A
few are camped about El-Wijh; and they become more important down
coast. In the eastern regions bordering upon Midian, they form
large and powerful bodies, such as the Nawámisah and the
Sharárát, whose numbers and bravery secure for them the respect
of their fighting equestrian neighbours, the Ruwalá-Anezah.
Like other Arabs, the Hutaym tribe is divided into a multitude of
clans, septs, and families, each under its own Shaykh. All are
Moslems, after the Desert pattern, a very rude and inchoate
article. Wellsted knew them by their remarkably broad chins: the
Bedawi recognize them by their look; by their peculiar accent,
and by the use of certain peculiar words, as Harr! when
donkey-driving. The men are unwashed and filthy; the women walk
abroad unveiled, and never refuse themselves, I am told, to the
higher blood.
The Arabs of Midian always compare the Hutaym with the Ghagar
(Ghajar) or Gypsies of Egypt; and this is the point which gives
the outcasts a passing interest. I have not yet had an
opportunity of carefully studying the race; nor can I say whether
it shows any traces of skill in metal-working. Meanwhile, we must
inquire whether these Helots, now so dispersed, are not old
immigrants of Indian descent, who have lost their Aryan language,
like the Egyptian Ghajar. In that case they would represent the
descendants of the wandering tribes who worked the most ancient
ateliers. Perhaps they may prove to be congeners of the men of
the Bronze Age, and of the earliest waves of Gypsy-immigration
into Europe.
NOTE.
A list of the shells collected by the second Khedivial Expedition
on the shore of Midian and the Gulf of Akabah, by Edgar A.
Smith, Esq., British Museum.
I. Gastropoda.
1. Conus textile, Linné.
2. Conus sumatrensis, Hwass.
3. Conus catus var., Hwass.
4. Conus larenatus, Hwass.
5. Conus hebræus, Linné.
6. Conus ividus(?), Hwass.
6a. Conus ceylanensis, Hwass.
7. Terebra maculata, Linné.
8. Terebra dimidiata, Linné.
9. Terebra consobrina, Deshayes.
10. Terebra (Impages) cærulescens, Lamarck.
11. Pleurotoma cingulifera, Lamarck.
11a. Murex tribulus, Linn.
12. Murex (Chicoreus) inflatus, Lamarck.
13. Cassidulus paradisiacus, Reeve.
14. Nassa coronata, Lamarck.
15. Nassa pulla, Linné.
16. Engina (Pusiostoma) mendicaria, Lamarck.
17. Cantharus (Tritonidea) sp. juv.
18. Purpura hippocastanum, Lamarck.
19. Sistrum arachnoides, Lamarck.
20. Sistrum fiscellum, Chemnitz.
21. Sistrum tuberculatum, Blainville.
22. Harpa solida, A. Adams.
23. Fasciolaria trapezium, Lamarck.
24. Turbinella cornigera, Lamarck.
25. Dolium (Malea) pomum, Linné.
26. Triton maculosus, Reeve.
27. Triton aquatilis, Reeve.
28. Triton (Persona) anus, Lamarck.
29. Natica (Polinices) mamilla, Linné.
30. Natica albula(?), Récluz.
31. Natica (Mamilla) melanostoma, Lamarck.
32. Solarium perspectivum, Linné.
33. Cypræa arabica, Linné.
34. Cypræa pantherina, Linné.
35. Cypræa camelopardalis, Perry.
36. Cypræa carneola, Linné.
37. Cypræa scurra, Chemnitz.
38. Cypræa erosa, Linné.
39. Cypræa tabescens(?), Solander.
40. Cypræa caurica, Linné.
41. Cypræa talpa, Linné.
41B. Cypraea lynx, Linné.
42. Cerithium tuberosum, Fabricius.
43. Turritella torulosa(?), Kiener.
44. Strombus tricornis, Lamarck.
45. Strombus gibberulus, Linné.
46. Strombus floridus, Lamarck.
47. Strombus fasciatus, Born.
48. Pterocera truncatum, Lamarck.
49. Planaxis breviculus, Deshayes.
50. Nerita marmorata, Reeve.
51. Nerita quadricolor, Gmelin.
52. Nerita rumphii Récluz.
53. Turbo petholatus, Linné.
54. Turbo chrysostoma var.(?), Linné.
55. Trochus (Pyramis) dentatus, Forskâl.
56. Trochus (Cardinalia) virgatus, Gmelin.
57. Trochus (Polydonta) sanguinolentus, Chemnitz.
58. Trochus (Clanculus) pharaonis, Linné.
59. Trochus (Monodonta) sp.
60. Patella variabilis(?), Krauss.
61. Chiton sp.
62. Bulla ampulla, Linné.
II. Conchifera
63. Dione florida, Lamarck.
64. Dione sp.
65. Tellina staurella, Lamarck.
66. Paphia glabrata, Gmelin.
67. Chama Ruppellii, Reeve.
68. Arca (Barbatia) sp.
68a Arca (Senilia) sp.
69. Cardium leucostoma, Born.
70. Venericardia Cumingii, Deshayes.
71. Modiola auriculata, Krauss.
72. Pectunculus lividus, Reeve.
73. Pectunculus pectenoides, Deshayes.
74. Avicula margaritifera, Linné.
75. Tridacna gigas, Linné.
Chapter XV.
The Southern Sulphur-hill--the Cruise to El-Haurá--Notes on the
Baliyy Tribe and the Volcanic Centres of North--Western Arabia.
On the day of our arrival at El-Wijh I sent a hurried letter of
invitation to Mohammed Afnán, Shaykh of the Baliyy tribe;
inviting him to visit the Expedition, and to bring with him
seventy camels and dromedaries. His tents being pitched at a
distance of three days' long march in the interior, I determined
not to waste a precious week at the end of the cold season; and
the party was once more divided. Anton, the Greek, was left as
storekeeper, with orders to pitch a camp, to collect as much
munition de bouche as possible, and to prepare for this year's
last journey into the interior. MM. Marie and Philipin, with
Lieutenant Yusuf, Cook Giorji, and Body-servant Ali Marie, were
directed to march along the shore southwards. After inspecting a
third Jebel el-Kibrít, they would bring back notices of the Wady
Hamz, near whose banks I had heard vague reports of a Gasr
(Kasr), "palace" or "castle," built by one Gurayyim Sa'íd.
Meanwhile, the rest of us would proceed in the Sinnár to
El-Haurá, a roundabout cruise of a hundred miles to the south.
M. Philipin lost time in shoeing very imperfectly his four mules;
and M. Marie, who could have set out with eight camels at any
moment, delayed moving till March 26th. The party was composed of
a single Básh-Buzúk from the fort, and two quarrymen: the Ras
Káfilah was young Shaykh Sulaymán bin Afnán--of whom more
presently--while his brother-in-law Hammád acted guide. At 6.40
a.m. they struck to the south-east of the town, and passed the
two brackish pits or wells, Bir el-Isma'íl and El-Sannúsi, which
supply the poor of the port. Thence crossing the broad Wady
el-Wijh, they reached, after a mile's ride, Wady Melláhah, or
"the salina." It is an oval, measuring some eighteen hundred
yards from north to south: the banks are padded with brown slush
frosted white; which, in places, "bogs" the donkeys and admits
men to the knee. Beyond it lie dazzling blocks of pure
crystallized salt; and the middle of the pond is open, tenanted
by ducks and waterfowl, and visited by doves and partridges. At
the lower or northern end, a short divide separates it from the
sea; and the waves, during the high westerly gales, run far
inland: it would be easy to open a regular communication between
the harbour and its saltern. The head is formed by the large Wady
Surrah, whose many feeders at times discharge heavy torrents. The
walls of the valley-mouth are marked, somewhat like the Hárr,
with caverned and corniced cliffs of white, canary-yellow, and
light-pink sandstone.
They then left to the right the long point Ras el-Ma'llah,
fronting Mardúnah Island. Here, as at El-Akabah and Makná, sweet
water springs from the salt sands of the shore; a freak of
drainage, a kind of "Irish bull" of Nature, so common upon the
dangerous Somali seaboard. The tract leads to the south-east,
never further from the shore than four or five miles, but
separated by rolling ground which hides the main. For the same
reason the travellers were unable to sight the immense
development of granite-embedded quartz, which lurks amongst the
hills to the inland or east, and which here subtends the whole
coast-line. They imagined themselves to be in a purely Secondary
formation of gypsum and conglomerates, cut by a succession of
Wady-beds like the section between El-Muwaylah and Aynúnah. Thus
they crossed the mouths of the watercourses, whose heads we shall
sight during the inland march, and whose mid-lengths we shall
pass when marching back to El-Wijh.
These exceedingly broad beds are divided, as usual, by long lines
of Nature-metalled ground. The first important feature is the
Wady Surrah, which falls into the Wady el-Wijh a little above the
harbour-pier: its proper and direct mouth, El-Gá'h (Ká'h), or
"the Hall," runs along-shore into the Melláhah. It drains the
Hamíratayn, or "Two Reds;" the Hamírat Surrah in the Rughám or
Secondary formation, and the granitic mass Hamírat el-Nabwah,
where the plutonic outbreaks begin. Amongst the number of
important formations are:--the Wady el-Miyáh, which has a large
salt-well near the sea, and down whose upper bed we shall travel
after leaving Umm el-Karáyát; the Wady el-Kurr, whose
acquaintance we shall make in the eastern region; and the Wady
el-Argah (Arjah). The latter is the most interesting. Near its
head we shall find knots of ruins, and the quartz-reef
Abá'l-Marú; while lower down the bed, on the north-east side of a
hill facing the valley, Lieutenant Yusuf came upon a rock
scrawled over with religious formulæ, Tawakkaltu al' Allah ("I
rely upon Allah"), and so forth, all in a comparatively modern
Arabic character. The inscriptions lie to the left of the shore
road, and to the right of the pilgrim-highway; thus showing that
miners, not passing travellers, have here left their mark.
After riding five hours and forty minutes (= seventeen miles) the
party reached the base of the third sulphur-hill discovered by
the Expedition on the coast of Midian. Also known as the Tuwayyil
el-Kibrít, the "Little-long (Ridge) of Brimstone," it appears
from afar a reddish pyramid rising about two miles inland of an
inlet, which is said to be safe navigation. Thus far it resembles
the Jibbah find: on the other hand, it is not plutonic, but
chalky like those of Makná and Sinai, the crystals being
similarly diffused throughout the matrix. In the adjoining hills
and cliffs the Secondaries and the conglomerates take all shades
of colour, marvellous to behold when the mirage raises to giant
heights the white coast-banks patched with pink, red, mauve, and
dark brown. Moreover, the quarries of mottled alabaster, which
the Ancients worked for constructions, still show themselves.
The travellers slept at the base of the Tuwayyil. Next morning M.
Philipin proceeded to collect specimens of the sulphur and of the
chalcedony-agate strewed over the plain, and here seen for the
first time. M. Marie and Lieutenant Yusuf rode on to the banks of
the Wady Hamz; and, after three hours (= nine miles), they came
upon the "Castle" and unexpectedly turned up trumps. I had
carelessly written for them the name of a ruin which all,
naturally enough, believed would prove to be one of the normal
barbarous Hawáwít. They brought back specimens of civilized
architecture; and these at once determined one of the objectives
of our next journey. The party returned to El-Wijh on the next
day, in the highest of spirits, after a successful trip of more
than fifty miles.
Meanwhile I steamed southwards, accompanied by the rest of the
party, including the Sayyid, Shaykh Furayj, and the ex-Wakíl,
Mohammed Shahádah, who is trusted by the Bedawin, and who brought
with him a guide of the Fawá'idah-Juhaynah, one Rájih ibn Ayid.
This fellow was by no means a fair specimen of his race: the
cynocephalous countenance, the cobweb beard, and the shifting,
treacherous eyes were exceptional; the bellowing voice and the
greed of gain were not. He had a free passage for himself, his
child, and eight sacks of rice, with the promise of a napoleon by
way of "bakhshísh;" yet he complained aloud that he had no meat
to break his fast at dawn--an Arab of pure blood would rather
have starved. He shirked answering questions concerning the
number of his tribe. "Many, many!" was all the information we
could get from him; and his Arabic wanted the pure pronunciation,
and the choice vocabulary, that usually distinguish the Juhayni
pilots. Arrived at his own shore, he refused to make arrangements
for disembarking his rice; he ordered, with bawling accents and
pointed stick, the sailors of the man-of-war to land it at the
place chosen by himself; and he bit his finger when informed that
a sound flogging was the normal result of such impudence.
We set out at 4.30 p.m. (March 24th); and steamed due west till
we had rounded the northern head of El-Raykhah, a long low island
which, lying west-south-west of El-Wijh, may act breakwater in
that direction. Then we went south-west, and passed to port the
white rocks of Mardu'nah Isle, which fronts the Ras el-Ma'llah,
capping the ugly reefs and shoals that forbid tall ships to hug
this section of the shore. It is described as a narrow ridge of
coralline, broken into pointed masses two to three hundred feet
high, whose cliffs and hollows form breeding-places for wild
pigeons: the unusually rugged appearance is explained by the fact
that here the "Jinns" amuse themselves with hurling rocks at one
another. Before night we had sighted the Ras Kurkumah, so called
from its "Curcuma" (turmeric) hue, the yellow point facing the
islet-tomb of Shaykh Marbat.[EN#46] Upon this part of the shore,
I was told, are extensive ruins as yet unvisited by Europeans,
the dangerous Juhaynah being the obstacle. To the south-east
towered tall and misty forms, the Gháts of the
Tihámat-Jahaníyyah. Northernmost, and prolonging the Libn, that
miniature Shárr, is the regular wall of the Jebel el-Ward; then
come the peaks and pinnacles of the Jibál el-Safhah; and lastly,
the twin blocks El-Rál, between which passes the Egyptian Hajj
when returning from El-Medínah. Faint resemblances of these
features sprawl, like huge caterpillars, over the Hydrographic
Chart, but all sprawl unnamed.
By way of extra precaution we stood to the south instead of the
south-east, thus lengthening to one hundred and twenty knots the
normal hundred (dir. geog. sixty-eight) separating El-Wijh from
the Jebel Hassáni. Moreover, we caught amidships a fine lumpy
sea, that threatened to roll the masts out of the stout old
corvette. As the Sinnár, which always reminded me of her
Majesty's steamship Zebra, is notably the steadiest ship in the
Egyptian navy, the captain was asked about his ballast. He
replied, "I have just taken command, but I don't think there is
any; the engine (El-iddah) is our Saburra"--evidently he had
never seen the hold. This state of things, which, combined with
open ports, foundered her Majesty's sailing frigate Eurydice,
appears the rule of the Egyptian war-navy. I commend the
consideration to English sailors.
The steering also was detestable; and the man at the wheel could
not see the waves--a sine quâ non to the mariner in these
latitudes, who "broaches to" whenever he can. A general remark:
The Egyptian sailor is first-rate in a Dahabiyyah (Nile-boat),
which he may capsize once in a generation; and ditto in a Red Sea
Sambúk, where he is also thoroughly at home. The same was the
case with the Sultan of Maskat's Arabo-English navy: the Arabs
and Sídís (negroes) were excellent at working their Mtepe-craft;
on frigates they were monkeys, poor copies of men. Our European
vessels are beyond and above the West Asiatic and the African. He
becomes at the best a kind of imitation Jack Tar. He will not, or
rather he cannot, take the necessary trouble, concentrate his
attention, fix his mind upon his "duties." He says "Inshallah;"
he relies upon Allah; and he prays five times a day, when he
should be giving or receiving orders. The younger generation of
officers, it is true, drinks wine, and does not indulge in
orisons whilst it should be working; but its efficiency is
impaired by the difficulties and delay in granting pensions. The
many grey beards, however carefully dyed, suggest an equipage de
vétérans.
The consequence of yawing and of running half-speed by night was
that we reached Jebel Hassáni just before noon, instead of eight
a.m., on the 25th. The island, whose profile slopes to the
south-eastward, is a long yellow-white ridge, a lump of coralline
four hundred feet high, bare and waterless in summer: yet it
feeds the Bedawi flocks at certain seasons. It is buttressed and
bluff to the south-west, whence the strongest winds blow; and it
is prolonged by a flat spit to the south-east, and by a long tail
of two vertebrae, a big and a little joint, trending north-west.
Thus it gives safe shelter from the Wester to Arab
barques;[EN#47] and still forms a landmark for those navigating
between Jeddah, Kusayr, and Suez. Its parallel runs a few miles
north of the Dædalus Light (north lat. 24° 55' 30") to the west;
and it lies a little south of El-Haurá on the coast, and of
El-Medínah, distant about one hundred and thirty direct miles in
the interior. If Ptolemy's latitudes are to be consulted, Jebel
Hassáni would be the Timagenes Island in north lat. 25° 40'; and
the corresponding Chersónesus Point is represented by the
important and well-marked projection "Abú Madd," which intercepts
the view to the south.
After rounding the southern spit, we turned to north-east and by
east, and passed, with a minimum of seven fathoms under keel,
between Hassáni the Giant and the dwarf Umm Sahr, a flat sandbank
hardly visible from the shore. This is the only good approach to
the secure and spacious bay that bore the southernmost Nabathæan
port-town: there are northern and north-western passages, but
both require skilful pilots; and every other adit, though
apparently open, is sealed by reefs and shoals. With the blue and
regular-lined curtain of Abú el-Ghurayr in front, stretching down
coast to Ras Abú Madd, we bent gradually round to the north-east
and east. We then left to starboard the settlement El-Amlij, a
long line of separate Ushash, the usual Ichthyophagan huts,
dull, dark-brown wigwams. They were apparently deserted; at
least, only two women appeared upon the shore, but sundry
Katírahs and canoes warned us that fishermen were about. We ran
for safety a mile and three-quarters north of the exposed Ras
el-Haurá; and at 1.30 p.m. (= twenty-one hours) we anchored, in
nine fathoms, under the Kutá'at el-Wazamah. The pea-green
shallows, which defended us to the north and south, had lately
given protection to the Khedivíyyah[EN#48] steamer El-Hidayyidah,
compelled by an accident to creep along-shore like a Sambúk.
El-Haura' is not found either in the charts, or in Ptolemy's and
Sprenger's maps. It lies in north lat. 25° 6', about the same
parallel as El-Medínah; and in east long. (Gr.) 37° 13'
30".[EN#49] Wellsted (II. x.) heard of its ruins, but never saw
it: at least, he says, "In the vicinity of El-Haurá, according to
the Arabs, are some remains of buildings and columns, but our
stay on the coast was too limited to permit our examining the
spot." He is, however, greatly in error when he adds, "Near this
station the encampments of the Bili' (Baliyy) tribe to the
southward terminate, and those of the Joheïnah commence." As has
been seen, the frontier is nearly fifty miles further north. He
notices (chap. ix.) the "White Village" to differ with Vincent,
who would place it at El-Muwaylah; but he translates the word
(ii. 461) "the bright-eyed girl," instead of Albus (Vicus). He
quotes, however, the other name, Dár el-ishrin ("Twentieth
Station"), so called because the Cairo caravan formerly reached
it in a score of days, now reduced to nineteen. He seems,
finally, to have landed in order to inspect "a ruined town on the
main," and to have missed it.
According to Sprenger, the "White Village, or Castle," was not a
Thamudite, but a Nabathæan port. Here Æelius Gallius disembarked
his troops from Egypt. Strabo (xvi. c. 4, § 24) shows that
was the starting-place of the caravans which, before
the Nile route to Alexandria was opened, carried to Petra the
merchandise of India and of Southern Arabia. Thence the imports
were passed on to Phoenicia and Egypt:--these pages have shown
why the journey would be preferred to the voyage northward. He is
confirmed by the "Periplus," which relates (chap. xix.) that
"from the port, and the castellum of Leukè Kóme, a road leads to
Petra, the capital of the Malicha (El-Malik), King of the
Nabathæans: it also serves as an emporium to those who bring
wares in smaller ships from Arabia (Mocha, Múza, and Aden). For
the latter reason, a Perceptor or toll-taker, who levies
twenty-five per cent. ad valorem, and a Hekatontarches
(centurion), with a garrison, are there stationed." As the Nabatæ
were vassals of Rome, and the whole region had been ceded to the
Romans (Byzantines) by a chief of the Beni Kudá' tribe, this
Yuzbáshi or "military commandant" was probably a Roman.
El-Haurá, like most of the ruined settlements upon this coast,
shows two distinct "quarters;" a harbour-town and what may be
called a country-town. The latter, whose site is by far the more
picturesque and amene, lay upon a long tongue of land backing the
slope of the sea-cliff, and attached to the low whitish hillocks
and pitons rising down south. It is now a luxuriant orchard of
emerald palms forming three large patches. Behind it swells a
dorsum of golden-yellow sand; and the horizon is closed by ranges
of hills and highlands, red and white, blue and black. Our eyes
are somewhat startled by the amount of bright and vivid green:
for some reason, unknown to us, the shore is far more riant than
the northern section; and the land might be called
quasi-agricultural. The whole coast seems to be broken with
verdant valleys; from the Wady el-Ayn, with its numerous
branches beautifying the north, to the Wady el-Daghaybaj in the
south, supplying water between its two paps.
On the evening of our arrival, we landed in a shallow bay bearing
north-north-east (30° mag.) from the roads where the corvette lay
at anchor; and walked a few yards inland to the left bank of the
Wady el-Samnah, the unimportant Fiumara draining low hills of the
same name. The loose sand is everywhere strewed with bits of
light porous lava, which comes from the Harrat el-Buhayr, a bluff
quoin to the north-west. About El-Haurá, I have said, the
volcanic formations, some sixty miles inland on the parallel of
El-Muwaylah, approach the coast.
We were guided to the ruins by the shouts of sundry Arabs
defending their harvest against a dangerous enemy, the
birds--rattles and scarecrows were anything but scarce.
Apparently the sand contains some fertilizing matter. A field of
dry and stunted Dukhn (Holcus Dochna), or small millet, nearly
covers the site of the old castle, whose outline, nearly buried
under the drift of ages, we could still trace. There are two
elevations, eastern and western; and a third lies to the north,
on the right side of the Wady Samnah. Scatters of the usual
fragments lay about, and the blocks of white coralline explained
the old names--Whitton, Whitworth, Whitby. The Bedawin preserve
the tradition that this was the most important part of the
settlement, which extended southwards nearly four miles. The
dwarf valley-mouth is still a roadstead, where two small craft
were anchored; and here, doubtless, was the corner of the hive
allotted to the community's working-bees. An old fibster, Hámid
el-Fá'idi, declared that he would bring us from the adjacent
hills a stone which, when heated, would pour forth metal like
water--and never appeared again. It was curious to remark how
completely the acute Furayj believed him, because both were Arabs
and brother Bedawin.
Next morning we set out, shortly after the red and dewy sunrise,
to visit the south end of Leukè Kóme. The party consisted of
twenty marines under an officer, besides our escort of ten negro
"Remingtons:" the land was open, and with these thirty I would
willingly have met three hundred Bedawin. Our repulse from the
Hismá had rankled in our memories, and we only wanted an
opportunity of showing fight. After rowing a mile we landed,
south-east of the anchorage (127° mag.), at a modern ruin, four
blocks of the rudest masonry, built as a store by a Yambú'
merchant. Unfortunately he had leased the ground from the
Fawá'idah clan, when the Hámidah claim it: the result was a
"faction fight"--and nothing done.
A few minutes' walking, over unpleasantly deep sand, placed us
upon the Hajj-road. It is paved, like the shore, with natural
slabs and ledges of soft modern sandstone; and, being foot-worn,
it makes a far better road than that which connects Alexandria
with Ramleh. The broad highway, scattered with quartz and basalt,
greenstone, and serpentine, crossed one of the many branches of
the Wady el-Ayn: in the rich and saltish sand grew crops of
Dukhn, and the Halfá-grass (Cynosures durus) of the Nile Valley,
with tamarisk-thickets, and tufts of fan-palm. On its left bank a
lamp-black vein of stark-naked basalt, capped by jagged blocks,
ran down to the sea, and formed a conspicuous buttress. The
guides spoke of a similar volcanic outcrop above Point Abú Madd
to the south; and of a third close to Yambá' harbour.
An hour of "stravaguing" walk showed us the first sign of the
ruins: wall-bases built with fine cement, crowning the summit of
a dwarf mound to the left of the road; well-worked scoriæ were
also scattered over its slopes. We now entered the date orchards
conspicuous from the sea: on both sides of us were fences of
thorn, tamped earth, and dry stone; young trees had been planted,
and, beyond the dates, large fields of Dukhn again gave an
agricultural touch to the scene. Flocks of sheep and goats were
being grazed all around us; and the owners made no difficulty, as
they would have done further north, in selling us half a dozen.
We then entered the Wady Haurá, where the caravan camps. It is a
cheery charming site for rich citizens, with its plain of rich
vegetation everywhere, say the natives, undermined by water; its
open sea-view to the west; its mound of clean yellow sand behind,
extending to the rocky horizon; and its pure fresh breezes
blowing from the Nejd with an indescribable sense of lightness
and health and enjoyment. In fact, it has all the accessories of
an "eligible position." At the third or southern palm patch, we
found the only public work which remains visible in the great
Nabathaean port. It was formerly a Káríz, the
underground-aqueduct so common in Persia; and it conducted
towards the sea the drainage of the Jebel Turham, a round knob
shown in the Chart, which bears south-east (121° mag.) from the
conduit-head. The line has long ago been broken down by the
Arabs; and the open waters still supply the Hajj-caravan. The
Ayn ("fountain") may be seen issuing from a dark cavern of white
coralline: the water then hides itself under several filled-up
pits, which represent the old air-holes; and, after flowing below
sundry natural arches, the remains of the conduit-ceiling, it
emerges in a deep fissure of saltish stone. From this part of its
banks we picked up fair specimens of saltpetre. The lower course
abounds in water-beetles, and is choked with three kinds of
aquatic weeds. After flowing a few yards it ends in a shallow
pool, surrounded by palms and paved with mud, which attracts
flights of snipes, sandpipers, and sandgrouse.
The turbulent "Dog's Sons"[EN#50] were mostly in the upper lands;
but a few wretched fellows, with swords, old spears, and
ridiculous matchlocks, assembled and managed to get up a squabble
about the right of leading strangers into "our country"
(Bilád-ná). The doughty Rájih ibn Ayid, who, mounted upon a mean
dromedary, affected to be chief guide, seemed to treat their
pretensions as a serious matter, when we laughed them to scorn.
He and all the other experts gave us wholly discouraging details
concerning a ruin represented to lie, some hours off, in the
nearest of the southern Harrah. According to them, the Kasr
el-Bint ("Maiden's Palace") was in the same condition as
El-Haurá; showing only a single pillar, perhaps the "columns" to
which Wellsted alludes. We could learn nothing concerning the
young person whose vague name it bears; except that she preferred
settling on the mainland, whereas her brother built a
corresponding castle upon the islet Jebel Hassáni.[EN#51] He is
locally called Warakat ibn Naufal, a venerated name in the
Fatrah, or "interval," between Jesus and Mohammed; he was the
uncle of Khadijah the widow, and he is popularly supposed to have
been a Christian. Here, as at other places, I inquired, at the
suggestion of a friend, but of course in vain, about the human
skeleton which Ibn Mujáwar, some six centuries ago, found
embedded in a rock near the sea-shore.
Such is the present condition of the once famous emporium Leukè
Kóme. We returned along the shore to embark; and, shortly after
noon, the old corvette of Crimean date again swung round on her
heel, and resumed her wanderings, this time northwards. The run
of eighteen hours and fifteen minutes was semicircular, but the
sea had subsided to a dead calm. The return to El-Wijh felt like
being restored to civilization; we actually had a salad of radish
leaves--delicious!
Our travel will now lie through the Baliyy country, and a few
words concerning this ancient and noble tribe may here be given.
Although they apparently retain no traditions of their origin,
they are known to genealogists as a branch of the Beni Kudá',
who, some fifteen centuries ago, emigrated from Southern Arabia,
and eventually exterminated the Thamudites. I have noted their
northern and southern frontiers: to the north-east they are
bounded by the vicious Ma'ázah and the Ruwalá-Anezahs, and to
the south-east by the Alaydán-Anezahs, under Shaykh Mutlak. Like
their northern nomadic neighbours, they have passed over to
Egypt, and even the guide-books speak of the "Billi" in the
valley of the Nile.
The Baliyy modestly rate their numbers at four thousand muskets,
by which understand four hundred. Yet they divide themselves into
a multitude of clans; our companion, the Wakíl Mohammed Shahádah,
can enumerate them by the score; and I wrote down the
twenty-three principal, which are common both to South Midian and
to Egypt. The chief Shaykh, Mohammed Afnán ibn Ammár, can reckon
backwards seven generations, beginning from a certain Shaykh
Sultán. About ten years ago he allowed the tribe to indulge in
such dangerous amusements as "cutting the road" and plundering
merchants. It is even asserted, privily, that they captured the
fort of El-Wijh, by bribing the Turkish Topji ("head gunner"), to
fire high--like the half-caste artilleryman who commanded the
Talpúr cannoneers at Sir Charles Napier's Battle of "Meeanee." A
regiment of eight hundred bayonets was sent from Egypt, and the
Shaykh was secured by a Hílah, or "stratagem;" that is, he was
promised safe conduct: he trusted himself like a fool, he was
seized, clapped in irons, and sent to jail in the Citadel of
Cairo. Here he remained some seven months in carcere duro, daily
expecting death, when Fate suddenly turned in his favour; he was
sent for by the authorities, pardoned for the past, cautioned for
the future, and restored to his home with a Murátibah ("regular
pension") of eight hundred piastres per mensem, besides rations
and raiment. The remedy was, like cutting off the nose of a
wicked Hindú wife, sharp but effective. Shaykh Afnan and his
tribe are now models of courtesy to strangers; and the traveller
must devoutly wish that every Shaykh in Arabia could be subjected
to the same discipline.
The Baliyy are a good study of an Arab tribe in the rough. The
Huwaytát, for example, know their way to Suez and to Cairo; they
have seen civilization; they have learned, after a fashion, the
outlandish ways of the Frank, the Fellah, and the Turk-fellow.
The Baliyy have to be taught all these rudiments. Cunning,
tricky, and "dodgy," as is all the Wild-Man-race, they lie like
the "childish-foolish," deceiving nobody but themselves. An
instance: Hours and miles are of course unknown to them, but they
began with us by affecting an extreme ignorance of comparative
distances; they could not, or rather they would not, adopt as a
standard the two short hours' march between the Port and the
inland Fort of El-Wijh. When, however, the trick was pointed out
to them, they at once threw it aside as useless. No pretext was
too flimsy to shorten a march or to cause a halt--the northerners
did the same, but with them we had a controlling power in the
shape of Shaykh Furayj. And like the citizens, they hate our
manner of travelling: they love to sit up and chat through half
the night; and to rise before dawn is an abomination to them.
At first their manners, gentle and pliable, contrast pleasantly
with the roughness of the half-breds, Huwaytát and Maknáwi, who
have many of the demerits of the Fellah, without acquiring the
merits of the Bedawi. As camel-men they were not difficult to
deal with; nor did they wrangle about their hire. Presently they
turned out to be "poor devils," badly armed, and not trained to
the use of matchlocks. Their want of energy in beating the bushes
and providing forage for their camels, compared with that of the
northerners, struck us strongly. On the other hand, they seem to
preserve a flavour of ancient civilization, which it is not easy
to describe; and they certainly have inherited the instincts and
tastes of the old metal-workers: they are a race of born miners.
That sharpest of tests, the experience of travel, at last
suggested to us that the Baliyy is too old a breed; and that its
blue blood wants a "racial baptism," a large infusion of
something newer and stronger.
Note on the "Harrahs" of Arabia.
The learned Dr. J. G. Wetzstein, in the appendix to his
"Reisebericht," etc.,[EN#52] records a conversation with A. von
Humboldt and Carl Ritter (April, 1859), respecting the specimens
which he had brought from the classical Trachonitis. Their
appearance led the latter to question whether the latest
eruptions of the Harrat Rájil, as it is called from an adjoining
valley, may not have taken place within the historic period; and
he referred to Psalm xviii. as seeming to note the occurrence,
during David's reign, of such a phenomenon in or near Palestine.
Humboldt deemed it probable that the Koranic legend (chap. iv.)
of the Abyssinian host under Abraha destroyed by a shower of
stones baked in hell-fire, referred, not to small-pox as is
generally supposed, but to an actual volcanic eruption in Arabia.
"With what interest would that great man have learnt," writes Dr.
Wetzstein, "that, as I was turning over the leaves of Yákút's
Geographical Lexicon,' only a few days ago, I found that the
Arabians knew of the existence of twenty-eight different volcanic
regions between Hauran and Bab el-Mandeb!" Later still, Dr. Otto
Loth published an elaborate paper "On the Volcanic Regions
(Harras) of Arabia, according to Yakut" (thirteenth century), in
which these eruptive sites are nearly all identified and
described.
"Among the numerous volcanoes thus found to exist within the
Arabian Peninsula," remarks Dr. Beke,[EN#53] "the only one
recorded as having been in activity within the historic period is
the Harrat-el-Nar (Fire Harra'), situate to the north-east of
Medina, in the neighbourhood of Khaibur (Khaybar), in about 26°.
30' north lat., and 40°. east long.; which, being traditionally
said to have been in an active state six centuries before
Mohammed, had actually an eruption in the time of the Prophet's
successor, Omar. To the north-west of this Fire Harra' lies that
known as the Harra of (the tribe of) Udhra' (Azra): again, to
the north of this is the Harra of Tabuk,' so called from the
station of that name on the Hajj-road from Damascus to Mekka, the
position of which is in about 28 deg. 15' north lat. and 37 deg.
east long.; and beyond this last, further to the north, and
consequently between it and the northernmost Harra of the Râdjil,
or Trachonitis, is the Harra Radjlâ. . . . Its designation, which
means rough,' pathless,' seems to indicate its peculiarly
rugged surface, and to lead to the inference that it is an
immense field of lava." He cites Irby and Mangles ("Travels in
Egypt," pp. 115, 116; reprinted by Murray, London, 1868),
describing their route between Kerak and Petra, on the east side
of the Ghor or Wady Arabah. "We noticed three dark volcanic
summits, very distinguishable from the land. The lava that had
streamed from them forms a sort of island in the plain."
Hence my late friend concluded that his "true Mount Sinai" was
the focus and origin of this volcanic region; and that the latter
was the "great and terrible wilderness" (Deut. i. 19) through
which the children of Israel were led on their way to mysterious
Kadesh-Barnea. Thus, too, he explained the "pillar of the cloud
by day," and the "pillow of fire by night" (Exod. xiii. 21).
Chapter XVI.
Our Last March--the Inland Fort--Ruins of the Gold-mines at Umm
El-Karáyát and Umm El-Haráb.
Again there were preliminaries to be settled before we could
leave El-Wijh for the interior. Shaykh Mohammed Afnán had been
marrying his son; and the tale of camels came in slowly enough.
On the day after our return from El-Haurá the venerable old man
paid us a visit aboard Sinnár. He declares that he was a boy when
the Wahhábi occupied Meccah and El-Medínah--that is, in 1803-4.
Yet he has wives and young children. His principal want is a pair
of new eyes; and the train of thought is, "I can't see when older
men than myself can." The same idea makes the African ever
attribute his sickness and death to sorcery: "Why should I lose
life when all around me are alive?"--and this is the idea that
lies at the bottom of all witch-persecution. Two pair of
spectacles were duly despatched to him after our return to Cairo;
and M. Lacaze there exhibited a capital sketch of the
picturesque, white-bearded face, with the straight features and
the nutcracker chin, deep buried in the folds of a huge red
shawl.
The son, Sulaymán, has been espoused to a cousin older, they say,
than himself; and he seems in no hurry to conclude the marriage.
He would willingly accompany us to Egypt, but he is the father's
favourite, and the old man can do nothing without him. A youth of
about eighteen, and even more handsome than his sire, he has the
pretty look, the sloping shoulders, the soft snaky movements, and
the quiet, subdued voice of a nice girl. During the first marches
he dressed in the finery of the Bedawin--the brilliant
head-kerchief, the parti-coloured sandals, and the loose cloak of
expensive broadcloth. The "toggery" looked out of place as the
toilettes of the Syrian ladies who called upon us in laces and
blue satins amid the ruins of Ba'lbek. Although all the hired
camels belonged, as is customary, to the tribe, not to the
Shaykh, the latter was accompanied by the usual "Hieland tail;"
by his two nephews, Hammád and Náji, the latter our head-guide,
addicted to reading, writing, and lying; by his favourite and
factotum, Abdullah, an African mulatto, Muwallid or "house-born;"
and by his Wakíl ("agent"), a big black slave, Abdullah Mohammed,
ready of tongue and readier of fist. Lastly, I must mention one
Audah Adayni, a Huwayti bred in the Baliyy country, a traveller
to Cairo, passing intelligent and surpassing unscrupulous.
Confidential for a consideration, he told all the secrets of his
employers, and it is my firm conviction that he was liberally
paid for so doing by both parties of wiseacres.
The immediate objective of this, our last march, was the Badá
plain, of which we first heard at Shaghab. I purposed
subsequently to collect specimens of a traditional coal-mine, to
which his Highness the Viceroy had attached the highest
importance. Then we would march upon the Móchoura of the
ancients, the mediaeval El-Marwah or Zú Marwah, the modern
Marwát-cum-Abá'l-Marú. Finally, we would return to El-Wijh, viâ
the Wady Hamz, inspecting both it and the ruins first sighted by
MM. Marie and Philipin.
On Friday, March 29th, I gave a breakfast, in the wooden
barracks, to the officers of the Sinnár and the officials of the
port. After which, some took their opium and went to sleep; while
others, it being church-day, went to Mosque. We ran out of
El-Wijh at 1.45 p.m., our convoy consisting of fifty-eight
camels, forty-four of which were loaded; seven were dromedaries,
and an equal number carried water. All had assured us that the
rains of the two past years had been wanting: last winter they
were scanty; this cold season they were nil. In truth, the land
was suffering terribly from drought. Our afternoon was hot and
unpleasant: about later March the Hawá el'-Uwwah, a violent
sand-raising norther, sets in and lasts through a fortnight. It
is succeeded, in early April, by the calms of El-Ni'ám ("the
Blessings"), which, divided into the Greater and the Less, last
forty days. After that the summer--Jehannum!
From the raised and metalled bank, upon which the Burj stands, we
descended to the broad mouth of the Wijh valley, draining the low
rolling blue-brown line of porphyritic hillocks on the east. To
our right lay the sparkling, glittering white plain and pool,
El-Melláhah, "the salina." After an hour and a quarter of sandy
and dusty ride, we passed through a "gate" formed by the
Hamírat-Wijh, the red range which, backing the gape of the valley
and apparently close behind the town, strikes the eye from the
offing. Here the gypsum, ruddy and mauve, white and black, was
underlaid by granite in rounded masses; and the Secondary
formation is succeeded by the usual red and green traps. Though
this part of our route lies in El-Tihámah, which, in fact, we
shall not leave, we are again threading the Wady Sadr of the
northern Shafah-range. A pleasant surprise was a fine vein of
sugary quartz trending north-south: at that period we little
suspected the sub-range to the south--perhaps also the
northern--of being, in places, one mighty mass of "white stone."
After covering six miles in an hour and three-quarters,
exaggerated by the guides to three, we suddenly sighted the
inland fort. Its approach is that of a large encamping-ground,
and such, indeed, it is; the Egyptian pilgrim-caravan here halts
on the fourth day from El-Muwaylah. The broken, untidy environs,
strewed with bones and rubbish, show low mounds that mean ovens;
stone rings, where tents are pitched; and the usual graves,
amongst which a reverend man, Shaykh Sálih, rests in a manner of
round tower. The site is, in one point at least, admirably
well-chosen, a kind of carrefour where four valleys and as many
roads meet; and thus it commands the mouths of all the gorges
leading inland.
Riding up to the fort, we were welcomed by its commandant,
Lieutenant Násir Ahmed, a peculiarly good specimen of his arm,
the infantry. His garrison consists of thirteen regulars, whose
clean uniforms show discipline, and whose hale and hearty
complexions testify to the excellence of the water and the air.
The men are paid annually by the treasurer of the Hajj-caravan.
They are supposed to be relieved after seven years; but they have
wives and families; and, like the British soldier in India half a
century ago, they are content to pass their working lives in
local service. The commandant showed us over his castle, which
was in excellent order; and brewed coffee, which we drank in the
cool porch of the single gate. He then led us about the
neighbourhood, and ended with inviting the Sáyyid, Furayj, and
the Wakíl Mohammed Shahádah to a copious feast.
The fort is the usual square, straight-curtained work of solid
masonry, with a circular bastion at each angle, and a huge arched
main-entrance in the western façade. It is, in fact, one of the
buildings that belong to the solid, sturdy age of Sultán Selim,
and of the Sinnán Pasha so well known about Damascus. An
inscription, with an illegible date, bears the name of Ahmed ibn
Taylún, the founder of the Taylunide dynasty, in A.D. 868--884:
this is another proof that the Mamlúk Soldans were lords of the
soil; and that, even in the ninth century, South Midian was a
province, or a dependency, of Egypt. Moreover, we picked up, to
the north-east of the work, old and well-treated scoriæ,
suggesting a more ancient settlement. Perhaps it was the locale
preferred by the proprietors of the slaves who worked the inner
mines, hidden from view and from the sea-breeze by the hills.
The castle being perfectly commanded by the heights behind, the
circular towers to the east have crests raised in that direction,
giving them a spoon-shape, and a peculiar aptitude for arresting
every cannon-ball coming from the west. The Bedawin, however,
have no great guns; and apparently this shelter has been added
since Wellsted's day.[EN#54] To the curtains are attached the
usual hovels, mat, palm-leaf, and walls of dry stone or mud,
which here, as at Palmyra, inevitably suggest wasp-nests. The
northern side is subtended by three large cisterns, all
strengthened at the inner angles by the stepped buttresses first
noticed when we were exploring Magháir Shu'ayb.
Up the valley and behind the fort, or to the north-east, lie the
palm-plantations, the small kitchen-gardens, and the far-famed
wells which, dug by Sultán Selim and repaired by Ibrahim Pasha in
A.D. 1524 (?), supply the Hajj-caravan. The sandy bed, disposed
east-west, is streaked, dotted, and barred with walls and
outcrops of the hardest greenstone porphyry; and those which run
north-south must arrest, like dykes, the flow of water
underground. One of these reefs is laboriously scraped with
Bedawi Wusúm, and with Moslem inscriptions comparatively modern.
The material is heavy, but shows no quartz; whereas the smaller
valleys which debouch upon the northern or right bank of the main
line, display a curious conformation of the "white stone,"
contorted like oyster shells, and embedded in the trap.
Of the six wells, revetted with masonry and resembling in all
points those of Ziba, four, including El-Tawílah, the deepest,
supply brackish water; and the same is the case with a fifth
inside the fort, close to the chapel of his Holiness, Shaykh
Abubakr. The water, however, appeared potable; and perhaps
cleaning out and deepening might increase the quantity. The sweet
element drunk by the richards of El-Wijh comes from the Bir
el-Za'faráníyyah ("of Saffron"), and from its north-eastern
neighbour, El-Ajwah ("the Date-paste"). The latter measures four
or five fathoms; and the water appears under a boulder in situ
that projects from the southern side. The reader will now agree
with me that El-Wijh is not too drouthy for a quarantine-ground.
The plots of green meat lie about the water, sheltered from the
burning sun by a luxuriant growth of date-trees. The Egyptian is
the best man in the world for dabbling in mud; and here, by
scraping away the surface-sand, he has come upon a clayey soil
sufficiently fertile to satisfy his wants. The growth is confined
to tobacco, potatoes, and cabbages, purslain (Portulaca,
pourpier), radishes, the edible Hibiscus, and tomatoes, which are
small and green. Lettuces do not thrive; cucumbers and
water-melons have been tried here and up country; and--man wants
little in Midian.
We set out early on the next day (5.30 a.m., March 30th) in
disorderly style. The night had been cool and comfortable, dry
and dewless; but the Shaykhs were torpid after the feast, and the
escort and quarrymen had been demoralized by a week of sweet
"do-nothing." Striking up the Wady el-Wijh, which now becomes
narrow and gorge-like, with old and new wells and water-pits
dotting the sole, we were stopped, after half an hour's walk, by
a "written rock" on the right side of the bed. None of the guides
seemed to know or, at any rate, to care for it; although I
afterwards learnt that Admiral M'Killop (Pasha), during his last
visit to El-Wijh, obtained a squeeze of the inscriptions.
Wellsted (II. x.) erroneously calls this valley "Wádí el-Moyah,"
the name of a feature further south--thus leading me to expect
the find elsewhere. Moreover, he has copied the scrawls with a
carelessness so prodigious, that we failed at first to recognize
the original. He has hit upon the notable expedient of massing
together in a single dwarf wood-cut (Vol. II. p. 189) what covers
many square feet of stone; and I was fool enough to republish his
copy.[EN#55]
A tall, fissured rock, of the hardest porphyritic greenstone,
high raised from the valley-sole, facing north-west, and
reducible to two main blocks, is scattered over with these
"inscriptions," that spread in all directions. Most of them are
Arab Wusum, others are rude drawings of men and beasts, amongst
which are conspicuous the artless camel and the serpent; and
there is a duello between two funny warriors armed with sword and
shield. These efforts of art resemble, not a little, the "Totem"
attempts of the "Red Indians" in North and South America. There
are, however, two scrapings evidently alphabetic, and probably
Nabathæan, which are offered to the specialists in epigraphy: six
appear in Wellsted's illustration, especially that with a long
line above it, near the left and lower corner of the cut. M.
Lacaze and I copied the most striking features in our carnets; he
taking the right or southern side and leaving the other block to
me. But the results did not satisfy us; and on April 10th I sent
him with M. Philipin to make photographs. The latter, again, are
hardly as satisfactory as they might be, because the inscriptions
have not been considered the central points of interest. We shall
pass during our present journey many of these Oriental "John
Joneses" and "Bill Browns:" they will suggest the similar
features of Sinaitic Wady Mukattib, which begot those monstrous
growths, "The One Primaeval Language" and "The Voice of Israel
from Mount Sinai."[EN#56] From the "written rock" the caravan
travelled westward up an easy watercourse, "El-Khaur,"
distinguished as El-Shimálí ("the Northern"): it winds round by
the north, and we shall descend it to-morrow. The mule-riders
left the Wady el-Wijh, which extends some two hours eastward, and
struck to the east-south-east. The bridle-path, running up the
left bank of an ugly rocky torrent, the Wady Zurayb, presently
reaches a plateau undulating in low rises. Burnt with heat,
almost bare of trees, and utterly waterless, it is the model of a
mining country: elevate it from five hundred to nine thousand
feet, and it would be the living (or dead) likeness of a Peruvian
cerro. The staple material, porphyritic trap, shows scatters of
quartz and huge veins, mostly trending north-south: large
trenches made, according to the guides, by the ancients, and
small cairns or stone piles, modern work, were also pointed out
to us.
Crossing the heads of sundry watercourses, we fell into the Wady
Umm el-Karáyat:[EN#57] it begins, as is here the rule, with a
gravelly bed, nice riding enough; it then breaks into ugly rocky
drops and slides, especially at the hill shoulders, where
thorn-trees and other obstacles often suggest that it is better
to dismount; and, finally, when nearing the mouth, it becomes a
matured copy of its upper self on an enlarged scale. Presently we
turned to the left over a short divide, and stared with
astonishment at the airy white heap, some two hundred feet high,
which, capped and strewed with snowy boulders, seemed to float
above our heads. The Wady-bed at our feet, lined along the left
bank with immense blocks of similar quartz, showed the bases of
black walls--ruins. "Behold Umm el-Karáyát!" exclaimed Nájí, the
guide, pointing with a wave of the arm, his usual theatrical
gesture, to the scene before us. We could hardly believe our
eyes: he had just assured us that the march from the fort is four
hours, and we had ridden it in two hours and fifteen minutes (=
six miles and a quarter).
Dismounting at once, and ordering the camp to be pitched near the
ruins, we climbed up the south-eastern face of the quartz-hill,
whose appearance was a novelty to us. Instead of being a regular,
round-headed cone, like the Jebel el-Abyaz for instance, the
summit was distinctly crateriform. The greater part of the day
was spent in examining it, and the following are the results.
This Jebel el-Marú showed, for the first time during the whole
journey, signs of systematic and civilized work. In many parts
the hill has become a mere shell. We found on the near side a
line of air-holes, cut in the quartz rock, disposed north-south
of one another; and preserving a rim, sunk like that of a
sarcophagus, to receive a cover. Possibly it was a precaution
against the plunder which ruined Brazilian Gongo Soco. The Arabs
have no fear of these places, as in Wellsted's day, and Abdullah,
the mulatto, readily descended into one about twelve feet below
the surface. Messrs. Clarke and Marie explored the deepest by
means of ropes, and declared that it measured sixty feet. They
had to be ready with their bayonets, as sign of hyenas was
common; and the beast, which slinks away in the open is apt, when
brought to bay in caverns, to rush past the intruder, carrying
off a jawful of calf or thigh.
This pit had two main galleries, both choked with rubbish,
leading to the east and west; and the explorers could see light
glimmering through the cracks and crevices of the roof--these
doubtless gave passage to the wild carnivore. In other parts the
surface, especially where the earth is red, was pitted with
shallow basins; and a large depression showed the sinking of the
hollowed crust. Negro quartz was evidently abundant; but we came
to the conclusion that the rock mostly worked was, like that of
Shuwák, a rosy, mauve-coloured schist, with a deep-red fracture,
and brilliant colours before they are tarnished by atmospheric
oxygen. It abounds in mica, which, silvery as fish-scales,
overspreads it in patches; and the precious metal had probably
been sought in the veinlets between the schist and its
quartz-walling. In two pieces, specks, or rather paillettes, of
gold were found lightly and loosely adhering to the "Marú ;" so
lightly, indeed, that they fell off when carelessly pocketed
Veins of schist still remained, but in the galleries they had
been followed out to the uttermost fibril.
Reaching the crateriform summit, we found that the head of the
cone had either "caved in," or had been carried off bodily to be
worked. Here traces of fire, seen on the rock, suggested that it
had been split by cold affusion. A view from the summit of this
burrowed mound gave us at once the measure of the past work and a
most encouraging prospect for the future. We determined that the
Marwah or "quartz-hill" of Umm el-Karáyát was the focus and
centre of the southern mining region, even as the northern
culminates in the Jebel el-Abyaz. Further experience rejected the
theory, and showed us half a dozen foci and centres in this true
quartz-region. The main hill projects a small southern spur, also
bearing traces of the miner. The block of green trap to the
south-west has a capping and a vein-network of quartz: here also
the surface is artificially pitted. Moreover, there are detached
white-yellow pitons to the north-east, the east, and the south;
whilst a promising hillock, bearing nearly due north, adjoins the
great outcrop. All have rounded conical summits and smooth sides,
proving that they are yet virgin; and here, perhaps, I should
prefer to begin work.
At our feet, and in north lat. 26° 13', lies the settlement, in a
short gravelly reach disposed north-west to south-east; and the
bed is enclosed by a rim of trap and quartz hills. The ruins lie
upon a fork where two gorges, running to the east and the
north-east, both fall into the broad Wady el-Khaur, and the
latter feeds the great Wady el-Miyáh, the "Fiumara of the
Waters," of which more presently. The remains on the upper
(eastern) branch-valley show where the rock was pulverized by the
number of grinding implements, large and small, coarse and fine,
all, save the most solid, broken to pieces by the mischievous
Bedawi. Some are of the normal basalt, which may also have served
for crushing grain; others are cut out of grey and ruddy
granites: a few are the common Mahrákah or "rub-stones," and the
many are handmills, of which we shall see admirable specimens
further on. One was an upper stone, with holes for the handle and
for feeding the mill: these articles are rare. I also secured the
split half of a ball, or rather an oblate spheroid, of serpentine
with depressions, probably where held by finger and thumb; the
same form is still used for grinding in the Istrian island of
Veglia. This is one of the few rude stone implements that
rewarded our careful search.
The north-eastern, which is the main Wady, has a sole uneven with
low swells and falls. It was dry as summer dust: I had expected
much in the way of botanical collection, but the plants were not
in flower, and the trees, stripped of their leaves, looked "black
as negroes out of holiday suits." Here lie the principal ruins,
forming a rude parallelogram from north-east to south-west. The
ground plan shows the usual formless heaps of stones and pebbles,
with the bases of squares and oblongs, regular and irregular,
large and small. There were no signs of wells or aqueducts; and
the few furnaces were betrayed only by ashen heaps, thin scatters
of scoriæ, and bits of flux--dark carbonate of lime. Here and
there mounds of the rosy micaceous schist, still unworked, looked
as if it had been washed out by the showers of ages. The general
appearance is that of an ergastulum like Umm Ámil: here perhaps
the ore was crushed and smelted, when not rich enough to be sent
down the Wady for water-working at the place where the inland
fort now is.
The quarrymen, placed at the most likely spots, were ordered to
spall rock for specimens: with their usual perversity, they
picked up, when unwatched, broken bits of useless stuff; they
spent the whole day dawdling over three camel-loads, and they
protested against being obliged to carry the sacks to their
tents. Meanwhile Nájí, who had told marvellous tales concerning a
well in the neighbouring hills, which showed the foundations of
houses in its bowels, was directed to guide Lieutenant Amir. He
objected that the enormous distance would be trying to the
stoutest mule, and yet he did not blush when it was reached after
a mile's ride to the southwest (240° mag.). It proved to be a
long-mouthed pit, sunk in the trap hill-slope some four fathoms
deep, but much filled up; and, so far from being built in, it had
not even the usual wooden platform. Eastward of it, and at the
head of the Wady Shuwaytanah, "the Devilling," lay a square ruin
like a small Mashghal of white quartz: here also were three
stones scribbled with pious ejaculations, such as Yá Allah! and
Bismillah, in a modern Kufic character.
Umm el-Karáyát, "the Mother of the Villages," derives her title,
according to the Baliyy, from the numerous offspring of minor
settlements scattered around her. We shall pass several on the
next day's march, and I am justified in setting down the number
at a dozen. The Wady el-Kibli, the southern valley, was visited
by Lieutenants Amir and Yusuf on April 8th, when we were encamped
below it at Abá'l-Marú[EN#58]. After riding about six miles to
the north-north-west, down the Wady el-Mismáh and up the Wady
el-Argah, they reached, on the left bank of the latter, the
ruins known as Marú el-Khaur. The remains of the daughter are
those of the "mother." There are two large heaps of quartz to the
north and to the south-east of the irregular triangle, whose
blunted apex faces northwards: the south-eastern hill shows an
irregular Fahr ("pit") in the reef of white stone, leading to a
number of little tunnels.
I lost all patience with Wellsted,[EN#59] whose blunders
concerning the Umm el-Karáyát are really surprising, even for a
sailor on camel-back. He reaches the ruins after ten miles from
the fort, when they lie between twelve and thirteen from El-Wijh.
He calls the porphyritic trap "dark granite." He makes the grand
quartz formation "limestone, of which the materials used for
constructing the town (coralline!) appear to have been chiefly
derived." He descends the "caves" with ropes and lights; yet he
does not perceive that they are mining shafts and tunnels, puits
d'air, adits for the workmen, and pits by which the ore was
"brought to grass." And the Hydrographic Chart is as bad. It
locates the inland fort six miles and three-quarters from the
anchorage, but the mine is thrust eastwards ten miles and a
quarter from the fort; the latter distance being, as has been
seen, little more than the former. Moreover, the ruins are placed
to the north, when they lie nearly on the same parallel of
latitude as El-Wijh. Ahmed Kaptán fixed them, by solar
observations, in north lat. 26° 13', so that we made only one
mile of southing. It ignores the porphyritic sub-range in which
the "Mother of the Villages" lies: and it brings close to the
east of it the tall peaks of the Tihámat-Balawíyyah' which, from
this point, rise like azure shadows on the horizon. Finally, it
corrupts Umm el-Karáyát to Feyrabat. "Impossible, but true!"
The night at the ruins was dry and cool, even cold; disturbed
only by the coughing of the men, the moaning of the camels, and
the bleating of the sheep. We would willingly have spent here
another day, but water and forage were absolutely wanting; and
the guides assured us that even greater marvels, in the shape of
ruins and quartz-reefs, lay ahead. We set out shortly after five
a.m. (March 31st): the morning was pearly and rosy; but puffs of
a warmer wind announced the Dufún (local Khamsin), which promised
us three days of ugly working weather. Leaving Umm el-Karáyát by
the upper or eastern valley-fork, we soon fell into and descended
its absorbent, the broad (northern) Wady el-Khaur. Upon the right
bank of the latter rose the lesser "Mountain of Quartz," a cone
white as snow, looking shadowy and ghostly in the petit jour, the
dim light of morning. For the next two hours (= seven miles) we
saw on both sides nothing but veins and outcrops of "Marú,"
worked as well as unworked. All was bare and barren as the
gypsum: the hardy Aushaz (Lycium), allied to the tea-tree, is
the only growth that takes root in humus-filled hollows of the
stone.
Presently the quartz made way for long lines and broad patches of
a yellow-white, heat-altered clay, often revetted with iron, and
passably aping the nobler rock: from one reef I picked up what
appeared to be trachyte, white like that of Shaghab. The
hill-casing of the valley forms no regular line; the heaps of
black, red, and rusty trap are here detached and pyramidal, there
cliffing as if in presence of the sea. The vegetation improved as
we advanced; the trees were no longer black and heat-blasted; and
we recognized once more the dandelion, the thistle, the senna,
the Aristida grass, and other familiar growths. Tents, shepherds,
and large flocks of goats and kids showed that water was not
distant; and, here in Baliyy-land, even the few young women
seemed to have no fear of the white face.
After a slow, dull ride in the burning and sickly wind, we
crossed the head of our former route, Wady Zurayb the Ugly, and
presently entered the Wady el-Kubbah ("of the Cupola,"), where
our immediate destination rose before us. It is a grisly black
saddleback, banded with two perpendicular stripes of dark stone
that shines like specular iron; and upon its tall northern end,
the pommel, stands a small ruin, the oft spoken of "Dome."
Sketches of paths wind up the western flank; but upon this line,
we were assured, no ruins are seen save a few pits. So we rounded
the block by the north, following the broad Wady to the Máyat
el-Kubbah, water-pits in the sand whose produce had not been
libelled when described as salt, scanty, and stinking. The track
then turned up a short, broad branch-Wady, running from south to
north, and falling into the left bank of the "Dome Valley:" a few
yards brought us to a halt at the ruins of El-Kubbah. We had
pushed on sharply during the last half of the way, and our
morning's ride had lasted four hours (= thirteen miles).
The remains lie in the uneven quartzose basin at the head of the
little lateral watercourse: they are built with good cement, and
they evidently belong to the race that worked the "Mother of the
Villages;" but there is nothing to distinguish them except the
ruins of a large Sákiyah ("draw-well"), with its basin of
weathered alabaster. We were perplexed by the shallow conical
pits in the porphyritic trap, to the east and west of the "Dome
Hill;" the ground is too porous for rain cisterns, and the depth
is not sufficient for quarrying. The furnaces showed the normal
slag; but the only "metals" lying around them were poor
iron-clay, and a shining black porphyry, onyxed with the whitest
quartz. There were, however, extensive scatters of Negro, which
had evidently been brought there; and presently we found large
heaps of rosy-coloured, washed-out schist.[EN#60] These explained
the raison d'être of this dreary and dismal hole.
Meanwhile the juniors ascended the rocky "Kubbah" hill, which
proved to be a small matter of 120 feet (aner. 29.34) above the
valley-sole (aner. 29.46). The "Dome" was nothing but a truncated
circle of wall, porphyry and cement, just large enough to hold a
man; the cupola-roof, if there ever had been one, was clean gone;
and adjoining it yawned a rock-cut pit some fifteen feet deep. I
came to the conclusion that here might have been a look-out
where, possibly, the "bale-fire" was also lit. The
"ascensionists" brought back a very healthy thirst.
We rested till noon in the filmy shade of the thorn-trees. The
caravan was at once sent forward to reach the only good water,
lying, said the guides, many a mile beyond. We had made up our
minds for a good long march; and I was not a little vexed when,
after half an hour, we were led out of the Wady el-Kubbah, whose
head, our proper line, lies to the north, into its eastern
influent, the Wady el-Dasnah. Here, after an afternoon "spell" of
forty-five minutes (= two miles and a half), and a total of four
hours and forty-five minutes (= fifteen miles and a half), a day
nearly half wasted, we found the tents pitched. The heat had
strewed the Wady with soldiers and quarrymen; and the large pit
in the bed, supplying "water sweet as the Nile,', showed a swarm
of struggling blacks, which the Egyptian officers compared with
Aráfít or "demons;" we with large pismires. A sentinel was placed
to prevent waste and pollution at the Máyat el-Dasnah, whose
position is in north lat. 26° 23'.
April Fools' day was another that deserved to be marked with a
white stone. I aroused the camp at 3.30 a.m., in order that the
camels might load with abundance of water: we were to reach the
springs of Umm Gezáz, but a presentiment told me that we might
want drink. At that hour the camp was a melancholy sight: the
Europeans surly because they had discussed a bottle of cognac
when they should have slept; the good Sayyid without his coffee,
and perhaps without his prayers; Wakíl Mohammed sorrowfully
attempting to gnaw tooth-breaking biscuit; and the Bedawin
working and walking like somnambules. However, at 5.10 a.m. we
struck north, over a low divide of trap hill, by a broad and
evidently made road, and regained the Wady el-Kubbah: here it is
a pleasant spectacle rich in trees, and vocal with the cooing of
the turtle-dove. After an hour's sharp riding we reached its
head, a fair round plain some two miles across, and rimmed with
hills of red, green, and black plutonics, the latter much
resembling coal. It was a replica of the Sadr-basin below the
Hismá, even to the Khuraytah or "Pass" at the northern end. Here,
however, the Col is a mere bogus; that is, no raised plateau lies
beyond it.
We crossed a shallow prism and a feeding-basin: an ugly little
gorge then led to the important Wady Sirr. We are now in the
hydrographic area of the Wady Nejd,[EN#61] which, numbering
influents by the dozen, falls into the Salbah (Thalbah) of Sharm
Dumaghah. The Sirr, though still far from its mouth, is at least
three miles broad; and the guides speak of it as the Asl
el-Balawíyyah, or "Old Home of the Baliyy." The view from its bed
is varied and extensive. Behind us lies the Tihámat-Balawíyyah,
the equivalent of the Gháts of North Midian, from the Zahd to the
Shárr. The items are the little Jebel Antar, which, peeping over
the Fiumara's high left bank, is continued south by the lower
Libn. The latter attaches to the higher Libn, whose triad of
peaks, the central and highest built of three distinct
castellations, flush and blush with a delicate pink-white cheek
as it receives the hot caresses of the sun. We are now haunted by
the Libn, which, like its big brother the Shárr, seems everywhere
to accompany us.
Beyond the neutral ground, over which we are travelling, appear
in front the pale-blue heights bordering the Wady Nejd to the
north-west, and apparently connected with the Jebelayn el-Jayy in
the far north (30° mag.). To the north-east the view is closed by
the lumpy Jebel el-Kurr (the Qorh of Arabian geographers?);
followed southwards by the peaked wall of the Jebel el-Ward, and
by El-Safhah with its "Pins." For the last eighteen miles we had
seen no quartz, which, however, might have veined the
underground-rock. The sole of the Sirr now appeared spread with
snow, streaked and patched with thin white paint; the stones were
mostly water-rolled, the discharge of valleys draining from afar.
The ground was unpleasantly pitted and holed; the camels were
weak with semi-starvation and the depressing south-wester;
Lieutenant Amir put his dromedary to speed, resulting in a
nose-flattening fall; and the Sayyid nearly followed suit.
This is our second day of Khamsin; yet on the northern slope of
the great Fiumara we meet the cool land-wind. Either it or the
sea-breeze generally sets in between seven and eight a.m., when
the stony, sandy world has been thoroughly sunned. The short
divide beyond the far bank of the Sirr is strewn with glittering
mica-schist that takes the forms of tree-trunks and rotten wood;
and with dark purple-blue fragments of clay-slate looking as if
they had been worked. A counterslope of the same material, which
makes excellent path-metal placed us in the Wady Rubayyigh ("the
Little Rábigh" or "Green-grown Spring"), a short and
proportionally very broad branch draining to the Sirr. Here large
outcrops of quartz mingled with the clay slate. A few yards
further it abutted upon a small gravelly basin with ruins and a
huge white reef of "Mará," which caused a precipitate
dismounting. We had marched only four hours (= thirteen miles);
but the loss of time has its compensations. Our Arabs, who
consider this a fair day's work, will now, in hopes of a halt,
show us every strew of quartz and every fragment of wall. They
congratulated us upon reaching a part of their country absolutely
unvisited by Europeans.
The site of our discovery was the water-parting of the Wady
Rubayyigh with the Wady Rábigh, both feeders of the Sirr; this to
the north, that to the south. The ruins, known as Umm el-Haráb,
"Mother of Desolation," are the usual basement-lines: they lie in
the utterly waterless basin, our camping-ground, stretching west
of Mará Rubayyigh, the big white reef. This "Mother" bears nearly
north of Umm el-Karáyát, in north lat. 26° 33' 36" (Ahmed
Kaptán): her altitude was made upwards of a thousand feet above
sea-level (aner. 28.92)
At Umm el-Haráb we saw for the first time an open mine,
scientifically worked by the men of old. They chose a pear-shaped
quartz-reef; the upper dome exposed, the converging slopes set
and hidden in green trap to the east and west, and the invisible
stalk extending downwards, probably deep into Earth's bowels.
They began by sinking, as we see from certain rounded apertures,
a line of shafts striking north-north-east (45°--50° mag.) to
south-south-west across the summit, which may measure one hundred
and twenty yards. The intervening sections of the roof are now
broken away; and a great yawning crevasse in the hill-top gives
this saddleback of bare cream-coloured rock, spangled with white
where recently fractured, the semblance of a "comb" or cresting
reef.
We descended into this chasm, whose slope varies from a maximum
of 45° to a minimum of 36° at the south. The depth apparently did
not exceed thirty feet, making allowance for the filling up of
centuries; but in places the hollow sound of the hammer suggested
profounder pits and wells. I should greatly doubt that such
shallow sinking as this could have worked out any beyond the
upper part of the vein. Here it measures from six to eight feet
in diameter, diminishing to four and a half and even three below.
The sloping roof has been defended from collapse by large pillars
of the rock, left standing as in the old Egyptian quarries; it
shows the clumsy but efficient practice that preceded timbering.
The material worked was evidently the pink-coloured and
silver-scaled micaceous schist; but there was also a whitish
quartz, rich in geodes and veinlets of dark-brown and black dust.
The only inhabitants of the cave, bats and lizards (Gongylus
ocellatus, L., etc.), did not prevent M. Lacaze making careful
study of the excavation; the necessity of brown shadows, however,
robs the scene of its charm, the delicate white which still
shimmers under its transparent veil of shade. Similar features
exist at El-Muwaylah and El-Aujah, in the wilderness of Kadesh:
but those are latomiæ; these are gold mines.[EN#62]
Another sign of superior labour is shown by the quartz-crushing
implements. Here they are of three kinds: coarse and rough
basaltic lava for the first and rudest work; red granite and
syenitic granite for the next stage; and, lastly, an admirable
handmill of the compactest grey granite, smooth as glass and hard
as iron. Around the pin-hole are raised and depressed concentric
circles intended for ornament; and the "dishing" towards the rim
is regular as if turned by machinery. We have seen as yet nothing
like this work; nor shall we see anything superior to it. All are
nether millstones, so carefully smashed that one can hardly help
suspecting the kind of superstitious feeling which suggested
iconoclasm. The venerable Shaykh Afnán showed a touching
ignorance concerning the labours of the ancients; and, when
lectured about the Nabat (Nabathæans), only exclaimed, "Allah,
Allah!"
In the evening we ascended the porphyry hills to the north of the
little camping-basin; and we found the heights striped by two
large vertical bands of quartz. The eastern vein, like the Jebel
el-Marú, has a north-east to south-west strike (45° mag.); the
western runs east-west with a dip to south. From the summit we
could see that the quartz-mountain, as usual an exaggerated vein,
is hemmed in on both sides by outcrops and hills of trap, black,
green, and yellow, which culminate eastward in the Jebel el-Guráb
(Juráb). We had a fine bird's-eye view of the Wady Rábigh, and of
our next day's march towards the Shafah Mountains: the former was
white with quartz as if hail-strewn. Far beyond its right bank
rose an Ash'hab, or "grey head," which seemed to promise
quartzose granite: it will prove an important feature. Before
sleeping, I despatched to El-Wijh two boxes of micaceous schist
and two bags of quartz, loads for a pair of camels.
Chapter XVII.
The March Continued to El-BadáDescription of the Plain Badais.
After the exciting scenes of the last three days, this stage was
dull riding, and consequently, I fear, it will be dull reading as
well as writing. We set off afoot betimes (5.10 a.m.) in the
still warm morning that augured Khamsín: the third day was now
telling heavily on man and beast. A walk of ten minutes led down
the rough line of the little water-course draining the Marú
Rubayyigh to the Wady Rábigh. At a re-entering angle of the
junction, a shallow pit was sunk; the sand became moist and red,
and presently it was underlaid by a rubble of porphyritic trap.
Nothing more!
We then crossed the Wady Rábigh, another of the short broad
valleys which distinguish this section of South Midian. The bed
sides, especially the right, are heaps and mounds of snowy
quartz, with glittering crowns of block and boulder: all prove to
be veins in the grey granite, whose large coarse elements are
decomposed by weather. The dark and rusty walls of the valley
also discharge the white stone in shunts and shoots: here and
there they might be mistaken for Goz ("sand-banks") heaped up by
the wind, except that these are clad in thin vegetation, whereas
the "Maru'" is mostly mother-naked. We halted here for rest and
to examine these features: despite the Khamsín, the Great Gaster
became querulous; hunger was now the chief complaint, and even
the bon ordinaire had lost much of its attraction. A harmless
snake was killed and bottled; its silver robe was beautifully
banded with a line, pink as the circles of the "cobra coral,"
which ran along the whole length of the back. It proved to be a
new species; and Dr. Gunther named it Zamenis elegantissimus.
Beyond the Rábigh, we ascended a lateral valley, whence a low
divide led to the Wady el-Bahrah ("of the Basin"), another feeder
of the Sirr. It was also snow-white, and on the right of the path
lay black heaps, Hawáwít, "ruins" not worth the delay of a visit.
Then began a short up-slope with a longer counterslope, on which
we met a party of Huwaytát, camel-men and foot-men going to buy
grain at El-Wigh. Another apparition was a spear-man bestriding a
bare-backed colt; after reconnoitering us for some time, he
yielded to the temptations of curiosity. It afterwards struck us
that, mounted on our mules, preceded and followed by the Shaykhs
riding their dromedaries, we must have looked mighty like a party
of prisoners being marched inland. The horseman was followed by a
rough-coated, bear-eared hound of the kind described by
Wellsted[EN#63] as "resembling the English mastiff"--he did not
know how common is the beast further north. The Kalb gasúr
(jasur) or "bold dog," also called Kalb el-hámi, or "the hot"
(tempered), is found even amongst the Bedawin to the east of the
Suez Canal; but there the half-bred is more common than the
whole-blood. It is trained to tend the flocks; it never barks,
nor bites its charges; and it is said to work as well as the
shepherd-dog of Europe.
The Wady Mulaybij shows fine specimens of mica dorí in the
quartz-vein streaking the slate: it deceived all the caravan,
save those who tested it with their daggers. The bed, after
forming a basin, narrows to a sandy gut, smooth and pleasant
riding; and, after crossing several valley-heads, the path
debouches upon the Wady Abál-Gezaz. This "Father of Glass,"
though a day and a half's march from the sea, is even broader
than the great Sirr to which it is tributary. Its line, which
reminded us of the Dámah, is well marked by unusually fine
vegetation: and the basin bears large clumps of fan-palm,
scattered Daum-trees, the giant asclepiad El-Ushr,[EN#64]
thickets of tamarisk and scatters of the wild castor-plant, whose
use is unknown to the Arabs. Water wells up abundantly from a
dozen shallow pits, old and new, in the sand of the southern or
left bank. Here the flow is apparently arrested by a tall
buttress of coarse granite, red with orthose, and sliced by a
trap-dyke striking north-south.
Our day's work had been only four slow hours; but we were
compelled to await the caravan, which did not arrive till after
noon. It had passed round by the Wady Rábigh, into and up the
"Father of Glass;" in fact, it had described an easy semicircle;
while we had ridden in a series of zigzags, over rough and
difficult short cuts. A delay was also necessary for our mappers
to connect this march with their itinerary of the central region.
Already the Wady Mulaybij had shown us the familiar peak and
dorsum of Jebel Raydán; and we had "chaffed" Furayj about his
sudden return home. From our camp in the Abá'l-Gezáz, the Zigláb
block of Shaghab bore nearly north (350° mag.); and the adjoining
Jebel el-Aslah, also a blue cone on the horizon, rose about two
degrees further north.
After the big mess-tent had been duly blown down, and the usual
discipline had been administered for washing in the
drinking-pool; we crossed to the left of the Wady by way of an
evening stroll, and at once came upon an atelier of some
importance. The guides seemed to ignore its existence, so we
christened it Mashghal Alá'l-Gezáz. On the slope of a trap-hill
facing the Wady el-Ghami's, the southern valley which we had last
crossed, stood a square of masonry scattered round with fragments
of pottery, glass, and basalt. Below it, on the "mesopotamian"
plain, lay the foundations of houses still showing their cemented
floors. The lowlands and highlands around the settlement looked
white-patched with mounds, veins, and scatters of quartz. The
evening was stillness itself, broken only by the cries of the
Katás, which are now nesting, as they flocked to drink; and the
night was cool--a promise, and a false promise, that the Khamsín
had ended on its usual third day.
The next morning (April 3rd) showed us El-Bada', the whole march
lying up the Wady Abá'l-Gezáz, which changes its name with every
water. The early air was delightfully fresh and brisk, and the
cattle stepped out as if walking were a pleasure: yet the Arabs
declared that neither camels nor mules had found a full feed in
the apparently luxuriant vegetation of the Fiumara-bed. The tract
began badly over loose sandy soil, so honeycombed that neither
man nor beast could tread safely: the Girdi (Jirdi), or "field
rat," is evidently nocturnal like the jerboa, during the whole
journey we never saw a specimen of either. A yellow wolf was
descried skulking among the bushes, and a fine large hare was
shot; porcupine-quills were common, and we picked up the mummy of
a little hedgehog. The birds were swift-winged hawks and owls,
pigeons and ring-doves; crows again became common, and the
water-wagtail was tame as the Brazilian thrush, João de Barros:
it hopped about within a few feet of us, quite ignoring the
presence of Frenchmen armed with murderous guns. I cannot discern
the origin of the pseudo-Oriental legend which declares that the
"crow of the wilderness" (raven) taught Cain to bury his brother
by slaying a brother crow, and scraping a grave for it with beak
and claw. The murderous bird then perched upon a palm-tree, whose
branches, before erect, have ever drooped, and croaked the truth
into Adam's ear: hence it has ever been of evil augury to
mankind. The hoopoe, which the French absurdly call coq de
montagne, also trotted by the path-side without timidity; and the
butcher-bird impudently reviewed the caravan from its
vantage-ground, a commanding tree. The large swift shot screaming
overhead; and the cries of the troops of Merops, with
silver-lined wings, resembled those of the sand-grouse.
After some five miles the "Father of Glass" changed his name to
Abú Daumah (of the "one Theban Palm"). Porphyritic trap lay on
both sides of us. To the right rose the Jebel Ukbal, whose grey
form (El-Ash'hab) we had seen from the heights above Umm
el-Haráb: the whole range of four heads, forming the
south-western rim of the Badá saucer, is known as El-Akábil.
Below these blocks the Wady-sides were cut into buttresses of
yellow clay, powdered white with Sabkh, or "impure salt." Charred
circlets in the sand showed where alkali had been burned: the
ashes, packed in skins, are shipped at El-Wijh for Syria, where
they serve to make soap. The Bedawin call it Aslah (Athlah); the
Egyptians Ghassálah ("the washer"), because, when rubbed in the
hands, its succulent shoots clean the skin. Camels eat it,
whereas mules refuse it, unless half-starved. This plant
apparently did not extend all up the Wady. The water, where there
is any, swings under the left bank; an ample supply had been
promised to us, with the implied condition that we should camp at
this Mahattat el-Urbán ("Halting place of the Arabs"), after a
marching day of two hours! Seeing that we rode on, the Baliyy
declared that they had searched for the two principal pools, and
that both were dry, or rather had been buried by the Bedawin.
But, with characteristic futility, they had allowed me to
overhear their conversation; and the word was passed to the
soldiers, who at once filled themselves and their water-skins.
Hitherto we had been marching south of east. Presently, where the
pretty green Wady el-Surám falls into the left bank, we turned a
corner, and sighted in front, or to the north, the great plain of
Badá. The block, El-Akábil, had projected a loop of some ten
miles to be rounded, whereas a short cut across it would not have
exceeded three. And now the Wady Abá Daumah abruptly changed
formation. The red and green traps of the right side made way for
grey granite, known by its rounded bulging blocks on the sides
and summit, by its false stratification, by its veins of quartz
that strewed the sand, and by its quaint weathering--one rock
exactly resembled a sitting eagle; a second was a turtle, and a
third showed a sphinx in the rough. The Badá plain is backed by a
curtain so tall that we seemed, by a common optical delusion, to
be descending when we were really ascending rapidly.
Anxiety to begin our studies of the spot made the ride across the
basin, soled with rises comfortably metalled, and with falls of
sand unpleasantly loose and honeycombed, appear very long. The
palm-clump, where men camp, with its two date-trees towering over
the rest, receded as it were. At last, after a total of four
hours and forty-five minutes (= sixteen miles), we dismounted at
the celebrated groves, just before the ugly Khamsín arose and
made the world look dull, as though all its colours had been
washed out.
The dates form a kind of square with a sharp triangle to the
south, upon the left bank of the thalweg, which overflows them
during floods. The enceinte is the normal Arab "snake-fence" of
dry and barked branches, which imperfectly defends the nurseries
of young trees and the plots of Khubbayzah ("edible mallows")
from the adjoining camping-place of bald yellow clay. The wells,
inside and outside the enclosure, are nine; three stone-revetted,
and the rest mere pits in the inchoate modern sandstone. The
trees want thinning; the undergrowth is so dense as to be
impenetrable; but the heads are all carefully trimmed, the first
time we have seen such industry in Midian. The shade attracts
vipers, chiefly the Echis: and I was startled by hearing the gay
warble of the Bulbul--a nightingale in Arabia!
The next day was devoted to inspecting this far-famed site, with
the following results. We have already seen a Bada' and
a Badí'a , whilst there is a Badí'ah [EN#65]
further north. We are now at a Badá which fulfils all
the conditions required by the centre and head-quarters of
"Thamuditis." The site of the Bújat Badá, "the Wide Plain of
Badá," as it is distinguished by the Arabs, represents,
topographically speaking, a bulge in the Wady Nejd, before it
becomes the Wady Abú Daumah, between the Shafah Mountains to the
east and the Tihámah range seawards. The latitude is 26° 45' 30"
= 0° 31' 30" north of El-Wijh [Footnote: Ahmed Kaptán's
observation of Polaris. The (Bades) of Ptolemy is
in north lat. 25° 30'.]. From its centre, a little south of our
camping-place, the Jebel Zigláb of Shaghab, distant, according to
Yákút, one march, bears 32°, and the Aslah (Athlah) cone 30°
(both mag.): it lies therefore south of Shuwák, with a little
westing. The altitude is upwards of twelve hundred feet above
sea-level (aner. 28.72). The size of the oval is about nine
statute miles from north to south, where the main watercourse
breaks; and twelve miles from east to west, giving an area of
some 108 square miles. The general aspect of the basin suggests
that of El-Haurá; the growth is richer than the northern, but not
equal to that of the southern country. The ruins belong to the
Magháir Shu'ayb category, and the guides compare the Hawáwít with
those of Madáin Sálih.
Such is the great station on the Nabathæan overland highway
between Leukè' Kóme and Petra; the commercial and industrial,
the agricultural and mineral centre, which the Greeks called
the Romans, Badanatha (Pliny, vi. 32); and the
mediæval Arab geographers, Badá Ya'kúb, in the days when the
Hajj-caravan used to descend the Wadys Nejd and the "Father of
Glass." Now it is simply El-Badá: the name of the "Prophet"
Jacob, supposed to have visited it from Egypt or Syria, being
clean forgotten.
The rolling plain is floored with grey granite, underlying
sandstones not unlike coral-rag, and still in course of
formation. Through this crust outcrop curious hillocks, or rather
piles of hard, red, and iron-revetted rock, with a white or a
rusty fracture--these are the characteristics of the basin. The
lower levels are furrowed with their threads of sand, beds of
rain-torrents discharged from the mountains; and each is edged by
brighter growths of thorn and fan-palm. The fattening Salíb grass
is scattered about the water; the large sorrel hugs the
Fiumara-sides; the hardy Aushaz-thorn (Lycium), spangled with
white bloom and red currants, which the Arabs say taste like
grapes, affects the drier levels; and Tanzubs, almost all timber
when old, become trees as large as the Jujube.
The Bújat is everywhere set in a regular rim of mountains. The
Shafah curtain to the north is fretted with a number of peaks,
called as usual after their Wadys;[EN#66] the west is open with a
great slope, the Wady Manab, whose breadth is broken only by the
"Magráh" Naza'án, a remarkable saddleback with reclining cantle.
It is distant a ride of two hours, and we have now seen it for
three marches. A little south of east yawns the gorge-mouth of
the Wady Nejd, the upper course of the Abá'l-Gezáz: a jagged
black curtain, the Jebel Dausal, forms its southern jaw. Further
south the Tihámah Mountains begin with the peaky Jebel el-Kurr,
another remarkable block which has long been in sight. Its
neighbour is the bluff-headed Jebel el-Wásil of Marwát; whilst
the trap-blocks, already mentioned as the Jibál el-Akábil,
finish the circle.
The better to understand the shape of the ruins, we will ascend
the irregular block which rises a few furlongs to the north-east
of the palm-orchard. It has only three names: Araygat Badá
("Veinlet of Badá"); Zeba'yat Badá, "the Low-lying (Hill) of
Badá;" and Shahíb el-Búm, "the Ash-coloured (Hill) of the Owl." I
will prefer the latter, as we actually sighted one of those dear
birds on its western flank. It is an outcrop of grey granite,
pigeon-holed by weather, and veined by a variety of dykes. Here
we find greenstone breccia'd with the blackest hornblende; there
huge filons of hard, red, heat-altered clays, faced with iron,
whilst the fracture is white as trachyte; and there filets of
quartz, traversing large curtains and sheets of light-coloured
argils. This was evidently the main quarry: the sides still show
signs of made zigzags; and the red blocks and boulders, all round
the hill, bear the prayers and pious ejaculations of the
Faithful. The characters range between square Kufic, hardly
antedating four centuries, and the cursive form of our day. Some
are merely scraped; others are deeply and laboriously cut in the
hard material, a work more appropriate for the miner than for the
passing pilgrim.
From the ruined look-out on the summit the shape of the city
shows a highly irregular triangle of nine facets, forming an apex
at the east end of our "Owl's Hill:" the rises and falls of the
ground have evidently determined the outline. The palm-orchard,
whose total circumference is five hundred and thirty-six metres,
occupies a small portion of its south-eastern corner; and our
camping-place, further east, was evidently included in the
ancient enceinte. The emplacement, extending along the eastern
bank of the main watercourse, is marked by a number of mounds
scattered over with broken glass and pottery of all kinds: no
coins were found, but rude bits of metal, all verdigris, were
picked up north of the palm-orchard. Here, too, lay queer
fish-bones, with tusks and teeth, chiefly the jaws of Scaridæ and
Sparidæ (seabreams).[EN#67]
Descending the Shahíb el-Búm, and passing a smaller black and
white block appended to its south-south-western side, we now
cross to the left bank of the main drain. Here lies the broken
tank, the normal construction of El-Islam's flourishing days. It
is a square of thirty-two metres, whose faces and angles do not
front the cardinal points. At each corner a flight of steps has
been; two have almost disappeared, and the others are very shaky.
The floor, originally stone-paved, is now a sheet of hard silt,
growing trees and bush: dense Tanzub-clumps (Sodada decidua),
with edible red berries, sheltering a couple of birds'-nests,
suggested a comparison between the present and the past. At the
east end is the Makhzan el-Máyah, or "smaller reservoir," an
oblong of 7.80 by 6.60 metres: the waggon-tilt roof has
disappeared, and the fissures show brick within the ashlar. Along
the eastern side are huge standing slabs of the coarse new
sandstone with which the tank is lined: these may be remains of a
conduit. Around the cistern lies a ruined graveyard, whose
yawning graves supplied a couple of skulls. A broken line of
masonry, probably an aqueduct, runs south-south-east (143° mag.)
towards the palms: after two hundred metres all traces of it are
lost.
The mining industry could not have been a prominent feature at
Badá, or we should have found, as in Shaghab and Shuwák, furnaces
and scoriæ. Yet about the tank we lit upon large scatters of
spalled quartz, which, according to the Baliyy, is brought from
the neighbouring mountains. Some of it was rosy outside: other
specimens bore stains of copper; and others showed, when broken,
little pyramids of ore. Tested in England, it proved to be pure
lead, a metal so rare that some metallurgists have doubted its
existence: the finds have been mostly confined to auriferous
lands. The blow-pipe soon showed that it was not galena (the
sulphide), but some of it contained traces of silver. Without
knowing the rarity of these specimens, certain American officers
at the Citadel, Cairo, compared them with the true galenas of the
Dár-Forian mines, called Mahattat el-Risás (the "Deposit of
Lead"), in the Wady Gotam, three days north-east of the capital
El-Fashr. The African metal is rich. Large quantities, analyzed
by Gastinel Bey, gave fifty per cent. of lead, and of silver
fifty dollars per ton; but the distance from any possible market
will reserve these diggings for the use of the future. Some were
sanguine enough to propose smelting the metal at Khartúm, where
Risás is ever in demand; and accordingly, for a time Dar-For was
"run," by a mild "ring," against Midian.
The plain, I have said, is everywhere broken by piles of stone
forming knobby hills. Leaving the outlined sphinx to the right,
we ascended a second block, which rises on the west of the chief
watercourse, further down than the "Owl's Hill." This Tell
el-Ahmar ("Red Hill"), alias Ja'dat Badá (the "Curved Hill of
Bada'"), is a quoin of grey granite bluff to the south-west. The
north-eastern flank shows the normal revetment of ruddy and black
heat-altered grit, which gives a red back to the pale-sided,
drab-coloured heap. Over the easy ascent is run a zigzag path;
half-way, up it passes piles of stone that denote building, and
it abuts at the summit upon one of those "look-outs" which are
essentially Arab.
Again, to the south-east of the palms is the Huzaybat Badá, the
"(Isolated) Hillock of Badá," a low ridge of naked grey granite,
much scaled and pigeon-holed. On the plain to its north stretch
regular lines of stone, probably the remnants of a work intended
to defend the city's eastern approach. South of the Huzaybah
appear the usual signs of an atelier: these workshops are
doubtless scattered all around the centre; but a week, not a day,
would be required to examine them. On the very eve of our
departure the guides pointed northwards (350° mag.) to a
"Mountain of Marú," called El-Arayfát, and declared that it
contained a Zaríbat el-Nasárá, or "enclosure made by the
Nazarenes." I offered a liberal present for specimens; all,
however, swore that the distance ranged from two to three hours
of dromedary, and that no mounted messenger could catch us unless
we halted the next day.
The Bedawin, still relegated to the upper country, were sending
their scouts to ascertain if the water-supply was sufficient in
Badá plain. The adjacent valleys were dotted with she-camels and
their colts. The adult animal here sells for twelve to thirty
dollars. During the cotton-full in Egypt, and the cotton-famine
of the United States, they fetched as many pounds sterling at the
frontier; and the traders of El-Wijh own to having made two
hundred per cent., which we may safely double. I asked them why
they did not import good stallions from the banks of the Nile;
and the reply was that of the North Country--the experiment had
ended in the death of the more civilized brutes. This is easily
understood: the Baliyy camel seems to live on sand.
The camp was visited by a few Bedawi stragglers, and the reports
of their immense numbers were simply absurd. The males were not
to be distinguished, in costume and weapons, from their
neighbours; and the "females" were all dark and dressed in
amorphous blue shirts. At last came an old man and woman of the
Huwaytát tribe, bringing for sale a quantity of liquefied butter.
They asked a price which would have been dear on the seaboard;
and naively confessed that they had taken us for pilgrims,--birds
to be plucked. But sheep and goats were not to be found in the
neighbourhood: yesterday we had failed to buy meat; and to-day
the young Shaykh, Sulaymán, was compelled to mount his dromedary
and ride afar in quest of it. The results were seven small sheep,
which, lean with walking, cost eleven dollars; and all were
slaughtered before they had time to put on fat.
During our stay a pitiable object, with a hide- bandaged lower
leg, often limped past the tents; and, thinking the limb broken,
I asked the history of the accident. Our hero, it appears, was a
doughty personage, famed for valour, who had lately slipped into
the Juhayni country with the laudable intention of "lifting" a
camel. He had, indeed, "taken his sword, and went his way to rob
and steal," under the profound conviction that nothing could be
more honourable--in case of success. He was driving off the
booty, when its master sallied out to recover the stolen goods by
force and by arms. Both bared their blades and exchanged cuts,
when the Baliyy found that his old flamberge was too blunt to do
damage. Consequently he had the worse of the affair; a slicing of
the right hand forced him to drop his "silly sword." He then
closed with his adversary, who again proved himself the better
man, throwing the assailant, and at the same time slashing open
his left leg. The wounded man lay in the "bush" till he gathered
strength to "dot and go one" homewards. Amongst these tribes the
Diyat, or "blood-money," reaches eight hundred dollars;
consequently men will maim, but carefully avoid killing, one
another.
The evening of our halt, with its lurid haze and its ominous
brooding stillness, was distinguished by a storm, a regular Arab
affair, consisting of dust by the ton to water by the drop. This
infliction of the "fearful fiend, Samiel, fatal to caravans,"
began in the west. A cloud of red sand advanced like a
prairie-fire at headlong speed before the mighty rushing wind,
whose damp breath smelt of rain; and presently the mountain-rim
was veiled in brown and ruddy and purple earth-haze. A bow in the
eastern sky strongly suggested, in the apparent absence of a
shower, refraction by dust--if such thing be possible. We were
disappointed, by the sinister wind, in our hopes of collecting a
bottle of rain-water for the photographer; nor did the storm,
though it had all the diffused violence of a wintry gale,
materially alter the weather. The next two nights were brisk and
cool, but the afternoons blew either the Khamsín ("south-wester")
or the Azyab ("south-easter").
The only Bedawi tradition concerning the Bada' plain is the
following. Many centuries ago, some say before the Apostle, the
Baliyy held the land, which was a valley of gardens, a foretaste
of Irem; the people were happy as the martyrs of Paradise, and
the date-trees numbered two thousand. The grove then belonged to
a certain Ibn Mukarrib, who dwelt in it with his son and a slave,
not caring to maintain a large guard of Arabs. Consequently he
became on bad terms with the Ahámidah-Baliyy tribe, who began
systematically to rob his orchard. At last one of a large
plundering party said to him, "O Ibn Mukarrib! wilt thou sell
this place of two thousand (trees), and not retreat (from thy
bargain)?" He responded "Buy!" (i.e. make an offer). The other,
taking off his sandal, exclaimed. "With this!" and the
proprietor, in wrath, rejoined, "I have sold!"
Ibn Mukarrib then arose and went forth, with his son and the
slave, to the place whence came the water (that fed the palms):
this he closed up, and fared towards the north. One day it so
happened that the three were sitting under the shade of a
Marakh-tree and eating its berries. Quoth the sire to the son,
"Say, which is the sweeter, the eating of the Marakh fruit or the
dates of our orchard?" And the youth rejoined, "O my father! far
sweeter is the eating of the fruit of our palm-yard;" when his
sire at once arose and slew him with the sword (to wipe away the
disgrace of such want of manliness).
Then Ibn Mukarrib turned to the slave, and asked him the question
which he had asked of his son. Whereupon the slave replied in
this quatrain:
"Eating wild grain in the house of respect;
And not eating dates in the house of contempt:
And walking in honour but a single day;
And not sitting in disgrace for a thousand years!"
Ibn Mukarrib, pleased with these words, forthwith adopted the
slave; both marched to the north and dwelt there till the end of
their days. The palm-trees, deprived of irrigation, all died; and
Bújat-Badá, the beautiful, became a wilderness. About twenty
years ago, the wells were reopened and the dates were replanted.
So much for the past: as for the future, we may safely predict
that, unless occupied by a civilized people, the Badá plain will
again see worse times. Nothing would be easier than to rebuild
the town, and to prepare the basin for irrigation and
cultivation; but destruction is more in the Bedawi line.
Chapter XVIII.
Coal a "Myth"--March to Marwát--Arrival at the Wady Hamz.
Before leaving Badá I was careful to make all manner of inquiries
concerning stone-coal; and the guides confirmed the suspicions
which had long suggested themselves. His Highness the Viceroy had
laid great stress upon the search: the first question to me on
return was whether the fuel had been found; and a shade of
disappointment appeared when the answer distinctly declared it a
myth.
This coal, it appears, is an old story. My learned friend
Sprenger wrote to me (June 13, 1877): "It is likely that west of
Marwa, on the way to Hawrá (which lies on the sea-shore), coal is
found: I confess that the prospect of discovering much coal in
Arabia does not appear to me very great; still it would be worth
while to make inquiries." Subsequently (December 8, 1877), he
gave up all hopes of the pure mineral, but he still clave to
bituminous schist. El-Mukaddasi (p. 103),[EN#68] treating of the
marvels of the land, has the following passage unconnected with
those which precede and succeed it:--"A fire arose between
El-Marwat and El-Haurá, and it burned, even as charcoal (el-Fahm)
burns." Probably Sprenger had read, "and it (the stone) burned as
charcoal burns," suggesting that the houses and huts were built
of inflammable material, like the bituminous schist of the
Brazil; and that the Arabs were surprised to find them taking
fire. Evidently, however, the text refers to an eruption in one
of the many Harrahs or volcanic districts. El-Mukaddasi describes
the "houses artful (farihín, alluding to the Thamúdites in the
Koran, xxvi. 149), and made of admirable stone (alabaster?); over
the doors were knots (Ukúd), and ornaments (Turúh), and carvings
(Nukúsh)."
Landing at El-Wijh, I at once consulted our intelligent friend,
the Wakíl Mohammed Shahádah. He had sent for a camel-load of the
stuff, which, he declared, would not burn, although it had burned
his money. He then travelled in person to the Jebel el-Muharrak
("Burnt Mountain"), five short marches inland from El-Badá plain,
and behind its northern curtain, the Jibál el-Shafah. According
to him, El-Muharrak is part of the great Harrah; and the
unexplored Jaww, which lies north (?) of it, is a prolongation of
the Hismá plateau, here belonging to the Balawíyyah or
Baliyy-land. The mountain is tall and black, apparently
consisting of the "coal." Near its summit lies the Bir el-Shifá'
("Well of Healing"), a pit of cold sulphur-water, excellent for
the eyes; and generally a "Pool of Bethesda," whither Arabs flock
from afar. At Abá'l-Gezáz, Mohammed destroyed all our surviving
hopes by picking up a black stone which, he declared, belonged to
El-Muharrak. It was schist, with a natural fracture not unlike
coal, and weathered into the semblance of wood: unfortunately it
was hard as iron, and it did not contain an atom of bitumen.
At Badá old Shaykh Afnán, whose tents are now pitched one day
ahead of us, was taken into consultation upon the subject. He
confirmed these statements of the Wakíl, adding that the Shafah
Mountains are a mere ridge, not the seaward walls of a plateau,
and that the land east of them is exactly that which we have
already traversed. He had bathed in the sulphur-water; he spoke
of brimstone being picked up on the hill-flanks, and he had heard
of El-Kohl (stibium, collyrium, antimony) being found about
El-Muharrak.[EN#69]
These details, apparently authentic, did not tempt me to waste
precious time upon El-Muharrak. I do not yet despair, as has been
said, of finding coal in Arabia; but we must hardly expect
volcanic ground to yield it.
Our preparations for a march southwards were made under
difficulties. The Baliyy evidently like the prospect of some £6
per diem; and do not like the idea of approaching the frontier,
where their camels may be stolen. Every silly, childish pretext
was used to suggest delay. We ought not to move without seeing
the "Nazarenes' Ruin" at El-Arayfát. Again, I had sent a certain
Salim, a cousin of the Shaykh, with orders for fresh supplies
from El-Wijh: he was certain to miss us if we marched. Still
again, old Afnán's dromedary had a thorn in the foot--u. s. w.
Nevertheless, an order was given for the return march on April
5th.
No matter how philosophical the traveller may be, I defy him not
to feel some emotion when, his Desert work being duly done, he
throws his leg over the saddle, and turn the animal's head
homewards--towards London. Such was our pleasant predicament;
for, though the détour would be considerable, and the delay still
more so, I could distinguish the bourne at the far end of the
very long perspective.
We were now in excellent marching order, not, however, including
the mules, of which two had broken down with sore backs, and the
others were breaking fast. The réveillé sounded at 3 to 3.30
p.m.; the "general" followed at four; and the start took place
immediately afterwards. The camels are wretched animals, that
work equally badly full and fasting: when hungry, they break
their halters to graze along the path; and when gorged they are
too lazy to go beyond a saunter of two miles an hour. Yet they
can work well when pushed: the man Sa'lim came up with us on the
evening of the fourth day, after a forced march of thirty-two
hours.
We took the track which crosses the Bújat-Badá to the south-east.
For a short way it was vilely rat-eaten; presently it issued upon
good, hard, stony ground; and, after four miles, it entered the
Wady el-Marwát. This gorge, marked by the Jebel Wásil, a round
head to the north, is a commonplace affair of trap and white
clay; broad, rough, and unpicturesque. The sole shows many piles
of dry stone, ruins of "boxes," in which the travelling Arab
passes the night, whilst his camels are tethered outside. The
watercourse heads in a Khuraytah, the usual rock-ladder; we
reached it after eleven miles' riding. Nájí, the sea-lawyer of
the party, assured us that we had not finished a third of the
way, when two-thirds would have been nearer the truth.
The Wady sides and head showed traces of hard work, especially
where three veins of snowy quartz had been deeply cut into. The
summit of the Col, some 2100 feet above sea-level, carried a fine
reef of "Marú," measuring eight feet at the widest, and trending
332° (mag.) Around it lay the usual barbarous ruins, mere
basements, surrounded by spalled stone: from this place I carried
off a portable Kufic inscription. The view down the regular and
tree-dotted slope of the Wady el-Marwát, as far as the flats of
Badá, was charming, an Argelèz without its over-verdure.
From the Col two roads lead to our day's destination. The short
cut to the right was reported stony: as most of our mules were
casting their irons and falling lame, I avoided it by the advice
of Furayj, thereby giving huge offence to old Afnán. We followed
the long slope trending to the Wady el-Kurr, which drains the
notable block of that name. Seeing the Wakíl, and the others in
front, cutting over the root to prevent rounding a prodigiously
long tongue-tip, I was on the qui vive for the normal dodge; and
presently the mulatto Abdullah screamed out that the Nakb must be
avoided, as it was all rock. We persisted and found the path
almost as smooth as a main road. The object was to halt for the
night at a neighbouring water-hole in the rocks; and, when their
trick failed, the Baliyy with a naive infantine candour, talked
and laughed over their failure, sans vergogne and within earshot.
Despite the many Zawábahs ("dust-devils"), this was one of our
finest travelling days. After the usual ante-meridian halt, we
pushed on down the valley, meeting only a few donkey-drivers. At
2.15 p.m. (seven hours = twenty miles and a half), we reached the
beautiful Ayn el-Kurr, some ten direct miles east of the Wady
Rábigh; and the caravan was only one hour behind us. This Wady is
a great and important affluent of the Wady el-Miyáh already
mentioned. The reach where we camped runs from north to south;
and the "gate" of porphyritic trap, red, green, yellow, and white
with clay, almost envelops the quartz-streaked granite. The walls
are high enough to give shade between eight a.m. and 2.15 p.m.;
and the level sole of the cleanest sand is dotted, near the right
side, with holes and pools of the sweetest water. Here "green
grow the rushes," especially the big-headed Kasbá (Arundo donax);
the yellow-tipped Namas or flags (Scirpus holoschænus) form a
dense thicket; the Ushr, with its cork-like bark which makes the
best tinder, is a tree, not a shrub; and there are large natural
plantations of the saffron-flowered, tobacco-like Verbascum, the
Arab's Uzn el-Humár ("Donkey's Ear"). Add scattered clusters of
date-trees, domineering over clumps of fan-palm; and, lastly,
marvellous to relate, a few hundred feet of greensward, of
regular turf--a luxury not expected in North-Western Arabia--a
paradise for frogs and toads (Bufo vulgaris), grasshoppers, and
white pigeons; and you will sympathize with our enjoyment at the
Ayn el-Kurr. In such a place extensive ruins of the "Old Ones"
were to be expected. Apparently there is no trace of man beyond
Wasm on the rocks; a few old Bedawi graves in a dwarf Wady
inflowing from the west; a rude modern watercourse close above
its mouth, and Arab fences round the trimmed dates and newly set
palm shoots.
During the afternoon the Shaykhs came to us with very long faces.
At this season, and as long as the Baliyy are in the Shafah
uplands, the almost deserted frontier districts, which we are
about to enter, suffer from the Gaum, or razzia, of the
neighbouring Anezah and the Juhaynah;--the two tribes, however,
not mixing. The bandits, numbering, they say, from fifty to
sixty, mounted on horses and dromedaries, only aspire to plunder
some poor devil-shepherd of a few camels, goats, and muttons.
They never attack in rear; they always sleep at night, save when
every moment is precious for "loot"-driving; and their weapons,
which may be deadly in the narrows, are despicable in the open
country.
I suspected at first that this was another "dodge" to enhance the
services of our Arabs, but the amount of risk we were to run was
soon found out by consulting Furayj. He said that we must march
in rear of the caravan for a day or two; and that such attacks
were possible, but only once in a hundred cases. There might have
been treachery in camp; the Egyptian officers suggested that a
Baliyy scout could have been sent on to announce the approach of
a rich caravan. Accordingly, I ordered an evening review of our
"Remingtons;" and chose a large mark purposely, that the Bedawi
lookers-on might not have cause to scoff. The escort redeemed
many a past lâche, by showing that their weapons had been kept
bright and clean, and by firing neatly enough. The Baliyy, who
had never seen a breech-loader, were delighted; but one of our
party so disliked the smell of powder, that he almost quarrelled
with me for bringing him into such imminent deadly risk. He was
hardly to be blamed; his nerves had been terribly shaken by a
viper killed in his tent.
Next morning (April 6th) saw the most unpleasant of our marches.
The young Shaykh Sulaymán, accompanied by his cousin Sálim, set
out in the dark as éclaireurs: they were supposed to lead eight
or ten of the best matchlock-men, whereas I doubt whether the
whole camp contained that total. Presently it appeared that they
were alone, and the farce was hardly kept up through the next
day. At 5.15 a.m. we followed them, marching militairement, as my
friend Sefer Pasha had strongly advised at Cairo. It is no joke
to follow starveling beasts whose best speed seldom attains two
miles and a half per hour. However, the effect was excellent:
never had there been so little straggling; never had the
halting-places been reached in such good time and good order.
A pleasant surprise awaited us in the grandest display of quartz
that we had yet seen. The descent of the Wady el-Kurr seemed to
be as flat, stale, and profitless as possible, when "Mará"
appeared on the left side in mounds, veins, and strews. Presently
we turned south, and passed the brackish well, El-Hufayrah ("the
Little Pit"), in a bay of the left bank, distant about eight
miles from our last camp. Here the whole Wady, some two miles
broad, was barred with quartz, in gravel of the same rock, and in
veins which, protruding from the dark schist, suggested that it
underlies the whole surface. Nothing more remarkable than the
variety of forms and tints mingling in the mighty mass--the
amorphous, the crystallized, the hyaline, the burnt; here mottled
and banded, there plain red and pink, green and brown, slaty and
chocolate, purple, kaolin-white; and, rarest of all,
honeycomb-yellow. The richest part was at the Majrá el-Kabsh
("Divide of the Ram"), where we alighted and secured specimens.
From this point the Wady el-Kurr flows down the right side of its
valley, and disappears to the west; while the far side of the
Majrá shows the Wady Gámirah (Kámirah), another influent of the
Wady el-Miyáh. Various minor divides led to the Wady el-Laylah,
where ruins were spoken of by our confidant, Audah, although his
information was discredited by the Shaykhs. Quartz-hills now
appeared on either side, creamy-coated cones, each capped by its
own sparkle whose brilliancy was set off by the gloomy traps
which they sheeted and topped. In some places the material may
have been the usual hard, white, heat-altered clay; but the
valley-sole showed only the purest "Marú." The height of several
hills was nearly double that of the northern Jebel el-Abyaz; and
the reef-crests were apparently unworked.
After the march had extended to seven hours (= 18 miles), there
were loud complaints about its length, the venerable Afnán
himself begging us to spare his camels--which, being interpreted,
meant spoiling our pockets. I therefore gave orders to camp in
the broad and open Wady Laylah. We were far from water, but the
evening was pleasant, and the night was still more agreeable.
At five a.m. next day (April 7th) we rode up the Wady Laylah,
which gave us another surprise, and an unexpected joy, in the
shifting scenery of the Jibál el-Safhah. The "Mountains of the
Plain," so called because they start suddenly from a dead level,
are a section of the Tihámat-Balawíyyah range; yet they are
worthy links of a chain which boasts of a Shárr. Rising hard on
our left, beyond the dull traps that hem in the Wadys, these
blocks, especially the lower features, the mere foot-hills,
assume every quaintest nuance of hue and form. The fawn-grey
colour, here shining as if polished by "slickensides," there dull
and roughened by the rude touch of Time, is a neutral ground that
takes all the tints with which sun and moon, mist and cloud,
paint and glaze the world: changeable as the chameleon's, the
coating is never the same for two brief hours. The protean shape,
seen in profile and foreshortened from the north or south,
appears a block bristling with "Pins" and points, horns and
beaks. Viewed from the east the range splits into a double line,
whose ranks have never been "dressed" nor sized; whilst a
diagonal prospect so alters their forms and relations that they
apparently belong to another range.
The background, lying upon the most distant visible plane, is the
white-streaked and regular wall of the Jebel el-Ward, which we
have already seen from the sea. Its northern foot-ranges are the
pale-white and jagged Afayr, whose utter isolation makes it
interesting; and the low and long, the dark and dumpy Jebel
Tufayyah. It is separated by a broad valley from its southern
neighbour, the Jebel el-Ughlub, or El-Ghalab as some call it.
This typical block consists chiefly of a monstrous "Parrot's
Beak" of granite, continued by a long dorsum to the south. Its
outliers number four. These are, first, the Umm Natash, two sets
of perpendicular buttresses pressed together like sausages or
cigars. Then comes the Talát Muhajjah, a broken saddleback, whose
cantle from the south-east appears split into a pair of
steeple-like boulders--an architect of Alexander the Great's day
would have easily cut and trimmed them into such towers as the
world has never seen. Follows the Umm el-Natákah, bristling like
the fretful porcupine, and apparently disdaining to receive the
foot of man; while the last item, the Jebel el-Khausilah, has
outlines so thoroughly architectural that we seem to gaze upon a
pile of building.
About five miles behind or south of El-Khausilah runs the Wady
Hamz. Thus the two blocks, El-Ward and El-Ughlub, form the Safhah
proper. The line is continued, after a considerable break, by the
two blue and conical peaks in the Tihámat-Jahaníyyah, known as
the Jebelayn el-Rál. They are divided and drained to the Wady
Hamz by the broad Wady el-Sula'; and the latter is the short cut
down which the Egyptian Hajj, returning northwards from
El-Medínah, debouches upon the maritime plain of South Midian.
The Wady Laylah, draining both the Shafah and the Tihámah ranges,
including the block El-Ward, assumes, as usual, various names: we
shall follow it till it is received into the mighty arms of the
Wady Hamz, some three miles from the sea. After riding eight
hours, we sighted the long line of Daum-palms which announce the
approach to El-Birkah, "the Tank." Here the huge Fiumara,
sweeping grandly from north-east to south-west, forms a charming
narrow and a river-like run about a mile and a half
long--phenomenal again in sun-scorched Arabia. The water,
collecting under the masses of trap which wall in the left bank,
flows down for some distance in threads, à ciel ouvert, and
finally combines in a single large blue-green pool on the right
side. A turquoise set in enamel of the brightest verdure, it
attracts by its dense and shady beds of rushes a variety of
water-fowl--one of our Bedawin killed a black-headed duck with a
bullet, which spoilt it as a specimen. About the water-run are
dwarf enclosures, and even water-melons were sown; unhappily the
torrent came down and carried all away.
We halted near the upper spring at 8.20 a.m., after the usual
accident which now occurred daily about that hour. On this
occasion Lieutenant Yusuf's shoe stuck in the stirrup when he was
dismounting from an unsteady mule; the animal threw him, and he
had a somewhat narrow escape from being dragged to death. Man and
beast would have lingered long over the pleasures of watering and
refection, but I forced them onwards at nine a.m., whilst the hot
sun-rays were still tempered by the cool land-breeze. The threads
of water and the wet ground extended some two kilometres beyond
the Birkat. Further on was another fine "gate," whose eastern or
right jamb was the Jibál el-Tibgh, fronting the Wady M'jirmah.
The narrows showed two Arab wells, with the usual platform of dry
trunks that make a footing round the mouth. There was no break in
the continuity of the quartz: the black trap enclosed, here
sheets, there veins, and there almonds in puddings.
At the halting-place a "cerastes" (Echis carinata, Merr.), so
called from the warty hollows over the eyes (?), was brought to
me in a water-bag; the bearer transferred it to the spirit-bottle
by neatly thrusting a packing-needle through the head. The pretty
specimen of an amiable, and much oppressed, race did not show an
atom of vice. I cannot conceive what has caused the absurd
prejudice against snakes, even the most harmless. Perhaps we must
trace it to the curious resemblance of the profile, with the
flattened forehead, the steely bright eye, the formidable biting
apparatus, and the vanishing chin, to the genus woman, species
Lorette. It is hard to imagine that this little beast, which some
one called a "Cleopatra's hasp," could be fatal: its small bag
can hardly contain a couple of drops. Yet the vox populi is
distinctly against me.
The Shaykhs were anxious to push on for another half-hour, where,
they declared, a rain-hole is found in the next ravine, the Sha'b
el-Kahafah. But we had been privily told of another further down
the valley, at the Sha'b el-Hárr; and, although we much wanted a
bottleful for photography, we determined to run the risk. The
result is curious, showing how jealously water-secrets are kept
in these lands. The next thing I heard was that the water had
waxed salt; then it had dried up; and, lastly, it was in the best
condition, the truth being that there was none at all.
Consequently we were compelled to send back four camels and two
cameleers from our next camping-ground to the Kahafah. Venerable
Afnán made many a difficulty, and an uncommon favour, of risking
the plundering of the dromedaries and the lives of his caterans
by a razzia. The fellows set off after nightfall towards the
upper ravine, distant some two hours' slow march: they must there
have had a pleasant, refreshing sleep; and they did not return,
doubtless by order, till late next morning. This gave the Shaykhs
a good opportunity of fearing greatly for the safety of their
people, and of delaying our march as much as possible.
Resuming the road at 2.30 p.m., we entered the western
prolongation of the Wady el-Birkah. Here it becomes the Wady
Abá'l-Agág (Ajáj), and preserves that name till it anastomoses
with the Hamz. There have been some wells in the bed; but all are
now filled up, and water must be carried from El-Birkah. We
camped at a noble reach, garnished with a mimic forest of old
tamarisks, whose small voices, united in chorus, passably
imitated the mighty murmur of the sea. Our day's march had
covered a score of miles; hard work, considering the condition of
the mules.
After a splendid night, we set out London-wards at five a.m.,
April 8th, delayed, as has been said, by the politiké of the
Shaykhs. Moreover, one of the party, whose motto should have been
halt's maul, had remarked that the camels appeared fewer than
before--another reason for stopping to count them. Half an hour
placed us at a lower and a grander carrefour, abounding in fuel
and seducing with tamarisk-shade: its water is known as the Máyat
el-Badí'ah. Presently the hilly encasement of the Wady el-Ajáj
ended with El-Adrá, a red butte to the left, and the Jebel
el-Yakhmúm on the right. This knob was copiously veined with
quartz, of which a prodigious depôt, explored on the next day,
exists in the heights behind it. The Wady now flares out; we have
done with the Tihámah Mountains, and we are again in maritime
South Midian.
Although we were standing some four hundred feet above the
wassersspiegel, there was no view of the sea, and we had to cross
a wave of ground before we pulled off our hats to Father Neptune,
as he lay smiling in front of us. There was nothing monotonous in
the scene. The mirage raised high in air the yellow mound of Ras
Kurkumah ("Turmeric Head"), which bounded the water-line to the
south. Nearer, but still far to the left, ran the high right bank
of the Wady Hamz, sweeping with a great curve from north-east to
west, till it stood athwart our path. Knobby hills were scattered
over the plain; and on our right rose El-Juwayy, a black mound
with white-sided and scarred head, whose peculiar shape, a crest
upon a slope, showed us once more the familiar Secondary
formation of North-Western Arabia. Thus the gypsum has been
traced from the Sinaitic shore as far south as the Wady Hamz.
We rode sharply forwards, impatient to see the classical ruins,
leaving the caravan to follow us. The Girdi ("sand-rat") had
ceased to burrow the banks; but the jerboa had made regular
rabbit-warrens. At half-past seven we crossed a winding and
broad-spreading track, the upper Hajj-road, by which the Egyptian
Mahmal passes when returning from El-Medi'nah viâ the Wady Hamz.
A few yards further on showed us a similar line, the route taken
by the caravan when going to Meccah viâ Yambú', now distant five
marches. The two meet at the Wady Wafdíyyah, to the north-east of
the Abá'l-Marú range, which we shall visit to-morrow.
Shortly after 10 a.m. we crossed the deepest vein of the Wady
Hamz, urged the mules up the *stiff* left bank, and sprang from
the saddle to enjoy a first view of the Gasr (Kasr) Gurayyim
Sa'id.
Chapter XIX.
The Wady Hamz--the Classical Ruin--Abá'l-Marú, the Mine of
"Marwah"--Return to El-Wijh--Résumé of the Southern Journey.
Before describing the Palace of Sa'íd the Brave, I must devote a
few lines to a notice of the Wady Hamz. The Wady Hamz, which has
been mentioned as the southern frontier of Egyptian Midian, and
the northern limit of the Ottoman Hejaz, is the most notable
feature of its kind upon the North-Western Arabian shore. Yet
Wallin has unjustifiably described and inscribed it "Wady Nejd,"
confusing it with a northern basin, whose mouth, the Salbah
(Thalbah), we passed before reaching Sharm Dumayghah. He appears
to identify it with the classical Wady el-Kura. Sprenger clean
ignores the name, although he mentions its branches; and of
course it is utterly neglected by the Hydrographic Chart. This
main approach to the Arabian interior is not a fissure, like the
vulgar Wadys, but rather an opening where the Gháts, or maritime
chain, break to the north and south. Distant one long or two
short marches from El-Wijh, its mouth is in north lat. 25° 55';
and it is said to head fifteen days inland, in fact beyond
El-Medínah, towards which it curves with a south-easterly bend.
It receives a multitude of important secondary valleys; amongst
which is the Wady el-Uwaynid, universally so pronounced. I
cannot help thinking that this is El-Aúníd of El-Mukaddasi,
which El-Idrísí (erroneously?) throws into the sea opposite
Nu'ma'n Island. If my conjecture prove true, we thus have a
reason why this important line has been inexplicably neglected.
Another branch is the Wady el-Is, Sprenger's "Al-Ys" (pp. 28,
29), which he calls "a valley in the Juhaynah country," and makes
the northern boundary of that tribe.
Ethnologically considered, the lower Wady Hamz is now the
southern boundary of the Balawíyyah (Baliyy country), and the
northern limit of the Jahaníyyah, or Juhaynah-land: the latter is
popularly described as stretching down coast to Wady Burmah, one
march beyond Yambú' (?). Higher up it belongs to the
Alaydán-Anezahs, under Shaykh Mutlak--these were the Bedawin
who, during our stay at the port, brought their caravan to
El-Wijh. Both tribes are unsafe, and they will wax worse as they
go south. Yet there is no difficulty in travelling up the Hamz,
at least for those who can afford time and money to engage the
escort of Shaykh Mutlak. A delay of twelve days to a fortnight
would be necessary, and common prudence would suggest the normal
precaution of detaining, as hostage in the seaboard settlement,
one of his Alaydán cousins. Water is to be found the whole way,
and the usual provisions are to be bought at certain places.
The following notes upon the ruins of the Wady Hamz were supplied
to me by the Baliyy Bedawin and the citizens of El-Wijh. Six
stages up the lower valley, whose direction lies nearly
north-east, lead to El-Ilá, Wallin's "Ela," which belongs to the
Anezah. Thence a short day, to the north with easting, places
the traveller at Madáin (not Madyan nor Medínat) Sálih--"the
cities of Sálih." The site is described to be somewhat off the
main valley, which is here broken by a Nakb (?); and those who
have visited both declared that it exactly resembles Nabathæan
Magháir Shu'ayb in extensive ruins and in catacombs caverning the
hill-sides.
Also called El-Hijr, it is made by Sprenger (p. 20) the capital
of Thamuditis. This province was the head-quarters of the giant
race termed the "Sons of Anak" (Joshua xi. 21); the Thamudeni and
Thamudæ of Agatharkides and Diodorus; the Tamudæi of Pliny; the
Thamyditæ of Ptolemy; and the Arabian Tamúd (Thamúd), who,
extinct before the origin of El-Islam, occupied the seaboard
between El-Muwaylah and El-Wijh. Their great centre was the plain
El-Badá; and they were destroyed by a terrible sound from heaven,
the Beth-Kol of the Hebrews, after sinfully slaughtering the
miraculously produced camel of El-Sálih, the Righteous Prophet
(Koran, cap. vii.). The exploration of "Sálih's cities" will be
valuable if it lead to the collection of inscriptions
sufficiently numerous to determine whether the Tamúd were
Edomites, or kin to the Edomites; also which of the two races is
the more ancient, the Horites of Idumæa or the Horites in
El-Hijr.
And now to inspect the Gasr. The first sensation was one of
surprise, of the mental state which gave rise to the Italian's--
"Dear Columns, what do you here?
Not knowing, can't say, Mynheer!'"
And this incongruous bit of Greece or Rome, in the Arabian wild,
kept its mystery to the last: the more we looked at it, the less
we could explain its presence. Not a line of inscription, not
even a mason's mark--all dark as the grave; deaf-dumb as "the
olden gods."
The site of the Gasr is in north lat. 25° 55' 15";[EN#70] and the
centre of the Libn block bears from it 339° (mag.). It stands
upon the very edge of its Wady's left bank, a clifflet some
twenty-five feet high, sloping inland with the usual dark metal
disposed upon loose yellow sand. Thus it commands a glorious view
of the tree-grown valley, or rather valleys, beneath it; and of
the picturesque peaks of the Tihámat-Balawíyyah in the
background. The distance from the sea is now a little over three
miles--in ancient days it may have been much less.
The condition of the digging proves that the remains have not
long been opened: the Baliyy state less than half a century ago;
but exactly when or by whom is apparently unknown to them. Before
that time the locale must have shown a mere tumulus, a mound
somewhat larger than the many which pimple the raised valley-bank
behind the building. A wall is said to have projected above
ground, as at Uriconium near the Wrekin.[EN#71] This may have
suggested excavation, besides supplying material for the Bedawi
cemetery to the south-west. The torrent waters have swept away
the whole of the northern wall, and the treasure-seeker has left
his mark upon the interior. Columns and pilasters and bevelled
stones have been hurled into the Wady below; the large
pavement-slabs have been torn up and tossed about to a chaos; and
the restless drifting of the loose yellow Desert-sand will soon
bury it again in oblivion. The result of all such ruthless
ruining was simply null. The imaginative Nájí declared, it is
true, that a stone dog had been found; but this animal went the
way of the "iron fish," which all at El-Muwaylah asserted to have
been dug up at El-Wijh--the latter place never having heard of
it. Wallin (p. 316) was also told of a black dog which haunts the
ruins of Karáyyá, and acts guardian to its hidden treasures.
Years ago, when I visited the mouth of the Volta river on the
Gold Coast, the negroes of Cape Coast Castle were pleased to
report that I had unearthed a silver dog, at whose appearance my
companion, Colonel de Ruvignes, and myself fell dead. But why
always a dog? The "Palace" is a Roman building of pure style;
whether temple or nymphæum, we had no means of ascertaining. The
material is the Rughám or alabaster supplied by the Secondary
formation; and this, as we saw, readily crumbles to a white
powder when burnt. The people, who in such matters may be
trusted, declare that the quarries are still open at Abú
Makhárír, under the hills embosoming Abá'l-Marú. We should have
been less surprised had the ruin been built of marble, which
might have been transported from Egypt; but this careful and
classical treatment of the common country stone, only added to
the marvel.
It must have been a bright and brilliant bit of colouring in its
best days--hence, possibly, the local tradition that the stone
sweats oil. The whole building, from the pavement to the coping,
notched to receive the roof-joists, is of alabaster, plain-white
and streaked with ruddy, mauve, and dark bands, whose mottling
gives the effect of marble. Perhaps in places the gypsum has been
subjected to plutonic action; and we thought that the coloured
was preferred to the clear for the bases of the columns. The
exposed foundations of the eastern and western walls, where the
torrent has washed away the northern enceinte, show that, after
the fashion of ancient Egypt, sandstone slabs have been laid
underground, the calcaire being reserved for the hypaethral part.
The admirable hydraulic cement is here and there made to take the
place of broken corners, and flaws have been remedied by
carefully letting in small cubes of sound stone. There are also
cramp-holes for metal which, of course, has been carried off by
the Bedawin: the rusty stains suggest iron.
The building is square-shaped, as we see from the western wall,
and it evidently faced eastward with 25° (mag.) of southing. This
orientation, probably borrowed from the Jews, was not thoroughly
adopted in Christendom till the early fifth century, when it
became a mos. The southern wall, whose basement is perfect, shows
everywhere a thickness of 0.95 centimetre, and a total length of
8 metres 30 centimetres. At 2 metres 87 centimetres from the
south-western corner is a slightly raised surface, measuring in
length 2 metres 15 centimetres. Mr. James Fergusson supposes that
this projection, which directly fronts the eastern entrance, was
the base of the niche intended for the image. On each side of the
latter might have been a smaller colonette, which would account
for the capital carried off by us to Egypt. Thus, adding 2 metres
87 centimetres for the northern end swept into the valley, we
have a length of 7 metres 89 centimetres; and the additional half
thickness of the east wall would bring it to a total of 8 metres
30 centimetres.
The shrine was not in antis, and the site hardly admits of a
peristyle; besides which, excavations failed to find it. That it
might have had a small external atrium is made probable by the
peculiarity of the entrance. Two rounded pilasters, worked with
the usual care inside, but left rough in other parts because they
could not be seen, were engaged in the enceinte wall, measuring
here, as elsewhere, 0.95 centimetre in thickness. Nothing
remained of them but their bases, whose lower diameters were 0.95
centimetre, and the upper 0.65; the drums found elsewhere also
measured 0.65. The interval between the lowest rings was 1 metre
63 centimetres; and this would give the measure of the doorway,
here probably a parallelogram. Lying on the sand-slope to the
north, a single capital showed signs of double brackets, although
both have been broken off:[EN#72] the maximum diameter across the
top was 0.60 centimetre, diminishing below to 0.50 and 0.44,
whilst the height was 0.40. The encircling wall was probably
adorned with pilasters measuring 0.62 centimetre below, 0.45
above, and 0.11 in height: they are not shown in the plan; and I
leave experts to determine whether they supported the inside or
the outside surface. Several stones, probably copings, are cut
with three mortice-joints or joist-holes, each measuring 0.15
centimetre, at intervals of 0.14 to 0.15.
In the tossed and tumbled interior of this maison carrée the
pavement-slabs, especially along the south-western side, appear
in tolerable order and not much disturbed; whilst further east a
long trench from north to south had been sunk by the treasure
seeker. The breadth of the free passage is 1 metre 92
centimetres; and the disposal suggested an inner peristyle,
forming an impluvium. Thus the cube could not have been a heroön
or tomb. Four bases of columns, with a number of drums, lie in
the heap of ruins, and in the torrent-bed six, of which we
carried off four. They are much smaller than the pilasters of the
entrance; the lower tori of the bases measure 0.60 centimetre in
diameter, and 0.20 in height (to 0.90 and 0.25), while the drums
are 0.45, instead of 0.65. It is an enormous apparatus to support
what must have been a very light matter of a roof. The only
specimen of a colonette-capital has an upper diameter of 0.26, a
lower of 0.17, and a height of 0.16.
Although the Meccan Ka'bah is, as its name denotes, a "cube,"
this square alabaster box did not give the impression of being
either Arab or Nabathæan. The work is far too curiously and
conscientiously done; the bases and drums, as the sundries
carried to Cairo prove, look rather as if turned by machinery
than chiselled in the usual way. I could not but conjecture that
it belongs to the days of such Roman invasions as that of Ælius
Gallus. Strabo[EN#73] tells us of his unfortunate friend and
companion, that, on the return march, after destroying
Negrán[EN#74] (Pliny, vi. 32), he arrived at Egra or Hegra
(El-Wijh), where he must have delayed some time before he could
embark "as much of his army as could be saved," for the opposite
African harbour, Myus Hormus. It is within the limits of
probability that this historical personage[EN#75] might have
built the Gasr, either for a shrine or for a nymphæum, a
votive-offering to the Great Wady, which must have cheered his
heart after so many days of "Desert country, with only a few
watering-places." Perhaps an investigation of the ruins at Ras
Kurkumah and the remains of Madáin Sálih may throw some light
upon the mystery. In our travel this bit of classical temple was
unique.
Mr. Fergusson, whose authority in such matters will not readily
be disputed, calls the building a small shrine; and determines
that it can hardly be a tomb, as it is hypæthral. The only
similar temple known to him is that of "Soueideh" (Suwaydah), in
the Haurán (De Vogüé, "Syrie Centrale," Plate IV.). The latter,
which is Roman, and belonging to the days of Herod Augustus, has
a peristyle here wanting: in other respects the resemblance is
striking.
M. Lacaze photographed, under difficulties such as bad water and
a most unpleasant drift of sand-dust, the interior of the
building, the stones lying in the Wady below, and the various
specimens which we carried off for the inspection of his Highness
the Viceroy. Meanwhile we "pottered about," making small
discoveries. The exposed foundations of the north-western wall,
where the slabs of grit rest upon the sands of the cliff,
afforded signs of man in the shape of a jaw-bone, with teeth
apparently modern; and above it, in the terreplein, we dug down
upwards of a yard, without any result beyond unearthing a fine
black scorpion. The adjoining Arab graveyard, adorned with the
mutilated spoils of the classical building, gave two imperfect
skulls and four fragments. We opened one of the many mounds that
lie behind the Gasr, showing where most probably stood the ruined
town; and we found the interior traversed by a crumbling wall of
cut alabaster--regular excavation may some day yield important
results. A little to the south-west lies a kind of ossuary, a
tumulus slightly raised above the wavy level, and showing a
central pit choked with camels' bones: at least, we could find no
other.
And here I was told the Arab legend by the Wakíl; who, openly
deriding the Bedawi idea that the building could be a "Castle,"
opined that it was a Kanísah, a "Christian or pagan place of
worship." Gurayyim Sa'íd, "Sa'íd the Brave," was an African
slave, belonging to an Arab Shaykh whose name is forgotten. One
day it so happened that a razzia came to plunder his lord, when
the black, whose strength and stature were equal to his courage
and, let us add, his appetite, did more than his duty. Thus he
obtained as a reward the promise of a bride, his master's
daughter. But when the day of danger was past, and the slave
applied for the fair guerdon, the Shaykh traitorously refused to
keep his word. The Brave, finding a fit opportunity, naturally
enough carried off the girl to the mountains; solemnly thrashed
every pursuing party; and, having established a "reign of
terror," came to the banks of the Wady Hamz, and built the
"Palace" for himself and his wife. But his love for
butcher's-meat did not allow him to live happily ever after. As
the land yielded little game, he took to sallying out every day
and carrying off a camel, which in the evening he slew, and
roasted, and ate, giving a small bit of it to his spouse. This
extravagance of flesh-diet ended by scandalizing the whole
country-side, till at last the owner of the plundered herds,
Diyáb ibn Ghánim, one of the notables celebrated in the romance
called Sírat Abu' Zayd,[EN#76] assembled his merry men, attacked
the Gurayyim, and slew him. Wa' s' salám!
Here Egypt ends. We have done our work--
"And now the hills stretch home."
I must, however, beg the reader to tarry with me awhile. The next
march to the north will show him what I verily believe to be the
old gold-mine lying around El-Marwah. It acquires an especial
interest from being the northernmost known to the mediaeval
geographers.
El-Mukaddasi (vol. I. p. 101), in an article kindly copied by my
friend, the Aulic Councillor, Alfred Von Kremer, says, "Between
Yambú' and El-Marwah are mines of gold;" adding ("Itinerary,"
vol. i. p. 107) the following route directions: "And thou takest
from El-Badr (the New Moon')[EN#77] to El-Yambú' two stages;
thence to the Ras el-Ayn (?),[EN#78] one stage; again to the
mine (subaudi, of gold), one stage; and, lastly, to El-Marwah,
two stages. And thou takest from El-Badr to El-Jár[EN#79] one
stage; thence to El-Jahfah (?), or to El-Yambu', two stages each.
And thou takest from El-Jiddah (Jedda) to El-Jár, or to
El-Surrayn (?), four stages each. And thou takest from El-Yasrib
(Jatrippa or El-Medínah) to El-Suwaydíyyah (?), or to Batn
el-Nakhil (?), two stages each; and from El-Suwaydíyyah to
El-Marwah, an equal distance (i.e. four marches); and from the
Batn el-Nakhil to the mine of silver, a similar distance. And if
thou seek the Jáddat Misr,[EN#80] then take from El-Marwah to
El-Sukyá[EN#81] (?), and thence to Badá Ya'kúb,[EN#82] three
marches; and thence to El-Aúníd, one march." Hence Sprenger
would place Zú'l-Marwah "four days from El-Hijr, on the western
road to Medina;" alluding to the western (Syrian) road, now
abandoned.
And now for our march. On the finest possible morning (April
9th), when the world was all ablaze with living light, I walked
down the Wady Hamz. It has been abundantly supplied with water;
in fact, the whole vein (thalweg) subtending the left bank would
respond to tapping. The well El-Kusayr, just below the ruin,
though at present closed, yielded till lately a large quantity:
about half a mile to the westward is, or rather was, a saltish
pit surrounded by four sweet. Almost all are now dry and filled
up with fuel. A sharp trudge of three-quarters of an hour leads
to the Bir el-Gurnah (Kurnah), the "Well of the Broad," in a
district of the same name, lying between the ruin and the shore.
It is a great gash in the sandy bed: the taste of the turbid
produce is distinctly sulphurous; and my old white mule, being
dainty in her drink, steadfastly refused to touch it. The
distinct accents of the Red Sea told us that we were not more
than a mile from its marge.
We then struck north-east, over the salt maritime plain, till we
hit the lower course of the Wady Umm Gilifayn (Jilifayn). It
heads from the seaward base of the neighbouring hills; and its
mouth forms a Marsá, or "anchorage-place," for native craft. A
little to the north stands the small pyramidal Tuwayyil
el-Kibrít, the "little Sulphur Hill," which had been carefully
examined by MM. Marie and Philipin. A slow ride of eight miles
placed us in a safe gorge draining a dull-looking, unpromising
block. Here we at once found, and found in situ for the first
time, the chalcedony which strews the seaboard-flat. This agate,
of which amulets and signet-rings were and are still made, and
which takes many varieties of tints, lies in veins mostly
striking east-west; and varying in thickness from an inch to
several feet. The sequence is grey granite below, the band of
chalcedony, and above it a curious schistose gneiss-formation.
The latter, composing the greater part of these hills, is striped
dark-brown and yellow; and in places it looks exactly like rotten
wood. The small specimens of chalcedony in my private collection
were examined at Trieste, and one of them contained dendritic
gold, visible to the naked eye. Unfortunately the engineer had
neglected this most important rock, and only a few ounces of it,
instead of as many tons, were brought back for analysis.
A short and easy ascent led to a little counter-slope, the Majrá
Mujayrah (Mukayrah), whose whitening sides spoke of quartz. We
rode down towards a granite island where the bed mouths into the
broad Wady Mismáh, a feeder of the Wady Argah. Here, after some
ten miles, the guide, Na'ji', who thus far had been very misty in
the matter of direction, suddenly halted and, in his showman
style, pointed to the left bank of the watercourse, exclaiming,
"Behold Abá'l-Marú!" (the "Father of Quartz"). It was another
surprise, and our last, this snowy reef with jagged crest, at
least 500 metres long, forming the finest display of an exposed
filon we had as yet seen; but--the first glance told us that it
had been worked.
We gave the rest of the day to studying and blasting the
quartz-wall. It proved to be the normal vein in grey granite,
running south-north and gradually falling towards the
valley-plain. Here a small white outlier disappears below the
surface, rising again in filets upon the further side. The dip is
easterly: in this direction a huge strew of ore-mass and rubbish
covers the slope which serves as base to the perpendicular reef.
The Negro quartz, which must have formed half the thickness, had
been carried bodily away. If anything be left for the moderns it
is hidden underground: the stone, blasted in the little outlier,
looked barren. Not the least curious part of this outcrop is the
black thread of iron silicate which, broken in places, subtends
it to the east: some specimens have geodes yielding brown powder,
and venal cavities lined with botryoidal quartz of amethystine
tinge. In other parts of the same hills we found, running along
the "Mará," single and double lines of this material, which
looked uncommonly like slag.
The open Wady Mismáh showed, to the east of our camp, the ruins
of a large settlement which has extended right across the bed: as
the guides seemed to ignore its existence, we named it the
Kharábat Abá'l-Marú. Some of the buildings had been on a large
scale, and one square measured twenty yards. Here the peculiarity
was the careful mining of a granitic hillock on the southern
bank. The whole vein of Negro quartz had been cut out of three
sides, leaving caves that simulated catacombs. Further west
another excavation in the same kind of rock was probably the
town-quarry. The two lieutenants were directed next morning to
survey this place, and also a second ruin and reef reported to be
found on the left bank, a little below camp.
We have now seen, lying within short distances, three several
quartz-fields, known as--Marwah, "the single Place or Hill of
Maú'" (quartz); Marwát, "the Places of Quartz;" and Abá'l-Marú,
the "Father of Quartz;" not to speak of a Nakb Abú Marwah[EN#83]
further north. The conclusion forced itself upon me that the name
of the celebrated Arab mine Zú'l Marwah or El-Marwah, the more
ancient (Mochura), which Ptolemy places in north
lat. 24° 30', applied to the whole district in South Midian, and
then came to denote the chief place and centre of work. To judge
by the extent of the ruins, and the signs of labour, this focus
was at Umm el-Karáyát (the "Mother of the Villages"), which, as
has been shown, is surrounded by a multitude of miner-towns and
ateliers. And the produce of the "diggings" would naturally
gravitate to El-Badá, the great commercial station upon the
Nabathæan "Overland."
Thus El-Marwah would signify "the Place of Marú," or
"Quartz-land," even as Ophir means "Red Land." A reviewer of my
first book on Midian objects to the latter derivation; as
Seetzen, among others, has conclusively shown that Ophir, the
true translation of which is riches,' is to be looked for in
Southern Arabia." Connu! But I question the "true translation;"
and, whilst owning that one of the Ophirs or "Red Lands" lay in
the modern Yemen, somewhere between Sheba (Sabá) and Havilah
(Khaulán), I see no reason for concluding that this was the only
Ophir. Had it been a single large emporium on the Red Sea, which
collected the produce of Arabia and the exports of India and of
West Africa, the traditional site could hardly have escaped the
notice of the inquiring Arabian geographers of our Middle Ages.
The ruins of a port would have been found, and we should not be
compelled theoretically to postulate its existence.
* * * * * *
And now nothing remained but to escape as quickly as possible
from the ugly Wady Mismáh; with its violent, dusty wester, or
sea-breeze, and its sun-glare which, reflected and reverberated
by the quartz, burned the grass and made the trees resemble
standing timber.
April 10th saw the last of our marches, a hurry back to the
stable, a sauve qui peut. The camel-men, reckless of orders,
began to load and to slip away shortly after midnight. Ali Marie,
who, as usual, had lost his head, when ordered to enjoin silence
gave the vain and vague direction, "Tell the Arabs to tell the
camels not to make so much noise." Even the bugler sounded the
"general" of his own accord; and the mules, now become painfully
intelligent, walked as if they knew themselves to be walking
homewards. Our last stage lay over the upper skirts of the
maritime plain which has already been noticed. At 10.15 am.,
after riding five hours and thirty minutes (= seventeen miles),
we found ourselves once more upon the seaboard. Our kind host,
Captain Hasan Bey, came to meet us in his gig: the quarter-deck
had been dressed with flags, as for a ball; and before twelve
bells struck, we had applied ourselves to an excellent breakfast
in the gun-room of our old favourite, the Sinnár. The auspicious
day of course ended with a fantasia.
Résumé of Our Last Journey.
We had left the Sharm Yáhárr on March 21st, and returned to it on
April 13th; a total of twenty-four days. Our actual march through
South Midian, which had lasted thirteen days (March 29--April
10), described a semicircle with El-Wijh about the middle of the
chord. The length is represented by 170 miles in round numbers:
as usual, this does not include the various offsets and the
by-paths explored by the members; nor do the voyages to El-Wijh
and El-Haurá, going and coming, figure in the line of route. The
camels varied from fifty-eight to sixty-four, when specimens were
forwarded to the harbour-town. The expenditure amounted to£92
13s., including pay and "bakhshísh" to the Baliyy Shaykhs, but
not including our friends the Sayyid, Furayj, and the Wakíl
Mohammed Shahádah.
This southern region differs essentially from the northern, which
was twice visited, and which occupied us two months, mostly
wasted. Had we known what we do now, I should have begun with the
south, and should have devoted to it the greater part of our
time. Both are essentially mining countries; but, whilst the
section near Egypt preserves few traces of the miner, here we
find the country carefully and conscientiously worked. The whole
eastern counterslope of the outliers that project from the
Ghát-section known as the mountains of the Tihámat-Balawíyyah, is
one vast outcrop of quartz. The parallelogram between north lat.
26 degrees, including the mouth of the Wady Hamz, and north lat.
27°, which runs some fifteen miles north of the Badá plain, would
form a Southern Grant, sufficiently large to be divided and
subdivided as soon as judged advisable.
If the characteristics of North Midian (Madyan Proper) are its
argentiferous, and especially its cupriferous ores, South Midian
worked chiefly gold and silver, both metals being mentioned by
the mediaeval geographers of Arabia. Free gold in paillettes was
noticed by the Expedition in the micaceous schists veining the
quartz, and in the chalcedony which parts the granite from the
gneiss. The argentiferous Negro quartz everywhere abounds, and
near the ruins of Badá lie strews of spalled "Marú," each
fragment showing its little block of pure lead. Saltpetre is
plentiful, and a third "Sulphur hill" rises from the maritime
plain north of the Wady Hamz.
The principal ruins and ateliers number five; these, beginning
from the north, are the Umm el-Karáyát, the Umm el-Haráb, the
Bújat-Badá, the Kharábat Abá'l-Marú, and the old Nabathean port,
E1-Haurá. Amongst them is not included the gem of our discovery,
the classical shrine, known as Gasr Gurayyim Sa'íd, nor the minor
ateliers, El-Kubbah, Abá'l-Gezáz, and the remains upon the Marwát
ridge. Good work was done by the Egyptian Staff-officers in
surveying the fine harbour of El-Dumayghah, so well fitted as a
refuge for pilgrim-ships when doing quarantine; and I venture
upon recommending, to the English and Egyptian Governments, my
remarks concerning the advisability of at once re-transferring
the station to El-Wijh. It is now at Tor; and, as has been said,
it forms a standing menace, not only to the Nile Valley, but to
the whole of Europe.
Whilst abounding in wood, the Southern Country is not so well
watered as are Central and Northern Midian On the other hand, the
tenants, confined to the Baliyy tribe, with a few scatters of the
despised Hutaym, are milder and more tractable than the Huwaytát.
As I have remarked, they are of ancient strain, and they still
conserve the instincts of their predecessors, or their
forefathers, the old mining race. It will be necessary to defend
them against the raids and incursions of the Juhaynah, or "Sons
of Dogs," who border upon them to the south, and from the
Alaydán-Anezah to the south-east; but nothing would be easier
than to come to terms with the respective Shaykhs. And the sooner
we explore the Jaww, or sandstone region in the interior, with
its adjacent "Harrahs," the better for geography and, perhaps not
less, for mineralogy. The great ruins of Madáin Sálih upon the
Wady Hamz still, I repeat, await the discoverer.
Conclusion.
The next day saw us at El-Wijh, dispensing pay and "bakhshísh" to
the companions of our Desert march; and shipping the men and
mules, with the material collected during the southern journey.
The venerable Shaykh Afnán and his Baliyy were not difficult to
deal with; and they went their way homewards fully satisfied. We
exchanged a friendly adieu, or rather an au revoir, with our
excellent travelling companion, Mohammed Shahádah; and I
expressed my sincere hopes to find him, at no distant time,
governor of the restored Quarantine-station.
On the morning of April 12th we set out betimes, and anchored for
the night in one of the snug bays of Jebel Nu'man. The next day
placed us at the Sharm Yáhárr, where the process of general
distribution happily ended. Here the final parting took place
with the gallant companions of our four months' travel. Shaykh
Furayj, delighted with the gift, in addition to his pay, of a
Styrian skean-dhu and an Austrian Werndl-carbine, at once set off
to rejoin the tribe up-country; while the Sayyid steadfastly
stayed with us to the last. These men had become our friends; and
my sorrow at leaving them was softened only by the prospect of
presently seeing them again.
Immediately after my return to Cairo I strongly recommended the
Sayyid for promotion, in these words:--"First and foremost is the
Sayyid Abd el-Rahím, the head of a noble family, settled for
generations at El-Muwayláh, where he is now Kátib (accountant')
to the Fort. He knows thoroughly the whole Land of Midian; he is
loved and respected by all the Arabs, and both he and his are
devoted to the Government of your Highness. Evidently it would be
advantageous to promote such a man to the post of governor of the
place--a post which will presently become of high importance, and
which is actually held by an old officer, almost bed-ridden.
"The second is Shaykh Mohammed Shahádah, of El-Wijh, a man of
family and position; known far and wide, and made generally
popular by his generous and charitable actions. He was formerly
Wakíl, or agent,' to the Fort el-Wijh, until that office was
abolished. The port will presently have its custom-house; and I
propose forwarding to her Britannic Majesty's Government my notes
upon the subject of the Quarantine-station, which has imprudently
been transferred from Arabia to Tor, in the Sinaitic Peninsula.
Meanwhile it would, I venture to suggest, be most advantageous if
Mohammed Shahádah were named governor of his native place."
The Expedition, in its urgent desire to return northwards, was
not seconded by weather. Despite an ugly gale, the Sinnár boldly
attempted giving the slip to Arabia on April 16th, but she was
beaten back before she reached El-Muwaylah. After another stormy
day, we again got up steam; and, fighting hard against adverse
winds and waves, greatly to the distress of the unfortunate mules
and gazelles, we reached Suez on April 20th.
At Suez my wife had been awaiting me for long weeks, preferring
the simplicity of the Desert to the complex life of Cairo. Some
delay was again necessary in order to telegraph our arrival, to
apply for a special train, and to sort and pack in the
travelling-cases our twenty-five tons of specimens. As often
happens, the return to civilization was in nowise cheery.
Everything seemed to go wrong. For instance, the Dragoman
despatched to town from the New Docks in order to lay in certain
comforts, such as beef and beer, prudently laid out the coin in a
brand-new travelling suit intended for his own service. Such an
apology for a dinner had not been seen during the last four
months of wild travel--unpleasant when guests have been bidden to
a feast! The night at the Docks, also, was a trifle mortuary,
over-silent and tranquil: all hands, officers and men, who could
not get leave to sleep ashore, simply took leave--I believe
myself to have been for a time both captain and crew of the
Sinnár. And, lastly, we heard that both our dog-companions, Juno
and Páijí, had died of some canine epidemic.
The next day ended our halt at Suez, with visits to slop-shops
and a general discussion of choppes. The old hotel, under the
charge of Mr. and Mrs. Adams, had greatly improved by the
"elimination" of the offensive Hindi element; and my old friends
of a quarter-century's standing received me with all their wonted
heartiness. Sa'íd Bey was still a Bey, but none the less jovial
and genial; Captain Ali Bey, who had commanded the Sinnár, was
now acting commodore; and my only regret was having again missed
Colonel Gordon (Pasha).
April 22nd convinced us that, even in these prosaic regions, our
misadventures and accidents had not reached their fated end. A
special train had been organized by Hanafi Effendi for eight a.m.
About ten miles from Suez one of the third-class carriages began
"running hot;" and, before we could dismount, the axle-box of a
truck became a young Vesuvius in the matter of vomiting smoke. I
ordered the driver, who was driving furiously, to make half
speed; but even with this precaution there were sundry stoppages;
and at the Naffíshah station, where my Bolognese acquaintances
still throve, we could not be supplied with a change of
"rolling-stock." About Tell el-Kabír, the brake-van also waxed
unsafely warm; but it reached Zagázig without developing more
caloric. Briefly, we caught fire three times in one morning.
These accidents must always be expected, where spare carriages
are placed for months upon sidings to become tinder in the sun;
and where the cracks and crevices of the woodwork fill up with
the silicious sand of the Desert, an admirable succedaneum for
flint and steel. One consolation, however, remained to us: the
Dragoman, brand-new clothes and all, was left behind at Suez. His
last chef d'uvre of blundering has already been
noticed[EN#84]--the barrel of Midianitish oysters sent to Admiral
M'Killop (Pasha) had been so carelessly headed up, and so
carefully turned topsy-turvy, that the result was, to use my
friend's words, they could be nosed from the half-way station.
The "Kyrios" had probably passed a Bacchanalian night with his
Hellenic friends, and he subsequently made act of presence at
Cairo with a very British-looking black eye. His accident at Suez
was a bit of "poetical justice," which almost convinced one of
the "moral government."
A succulent breakfast à la fourchette, in the charming garden of
our friend M. Vetter, of Zagázig, duly discussed, we again went
"on board," amusing the lookers-on by our naive enjoyment of the
Nile-valley: they had not been in Arabia, and they found the
"emerald-green" dusty and yellow. We reached Cairo at 5.30 p.m.
More troubles! Ten minutes after arrival we found ourselves in
possession, in sole charge of the gare. The train was loaded with
Government property, officers, soldiers and escort, mules, boxes
and bags of specimens whose collecting had cost money. Yet
station-master, agent, and employés at once went their ways,
declining even to show the room allotted to our goods, although a
telegram from the railway authorities had advised me that one had
been made ready. The assistant-agent, when at last hunted up,
declared, before vanishing once more, that the porters for whom
we applied were busy loading cotton, and that we must e'en do the
best we could for ourselves. So the waggons were shunted and
unloaded by their tenants, and the minerals were deposited under
a kind of shed whose key was not forthcoming. We failed to find
even a light, till the local train from Suez was announced; and,
when it began whistling, the officials, who had returned like
rats from their holes, gave us peremptory directions to shunt
again. This time, however, I had the game in my hands; and
replied by taking due precautions against being turned out.
At first the soldier-escort worked as well as could be expected;
but the numbers fell off every quarter of an hour, till we were
left with a very select party; the only recipients, by-the-by, of
"bakhshísh." The Sub-Lieutenant Mohammed Effendi mounted a donkey
the moment he stepped out of the R.R. carriage; and, utterly
disregarding so vexatious a frivolity as asking leave, rode off
to his home at Torah. His example was followed by the Sergeant
Mabrúk Awaz. And yet both these men had the impudence to call
upon me at the hotel, and to apply for especial Shahádahs, or
"testimonials" of good conduct. In short, we were detained at the
station for three mortal hours, working with our own hands. If
this be a fair specimen of European management in Egypt, and I am
told that it has now become worse, much worse in every way, the
sooner we return to Egyptian mismanagement the better. The latter
is, at any rate, cheap and civil.
On the next day the Viceroy graciously sent his junior Master of
Ceremonies, his Excellency Tonino Bey, to welcome me back; and I
was at once honoured with audiences at the Khedivial Palace,
Abidin, and by Prince Husayn Kámil Pasha at Gizah (Jízah). The
Khediv was pleased to express satisfaction with my past
exertions, and ordered several measures to be carried out at
once. Amongst them was a little exhibition of mineralogy and
archaeology, maps and plans, sketches and croquis, at the
Hippodrome.
I need hardly say that his Highness at once saw the gist of the
matter. Many concessions had been applied for, even from
Australia; but the Viceroy determined that, before any could be
granted, careful analyses of the specimens must be made, at his
Highness's private expense, in London. M. Ferdinand de Lesseps,
of world-wide fame, volunteered, in the most friendly way, to
submit échantillons of the rocks to the Parisian Académie des
Sciences, of which he is a distinguished member. The Viceroy was
also pleased spontaneously to remind me of, and to renew, the
verbal promise made upon my return from the first Expedition to
Midian; namely, that I should be honoured with a concession, or
that a royalty of five per cent. on the general produce of the
mines should be the reward of discovery. The young Minister of
Finance, Prince Husayn Kámil Pasha, after courteously
congratulating me upon the successful result of our labours, put
as usual the most pertinent of questions.
The opening of our little Exposition was delayed by sundry
difficulties. The Greek Easter set in with its usual severity
about later April. A general shop-shutting, a carouse unlimited,
catholic, universal; and, despite stringent police orders, a
bombardment of the town by squibs and crackers, were the
principal features of the fête. The 29th was the classical Shamm
el-Nasin, or "the Smelling of the Zephyr," a local May-day
religiously kept with utter idleness. Mr. W. E. Hayns and I
utilized it by going a flint-hunting on the left bank of the
Nile.[EN#85] Then the terrible "May coupon" gave immense trouble
and annoyance to the rulers; who, so far from making merry with
the lieges, had to work in person between five a.m. and midnight.
After such exertion as this, rest was of course necessary.
Subsequently, a grand review monopolized one day; another was
spent by the Court in despatching the young Prince Fu'ád to
Switzerland; and yet another was given to his Highness the Prince
Hasan Pasha, Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian auxiliaries, who,
on the conclusion of the war, had returned to Cairo en route for
Europe.
Briefly, it was not before May 9th that the Khediv, accompanied
by the Prince héritier, Taufík Pasha, found leisure personally to
open the Exhibition--the first, by-the-by, ever honoured with the
Viceregal presence. Despite all my efforts, the rooms, which
should have been kept clear till his Highness had passed through,
were crowded at an early hour. The maps prepared at the Citadel
by Lieutenants Amir and Yusuf, with the aid of three extra hands,
were very imperfect, half finished at the last moment, and
abounding in such atrocities as "Ouorh" for "El-Wijh." The
engineer, M. Marie, when asked aloud, and with all publicity, by
the Khediv whether he was sure that such and such specimens
contained gold, shirked a direct reply, evasively declaring that
"Midian is a fine mining country." He had pointed out to me the
precious metal during our exploration of Umm el-Karáyat; but such
is the wretched result of "knowing the people," instead of
telling the truth like a man. And one of the many jealous, a mild
Mephisto., whispered in the Viceregal ear, "There can't be much
gold there, or ces messieurs would have said more about it."
Despite these small contretemps the Exhibition[EN#86] was
pronounced a success, and served, as such things do, for a nine
days' wonder. Several travellers from England and Australia took
the opportunity of inspecting the rocks; and I was much
encouraged to find the general opinion so highly favourable.
Locally there were dissidents, but this must be expected where
interests differ.
Meanwhile his Highness kept me hard at work. I was directed to
draw up a concise general description of the province; to report
upon the political and other measures by which the Midian country
would be benefited; and, lastly, to suggest the means which, in
my humble opinion, were best calculated for successfully working
the mines. In former days the Viceroy would at once have
undertaken the task, and probably would have sent down five
thousand men to open the diggings. Now, however, the endless
trickery of European adventurers and speculators has made a wise
precaution absolutely necessary. During the last audience, his
Highness ably and lucidly resumed the history of the past
measures, and the steps which he proposed for the future. The
first Khedivial Expedition had been simply one of exploration,
sent to ascertain whether the precious metals really existed. The
second was intrusted with the charge of laying down the probable
limits of the mining formation; and of bringing back varied
specimens, in quantities sufficient for scientific analysis. The
third and next step would be to organize a Compagnie de
Recherche, with the object of beginning a serious exploitation.
The future thus settled, I was kindly and courteously dismissed,
with a desire that I should take charge of the specimens, and
personally superintend the work of assaying. Mr. Charles Clarke
received pay and leave for three months, and was ordered to
convey the boxes by "long sea."
On May 10th we left Cairo in company with our friend Mr. Garwood,
C.E. At Alexandria a great repose fell upon my spirit; it was
like gliding into a smooth port after a storm at sea. All the
petty troubles and worries of Cairo; the cancans, the intrigues,
the silly reports of the envious and the jealous, with the buzz
and sting of mosquitoes; the weary waiting; the visits of
"friends" whose main object in life seemed to be tuer le ver; and
the exigencies of my late fellow-travellers, who, after liberal
pay and free living for four months, seemed determined to quarter
themselves upon the Egyptian Government for the rest of their
natural lives;--all these small cares, not the less annoying
because they were small, disappeared like magic at the first
glimpse of blue water. I had barely time to pass an afternoon at
Ramleh, "the Sand-heap," with an intimate of twenty-five years'
standing, Hartley John Gisborne, an old servant of the Egyptian
"Crown," for whom new men and new measures have, I regret to see,
made the valley of the Nile no longer habitable.
The next Sunday placed us on board the Austro-Hungarian Lloyd's
screw-steamer Austria (Capitano Rossol). As usual, the commander
and officers did all they could to make their voyagers
comfortable; the Company did the contrary. At this spring season,
true, the migratory host of unfeathered bipeds crowds northwards;
even as in autumn it accompanies the birds southwards. But when
berths are full, passengers should be refused; and if the
commercial director prefers dead to live goods, travellers should
be duly warned. The accommodation would have been tolerable in a
second-class or third-class English steamer, which charges
fifteen shillings to a sovereign per diem; here, however, we were
paying between £2 and £3.
The Alexandrian agent had been asked to lodge us decently. My
wife found herself in a cabin occupied by two nurses. I was
placed in a manner of omnibus, a loose box for six, of whom one
was an Armenian and two were Circassians from Daghistán--good men
enough, but not pleasant as bedroom fellows. No extra service had
been engaged for an extra cargo of seventy-two; that is,
forty-two first, and thirty second class. There were only three
stewards, including the stewardess; and the sick were left to
serve themselves. At least half a dozen were required; and, in
such places as Trieste and Alexandria, a large staff of cooks and
waiters can always be engaged in a few hours. On board any
English ship some of the smartest and handiest seamen would have
been converted into temporary attendants--here no one seemed to
think of a proceeding so far out of the usual way. There was only
one, instead of three or four cooks; and the unfortunate had to
fill a total of one hundred and thirty-five mouths, the crew
included, three times a day. The other tenant of the close and
wretched little galley lay sick with spotted typhus; and, after
barbarous neglect, he died on the day following our arrival at
Trieste--I did not hear that the surgeon of the screw-steamer
Austria had met with his deserts by summary dismissal from the
service. The Austro-Hungarian Lloyd's was once famed for good
living; over-economy and high dividends have now made the cuisine
worse than the cheapest of tables d'hôte. Provisions as well as
their preparation were so bad that Sefer Pasha, an invalid,
confined himself to a diet of potatoes and eggs.
Add the quasi-impossibility of obtaining a bath; the
uncleanliness of the offices; the hard narrowness of the sofas;
the small basins, or rather bowls, and the tiny towels like
napkins; the clamorous pets of the small fry, cats and dogs; the
crowding of second-class passengers on the quarter-deck; and the
noise of the Armenian lady beating her maid, who objected to the
process in truly dreadful language: throw in an engine which,
despite the efforts of her energetic English engineer, Mr.
Wilkinson, managed only nine instead of eleven and a half knots
an hour; an ugly north-easter off Cape Matapan, bringing tropical
downfalls of rain; and a muggy Scirocco off Istria, when we
breathed almost as much water as air: and I think that the short
entry in my journal, "horridly uncomfortable," was to a certain
extent justified by the conduct of the poor Austria. Yet the
Austro-Hungarian Lloyd's boasts a dividend of seven per cent. She
shall see no more of my money: until she mend her ways I shall
prefer the Genoese Rubattino.
But, as the Persian poet has it, Ín níz bug'zared--"Even these
things pass away." At Corfu we were cheered by once more meeting
Sir Charles Sebright, who looked hale and hearty as of yore. When
we reached Trieste, his Excellency Baron Pino von Friendenthall,
accompanied by the most amiable of "better halves," came off in
his galley, happily unconscious of typhus; and carried us away
without the usual troubles and delays of landing in harbour
bumboats. Friendly faces smiled a welcome; and, after an absence
of some seven months, I found myself once more in the good town
which has given us a home during the last five years.
At Trieste I was delayed for some time, awaiting the report that
the specimens collected by the Expedition had arrived at their
destination, the warehouses of the London Docks. Mr. Clarke met
with obstacles at Suez; and, consequently, did not reach England
till June 20th, after twenty-three rough days. As her Majesty's
Foreign Office had been pleased to accord me two months of leave
to England, I determined to make the voyage by "long sea." Both
suffering from the same complaint, want of rest and of
roast-beef, as opposed to rosbif, we resolved to ship on board
the English steamer Hecla, of the B. and N. A. R. M. S. P.
Company, the old Cunard line, famous for never having lost a
life, a ship, or a letter. We left Trieste on July 7, 1878, in
charge of our excellent commander, Captain James Brown; and,
after a cruise of twenty days, viâ Venice, Palermo, and
Gibraltar--a comfortable, cheery, hygienic cruise in charming
weather over summer seas--we found ourselves once more (July
26th) in the city of the Liver.
Appendix I.
DATES OF THE THREE JOURNEYS (Northern, Central, and Southern)
made by the Second Khedivial Expedition.
First Journey.
(December 19, 1877, to February 13, 1878.)
December 6, 1877, left Cairo.
10 1877, left Suez.
14 1877, reached El-Muwaylah (Sharm Yáhárr)
on the "Day of 'Arafát."
* * * * *
December 19, 1877, landed at El-Muwaylah.
21 1877, marched upon Wady Tiryam.
22 1877, marched upon Wady Sharmá.
23 1877, marched upon Jebel el-Abyaz.
30 1877, returned to Wady Sharmá.
January 7, 1878, marched upon 'Aynúnah.
8 1878, halted at 'Aynúnah.
9 1878, halted at Wady el-'Usaylah.
10 1878, reached Magháir Shu'ayb.
25 1878, marched upon Makná.
February 3 1878, embarked for the Marsá Dahab in the
Sinaitic Peninsula.
4 1878, to the anchorage of El-Nuwaybi'.
5 1878, anchored at Pharaoh's Island.
6 1878, halted at Pharaoh's Island.
7 1878, steamed to El-'Akabah town.
8 1878, ran down Gulf el-'Akabah.
9 1878, anchored under Tírán Island.
10 1878, halted at Tírán Island.
February 11, 1878, ran from wrecking to Sináfir
Island.
12 1878, halted at Sinafir Island.
13 1878, returned to El-Muwaylah (Sharm
Yáhárr).
Second Journey.
(February 17, 1878, to March 8,1878.)
February 17, 1878 walked to ruins of Abú Hawáwít.
18 ,, marched upon the Safh Jebel Malíh in the
Wady Surr.
19 ,, camped in the Sayl Wady el-Jimm.
20 ,, marched upon El-Nagwah.
21 ,, reached the head of the Wady Sadr.
23 ,, camped below the Col, "El-Khuraytah."
24 ,, reached the Hismá.
25 ,, descended the two Passes and camped in
the "Jayb el-Khuraytah."
26 ,, marched upon the Majrá el-Ruways.
27 ,, ,, ,, ,, Wady Damah.
28 ,, ,, ,, ,, ruins of Shuwák.
March 1 ,, halted at the ruins of Shuwák.
2 ,, visited the ruins of Shaghab and camped
at the Majrá el-Wághir.
3 ,, visited the ruins El-Khandakí and camped
at the plain El-Kutayyifah.
4 ,, marched down the Wady Salmá and camped
at the Má el-Badíah.
5 ,, reached Zibá town.
6 ,, halted at Zibá.
7 ,, visited the turquoise-diggings of Zibá
and camped at the Máyat el-Ghál.
8 ,, returned to El-Muwaylah (Sharm Yáhárr).
Complementary Excursion to the Shárr Mountain.
March 13, 1878, camped in the Wady el-Káimah.
14 ,, camped in the Wady el-Kusayb.
15 ,, camped in the Safhat el-Wu'ayrah.
16 ,, up the Shárr.
17 ,, camped in the Wady Kuwayd.
18 ,, returned to El-Muwaylah (Sharm Yáhárr).
THIRD JOURNEY.
March 21, 1878, to April 10, 1878.)
March 21, 1878, left Sharm Yáhárr and made the
Sharm Dumayghah.
22 ,, halted at El-Dumayghah.
23 ,, anchored in harbour of El-Wijh.
24 ,, set out in the Sinnár southwards.
25 ,, anchored at El-Haurá.
26 ,, halted at El-Haurá.
(On March 26th MM. Marie and Philipin marched from El-Wijh to the
Wady Hamz, and rejoined head-quarters on the 28th.)
March 27, 1878 returned to El-Wijh.
29 ,, left El-Wijh and camped at inner fort.
30 ,, to Umm el-Karáyát (ruins and mine).
31 ,, visited ruins of El-Kubbah; camped in
Wady Dasnah.
April 1, 1878 to Umm el-Haráb (ruins and mine).
2 ,, camped in the Wady Abá'l-Gezáz.
3 ,, camped in the plain of Badá.
4 ,, halted at the plain of Badá.
5 ,, camped at the Ayn el-Kurr.
6 ,, camped in the Wady Laylah.
7 ,, camped in the Wady Abá'l-'Ajáj.
8 ,, to the ruins of the Gasr Gurayyim Sa'íd
(classical temple).
9 ,, to the Abá'l-Marú (Marwah mine).
1O ,, return to El-Wijh.
THE RETURN TO EGYPT.
April 12, 1878 steamed northwards to Nu'man Island.
13 ,, reached El-Muwaylah (Sharm Yáhárr).
18 ,, left El-Muwaylah, night at sea.
19 ,, in Gulf of Suez.
20 ,, reached Suez.
22 ,, reached Cairo.
Appendix II.
EXPENSES OF THE EXPEDITION TO MIDIAN, commanded by Captain R. F.
Burton, H.B.M. Consul, Trieste.
Cairo, November 1, 1877.
£ s. d.
Sum received from Egyptian Finance 1977 12 0
Amounts Paid out by Order of Captain Burton. £ s. d.
Hotel bills for five persons (thirty-six days) 149 6 9
Advanced to members of Expedition up to date
(May 3rd)[EN#87] 74 12 3
Cost of provisions for journey to Midian,
fourteen persons 314 8 9
Cost of tools, chemicals, instruments,
canteen, etc. 185 19 0
Medicine chest from Dr. Lowe 10 10 0
Journey to Suez from Cairo, December 6th, 1878:--
Hotel bill for eleven persons (three days) 33 3 6
Tobacco for presents to Bedawin 6 8 0
Sundries 13 10 6
Telegrams and post service 3 9 0
__________________
£791 7 9
El-Muwaylah, December 16th, to return, February 13th:--
Journey to north[EN#88] 316 14 3
Post service 14 8 0
Cost of sheep[EN#89] 32 14 0
Sundries[EN#90] 20 7 7
Five foot-soldiers' salaries 7 4 0
Eastern journey to the Hismá[EN#91] 187 6 6
Post service 3 8 0
Cost of sheep[EN#92] 11 19 0
Sundries 5 11 0
Sambúk from Suez, as per contract 9 4 0
Soldiers from fort 3 0 0
Journey to Shárr[EN#93] 44 11 6
Cost of sheep[EN#94] 3 4 0
Thirty pairs of boots for soldiers[EN#95] 6 0 0
Sundries 1 0 0
Journey to south[EN#96] 92 13 0
Cost of sheep[EN#97] 15 16 0
Post service 2 0 0
Sundries[EN#98] 18 3 6
Special payments:--
Sayyid 'Abd el-Rahím Effendi 16 0 0
Bukhayt 1 12 0
Husayn 1 12 0
Shaykh Furayj 4 0 0
Shaykh Furayj salary for twenty-five days 5 0 0
Expenses at Suez, unloading, etc., and hotel bills
for ten persons 39 17 0
Post and telegrams 1 16 0
Suez to Cairo 1 12 6
_________________
£1658 1 7
Expenses at Cairo up to date May 5, 1878:--
Unloading, cartage, and preparing for Exhibition 24 5 5
Salaries of persons engaged from Cairo and Muwaylah:--
Anton Dimitri, Giorgi, and Petro[EN#99] 93 17 6
Magazine-man at El-Muwaylah[EN#100] 6 8 0
Sais from Suez, engaged through governor[EN#101] 9 0 0
Mr. Clarke's salary[EN#102] 180 0 0
_________________
£1971 12 6
In hand for small expenses not yet sent in
for payment 5 19 6
_________________
£1977 12 0
_________________
Sent in May 6, 1878.
(Signed) CHAS. CLARKE.
(Countersigned) RICHARD F. BURTON.
Commanding Expedition.
Appendix III.
PRESERVED PROVISIONS AND OTHER STORES, supplied by Messrs.
Voltéra Bros., of the Ezbekiyyah, Cairo.
£ s. d.
95 okes potatoes, at 5d. 1 19 7
670 okes best rice, at 8 1/2d. 23 14 7
152 okes sugar, at 11 1/2d. per kilog. 8 19 6 1/2
60 okes ground coffee, at 4s. 6d. 13 10 0
120 tins milk, at 14s. 7 0 0
120 bottles pickles 6 0 0
15 tins butter (of 1 lb.), at 2s. 6d. 1 17 6
60 okes oil, at 2s. 6d. 7 10 0
6 heads English cheese (60 1/4 lbs.) at 1s. 5d. 4 10 4 1/2
160 okes dried French beans, at 10d. 6 13 4
60 okes maccaroni and paste 3 0 0
54 okes onions, at 7d. 1 11 6
10 okes garlic, at 10d. 0 8 4
50 packets candles 2 10 0
5 okes cavendish tobacco, at 12s. 3 0 0
6 okes tobacco (Turkish), at 24s. 7 4 0
120 bottles soda-water, at 8d. per dozen 4 0 0
20 bottles syrups, at 2s. 2 0 0
50 bottles vinegar 2 10 0
10 dozen beer, at 11s. 5 10 0
15 bars soap, at 1s. 6d. 1 2 6
20 pots mustard, at 1s. 6d. 1 10 0
6 bottles curry, at 1s. 6d. 0 9 0
20 lbs. table raisins 0 16 0
10 large bottles pepper, at 2s. 1 0 0
_________________
£118 6 3
10 small packets salt, at 1s. 0 10 0
5 large packets salt at 1s. 6d. 0 7 6
6 bottles sauces, at s. 12d. 0 7 0
12 bottles lime-juice, at 2s. 6d. 1 10 0
12 umbrellas, at 4s. 2 8 0
12 bottles blacking, at 1s.
(for tracing inscriptions) 0 12 0
6 lanterns, at 1s. 6d. 0 9 0
12 large tins sardines, at 1s. 6d. 0 18 0
2 corkscrews, at 1s. 3d. 0 2 6
2 opening knives 0 2 0
101 1/4 okes of biscuits, at 1s. 5 1 3
1 case Mumm's champagne 4 5 0
1 case cognac, XX 2 8 0
1 case whisky 1 16 0
1 tin plum-pudding 0 2 6
10 packets matches, at 1s. 2d. 0 11 8
8 barrels flour, at L3 24 0 0
4 okes Curani (Kora'ni) tobacco, at 16s. 3 4 0
30 lbs. tea, at 4s. 6 0 0
24 tins green peas, at 1s. 1 4 0
18 tins haricots verts, at 1s. 0 18 0
18 tins haricots flageolets, at 1s. 0 18 0
18 tins champignons, at 1s. 2d. 1 1 0
18 tins macedoine, at 1s. 0 18 0
8 tins carrots, at 1s. 0 8 0
16 tins asparagus (large), at 3s. 2 8 0
53 1/2 lbs. ham, at 1s. 6d. 4 0 3
100 bottles 'Ráki, at 2s. 10 0 0
100 tins meats, at 1s. 6d. 7 10 0
4 dozen pints beer, at 8s. 1 12 0
7 empty tins for coffee, at 1s. 6d. 0 10 6
17 empty bags 0 14 2
4 okes packing rope, at 2s. 0 8 0
1/4 okes isinglass 0 3 0
2 bottles spices 0 2 0
10 nutmegs 0 1 0
_________________
£205 16 7
£ s. d.
1 packet starch 0 3 0
1 oke twine 0 2 6
2 okes nails, at 10d. 0 1 8
1 box cigarette papers 0 8 0
Kitchen utensils 0 13 6
Empty bags 0 2 0
Packing 2 10 0
_________________
Total £209 17 3
_________________
Additional Supplies.
£ s. d.
50 bottles 'Ráki, at 2s. 5 0 0
95 okes potatoes, at 5d. 1 19 7
16 lbs. tea, at 4s. 3 4 0
50 tins preserved meats, at 1s. 6d. 3 15 0
20 tins green peas, at 1s. 1 0 0
12 tins haricots verts, at 1s. 0 12 0
12 tins champignon, at 1s. 2d. 0 14 0
6 tins first size asparagus, at 4s. 1 4 0
10 tins butter (1 lb.), at 2s. 8d 1 6 8
36 lbs. English cheese, at 1s. 6d. 2 14 0
60 okes maccaroni 3 0 0
126 okes onions, at 7d. 3 13 6
20 packets candles 1 0 0
50 boxes matches, at 1s. 2d. doz. 0 5 0
5 bars soap, at 1s. 6d. 0 7 6
12 bottles sauces, at 1s. 2d. 0 14 0
6 large bottles pepper, at 2s. 0 12 0
10 small packets salt, at 1s. 0 10 0
5 bottles lime-juice, at 2s. 6d. 0 12 6
108 okes hard biscuits, at 1s. 5 8 0
2 1/2 okes snuff 2 10 0
16 lbs. ginger-root, at 1s. 6d. 1 4 0
2 doz. whisky, at 36s. 3 12 0
2 doz. Martel's cognac 4 4 0
6 bottles absinthe, 2s. 6d. 0 15 0
_________________
£49 16 9
5 bottles Oxley's essence of ginger, at 4s. 1 0 0
5 bottles pyretic saline, at 3s. 6d. 0 17 6
3 boxes seidlitz powders, at 2s. 0 6 0
1 bottle aconite 0 2 6
4 iron tea and coffee kettles 1 14 0
2 empty tins for tea 0 3 0
Packing 1 10 0
Carts, 2s.; railway fare, 82s. 4 4 0
_________________
Total £59 13 9
APPENDIX IV.
BOTANY AND LIST OF INSECTS.
SECTION I.
PROFESSOR D. OLIVER'S LIST OF DRIED PLANTS presented by Captain
Burton to the Herbarium, Royal Gardens, Kew, September, 1878.
Núman North Middle South
Isle. Midian. Midian. Midian.
Anastatica hierochuntina, L.
Kaff maryam ................ - I - -
Morettia parviflora, Boiss.
Eaten by cattle. Thagar;
Gaf'aa ..................... - - I I
Matthiola oxyceras, DC.
forma gracilis. Animals
eat. Hazá; Muhawwil ..... - - I -
Malcolmia aegyptiaca, Spr.
Animals eat. Tarbeh ...... - I - -
Zilla myagroides, F. Silla.
Camels eat. ............... - I - -
Biscutella Columnae, Ten .... - - I -
Diplotaxis Harra? Hárrah.
Eaten by cattle. .......... - - I -
Diplotaxis acris, Boiss.
(Moricandia crassifolia,
Gay) ...................... - I - -
Sisymbrium erysimoides, Desf.
Salih. Eaten by camels
and sheep ................. - I I I
Farsetia Burtonae, Oliv.
sp. nov. Ghurayrá ........ - I I -
Schimpera arabica, H. and
St. ....................... - I - -
Enarthrocarpus lyratus, F.,
vel E. strangulatus,
Boiss ..................... - I - -
Capparis Sodada, Br. (Sodada
decidua, Forsk.). Tanzub.
Red berries eaten. ........ - - - I
Cleome chrysantha, Dcne.
Mashteh. Pounded and
drank for worms, etc. ..... - - - I
Cleome arabica, L. 'Ubaysd.
Eaten by animals. ......... - - - I
Papaver Decaisnei, H. and St. - - I -
Ochradenus baccatus, Del.
Gurzi. A large tree;
eaten by cattle ........... - I - I
Reseda (Caylusea) canescens,
L. Zanabán. Eaten by
cattle .................... - I I -
Reseda, an R. stenostachya(?),
Boiss. Khizám. Eaten by
animals ................... - I - -
Helianthemum Lippii, Pers.
Kazim. Cattle eat. ........ - - I -
Silene villosa, Forsk.
'Abaysá. Too much coated
with sand to serve as
food for animals .......... - I - -
Gypsophila Rokejeka, Del. ... - - I -
Polycarpaea fragilis, Del.
Makr ...................... I - - -
Portulaca oleracea, L. ...... - - - I
Hibiscus micranthus, L. fil.
forma. Khusiyat Ráshid.
Eaten by animals. ......... - - I I
Abutilon fruticosum, G. and
P. (Sida denticulata,
Fres.). ................... - - - I
Abutilon muticum, Don ....... - - - I
Erodium laciniatum, Cav.
Garná. Eaten by cattle ... - I I I
Monsonia nivea, Gay ......... - I - -
Geranium mascatense, Boiss.
Hiláwá. Eaten by man and
beast. .................... - - I -
Erodium cicutarium, L. ...... - I - -
Tribulus terrestris, L.
Katbeh .................... - I I I
Zygophyllum simplex, L. ..... - - I -
Zygophyllum album, L.
Gallúm. Camels eat. ...... I - - -
Zygophyllum coccineum, L.
forma (Z. propinqiuum,
Dcne.). Muráká.
Animals eat. .............. - I - -
Fagonia cretica, L. van
(F. glutinosa, Del.).
Shikáá (North Midian);
Darmeh (Núman) ........... I I - -
Fagonia mollis, Del.
Warágá; and young plant
of same = Zarag. Animals
eat. ...................... - I I -
Fagonia Bruguieri, DC.
Jamdeh. Animals eat. ...... - I - -
Dodonmaea viscosa, L. var.
(D. arabica, H. and
St.). Athab ............... - - I -
Rhus oxyacanthoides, Dum.
'Ar'ar .................... - - I -
Neurada procumbens, L.
Sáadán. Eaten by man and
beast. Mountain region. ... - I - I
Trianthema pentandra, L. .... - - - I
Trianthema(?). (Imperfect
specimen.) Rumayh. Eaten by
sheep and cattle. ......... - - - I
Aizoon canariense, L. Dááá.
Grain pounded and eaten. .. - - - I
Gisekia pharnaceoides, L. ... - I - -
Cucumis prophetarum, L.
Locality mislaid. .........
Cotyledon umbilicus, L.
forma ..................... - - I -
Pimpinella arabica, Boiss.
Rujaylet el-Ghuráb (Little
Crow's-foot). Sheep eat.
Locality astray. ..........
Pimpinella (Tragium
palmetorum? St. and H.).
Very young. ............... - I I -
Ferula (? sp., leaf only).
Kalkh. Animals eat. High up
on SHÁRR. .................
Grammosciadium scandicinum,
Boiss. sp. nov. ............ - - I I
Medicago laciniata, All. ..... - - I -
Taverniera aegyptiaca, Boiss.
(ex descr.). Shibrig. Eaten
by animals. ................ I - - -
Indigofera spinosa, Forsk.
Shibrig. Camels eat. Good
fodder. .................... - - - I
Indigofera paucifolia, D. .... - I - -
Indigofera (stunted specimen,
may be I. paucifolia).
'Afar. Animals eat. ........ - I - -
Tephrosia Apollinea, DC.
Dalsam; Táwil. Animals eat. - I I I
Genista (Retama) monosperma,
Del. ....................... - I - -
Lotononis Leobordea, Bth.
Hurbat. Eaten by cattle. ... - I I -
Trigonella stellata, Forsk.
(T. microcarpa, Fres.) ..... - I I -
Onobrychis(?), possibly
O. Ptolemaica. (Barren
specimen). ................. - I - -
Astragalus sparsus(?), Dcne. . - I - -
Astragalus Sieberi, DC.
Ghákeh. Dry and pounded
root mixed with clarified
butter. Drunk as a
restorative. ............... - I - I
Astragalus Forskahlei, Boiss.
Kidád. Camels eat. ........ - I - -
Cassia obovata, Coll. Senna .. - I I I
Iphiona scabra, DC. Zafrah.
Camels eat. ................ - I - -
Pulicaria undulata, DC.
Rabul. Fine perfume. ....... - I - -
Blumea Bovei, DC.
(B. abyssinica, Sch.) ...... - I - I
Ifloga spicata, Forsk.
Zenaymeh. Animals eat. ..... - - - I
Asteriscus pygmaeus, C. and
Dur. ....................... - - - I
Anvillaea Garcini, DC.
(fide Boissier). Nukud.
Eaten by camels and sheep. . - - I -
Anthemis, an A. deserti(?),
Boiss. Gahwán. Camels
eat: also called Gurrays,
pounded and eaten with
dates. ..................... - I I I
Matricaria (Chamaemelum)
auriculata (Boiss.) ........ - - I -
Senecio Decaisnei, DC.
Umm lewinayn ............... - - I I
Senecio coronopifolius, Desf. - I I -
Calendula aegyptiaca, Desf. . - - I -
Calendula aegyptiaca(?) ..... - I - -
Calendula, an var.
aegyptiacae(?) ............ - - - I
Echinops spinosus, L.
Akhshir. Eaten by camels,
sheep, and asses. ......... - - I I
Zoegea purpurea, Fres.
Rubayyán. Cattle eat. .... - - I -
Centaurea sinaica, DC.
Yemrár. Eaten by sheep,
asses, etc. ............... - I - I
Picridium tingitanum, Desf.
forma. Huwwá; Tiz
el-Kalbeh; El-Haudán.
Eaten by man and animals. . - I I I
Urospermum picroides, Desf. . - I - -
Microrhynchus nudicaulis,
Less. 'Azid ............... I - I I
Pterotheca bifida, F. and M. - I I -
Picris, conf. P. Saha*ae,
C. and K. ................. - - - I
Picris cyanocarpa, Boiss. ... - - I -
Callipeltis cucullaria,
Stev. 'Ikrish. Cattle eat.
North or Central Midian.
Crucianella membranacea,
Boiss. ................... - - I -
Galium capillare, Dcne ..... - - I -
Salvadora persica, L.
El-Arák ................. - I - I
Rhazya stricta, Dcne.
Harjal. Eaten only by
mules. Very fragrant. .... - I - -
Daemia cordata, R. Br. ..... - - I -
Steinheilia radians, Dcne.
Faká .................... - I - -
Convolvulus Hystrix, V.
Shibrim. Root used as a
purgative. Animals eat
upper part of plant. .... - - - I
Cuscuta, conf.
C. brevistyla, A. Br. ... - - I -
Withania somnifera, Dun.
Shajarat el-Dib ......... - I - -
Lycium europaeum, L.
'Aushaz. Eaten by
animals. ................ - - I I
Solanum coagulans(?),
Forsk. var. (A small
fragment only). ......... - - I -
Hyoscyamus pusillus,
L. Saykrán ............. - I I -
Heliotropium arbainense,
Fres. Rahháb. Cattle
eat. .................... - I I -
Trichodesma africanum,
R. Br. Ahmim. Camels and
other animals eat. ...... - - I -
Echium longifolium(?), Del.
Kahlá. Animals eat. .... - - I -
Anchusa Milleri, W. ....... - - I -
Anchusa Milleri(?) young
specimens. .............. - - I -
Anchusa Milleri(?) young
specimens. .............. - I - -
Gastrocotyle (Anchusa
hispida, Forsk.). Karir.
Camels eat. ............. - - - I
Arnebia hispidissima,
A. DC. Fayná. Animals
eat. .................... - I I -
Lithospermum callosum, V. . - I - -
Lindenbergia sinaica,
Bth. Mallih. Cattle eat. - - - I
Verbascum (in bud), an
V. sinaiticum(?), Bth. . - - - I
Verbascum, sp. nov. Sammá - - I -
Herpestis Monniera,
Kth. Nafal. Animals eat. - I - -
Veronica Anagallis, L. ... - - - I
Linaria aegyptiaca, Dum. . - I - -
Linaria macilenta, Dcne.
Zuraymat el-Himar.
Eaten by animals. ...... - - I -
Linaria (*§ Elatinoides),
sp. imperfect. ......... - - I -
Linaria simplex(?), DC. .. - I I -
Linaria Haelava Chav.
(fide Boissier) ........ - I - -
Blepharis edulis, Pers.
(Acanthodium spicatum,
Del.). Shauk el-Jemel.
Camels fond of it. ..... - I - I
Lavandula coronopifolia,
Poir. Zayteh. All
animals eat. ........... - I I -
Mentha lavandulacea, W.
Habag. Animals do not
eat. Pounded and mixed
with fresh dates, "good
for stomach". .......... - I - -
Salvia aegyptiaca, L. .... - I - -
Salvia deserti, Dcne. .... - - I -
Salvia, an S. deserti(?).
Jáadeh. Pounded in
water and snuffed up
nose. .................. - - I -
Otostegia, var. O.
scariosae(?), Bth. (vel
O. repanda, Bth.)
Ghasseh. Sheep eat. .... - - I I
Statice axillaris, Forsk.
Annúm. Camels eat. .... - I - I
Plantago Psyllium, L.
Nez'i'ah. Animals eat. . - I I -
Plantago amplexicaulis,
Cav. Yanameh. Animals
eat. ................... - - I -
Aerwa javanica, Jass.
Rayl. Cattle eat. ...... - I - I
Chenopodium murale, L.? .. - I - -
Chenopodium murale, L.?
(Small seedlings.)
Nafal. Cattle eat. ..... - - - I
Atriplex dimorphostegia?
K. and K. Roghol.
Animals eat. ........... - I - -
Echinopsilon lanatum, Moq.
Garay'á. ............... - I - I
Suaeda sp.(?). (Small
fragment.) .............. - I - -
Suaeda sp.(?). (Barren
fragments, insect
punctured?) 'Aslá.
Forage plant. ........... I - I -
Suaeda monoica? Forsk.
Zuraygá. Forage plant. . I - - -
Salsola(?), cf. S.
longifolia, F. Hamz.
Camels eat. ............. I - - -
Caroxylon(?) (barren
specimen), near C.,
foetidum. Akahrit.
Animals eat. ............ I - - -
Rumex vesicarius, L.
(R. roseus, Del.).
Hammáz. Animals eat. ... - - I -
Emex spinosus, Camp. ...... - I - -
Crozophora tinctoria, Juss.
Hinaydieh. Not eaten. ... - - - I
Euphorbia cornuta, Pers.
'Atir ................... - I - -
Euphorbia scordifolia,
Jacq. Gharghir. Animals
eat. .................... - I - -
Euphorbia (Anisophyllum)
granulata, Schf.
Rugaygeh. Animals eat. .. - - - I
Euphorbia (Anisophyllum)
granulata, forma(?).
Lubayneh. Cattle eat. ... - - - I
Juniperus phoenicea, L.
At four thousand feet on
Sharr. Trunk thicker
than a man's body.
Halibeh. ................ - - I -
Parietaria alsinifolia,
Del. .................... - - I -
Forskahlea tenacissima, L.
Lissák. Animals eat. ... - - I -
Asphodelus fistulosus, L.
(var. tenuifolius,
Bker.). Bo'rak. Only
eaten by animals when
very hungry. Asses eat. . - I I -
Bellevalia flexuosa, Boiss. - I - -
Dipcadi erythraeum, Webb .. - I - -
Gagea reticulata, R. and S. - I - -
Juncus maritimus, L. ...... - - - I
Scirpus Holoschoenus, L.
Namas. Sent to Egypt for
mats. ................... - - - I
Cyperus conglomeratus,
Rottb. (Young specimens) - I - -
Chloris villosa, Pers. .... - - I -
AEluropus repens .......... - I - -
Tricholaena micrantha,
Schrad. Ghazuiar. Eaten
by camels, etc. ......... - - I I
Panicum turgidum, Forsk.
Zarram. Good fodder. .... - I - I
Arundo Donax, L. Kasbá ... - I - -
Polypogon monspeliensis,
Desf. Kháfúr. Sheep
eat. .................... - - - I
Stipa tortilis, Desf.
Pehmeh. Animals eat. .... - I I I
Aristida caerulescens,
Desf. Shárib el-Kale.
Animals eat. ............ - I I -
Hordeum maritimum, L. ..... - I - -
Pappophorum, an P.
phleoides(?), R. and S.
Nejil. Sheep eat. ....... - - - I
Barren specimen.
Indeterminable. Grass ... - I - -
Grass(?). Root and leaves.
Hashmil. Animals eat. ... I - - -
Typha(?). Root and
fragments of leaves.
Birdi ................... - - - I
Grass. Fragmentary. Záeh.
Cattle eat. ............. - - - I
Chara foetida, Braun.
'Ishnik ................. - I - -
A barren fragment of
undershrub, with opposite
fleshy leaves with
recurved margins. Ajid.
Eaten by animals.
Doubtful. ............... I - - -
D. OLIVER.
SECTION II.
The spirit-specimens submitted to Mr. William Carruthers, of the
British Museum, are described by him as follows:--
1. Phallus impudicus, Linn. (in Arab. Faswat el-'Ajúz). The common
"stinkhorn," extremely common in some districts of England, and obtruding
on the notice of every one from its detestable odour. It is widely
distributed over America and Africa, as well as Europe, but I find no
record of its occurring in Asia.
2. Tulostoma mammosum, Fr. Also British, but not so common. Widely
distributed.
3. Phelipoea lutea, Desf. A dark, fleshy broom-rape, with scaly leaves. We
have one species of the same genus in England. They are parasitic on
the roots of plants; and the Midianite species, which is found in North
Africa, Egypt, and Arabia, grows on the roots of a Chenopodium.
4. Cynomorium coccineum, Mich. A fleshy, leafless plant, also a root-
parasite. It was called by old writers Fungus Melitensis, and was of much
repute in medicine. It is known from the Himalayas to the Canary
Islands, and is said by Webb, in his history of the Canaries, to be eaten in
the Island of Lancerotte.
5. Doemia cordata, R. Br. A spiny shrub, with roundish leaves and small
sharp-pointed fruit, found in Egypt and Arabia.
6. Capparis galeata, Fres., with large fruit, long and pear-shaped. This
caper is well known; from Syria and Egypt.
(Signed) W. CARRUTHERS.
INSECTS COLLECTED IN MIDIAN BY CAPTAIN BURTON.
(Identified by Mr. Frederick Smith, of the British Museum.)
COLEOPTERA.
Geodephaga
l. Anthia 12 guttata.
Melolonthidoe.
2. Schizonycha reflexa.
3. Pachydema.
Dynastidoe.
4. Heteronychus.
Curculionidoe.
5. Cleonus arabs.
Heteromera.
6. Mesostenanear punctipennis.
7. Adesmia.
8. Akis Goryi?
9. Mylabris.
Hemiptera.
10. Nepa rubra.
Mantidoe.
11. Eremiaphila arenaria. 12. Blepharis mendica.
Orthoptera.
13. Acocera.
14. Acridium peregrinum. 15. Poecilocera bufonia.
Scorpionidea.
16. Androctonus funestus.
17. " leptochelys.
18. " quinquestriatus.
Arachnida.
19. Galeodes arabs, in spirit.
20. Clubiona Listeri, in spirit.
(Signed) FREDK. SMITH.
APPENDIX V.
METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL
(December 19, 1877, to April 17, 1878).
METEOROLOGICAL NOTES ON TRAVELLING IN MIDIAN.
Midian follows the rule of Syria--travel in the spring. The best time on the
seaboard is during the months of March, April, and May. In the mountains and
the Hismá plateau, April, May, and June are the most favourable. In Syria
(Damascus) the autumn is dangerous: the finest travelling weather is in March
to May. The second best season is between October and December.
January and February are cold; the latter also (sometimes) rainy.
March is stormy at first (El-'Uwweh), but afterwards gets warmer (El-Ni'ám).
Dews now begin, and last some three months: they wet everything like a sharp
shower, and make the air feel soppy.
In July the first dates come in. Fevers are prevalent during this month, and
also during August and September.
October is a month of heat and drought.
In November the first cold occurs.
December is the coldest month.
NOTES on TRAVELLING IN LOWER EGYPT.
September is very bad--all should escape who can. Fruits everywhere; sun hot;
air damp with irrigation water, white fogs and other horrors.
October is a good month, the weather being neither too hot nor too
cold.
November is the month of the "second water" irrigation about Cairo.
December is pleasant.
January is cold and sometimes wet.
February is stormy, and even foggy with sand-mist.
March is windy, but on the whole a good month, except for Khamsin, which
begins about March 20th.
April begins to feel warm (April 29, 1878, Shamm el-Nasim).
The winter presents a marvellous contrast to that of England, which
can often show one hour and five minutes' sunlight in the twenty-four, or
2.8 per cent. of its possible duration.
THE TIDES
In El-'Akabah are like Suez: first of month, flood, 6--12 a.m. and p.m.; ebb,
the rest. But at Suez the tides rise one metre, and at times two metres; at
El-'Akabah (February 7), one foot.
For the instruments NOT used in this Expedition, see Chap. I. p. 11.
The barometre aneroid sold by M. Ebner was partially repaired by M. Lacaze,
and served for Mr. David Duguid's observations.
My pocket set by Casella (maker to the Admiralty and Ordnance)
consisted of--
One watch aneroid (compensated, 1182).
Two sets wet and dry bulb thermometers (one broken).
One set maxima and minima thermometers, Nos. 12,877 and 12,906.
Two pocket hygrometers not numbered.
OBSERVATIONS TAKEN DURING FIRST MARCH BETWEEN DECEMBER
19, 1877, AND FEBRUARY 18, 1878
December 19, 1877, compared ship's (Mukhbir) mercurial barometer, 758
millimetres, with my aneroid by Casella (29.85) = 765 millimetres; difference
in
ship's, + 007 millimetre.
January 31, 1878, returned on board Mukhbir at Makná. Ship's mercurial
barometer, 773 millimetres; my aneroid by Casella, 764 millimetres; difference
in ship's, + 009 millimetre.
Date. Time. Aneroid Aneroid Ther. Dry Wet Hygr. Remarks.
Inches. Milli. (deg.)Bulb. Bulb.(deg.)
Dec. 19. 7a.m. 29.85 765 76 - - 58 On deck of gunboat
Mukhbir, at Sharm
Yahárr, steaming to El-
Muwaylah. Morning ugly.
Strong land-breeze,
turned to Azyab ("south-
easter"). Waves rising.
Dark-blue clouds to
windward.
Noon. 29.80 757 77 - - 54 In big tent on shore,
open east and west. Wind
high. Everything feels
damp; looks gloomy;
mountains almost hidden
by clouds. Landscape
that of Europe. No sun
nor sunshine all day.
3p.m. 29.09 - 86 - - 51 In my small tent.
Clearing to windward
(north). Wind veering to
north. Moon nearly full.
High fleecy clouds. Sea
high. No sun all day.
Azyab (the wet wind) generally lasts two or three days; veers round by west to
north. Much rain has already fallen (Arab lies). Land green (all brown); grass
plentiful (not a blade to be seen). Rains here December 15th to February 15th;
downfall one hour to four hours, then clears. On December 8th, violent rain
for one hour; filled all the torrents (Sayl).
Dec. 20. 7a.m. 29.80 758 63 - - 40 In small tent open to
east. Morning clear. Few
fleecy clouds: cool and
bright. "Misri" from
north-west; cold and
rain.
3p.m. 29.92 759 78 - - 32 Hot in tents, cool in
breeze. "Misri" high and
strong sea. At 1.10 p.m.
heavy clouds; expected
rain--few heavy drops.
AT EL-MUWAYLAH AND RAS WADY TIRYAM.
Dec. 21. 6.35a.m. 30.02 763 71 - - 35 Inside tent. Full moon
and clear. Dawn, 6 a.m.;
night, 6.30. Speckled
clouds.
Noon. 30.48 764 76 - - 48 Under umbrella. Air
clear. Mottled clouds on
mountains. Sea horizon.
Low white bank of
clouds.
3p.m. 30.05 763 77 - - 39 "Misri." High cirri from
west. Big black cloud
over sea. Suspected
rain: Arabs said no.
Cloud dispersed.
AT RAS WADY TIRYAM.
Dec. 22. 7a.m. 30.01 760 57 - - 32 Cold night. Clear
morning. Cold sunrise.
Dry north-wester.
Instruments on paper,
resting on the sand.
Very dry.
Noon. 30.14 - 82 - - 22 Very dry. Straight
streaks of cirri
everywhere.
4p.m. 30.00 763 72 - - 17 At Wady Sharmá, on sand
protected from west
wind. Bright moon,
showed halo.
Kayhak 14 begins the Coptic winter, properly speaking evening of 13th; after
sunset 1 hour 51 minutes. Sea-breeze and land-winds regular to-day and
throughout the month.
AT WADY SHARMÁ.
Dec. 23. 7a.m. 29.90 760 58 - - 19 Instruments on box
standing on sand. Moon
with halo at night. Red
sunrise, grey clouds.
Mountains blue-grey,
brightly defined. Before
dawn moon two halos,
large and small. Fleecy
clouds. Nine a.m. clear,
sun hot.
2.30p.m. 29.15 740 78 - - 25 Under rock in upper Wady
Sharmá. Streaky cirri.
Sun hot; air cool.
Little sea-breeze, kept
off by hills.
Arrived at the "White Mountain," and stayed there a week.
4p.m. 29.12 740 75 - - 28 At Jebel el-Abyaz, on
box behind tent
sheltered from wind. Air
quite still; streaky
cirri. Camp Jebel el-
Abyaz, say, 800 feet
above sea. Felt very
dry.
AT JEBEL EL-ABYAZ.
Dec. 24 7a.m. 29.10 738 61 - - 29 In mess tent on mess
table. Cold. Mottled
clouds east and zenith.
Grey bank to sea
reddened by sunrise,
like storm clouds. Rain
here from Azyab ("south-
east"). Sunrise at
Cairo, 6.55 a.m.
Noon. 29.00 737 64 63 55 33 Suspended instruments.
Grey day: cold breeze
from east. Cold comes
only from wind; when no
breeze, very mild.
Getting greyer and
colder. Very like rain--
heavey clouds.
3.10p.m. 29.00 737 64 64 52 28 Wind west, cold and raw.
Air grey and cold.
Evening cold; clouds
dispersed, sun came out.
Wind to west, inclining
to north.
Small thermometer shows higher than Casellás because in brass case; not so
well exposed to air.
Dec. 25. 7a.m. 29.10 739 50 50 45 29 Morning cool and clear.
Noon. 29.20 - 72 68 55 21 Very clear, still, and
hot. Slight breeze from
sea (west). Sun strong.
Swarms of flies. Dry
bulb in sun, 73 degrees;
wet, 60 degrees.
3p.m. 29.16 741 72 69 54 15 Cool and gentle breeze
from sea, dispersing the
swarms of flies. At
times "sand-devil" from
north-west.
All this day's observations taken on writing table in large tent. Night cold:
cold severest after two a.m. and before sunrise. Sky at night perfectly clear.
Wind from north turning to east, a Barri ("land-breeze"). Height of Jebel el-
Abyaz above tents, by aneroid = 350 feet (29.20 - 28.85 = 0.35).
Dec. 26. 7.15a.m. 29.21 743 48 46 43 22 In tent. Sky perfectly
clear.
Noon. 29.26 - 76 77 55 6 Sun very hot. Air quite
still. Fleecy clouds
from west over the sun.
4.45p.m. 29.23 743 73 69 55 8 Sun cooler. Air
perfectly clear.
Dec. 27. 7a.m. 29.16 740 50 49 43 5 3 In tent. Morning cold
and clear: few flecks of
cloud to east. Air feels
intensely dry.
12.30p.m.29.23 743 77 74 58 9 Fine cirri high up. Sky
blue. Sun veiled at
times. Very little wind,
a breath from north.
3.20p.m. 59.16 742 80 77 56 6 Sky with filmy white
clouds, thicker at west.
Sun hidden; very hot at
noon (rain-sun?). Not a
breath of air. Sense of
intense dryness. Ink
evaporates at once. Cool
breeze started up
shortly after 3.30 p.m.
from west, then clouds
thickened. Thermometer
fell 4 degrees.
Cool evening; quite clear. Fevers and feverish colds begin to show themselves
in camp. Minimum thermometer during night--No. 1, 45 degrees; No. 2, 46
degrees; French, 15-1/2 degrees (Centigrade).
Dec. 28 7a.m. 29.10 739 55 53 46 10 In tent. Still. Neither
warm nor cold. Mottled
clouds.
Noon. 29.13 740 78 72 58 4 Clouds thin. Sun very
hot (rain-sun?). Light
breeze from north-west.
3p.m. 29.10 739 79 72 58 - Feels intensely dry.
Hot, close. Heavy
clouds, and purple to
west. Gusts from west.
No wind. Morning and evening very mild. At eight p.m. dark cloud moving from
south-west to mountains. Drops of rain; then stars. Minimum thermometers
during night, both 48 degrees. None of the maximum will act.
Dec. 29. 7a.m. 29.10 738 58 58 54 9 In tent. Cool, clear.
Blue-pink in west. Light
sea-breezes from west.
Must be awfully hot in
summer. In closed tent
at eleven a.m., 92
degrees.
Noon. 29.13 - 77 75 60 10 Nice breeze from sea
(west), bending to
north.
4p.m. 29.00 739 82 79 59 5 Warm and quite still.
Mean of nineteen aneroid observations at Jebel el-Abyaz = 29.13.
MARCH FROM JEBEL EL-ABYAZ TO WADY SHARMÁ.
Dec. 30. 7a.m. 29.10 739 56 - - 7 Clear, still. No speck
of cloud. Moon Náim
(sleeping = *[figure]).
5p.m. 29.88 758 66 - - 8 Air quite clear. Camped
at Sharmá. Change to
shore pleasant and soft.
Noon on journey; sun very hot. Evening still. Violent weather at night; cold
and comfortless. Abated somewhat after sunrise.
AT SHARMÁ, IN BIG TENT OPEN NORTH AND SOUTH.
Dec. 31. 7a.m. 29.88 758 59 - - 7 Wind cold and dusty. Sky
perfectly clear. A few
light mist-clouds on
mountain-wall.
Noon. 29.94 760 75 73 58 6 Wind still. Sun much
warmer.
3p.m. 29.90 - 74 71 58 3 Wind cool; some dust.
Clouds about sunset sailing out of Suez Gulf, forming archipelago of sky
islets. Dark bank to south. Minimum thermometer at night = 42 degrees.
AT SHARMÁ, IN BIG TENT OPEN NORTH AND SOUTH (about 100 feet
above sea-level).
Jan. 1. 7a.m. 29.90 759 53 50 45 10 Clear, fine, quite
still. Nice breeze began
about nine a.m.
Noon. 29.97 - 71 69 57 4 Cold. North wind high.
Light clouds to west;
the rest clear.
3p.m. 29.94 760 73 72 61 4 Clouds to west from Suez
sea.
High wind fell before midnight. Cold--sat in tent. Flies troublesome
everywhere. Minimum at night, 42-43 degrees.
AT WADY SHARMÁ, IN BIG TENT.
Jan 2. 7a.m. 29.98 761 53 - - 10
3p.m. 30.00 762 76 72 58 3 Cool breeze from north.
No signs of clouds. Sun
hot and air cool.
Evening no wind, no clouds. At night high cold wind from east, seems to pierce
clothes. Lasted till morning and sun well up. Minimum thermometer, No. 1 = 45
degrees; No. 2 = 46 degrees.
Jan. 3. 7a.m. 29.92 760 58 57 47 3 Dawn comfortless. Cold.
Fire in tent. Sand
blowing. Air highly
electrical.
Noon. 29.90 762 77 76 61 2 Wind still. Hot sun.
3p.m. 29.91 759 76 74 58 4 Hot sun. Gentle breeze.
Warm in tent.
Night very cold. Minimum thermometers, No. 1 = 40 degrees; No. 2 = 41 degrees.
Jan. 4. " 29.83 - 52 50 - 5
Noon. 29.93 760 81 80 60 3 Decidedly hot. No
breeze.
3p.m. 29.90 - 78 75 63 0 Very hot and still.
In evening few fleecy clouds to south-west. Appearance of Azyab. Minimum
thermometers at night, No. 1 = 36 degrees; No. 2 = 38 degrees.
AT WADY SHARMÁ.
Jan. 5. 7a.m. 29.90 - 48 45 43 6 Pink clouds south-west
and south-east. Cirri
everywhere.
Noon. 29.87 761 79 79 67 3 Hot and still. Clear;
few cirri.
3p.m. 29.96 760 74 71 60 0 Cool wind. Cold in
shade. Cirri to south,
at times over the sun.
Very cold at night. Saw new moon; set in fire. Planets veiled in mist. Moon
Káim (points upwards = *[figure]).
Jan. 6. 7.20a.m. 29.94 760 53 51 46 8 Still, clear. Light
breeze about 10.30 a.m.
Noon. 29.80 761 82 - - 4
4p.m. 29.96 761 76 - - 3 Clear and hot. Sunset,
red cirri. Water very
cold. Moon clear.
Jan. 7 " 29.98 758 52 - - 18 At Sharmá. Cool and raw.
Few clouds to south and
south-west.
Noon. 30.08 764 78 - - 26 At 'Aynúnah, in big
tent. Fresh wind from
north. Air much damper;
more pleasant.
AT 'AYNÚNAH.
Jan. 8. 7a.m. 30.11 763 55 - - 22 Morning still--windless
Breath from east. Warm
and pleasant.
Noon. 30.02 767 77 74 61 13 Quite clear and dry.
Gusts of wind. Flies
very bad, even in the
waste.
3p.m. 30.15 767 77 76 63 7
Cold high wind at night.
LEFT 'AYNÚNAH.
Jan. 9. 7a.m. 30.04 - 63 - - 10 Outside tent. Light
clouds everywhere at
dawn. Morning warm and
close.
Noon. 29.91 759 80 - - 48 At El-'Usaylah. Sky
covered with clouds. Sun
coming out.
4p.m. 29.87 758 53 - - 23 In tent at El-'Usaylah.
No wind.
Cool pleasant night. Rain in Mount Sinai(?).
Jan. 10. 6.45a.m. 29.85 - 56 - - 15 Observations in open.
Cold north wind. Clear
and cirri.
3p.m. 29.30 745 77 - - 1 At Magháir Shúayb, under
a tree.
Night cold. High wind; shook the tents.
AT MAGHÁIR SHÚAYB.
Jan. 11. 7a.m. 29.37 747 60 - - 20 In open, on box.
Noon. 29.40 748 82 - - 8 In tent.
3p.m. 29.38 747 84 - - -4 Still. Air hot.
As a rule, at Magháir Shúayb we had land-breezes; cold from north and east.
Seabreezes during day, after noon.
Jan. 12. 7a.m. 29.35 746 59 - - 3 In tent. Cool. Cirri. At
two a.m. cool fresh wind
from north.
Noon. 29.46 747 83 - - -5 In tent. Hot sun. Light
clouds.
3p.m 29.30 746 83 81 64 -9 In tent. No sun, no
wind. Thin clouds.
Night warm; wind towards morning. Mosquitoes in tamarisks of Wady. Minimum
thermometer, 52 degrees.
Jan. 13. 7a.m. 29.38 745 65 - - -4 Outside tent, on box.
Cloudy; little wind. elt
warm. Sun came out
strong at ten a.m.
Noon. 29.27 744 87 87 67 -9 In big tent. Heat like
summer. Flies
troublesome, travel on
our backs.
3p.m. 29.20 743 85 85 65 -15 Very hot. Thin clouds.
Sea-breeze.
Very hot and sultry weather: Arabs say portends rain. Wind (generally) from
north in morning; afternoon from sea.
Jan. 14. 7a.m. 29.01 740 63 63 55 0 In tent. Land-breeze set
in. Expected heavy rain,
and pitched camp higher
up.
2.30p.m. 29.15 - 81-1/279 68 0 Taken by Mr. Clarke.
Rain began 2.30 a.m. (Jan. 15), small drops, then heavy, lull, and again
heavy; ended about 4.30 a.m. A little wind from south-west rose after rain.
The last rain was on December 7-10, 1877; violent storms accompanied it.
Jan. 15. " 29.00 - 71-1/270 66 30 By Mr. Clarke at Magháir
Shúayb. Sky all covered
; little clear to west.
Mist all over north.
Things feel damp.
Noon. 29.06 737 76 73 65 30 All cloudy. After rain,
sultry heat of noon
quite disappeared.
3p.m. 29.06 738 75 73 65 25 Still cloudy. Cool.
Cold nights and mornings.
Jan. 16. 7a.m. 29.20 - 48 45 42 18 No rain. Cold. Little
wind. Cloudy. No wind.
Noon. 29.05 - 69 65 54 3 Sun hot. Cool breeze
from north as usual. No
clouds.
3p.m. 29.25 - 69 65 52 12
Night fine and clear. Stars and moon very bright.
Jan. 17. 7a.m. 29.30 - 42 42 39 17 Clear morning. Very
cold. Land breeze.
Noon. 29.36 745 69 66 54 18 Fine stiff breeze from
north-east.
3p.m. 29.34 745 73 70 59 16 Fine breeze falling.
Fine clear night, moon nearly full. No clouds. Not cold. Cool at night and
towards morning. Wind rose about four a.m.
Jan. 18. 7.30a.m. 29.28 745 55 55 50 26 In tent. Cool, clear.
Gentle land-wind.
Noon. 29.30 - 79 79 63 16 Same weather.
3p.m. 29.25 - 81 79 62 8 Night cool. Hardly any
wind.
Jan. 19. 7a.m. 29.15 - 53 52 45 16 In tent. Cold wind from
north.
Noon. 29.17 - 81 79 63 9 Sun hot. Cool breeze
from north. Sky clear.
3p.m. 29.15 - 80 77 60 5
Remarkably warm pleasant night.
Jan. 20. 7a.m. 29.05 - 50 48 45 19 In tent. No wind. Air
sharp.
Noon. 29.10 - 79 75 63 12 Light wind (south-west).
Sun hot. Sky clear.
3p.m. 29.10 - 73 73 60 8 Cool and pleasant.
Curious moonrise. Thin clouds like volcanic smoke, separated into cirri like
sheep-skin: all said sign of heat. Night still and warm. Few stratified clouds
to west.
Jan. 21. 8a.m. 29.13 740 56 54 50 20 In tent. Cold raw wind
(El-Ayli) from north-
east. High clouds. Worse
near Gulf.
Noon. 29.20 743 68 66 55 16 High cold wind,
continuous. Bright sun.
Sky intensely blue and
clear.
4.15p.m. 29.22 744 66 65 53 8 Cool. High wind.
Strong wind at night; fell about midnight; gusts at times. Very cold. Bad
weather at Sharm Yahárr. Fortuna ("strong wind") began January 21st, ended
January 23rd: the next gale was on night of January 28th. As a rule, the
people say; black clouds show that the wind will increase; light clouds the
contrary.
Jan. 22. 7a.m. 29.32 745 50 49 45 15 Cold and cloudy. El-Ayli
continues.
Noon. 29.36 748 66 62 52 11 High cold north-easter
rose about 11.30. Sun
warm. Air cold.
Heavy purple clouds to north and west. Night still; occasional gusts. Eight
p.m. quite still. Mukhbir delayed by bad weather.
Jan. 23. 7.20a.m. 29.39 748 50 50 45 19 Gusts and calm. Nimbi to
west. High north wind
set in.
Noon. 29.40 747 66 64 54 14 Cold in shade, hot in
sun. High wind.
4p.m. - - 66 65 52 9 Wind still high. Dust.
Night alternately gusty and still. Warm. Mukhbir steamed back to her
anchorage, Sharm Yáhárr.
Jan 24. 7a.m. 29.29 745 55 52 47 15 Gentle breeze from
north. No clouds--sign
of no wind.
1.30p.m. - - 83 78 68 10 The normal hot,
windless, cloudless day.
3p.m. - - 78 74 62 7 Pleasant sea-breeze. Sun
hot; air coolish.
Night warm and pleasant.
MAGHáIR SHÚAYB TO MAKNÁ (March).
Jan. 25. 7a.m. 29.30 - 61 - - 15 On box. Fine, and
perfectly clear.
Noon. 29.45 - 78 - - - On road to Wady Makná,
riding mule. Sea-breeze
about noon, strong.
Shortly after noon heavy
clouds (from north and
west) hid the sun.
3p.m. 30.06 - 71 - - 23 Arrived at Makná, on
box.
Warm pleasant night. Appearance of rain. Wind from north. Moon clouded.
AT MAKNÁ.
Land and sea breezes regular. Morning and evening cool. Noon hot. Evaporation
immense. Healthy near shore; feverish up the valley. Damp air from
neighbourhood of Mount Sinai.
Jan. 26. 7a.m. 30.02 - 68 - - 21 Cloudy. Heavy white
waves on water. Wind
west; dangerous for
ships.
12.30p.m.30.07 - 80 77 62 21 Sun hot; sky clear.
Light fleecy clouds on
Sinai.
3.30p.m. 30.04 743 82 80 70 18 Air and sun hot. Clear.
Sea-breeze. No gale.
Rain probably during the day in Sinai. Muttali, or "fort," of Makná showed
aneroid 760 (29).
Jan. 27. 7a.m. 30.02 - 60 59 55 35 In tent. Fine clear;
nice land-breeze. Rush
of wind at two a.m. Wind
at four a.m. Loud noise
of reef.
1.30p.m. 30.04 - 80 76 68 28 In big tent, opening to
south. Quite clear and
bright. No clouds.
Slight sea-breeze.
3p.m. 30.02 - 80 79 70 26 Hot and still.
Night glorious. No wind. Only sigh and sound of reef.
Jan. 28. 7a.m. 29.98 - 58 58 53 30 Perfectly still and
clear. Light land-
breeze.
12.45p.m.30.00 - 80 78 66 20 Weather breaking. Clouds
forming everywhere. High
horizontal cirri. North
wind, whistling over
country.
3p.m. 29.98 - 80 79 67 20 Packed up wet and dry
bulbs.
At sunset high streaky cirri of red colour: all said wind. Same as at Magháir
Shúayb (January 21-23). At eleven p.m. El-Ayli (north wind from 'Akabat-
Aylah?) came down upon us with a rush. Gravel like drops of rain. Tents at
once on the ground. Sky still clear--stars shining.
Jan. 29. 7.15a.m.30.02 - 62 - - 19 In tent-hut. Wind
violent. Cold and raw
between moonrise and
sunrise.
Noon. 30.04 - 81 - - 13 In tent-hut. Wind (El-
Ayli) gusty and violent.
Sky quite clear.
They say this gale denotes end of Zamharir ("great cold"). Wind fell about
three p.m. Mild at sunset. Wind then increased, and became very violent at
night (l0-11 p.m.); seems to beat down from above. Summit of quartz-hills, 2
obs. = 29.40
Jan. 30 7a.m. 30.06 - 62 - - 19 In tent-hut. Mountains
perfectly clear. Fleecy
clouds to north and
south, sailing from west
to east.
3p.m. 30.06 - 72 - - 15 Clear and fine. Wind
falling.
Wind fell during afternoon and evening, but rose again at night; was at its
worst about eleven p.m.
Jan. 31. 7a.m. 30.06 - 67 - - 22 In tent-but. Wind worse;
signs of blowing
everywhere. Light clouds
north and south. Mottled
clouds (cirri, mackerel-
back). Gusts violent
after sunrise.
Noon. 30.08 - 73 - - 19 In cabin on board
Mukhbir. Wind violent.
Sky clear. White clouds,
as yet wind increasing.
Sand and dust but
mountains clear.
3p.m. 30.09 - 78 - - 22 On board Mukhbir. Wind
violent. Sky covered
with grey clouds.
At sunset, gleams to west and round horizon; heavy to north. Hoped for rain,
but none came. Fires alight all night. Very bad night; perhaps the worst yet
seen. Chain dragging. At nine p.m. sky clear, but wind worse.
AT MAKNÁ, ON BOARD "MUKHBIR."
Feb. 1. 7a.m. 30.08 - 70 - - 21 Wind worse than ever.
Dark cirri to south.
Mountains clear on all
sides.
Noon. 30.06 - 74 70 63 21 Wind very bad, turning
to east (?). Cirri
everywere: to west
formed ascending rays
like sun, extending to
zenith; to east were
crosses and lozenges.
3p.m 30.04 - - 70 65 - Wind still bad. White
clouds have thickened to
south, and thinned to
north. Bases of
mountains blurred (by
dust?); summits clear.
At sunset wind lighter. Dark clouds to south, going westward from Suez. Cirri
overhead, presently disappeared; also about the horizon. At night fine
zodiacal light. Wind increased. Observations in main cabin throughout voyage.
Feb. 2. 7a.m. 30.00 - 69 70 65 22 Perfectly clear. Wind
worse.
Noon. 30.00 - 78 - - 21 Clear sky; only cloud,
thin white strata to
north.
3p.m. 29.04 - 75 73 63 19 No clouds. Wind milder.
Barometer falling (sign
of wind ceasing?). Wind
getting warmer, and
bending east.
Wind less in evening, and warmer; ceased about midnight; lasted from eleven
p.m., January 28, to midnight, February 2 = five days and five nights.
Zodiacal light.
Feb. 3. 7a.m. 29.93 - 56 65 56 20 On deck (wet and dry
bulbs in main cabin).
Fresh breeze from east.
Fleecy clouds south and
east.
Noon. 29.96 - 74 - - 25 On deck. Fine breeze
from north.
In evening cirri to west and east. Black dots in regular lines. Night at Minat
Jinái. Very fine and clear; young moon and Venus. Deadly still. Zodiacal light
seen every night in the 'Akabah Gulf: not outside it.
Feb. 4. 7a.m. 29.92 - 74 70 67 24 En route to Nuwaybi',
along Sinai shore.
Morning grey; light
clouds everywhere. Dull
brassy sunrise. Water
dark. Wind south, felt
very damp. Sinai hills
clouded over: cirri
strata high up; nimbi in
fragments below.
Noon. 29.86 - 74 73 68 28 Under awning on board;
going north. Sickly sun.
Cirri to east.
3p.m. 29.80 - 75 73 66 26 Main cabin South wind
strong, increased after
noon. Clear horizon
then. Sea foaming: wind
became very strong, and
raised water about
sunset, then fell.
A regular day of south wind, blasts, mists, and gusts; calmed down in evening.
Quiet night. All day cirri and strata high up from west. Wásit sand forming
cloud.
Feb. 5. 7a.m. 30.00 - 72 68 60 9 En route to Kaláh
(Jezirat Faráun of
maps), in main cabin.
Wind north. Clouds on
hill-tops and to north--
effects of yesterday.
East mountains misty;
west clear. Mottle of
clouds.
Noon. 29.94 - 73 70 61 7 On deck, steaming north.
Dry and wet bulbs in
main cabin. Clouds--
light cumuli to north,
east, and west; south
clear. Wind north,
light.
3p.m. 29.97 - 75 70 59 19 In main cabin off island
El-Kaláh. Violent gusts
from west, down valleys-
-deflection of south
wind, lasted only few
minutes. Cloudy and
clear.
Night clear. Violent gusts from south, lasting a few minutes, then still.
ON BOARD "MUKHBIR," OFF ISLAND EL-KALÁH.
Feb. 6. 7a.m. 30.12 - 70 66 59 15 In main cabin. A regular
raw and gloomy English
morning. Clouds
everywhere--drops of
rain. Wind south,
deflected west. Gusts at
times. All felt damp and
uncomfortable.
Noon. 30.10 - 70 65 59 26 In main cabin. Sky all
covered with clouds.
Wind from north, gusty.
Barometer rising.
3p.m. 30.12 - 66 68 60 21 In main cabin. Sky
covered; gleams of sun.
Clear to south. Wind
north, mild.
A few drops of rain morning and evening. Pleasant quiet night.
Feb. 7. 6a.m. 30.13 - - 62 57 19 In main cabin. Still;
fresh air; no wind.
Heavy clouds from west,
covering east-west
mountains. West mottled;
north and south clear.
3p.m. 30.10 - 71 66 62 25 In main cabin. Cool
breeze. Hot sun. Cloudy
and clear.
Drops of rain at sunset. Wind west. Heavy rain twice at night; after midnight
wetted deck. Rain at 'Akabah from west, with clouds and winds.
FROM EL-'AKABAIT, GOING SOUTH.
Rise of tide off El-'Akabah town, one foot.
Feb. 8. 7a.m. 30.20 - 56 63 61 3 On deck. Dry and wet
bulbs in main cabin. At
sunrise heavy purple
clouds drifting over
plain, covering hills on
both sides. Cold, raw,
wet wind. Rain on Sinai
to north-west and south-
west. Saw rainbow. Wind
gradually turning to
east (favourable). Play
of light and shade over
plains and hills.
Noon. 30.15 - 65 64 57 22 In main cabin. Glorious
day. Blue sky; bluer
sea. Strong breeze.
Cloudy and clear.
3p.m. 30.16 - 67 65 58 25 In main cabin. After
noon wind gradually
fell, and sky cleared;
became much warmer.
Steamer (five and a half
knots) beat the sailing
tender. North perfectly
clear; south and east,
fleecy clouds. Sun clear
and warm.
At sunset red cirri. Wind increased greatly. Waves following us, high and
hollow. Bad night. Wind and water high. At midnight(?), rode with head to
gale. February 9th, four a.m., turned south. Six a.m. stood for Makná (right
angles, and nearly "turned turtle").
ON BOARD "MUKHBIR."
Feb. 9. 7a.m. 30.22 - - 64 26 26 In main cabin, off Sharm
Dabbah. Sky quite clear.
North wind colder than
ever, yet we are going
south. Beginning of
dangerous gale which
lasted till February
13th. Ugly hollow sea.
1p.m. 30.15 - - 66 58 28 In main cabin. Out of
'Akabah Gulf. Passed
into a summer sea. Under
lee of Tirán. On deck 63
degrees (F.).
3p.m. 30.11 - - 69 59 27 In main cabin, rounding
south of Jezirat Tirán.
Sky all clear, except
wind cirri over 'Akabah
Gulf and to west.
At nine p.m. halo round moon, and far from it--bad sign! Before midnight gusts
began. Increased at one a.m. (February 10). At four a.m. very violent north
wind from El-'Akabah.
Feb. 10 7a.m. 30.07 - - 69 65 30 In cabin of Mukhbir,
south of Tirán. Water
ruffled. Clouds
everywhere. Rain on the
coast. Felt raw. Mottled
sky.
Noon. 30.03 - - 72 64 38 In cabin at Tirán. Sun
out at nine a.m. Clouds
and clear. Windy sky.
Cirri to west and north-
west. Dark clouds to
leeward.
3p.m. 29.94 - - 74 65 25 In cabin at Tirán. Rain-
storm to south-west.
Wind north. Sky cloudy
and clear. Cool breeze,
not high.
At four p.m. a few large drops fell. Heavy rain at El-'Akabah and on east
coast. Sand-veil over Sinaitic shore. Six p.m., wind gusty. Rain-clouds all
over coast. Wind becoming warm. At 1.15 a.m. (February 11), terrible rush and
fall of rain. Wind westing. Mild at first. Five a.m., hard Gharbi, threatening
Azyab. All mist--could hardly see the shore.
Feb. 11. 7a.m. 29.82 - - 71 67 35 To windward of Tirán.
Howling west wind. Sun
like pale cheese.
Aneroid falling. After
seven a.m. the storm
broke, and we narrowly
escaped a wreck in two
places, Tirán and
Sináfir. Crisis of gale.
Noon. 29.80 - - 70 60 30 In Sináfir port, main
cabin. Wind west,
bending to south on
falling.
3p.m. 28.20 - - 72 65 24 In main cabin. Mist and
sand. English sun. Wind
west and warm. Sea green
and breaking.
At five p.m. the sand-mist began to clear off. Wind died away, then turned
north and north-north-east. Light scud over moon, going slowly. Patches of
blue, and stars. Barometer rising fast. Perfectly still night till midnight,
when it began to blow, about the setting of the moon. At Suez, during the
gale, red dust prevented ships seeing one another; and at Cairo trees were
uprooted.
AT SINÁFIR ISLAND.
Feb. 12 " 30.13 - - 68 62 31 In main cabin. At 3.30
a.m. a violent Ayli,
like that of El-'Akabah,
began to blow. Gusts and
shivering water. Swept
off all sand-fog.
Noon. 30.17 - - 73 64 27 In main cabin. Howling
wind. Sea less, because
of ebb. Breeze fresh.
Sky clear to south; few
white clouds to north-
east and west. Sun
bright and warm.
3p.m. 30.14 - - 75 65 24 In cabin. Wind violent
as ever, and cold from
north.
During the night the wind blew from all possible directions; north-east, and
at one time due west.
LEFT SINÁFIR FOR SOUTH.
Feb. 13. " 30.18 - - 66 60 36 In main cabin. Howling
north wind till four
a.m., then milder.
Hardly a speck of cloud.
Fresh cool air from
north. Sea very blue.
All sail set. Mist-
clouds on tallest peaks
of coast-range. Wind
diminished as we went
south. Cirri everywhere,
zenith and on horizon.
Noon. 30.12 - - 69 59 26 On deck. Soft pleasant
air; before cold and
hard. Influence of
El'Akabah. Thermometer
on deck 69 degrees (F.).
3p.m 30.10 - - 71 62 20 On board. Sky milky
everywhere with cirri.
Wind north-west, going
west.
Red sunset. Distant halo round moon--cleared off soon (a good sign), and not
well marked. Light westerly gale (No. 2).
AT SHARM YÁHÁRR.
Feb. 14. 7a.m. 30.06 - - 64 58 22 In cabin (open).
Splendid morning. Wind
west, set in hard before
noon. Milk-and-water
sky. Should have been
kept at Sináfir.
Noon. 30.04 - - 71 60 20 West wind increased. Sky
clear; but SHÁRR
Mountains cloudy--
condensing moisture.
3p.m. 30.02 - - 71 60 20 In cabin. North-west
wind strong. Moved ship.
Heavy black clouds on
mountains.
ON BOARD "MUKHBIR" AT SHARM YÁHÁRR.
Feb 15. " 30.10 - - 66 58 30 In cabin.
Noon. 30.13 - 72 - - 35 In cabin.
3p.m. 30.14 - 75 - - 26 On deck. Clouds above
the mountains.
Cold north-west breeze at five p.m. Sea high. Aneroid observations at Sulphur
Mountain--foot, 30.14; top, 29.90; difference .24 = 250 feet.
Feb. 16. 7.30a.m. 30.23 - - 63 55 20 In cabin. Aneroid
unusually high. Clear
and cloudy at mountains.
Cool air and light
breeze.
12.50p.m. 30.23- - 64 55 20 Cool. Wind north. In
cabin.
3p.m. 30.20 - - 66 56 18 In cabin. Cool. No
clouds.
Splendid night. Not a sign of cloud. Cool. White streak on the water (milky
sea, like that of Bombay, caused by fish?). Finest weather yet seen.
ON BOARD "MUKHBIR."
Feb. 17. 6a.m. 30.17 - 66 - - 15 In cabin. Cool, clear,
splendid. Forenoon warm
and still. Sea glassy.
Noon. 30.16 - 74 - - 20 In cabin. Sea-breeze
came up strong at eleven
a.m.
3p.m. 30.13 - - - - 23 In cabin. Sky clouded
all the afternoon--did
not see the sun. Moon
veiled--not a nice look.
Night very cold (shivery). Wind Barri ("land-breeze").
IN MESS-TENT, OPEN TO EAST.
Feb. 18. 6.30a.m. 30.00 - 61 - - 14 Cold and clear. Land-
breeze.
Noon. 30.04 - 78 - - 33 Sea-breeze setting;
land-breeze stopped. Sky
perfectly clear. Sun
hot. No end of flies.
3p.m. 30.04 - 78 - - 22 Fierce and violent west
wind--a Gharbi, or
exaggerated sea-breeze?
Sky quite clear.
Night quite still. Cold wind stopped at nine p.m. rather suddenly.
OBSERVATIONS TAKEN DURING SECOND MARCH TO THE HIMSÁ PLATEAU, SOUTH-EASTERN
MIDIAN, BETWEEN FEBRUARY 19 AND MARCH 8, 1878.
The distance traversed comprised 222-1/4 statute miles, mostly through
unexplored country.
On return compared aneroids:--
French .............................. 763 millimetres.
My Casella .......................... 762 "
Difference .......................... .001 "
Date. Time. Aneroid Ther. Hygr. Remarks.
Inches. (deg.)(deg.)
Feb. 19. 6.20a.m. 30.07 65 23 In big tent at El-Muwaylah. Cool land-
breeze. Sky quite clear.
Noon. 29.82 74 23 At Wady Surr, under tree in sea-breeze.
Clear sky, few white clouds. Cold land-
breeze in Wady Surr at ten a.m.; cold sea-
breeze at eleven a.m.
3.40p.m. 29.60 76 20 At Safh Wady Malayh (Malih), in big tent.
Feels as if high up.
Night perfectly still, except a gust about midnight.
Feb. 20. 6.25a.m. 29.53 60 21 In big tent at Safh Wady Malayh. Clear and
fine.
11.20a.m.29.40 73 43 Under tree at base of western Gháts. Fine
cool sea-breeze.
3p.m. 29.44 78 17 At Sayl Wady el-Jimm ("water-gathering").
Hot sun. Cold sea-breeze.
Night cold, with land-breeze.
Feb. 21. 6.15a.m. 29.38 64 7 In big tent at Sayl Wady el-Jimm. Clouds
to north and east; air damp. High wind and
clouds.
12.45p.m.28.82 71 25 On march up Wady Sadr, under tree. Cold
sea-breeze. Sky quite clear; sun warm.
Awful east winds down these Wadys form the
Goz or sand-heaps.
3.30p.m. 28.86 76 7 In small tent at El-Nagwah, in Wady Sadr.
Sun hot; breeze cold.
Night cold, but not so cold as we expected.
Feb. 22. 6a.m. 28.86 56 8 In big tent at El-Nagwah.
11.50a.m.25.40 65 4 Under tree in Wady Sadr; say, 1600 feet
high. White clouds. West wind (sea-breeze
deflected to north) blowing. Here cold
comes from wind.
3p.m. 27.80 74 3 In big tent at Amwáh el-Rikáb, Wady Sadr.
At four p.m. cold and clouds; cumuli and cirri. West wind deflected to north.
At five p.m. thermometer in tent 66 degrees. Fire in tent. Night cold, clear,
and still. A few gusts about midnight.
AT HEAD OF WADY SADR.
Feb. 23. 6.30a.m. 27.80 53 5 In big tent foot of Gháts. Weather lovely-
-clear, fine, and cold. At eight a.m. sun
warm, then cold wind.
1.30p.m. 26.88 72 5 In big tent. Cold easterly gale.
4p.m. 26.90 65 2 In small tent, same place.
Violent wind at midnight. Cold; thermometer 38 degrees.
Feb. 24. 6a.m. 26.95 48 0 At head of Wady Sadr.
26.15 45 0 To summit of Khuraytat el-Jils (Pass).
Above the Pass, aneroid 26.25; below,
26.70: difference, .55 = 450 feet. Walked
down in twenty-six minutes.
11.30a.m.26.18 56 0 In the open, under shade. Perfectly clear
of clouds. Sun hot.
3p.m. 26.26 66 -2 In big tent on Hismá plateau (short
descent to camping-ground). Air clear; sun
hot.
Very cold when sun sets. Gusts from east at night.
ON HIMSÁ PLATEAU.
Feb. 25. 6.30a.m. 26.30 42 3 In big tent.
12.30p.m.27.84 74 12 At foot of Khuraytat el-Jils. Still, no
wind; no clouds.
3.30p.m. 27.83 78 17 No wind; no clouds.
Night splendidly clear and still. Felt warm.
Feb. 26. 6a.m. 27.72 64 2 In big tent on Hismá plateau. Glorious
orange-coloured dawn. Mild north wind.
Moon in last quarter. At eight a.m. good
breeze from north; at eleven a.m. cool and
pleasant breeze from east.
Noon. 28.00 70 -8 On march in Shafah Mountains. Hot sun.
Cold wind.
3p.m. 28.30 85 -4 Camp Majrá el-Ruways. In small tent.
Strong west breeze in gusts.
Night glorious at foot of the two Passes.
Feb. 27. 6a.m. 28.10 65 -4 On ground outside tent at Majrá el-Ruways.
Sky overhead quite clear; a few flecks to
south, low clouds to east. At 8.30 a.m.
wind south. Sun at first hot; then sky
cloudy.
11.45a.m.28.48 80 3 At El-Rahabah, head of Wady Dámah, under
tree. Fine sea-breeze. High white strata
to north-east and south. No clouds
elsewhere.
5p.m. 28.56 76 -5 Under thorn-tree at Wady Dámah. Fleeting
cirro-cumuli.
Night very cold. Not a sign of dew till we returned on board Mukhbir.
Feb. 28. 6a.m. 28.50 44 -5 At Wady Dámah, on box in open. Clouds and
sea-breeze at 8.45 a.m.
1p.m. 28.29 70 19 Under tree at Shuwák ruin. Thermometer in
sun, 82 degrees. Bits of cumuli from
south. At two p.m. furious wind and dust
(sand-devils) scouring up valley from
south, also deflected to west by Pass
gorge. "Sand-devils" in Wadys Surr, Sadr,
Dámah, Shuwák, and Salmá.
3p.m. 28.19 71 16 In big tent.
A few gusts during early part of night; the rest very still. Cold and clear.
AT SHUWÁK RUIN.
Mar. 1. 6.45a.m. 25.30 46 10 Very cold; hands chilled. Land-breeze at
eight a.m. At barrage (dam), aneroid
28.36.
Noon. 28.37 76 17 In small tent. Noon hot. Wind gusty--not
regular and strong as yesterday.
3p.m. 28.34 77 6 In small tent. Sky clear; air still and
sultry.
Mar. 2. 6a.m. 28.30 58 11 In big tent at Shuwák. Air still. Clouds
to east. Afterwards sky mottled, windy
striae. At seven a.m. rainbow without
rain; thin cloud north of sun;
perpendicular streak, brilliant enough:
lasted twenty minutes.
9a.m. 28.75 66 - At Shaghab ruin. Sea-breeze at eleven a.m.
Clear and cool. Day slightly cloudy; sun
partly hidden.
3p.m. 28.60 86 15 In big tent at Majrá el-Wághir. Mild sea-
breeze. Hot sun. High clouds.
Night windless, except few occasional gusts. Stars veiled. Grand zodiacal
light (now the regular thing). Cool and pleasant.
Mar. 3. 6a.m. 28.55 66 14 At Majrá el-Wághir, outside tent. Sky
cloudy; mist to north, "mackerel's back"
to east. Sea-breeze at 9.30 a.m. in Wady
Dámah.
Noon. 29.13 75 26 Under tree in Wady Dámah. Cool wind from
south-west. A few clouds, getting
gradually darker to west and south-west.
4p.m. 29.20 78 15 At El-Kutayyifah (camp) under a tree. Cool
south-west wind.
6a.m. 29.30 63 16 Cold north wind. Sea-breeze at nine a.m,
In big tent at El-Kutayyifab.
Mar. 4. 11.30a.m. 29.33 68 11 In shade of rock, Umm ámil.
4p.m. 29.63 80 10 In small tent at Má el-Badi'h, Wady Salmá.
Cold, stiff gale: dust-laden sea-breeze up
the ugly gorge.
5.45a.m. 29.50 60 13 At Má el-Badi'h, on box in open air. Air
clear; thin threads to south.
Mar. 5. 12.30p.m. 30.06 84 -3 At Zibá, in big tent, open east and west,
fronting the bay.
2.45p.m. 30.00 82 4 At Zibá, in small tent.
AT ZIBÁ, IN CAMP (our second halt).
Mar. 6. 6a.m. 29.92 61 15 In big tent. Rather heavy clouds to east
and elsewhere. Sea-breeze began at ten
a.m.
Noon. 30.04 86 10 In big tent. Air dull and heavy. "Rain-
sun."
3.45p.m. 30.00 81 3 Sky quite clear.
Storm at sunset. Heavy clouds rising over arch from west to north: all said
meant wind. At seven p.m. violent gusty gale; nearly blew down tents. Rushing
and furious rain from north-west. Gusts lasted long. Fell about eleven p.m.
Rose again very violently at midnight; then blew itself out. Followed by cold
air. Rain lasted about one hour; damped the ground, and left deep puddles in
the rock-hollows.
Never had thunder and lightning in Midian.
Mar. 7. 6a.m. 31.12 58 15 At Zibá, on box. Cold and clear. A few
clouds to west.
11.30a.m.29.96 74 19 At Jebel el Ghál, in shade in the open.
Fine west wind.
Night and morning cold. On summit of Jebel el-Ghál, aneroid 29.75.
Mar. 8. 6a.m. 30.04 51 11 At Máyat el-Ghál (camp), on box.
March 8th is the 30th (last day of) Imshir (February), 1094.
March 9th is the 1st of Barmáhát (March). See Chap. I. p. 22.
In the early days of Barmáhát they expect the Husum or violent wind which
destroyed the tribe of Ad.
After seven nights and eight days begins the Bard el-Agúz, or "old man's
cold."
On Barmáhát 12 (March 20) is the Intikál el-Shams, or "vernal equinox;" after
which the weather becomes warmer.
OBSERVATIONS TAKEN ON BOARD "MUKHBIR" IN SHARM YÁHÁRR, BETWEEN MARCH 8 AND
MARCH 12, 1878.
Date. Time. Aneroid Ther. Dry Wet Hygr. Remarks.
Inches. (deg.)Bulb. Bulb.(deg.)
Mar. 8. 12.40p.m.30.08 74 - - 18 Main cabin, Mukhbir.
Mar. 9. 7a.m. 30.10 20 69 62 - In cabin.
12.30p.m.30.13 73 72 64 - Quite clear. Fresh sea-breeze.
3p.m. 30.11 75 74 64 - Clouds white and streaky
everywhere.
In the evening clouds on hills and mountains, especially the SHÁRR; elsewhere
clear. Red sunset, grand. At night dew heavy on board Mukhbir; gunwales wet in
morning. Moon with kind of half halo round her. Night very hot--sign of coming
storm.
At noon compared ship's (Mukhbir)
mercurial barometer ......................... 773 millimetres.
With my aneroid by Casella .................. 765 millimetres.
And (Mr. Duguid's) aneroide ................. 765 millimetres.
Difference .................................. -008 millimetres.
On December 19, 1877, ship's difference ..... +007 millimetres.
Difference .................................. +001 millimetres.
Mar. 10. 6.30p.m. 30.12 73 69 61 - In cabin. Clouds on SHÁRR like
flights of birds, low-lying
banks to south. Morning
slightly muggy: no breeze.
Noon. 30.12 76 75 60 - In cabin. Gentle sea-breeze.
Sky quite clear.
3p.m. 30.11 76 76 66 - Cool, pleasant sea-breeze.
Fine night, pleasant and cool.
Mar. 11. 6a.m. 30.10 73 68 65 - In cabin. Splendid morning.
Noon. 30.10 - 80 64 - In cabin. Glorious day; sea-
breeze cool and fresh.
3.30p.m. 30.05 78 77 65 - In cabin. Sea-breeze lively
and strong.
Mar. 12. 7a.m. 30.04 - 67 61 - In cabin. Warmish. Splendid
sunrise on SHÁRR; cold to
north, warmer tints in centre,
and glowing red-yellow flush
to south.
3p.m. 30.03 78 77 70 - In cabin. Fine cool sea-
breeze.
Tides high and low (March) pier shows difference of three feet in rise, about
the midlength of Sharm Yáhárr.
OBSERVATIONS TAKEN DURING EXCURSION (SECOND MARCH) ON
AND AROUND THE SHÁRR MOUNTAIN, BETWEEN WEDNESDAY,
MARCH 18, AND MONDAY, MARCH 18, 1878.
The distance traversed comprised 59 miles.
On return compared aneroids:--
French (left on board Mukhbir) .... 758 millimetres.
My Casella ........................ 756 "
Difference ........................ 002 "
Date. Time. Aneroid Ther. Hygr. Remarks.
Inches. (deg.)(deg.)
Mar. 13. 6.20a.m. 29.96 66 23 On deck of Mukhbir. Cool land-breeze; hot
at nine a.m. Sea-breeze at 10.45. At Wady
Sanawiyyah aneroid 29.60.
3p.m. 29.26 82 13 Under tree (acacia, but shady). Grand sea-
breeze from one to three p.m.
Warm night under the SHÁRR, stones retaining heat. Moon misty. Very heavy dew,
like rain; wetted boxes; saw for the first time inland. Will last for some
three months, and must greatly assist vegetation.
Mar. 14. 6a.m. 29.30 68 28 In big tent. All the sky clouded over as
if rain coming. Sea-breeze 10.30.
Noon. 29.60 88 28 Camp at Safh Wady Kusayb. Cloudy and
sultry all day. Little sun, except from
nine till eleven a.m. Rain-heat; seems to
threaten rain.
3p.m. 29.56 86 23 In big tent. Sultry-feels like storm.
At night, violent storm of wind from north-east, with nasty warm gusts. The
people call it Sabáh, probably for Sabá, the "Zephyr"--the Bád-i-Sabá of
poetry; also El-Farawi, because it blows at night. Big tent down in a moment,
as at Makná. N.B.--No windstorm on the coast. At foot of Abú Sháar Pass,
aneroid 28.80; at foot of quartz-vein (wall), 28.50.
Mar. 15. 6a.m. 29.50 76 1 In big tent at Safh Wady Kusayb, north-
east wind still blowing. No dew in
morning.
11.45a.m.29.22 93 -5 In Wady Surr. Curious windy cirri to west.
Wind blew itself out in Wady Surr.
Pleasant sea-breeze from south.
3p.m. 28.93 100 14 In big tent at Safhat el-Wúayrah, Wady
Surr. Cloudy. Wind from south, a deflected
sea-breeze.
ASCENDING SHÁRR MOUNTAIN.
Mar. 16. 6a.m. 29.86 70 2 On box outside tent. Morning grand; still,
clear, warm, and dry. At seven a.m., going
uphill, aneroid 28.20; at 7.35, half-way
up, 27.70.
9a.m. 26.83 63 3
Noon. 26.70 82 - Under rock. Pleasant sea-breeze from
north-east. Sun hot; day quite clear.
3p.m. 26.76 86 3 Shade of rock, summit of outlier. Strong
wind from west.
Mean of two observations on summit of outlier, 26.79 = 3,200 feet above sea-
level.
EN ROUTE TO THE COAST.
Mar. 17. 9a.m. 28.36 80 3 Under tree. Very hot sun that tired all.
Breeze at 8.30 a.m.
11a.m. 28.76(?)93 - Same place. At summit of Pass el-Kuwayd,
aneroid 28.13; in Wady Kuwayd, 28.20. Very
small descent to 28.50, say 400 feet.
3.40p.m. 28.65 90 -9 In big tent.
ON THE RETURN MARCH TO SHARM YÁHÁRR.
Mar. 18. 4.20am 28.63 73 -4 Complete change of climate. No Khamsin to-
day. Fine sea-breeze in puffes at 9:30
a.m.; came up strong about noon.
11.45am 29.43 91 5 Under tree in Wady el-Bayzá.
On March 17th began what our Egyptians called the Khamsin, and the Arabs El-
Dufún (Bedawin, Dafún) generically; and specifically Dufún el-Suráyyá ("of the
Pleiades""). Sky dark without clouds. At night, yellow clouds over moon. Gusts
alternately hot and cold. Highly electrical; few could sleep at night. Tents
left open. It was followed by damp and gloomy weather, which the Arabs
attribute to the Intikál el-Shams ("vernal equinox"). This began on March
19th, and lasted till the 22nd. Aneroid falls lower than we have yet seen it.
OBSERVATIONS TAKEN ON BOARD SCREW-STEAMER "SINNÁR," BETWEEN MARCH 18 AND MARCH
20, 1878.
Date. Time. Aneroid Ther. Dry Wet Hygr. Remarks.
Inches. (deg.)Bulb. Bulb.(deg.)
Mar. 18. 3p.m. 29.91 84 - - 24 In main cabin. A few light
clouds.
Mar. 19. 7a.m. 29.83 - 70 64 - Under deck awning. Morning
still, calm, and muggy. Clouds
everywhere. Presently cool
land-breeze came up. Regular
Khamsin at eight a.m.
Noon. 29.80 - 79 71 - In captain's cabin. Cloudy and
cool.
3p.m. 29.76 - 79 70 - In captain's cabin. Afternoon
sultry. Wind Azyab, and from
south. Seems to threaten a
storm. Heavy clouds from west
and north-west.
Mar. 20. 7a.m. 29.82 - 75 71 - In captain's cabin. Sultry,
"juicy" morning.
Noon. 29.75 - 76 70 - Dark and cloudy. Cool wind
from south-west.
4p.m. 29.80 - 76 68 - In captain's cabin. Sultry
air; no breeze; nasty and
damp. Cloudy all over. A storm
somewhere (Alexandria? Suez?).
Swell on sea, breaking on
south reef; comes from north-
west. Weather looks like that
of Europe.
About eight p.m. a cool draught from north. No moon or stars. Expect it to end
either in a gale or in heavy rain. It ended on morning of March 22nd, with a
fine north wind; and at 9.10 p.m. with slight earthquake.
OBSERVATIONS TAKEN ON BOARD SCREW-STEAMER "SINNÁR," DURING VOYAGE FROM SHARM
YÁHÁRR TO EL-WIJH, EL-HAURÁ, ETC., BETWEEN MARCH 21 AND MARCH 29, 1878.
Date. Time. Aneroid Ther. Dry Wet Hydg. Remarks.
Inches. (deg.)Bulb. Bulb.(deg.)
STEAMING SOUTH.
Mar. 21. 7a.m. 29.76 - 75 71 - In captain's cabin. Aneroid
very low. Wind south-west.
Ugly, gloomy weather.
Mountains misty. Very slight
roll in sea--became heavy in
afternoon--mar vecchio (Bahr
madfún). Bursts of half sun
after nine a.m.
12.40p.m.29.84 - 77 71 - Aneroid rising. At noon sea
quite calm and oily. Shortly
after, sea-breeze from west
set in. About one p.m. made
sail; rolling began. More sun.
Sails down. At two p m.
rolling heavy, cross sea (mar
vecchio).
3.30p.m. 29.85 - 76 73 - Damp increases.
After five p.m. sky clearer and weather finer, but still dark to south. Stars
veiled.
IN MARSÁ DUMAYGHAH.
Mar. 22. 6.15a.m. 29.92 - 73 66 - In cabin. Morning cool. Wind
north. Total change of
weather. Sky clear, except
cirri, and wind increased.
White "horses" outside. All
nature gay.
Noon. 30.01 - 79 65 - In cabin. Damp disappeared.
3p.m. 30.90 - 74 64 - Fine, strong, bright sea-
breeze. North wind,
threatening to blow hard.
Cloudy and clear. Windy sky.
At 9.10 p.m. earthquake from north to south; lasted twenty seconds; followed
by strong north wind, which lasted only a short time. So end the Equinoctials.
Mar. 23. 6a.m. 30.00 - 70 61 - At Dumayghah. In cabin.
Glorious morning; cool, calm,
bright. Zephyr from north. At
noon a few wind-clouds and
cirri to north and west. Very
heavy rolling (mar vecchio)
from north-west. Long waves.
3p.m. 29.98 - 74 65 - At El-Wijh. Pleasant, cool
north wind. Afternoon cloudy
and cold, as if wind came
through rain.
Cleared in the evening. Saw stars.
AT EL-WIJH, IN PORT.
Mar. 24. 5.45a.m. 29.94 - 71 68 - In cabin. Grey, cloudy
morning. No cold.
3p.m. 29.98 - 74 65 - In cabin. Fine north breeze.
Warm sun. Air cool. Wind-
clouds to east; the rest blue.
Sky wondrous clear.
At 4.30 p.m. left El-Wijh, and steamed nearly due south-west. Fine breeze and
long waves from north-west. Wind and waves fell. Rolled horridly from seven
p.m. to midnight: no ballast; very bad steering: then turned south-east, and
movement somewhat improved. Very heavy dew. Zodiacal light clear.
IN CABIN AT SEA.
Mar. 25. 7.30 a.m.30.04 - 73 68 - Marvellous fine morning. Wind
north. Glorious day.
12.15p.m.30.01 - 75 64 - Near El-Haurá. Lovely day.
Steady north breeze.
4p.m. 29.97 - 77 69 -
NEAR EL-HAURÁ.
Mar. 26 6a.m. 29.94 70 - - 36 In cabin. Red morning, warm
and still. Sea oily. Light
mists. Venus throws shadow.
Very heavy dew--all wet.
12.15p.m.29.91 - 74 70 - Same place. Warm sun; cool
breeze from north.
3.20p.m. 29.87 - 78 74 - At sea. Cirri and wind-clouds
to east and nearly everywhere.
Weather fine, yet glass falling. Damp air. Hence (possibly) many have colds,
coughs, and hoarseness. Wind-clouds, but clear to north. Dew very heavy.
RETURNING NORTH TO EL-WIJH.
Mar. 27. 7a.m. 29.87 - 73 68 - In captain's cabin Dew-clouds
everywhere. Air very damp.
11.45a.m.29.98 - 78 70 - Air still and pleasant.
3p.m. 29.85 - 78 72 - Day decidedly hot and damp.
Aneroid very low.
Mar. 28. 6.30a.m. 29.89 - 70-1/2 68 - In cabin. Dew wetted tents and
decks like heavy shower. Sky
all dew; air feels soppy.
Violent wind from north-west.
Ship rolling.
1p.m. 29.97 - 70-1/2 67 -
Mar. 29. 7a.m. 29.97 71 - - 33 In cabin. Strong, cold north
wind. Men coughing like cries
of camels. Sky very clear.
This kind of storm is called
Hawwá el-'Uwwah ("last storm
of March"), and blows fourteen
days. Followed by El-Ni'ám el-
Kabir ("greater"), and El-
Saghir ("less"); continues
forty days.
6p.m. 28.78 74 - - 30 At Fort El-Wijh, two hours'
journey up the valley.
Fine day on seaboard--not much gale. Wind north-west. Night cool, but no dew.
Ship's barometer, 6 a.m., 30.7 Wind north-west. Ther. (F.) 64 deg.
Ship's barometer, noon, 30.7 Wind north-west. Ther. (F.) 76 deg.
Ship's barometer, 3 p.m., 30.7 Wind north-west. Ther. (F.) 76 deg.
OBSERVATIONS TAKEN DURING THIRD MARCH, FROM EL-WIJH TO EL-BADÁ AND BACK,
BETWEEN MARCH 30 AND APRIL 11, 1878.
Compared ship's (Sinnár) mercurial barometer, 30.07 (64 deg. F.), with
anerold, 30.01; difference, aneroid,--0.06.
On return compared ship's (Sinnár) mercurial barometer, 29.99, with aneroid,
29.86; difference, aneroid,--0.13.
Date. Time. Aneroid Ther. Dry Wet Hydg. Remarks.
Inches. (deg.)Bulb. Bulb.(deg.)
Mar. 30. 5.30a.m. 29.70 64 - - 24 At Fort El-Wijh, on box before
tent. Cold and cloudy morning.
Moon and stars veiled.
Noon. 29.55 90 - - 43 In camp at Umm el-Karáyát--
deep valley. Puffs of sea-
breeze from south. Strong sun.
3.15p.m. 29.50 86 - - 29 In big tent at Umm el-Karáyát-
-lat. 26 deg. 13'. Sun very
hot. Fresh and strong sea-
breeze from east (?).
Cool and pleasant night. No sign of dew. Climate healthy. Garrison at Fort El-
Wijh in excellent condition.
Mar. 31. 5a.m. 29.44 45 - - 19 In big tent at Umm el-Karáyát.
Very clear, still morning.
West pink. At sunrise wind,
and hot and cold puffs (south-
east and land-breeze).
11.10p.m.29.46 90 - - -3 At Wady el-Kubbah, under tree.
Very hot. Wind shifting from
east to west (sea-breeze).
Stones in sun so hot that they
cannot be held. At noon
regular Khamsin; air sandy.
Top of Jebel el-Kubbah, aneroid 29.34; in valley below, aneroid 29.46 (47?);
height, 120 feet.
3p.m. 29.30 94 - - -20 At Máyat el-Dasnah. Hot west
wind. Thermometer in big tent,
unwalled.
Night cool.
April 1. " 29.30 63 - - -12 At Máyat el-Dasnah. Morning
pleasant, still, and quite
clear. No sign of dew or
Khamsin. Hygrometer
exceedingly dry. Sun rose hot.
Slight breeze from eight a.m.
to 8.30 a.m., when the rocks
and stones have become
thoroughly heated. Very
refreshing: cools head; stops
perspiration.
9.30a.m. 28.96 83 - - -10 At foot of Marú Rábigh, in
shade of rock.
12.30p.m.28.92 99 - - -8 At Marú Rábigh, under big tent
awning. About noon a medley of
winds; hot blasts of Khamsin
from south-west, suddenly
changed to north.
3p.m. 28.88 100 - - -25 At Marú Rábigh. Hot sun. Wind
in puffs, mostly south-west.
No sand in air. Stones in
sunshine too hot to hold; yet
there are flies.
This is second day of Khamsin. Comes up about ten a.m.; wind either too much
or too little. At 2.5 p.m. nearly blew tent down.
April 2. 5.10a.m. 28.98 70 - - -6 At foot of Marú Rubayyigh in
Wady Rábigh. Morning perfectly
still. All appearance of
Khamsin. Light horizontal
striae to north.
Noon. 29.15 92 - - -18 At Abú Gezáz valley, under
tree. Much bothered by small
flies.
3.10p.m. 29.14 100 - - -25 In big tent, which was again
blown down.
Third day of Khamsin. All animals weak and worn out. Wind comes up later--
11.30 a.m. to noon. Gives feeling of faintness and awful thirst. "Devils"
(Zawábah) rose high in valley with electrical whirl. Evening lowering. Wind or
rain clouds from west and north. Night still and cool. Threatening clouds east
and west.
April 3. 5a.m. 29.20 65 - - -13 At Abú Gezáz valley. Morning
cool (sign Khamsin gone). Sun
pleasant. Red wind-clouds to
north and east. At six a.m.
pleasant, cool land-breeze
from south.
Noon. 28.80 90 - - -16 At El-Badá, under palm-tree.
Wind west. Milky sky, all
white.
3p.m. 28.75 95 - - -24 In big tent. Regular Khamsin--
very nasty. Clouds to west.
Night still. Neither warm nor cool. climate fine. Colds and coughs
disappeared.
AT EL-BADÁ.
April 4. 5.30a.m. 28.70 68 - - -7 On box outside tent. Traces of
dew. White clouds. Looked
regularly like a Khamsin day.
Noon. 28.74 90 - - 2 In big tent. No sun. Air
muggy. White gleams. View
poor; like rain. Strong blast
from south-west. Heavy clouds
west and north. Drops of rain
fell three times between one
p.m. and three p.m.
3p.m. 28.70 90 - - -8
At four p.m. in west a dust like general or prairie fire. A few drops of rain
fell at long intervals--could not catch any for photographs. Broad parallel
veins of white, red, and black cloud rising from east to west. Puffs of cold
wind came on, soon growing to blasts; then storm came down upon us. No thunder
or lightning. Kind of "dust-bow" in west (no rain), half the arc. Wind then
turned north and felt cold and rainy. Heavy cloud-bank to west. Forms of
mountains crept out of the brown and purple mist, half dust, half rain. All
enjoyed storm. No rain for two years has fallen here. Rainbows at El-'Akabah
(double) and at Shuwák (single). Cool and pleasant night, with dew. Mean of
six aneroid observations at El-Badá, 28.78. After leaving El-Badá mornings and
evenings delightful; sun warm in day; nights cool and pleasant. Dust at times.
April 5. 4.30a.m. 28.65 - - - -8 In big tent at Badá. Dust
"devils." Great change after
rain. Very damp.
3p.m. 28.58 86 - - -3 At 'Ayn el-Kurr, under shade
of rock. Strong north wind.
Though all prophesied Azyab or "south-easter," this was perhaps the finest of
all our days. Night cool. Cold wind at one a.m., of which all complained.
April 6. 5.45a.m. 28.59 58 - - 6 At 'Ayn el-Kurr, on box
outside tent. White clouds to
south. No wind. False sea-
breeze at seven a.m.; true at
ten a.m. Cloudy forenoon.
11.45a.m.28.90 84 - - - In Wady el-Kurr.
3p.m. 28.87 87 - - -3 At Wady Laylah, in big tent.
Afternoon windy as usual.
Puffs from west (sea-breeze),
cold. Sky quite clear.
Mountains milky.
Night cool, but not cold.
April 7. 4.15a.m. 28.80 60 - - +5 In big tent at Wady Laylah.
Morning especially bright.
Lucifer like a little moon.
Breeze at eight a.m.
Noon. 29.39 54 - - +2 Wady Birkat, under rock. Going
down seawards fast. Cool west
wind. Good sea-breeze. Sky and
sun clear--sun not unpleasant.
Hot in sheltered bends.
3.10p.m. 29.46 81 - - 4 At Abál-Ajáj, under tamarisks.
Dew at night.
April 8. 5a.m. 29.55 60 - - 27 Outside tent at Abál-Ajáj.
Cool morning; warmer at eight
a.m. before breeze set in.
Noon. 29.94 83 - - 22 At the temple (El-Gasr), Wady
Hamz. Sand-dust with sea-
breeze, terrible at temple and
around it. Eyes filled,
clothes covered. Saw mirage--
well defined for first time.
3p.m. 29.90 52 - - 20 At Wady Hamz. Hygrometer damp
on account of sea-breeze.
April 9. 4a.m. 29.92 70 - - 25 Still, clear, and beautiful,
like all these mornings. Hot
sun. Blue sea, glassy near the
shore. Puffs of wind from
east.
Noon. 29.90 96 - - -8 In big tent at Wady Mismáh.
Cool breeze from north-cast.
Heat strongly reflected from
quartz. Vegetation dreadfully
dry; plants look dead. Two bad
years.
3p.m. 29.74 92 - - -18 In big tent at Abál-Marú.
Another nasty afternoon. High
west wind--sea-breeze, not
Khamsin; tent almost blown
down. Dust dreadful.
Evening charming. Night admirably cool.
April 10 4.20a.m. 29.74 - - - 0 In big tent at Abál-Marú.
Splendid morning; few striae
in east. Will be hot.
4.30p.m. 29.95 - 76 73 - On board Sinnár, captain's
cabin. Pleasant afternoon.
Cool sea-breeze.
ON BOARD "SINNÁR."
April 11.6a.m. 29.86 - 70 66 - In captain's cabin. Felt damp
strongly after the Desert.
12.30p.m.29.87 - 78 74 - All complaining of heat (white
heat); damp is the cause. No
sea-breeze to speak of.
3.15p.m. 29.83 - 79 75 - White clouds everywhere.
Curious wind-clouds, not a
little like comets.
Heavy dew. Streets of El-Wijh wet.
OBSERVATIONS TAKEN ON BOARD SCREW-STREAMER "SINNÁR," EN ROUTE FROM EL-WIJH TO
SUEZ, FROM APRIL 12 TO APRIL 17, 1878.
Date. Time. Aneroid Dry Wet Remarks.
Inches. Bulb. Bulb.
April 12. 6.20 a.m. 29.89 78 73 En route to El-Muwaylah, captain's
cabin. Red sunrise. Clouds thin all
about horizon. Looks like regular
Khamsin day. Feels exceedingly damp.
12.20 p.m. 20.80 79 70 In dead calm. Sea oily, like mirror.
No winds. Thin white clouds
everywhere.
3.35 p.m. 29.78 81 76 In captain's cabin. Wretched day at
El-Wijh and ashore. Very muggy.
At night a "bruch" (halo) of clouds round moon, and far from it. Expect
storm. "Bruchs" round moon on 13th, 14th, and 15th.
April 13. Noon. 29.84 78 70 Anchored before El-Muwaylah. No dew
in morning, and clouds everywhere.
No sun seen. Very hot at noon. White
clouds everywhere. Smoke of steamer
hangs low. Mountains look very high.
Muggy. Fine drinkytite.
3 p.m. 29.80 83 73 At Sharm Yáhárr. Hot and sweaty.
Light west wind rose after noon;
soon fell.
At night clouds and "bruch." Clear to north, thick to south.
April 14. 6.30 a.m. 29.82 78 72 At Sharm Yáhárr. Nasty muggy
morning. Light north breeze set in.
12.40 p.m. 29.88 82 75
3 p.m. 29.85 83 76 Warm and cloudy.
Weather threatening. The same storm that found us at Makná last year.
April 15. " - - - Water flooded pier, and waves broke
on shore.
April 16. " - - - Ran to El-Muwaylah. Had to return to
Sharm Yáhárr. Furious wind from west
(Gharbi) began about nine a.m.
April 17. Noon. 29.98 77 65 In captain's cabin, Sharm Yáhárr.
3 p.m. 29.92 76 65
Wind changed to north. Weather became cool and pleasant. Gale still, but
shows signs of abating.
On April 18th weather somewhat abated. Stopped at El-Mawaylah to drop Sayyid
'Abd el-Rahim; and steamed off for Suez, where we arrived on 20th. Voyage
very slow in teeth of north wind. Yet at Suez had had south wind for some
days, and congratulated us upon the fact.
OBSERVATIONS TAKEN BY MR. DAVID DUGUID, BETWEEN JANUARY 8 AND FEBRUARY 1, 1878.
(He used the French aneroide and the Centigrade thermometer bought at Cairo.)
Date. Time. Aneroid Thermometer Remarks.
Millimetres. Centigrade.
(deg.)
Jan. 8. Noon. 768 25 At Sharmá camp.
Jan. 9. Noon. 768 25 Ditto.
Jan. 10. Noon. 761 26 Ditto.
Jan. 11. Noon. 763 19 Ditto.
Jan. 12. Noon. 763 19 Ditto.
Jan. 13. Noon. 760 30 Ditto. Very hot.
Jan. 14. Daylight 760 20
(?) 755 25 Very hot.
8 p.m. 758 23
Jan. 15. (?) 757 21
(?) 757 25 Hot.
Nightfall 759 20
Jan. 16. Daylight 762 18 Mr. Duguid marched from Sharmá to El-Muwaylah.
Jan. 17. Sunset. 768 25 On board Mukhbir at Sharm Yáhárr.
Jan. 18. Sunrise. 766 22 On board Mukhbir.
(?) 766 23 Ditto.
Sunset. 764 28 Ditto. Hot.
ON BOARD.
Jan. 19. Sunrise. 763 21
Noon. 762 25
Sunset. 763 25
Jan. 20. Sunrise. 761 21
Noon. 762 25
Nightfall 762 28 Hot
Jan. 21. Sunrise. 763 23 Bad weather at Sharm Yáhárr.
Noon. 763 24
Sunset. 767 25
Jan. 22. Sunrise. 769 19 Mukhbir delayed by bad weather.
Noon. 768 24
Jan. 24. Noon. 767 24
Mr. Duguid steamed out of Yáhárr for Makná. Anchored off Sináfir Island.
Jan. 25. Sunrise. 767 23 Reached Makná.
Noon. 766 24
Sunset. 765 25
Jan. 26. Sunrise. 764 23 On board Mukhbir.
Noon. 763 27
Sunset. 763 29
Jan. 27. Sunrise. 765 22 Ditto.
Noon. 763 23
Sunset. 763 27
Jan. 28. Sunrise. 763 21 Ditto.
Noon. 762 24
Sunset. 762 22
Jan. 29. Sunrise. 763 20 Ditto.
Noon. 762 22
Sunset. 762 23
Jan. 30. Sunrise. 766 20 Ditto.
Noon. 764 24
Sunset. 765 24
Jan. 31. Sunrise. 765 22 Ditto.
Noon. 764 23
Sunset. 764 23
Feb. 1. Sunrise. 765 21 Ditto.
Noon. 764 22
OBSERVATIONS TAKEN ON BOARD SCREW-STEAMER "MUKHBIR," BY MR DAVID DUGUID (DURING OUR SECOND
JOURNEY), BETWEEN FEBRUARY 18 AND MARCH 8, 1878.
Date. Time. Aneroid Thermometer Remarks.
Millimetres. Centigrade.
(deg.)
Feb. 18. 7 a.m. 764 18 Clear sky. Light breeze.
Noon. 763 23 Same weather.
5 p.m. 764 23 Clear sky. Good breeze.
Feb. 19. 7 a.m. 764 20 Clear sky. Light wind.
Noon. 764 23 Light wind. Few clouds in east.
5 p.m. 764 24 Clear sky. Light wind.
Feb. 20. 7 a.m. 765 20 Clear sky. Light east wind.
Noon. 765 21 Clear sky. Light north-west wind.
5 p.m. 764 23 Clear sky. Light east wind.
Feb. 21. 7 a.m. 765 20 White clouds all round. Light east wind.
Noon. 766 23 Few clouds to south. Light north-west wind.
Feb. 22. 7 a.m. 765 20 Few clouds to east. Light west wind.
Noon. 764 22 Few clouds to east. Good north-west breeze.
5 p.m. 764 22 Few clouds to west. Light north wind.
Feb. 23. 7 a.m. 764 19 Clouds to south-west. No wind.
Noon. 765 21 Clouds to east. Light north-west wind.
5 p.m. 765 22 Few clouds to east. Light north-west wind.
Feb. 24. 7 a.m. 767 19 Clear sky. No wind.
Noon. 768 22 Clear sky. Light north wind.
5 p.m. 768 24 Same weather.
Feb. 25 7 a.m. 769 20 Clear sky. Light east wind.
Noon. 769 22 Clear sky. Light west wind.
5 p.m. 768 24 Clear sky. No wind.
Feb. 26. 7 a.m. 766 20 Clear sky. Light east wind.
5 p.m. 766 20 Same weather.
Feb. 27. 7 a.m. 762 20 Few clouds to south. Light north-east wind.
Noon. 762 23 Clear sky. Light north wind.
5 p.m. 761 25 Clear sky. Light west wind.
Feb. 28. 5.p.m. 764 23 Heavy clouds to west. Strong west wind.
Mar. 1. 7 a.m. 767 20 Few clouds in south. Light north wind.
Noon. 767 23 Clear sky. Good north-west breeze.
5 p.m. 765 22 Few clouds to west. Light wind from west.
Mar. 2. 7 a.m. 765 20 Clouds all round. Light east wind.
Noon. 765 23 Clouds all round. Light west wind.
5 p.m. 764 24 Clouds all round. Light north wind.
Mar. 3. 7 a.m. 762 20 Few clouds to east. No wind.
Noon. 763 22 Few clouds to south. Good north-west breeze.
5 p.m. 763 23 Few clouds to north. Good west breeze.
Mar. 4. 7 a.m. 767 21 Clear sky. Light breeze from east.
Noon. 768 23 Clear sky. Light breeze from west.
5 p.m. 767 24 Clear sky. Light breeze from north.
Mar. 5. 7 a.m. 764 20 Clear sky. Light east wind.
Noon. 764 22 Clear sky. Good breeze from east.
5 p.m. 762 25 Light clouds all round. North-west wind.
Mar. 6. 7 a.m. 763 20 Heavy clouds to east. Light east wind.
Noon. 763 23 A few clouds to east. Light west wind.
5 p.m. 762 24 Dark clouds all round. Strong west wind. At ten
p.m. gale from west, with some flashes of
lightning.
Mar. 7. 7 a.m. 766 19 Clouds to south. Wind north.
Noon. 767 23 Clear sky. Good breeze from north-west.
5 p.m. 766 24 Clear sky. Wind north.
Mar. 8. 7 a.m. 763 19 Clear sky. Light east wind.
Noon. 763 23 Clear sky. Light west wind.
OBSERVATIONS TAKEN ON BOARD SCREW-STEAMER "MUKHBIR," BY MR. DAVID DUGUID (DURING OUR WEEK IN EL-
SHÁRR), BETWEEN MARCH 13 AND MARCH 19, 1878.
Date. Time. Aneroid Thermometer Remarks.
Millimetres. Centigrade.
(deg.)
Mar. 13. 6 a.m. 762 25 Clear sky. Good breeze. Wind west.
Noon. 761 26 Clear sky. Light breeze. Wind west.
Mar. 14. 6 a.m. 762 21 Light clouds all over. Wind east. Light breeze.
Noon. 764 24 Same cloudy weather, but wind from east (?).
3 p.m. 763 26 Light clouds all round. Wind west and light.
Mar. 15. 6 a.m. 762 21 A few clouds to south. Wind east and light.
Noon. 761 26 Light clouds all round. Moderate breeze from
west.
3 p.m. 760 27-1/2 Same weather.
Mar. 16. 6 a.m. 760 24 A few clouds to south. Light east wind.
Noon. 760 26 Clear sky. Wind south-west. Light breeze.
3 p.m. 759 29 Clear sky. Wind west. Very light breeze.
Mar. 17. 6 a.m. 759 24 Clear sky. Light breeze from east.
Noon. 760 26 Clear sky. Wind west. Very light breeze.
3 p.m. 760 27 Same weather.
Mar. 18. 6 a.m. 760 23 Same weather, by wind west.
Noon. - - Clear sky. Wind west. Very light breeze.
Mar. 19. 6 a.m. 759 23 Few clouds to north. Wind east, and very light.
Noon. 758 19 Clouds to north-west. Good breeze from west.
3 p.m. 758 29 Clouds all round. Wind south-west. Good breeze.
OBSERVATIONS TAKEN ON BOARD SCREW-STEAMER "SINNÁR," BY CAPTAIN NÁSIR AHMED, BETWEEN MARCH 29 AND
APRIL 10, 1878.
Date. Time. Mercurial Thermometer. Remarks.
Barometer. Fahr.
Mar. 29. 6 a.m. 30.7 64
Noon. 30.7 76
3 p.m. 30.7 76
Mar. 30. 6 a.m. 30.00 61 White clouds to north-east. Wind north-east.
Noon. 30.05 77
3 p.m. 30.00 80 Air very damp from noon to sunset. Wind west.
Mar. 31. 6 a.m. 29.9 63 Wind north-east. Never saw barometer so low.
Noon. 30.00 80 Dry and fine.
3 p.m. 29.98 82
April 1. 6 a.m. 29.94 66 Wind east. Fine day.
Noon. 29.95 83
3 p.m. 29.92 83 Damp from noon to sunset.
April 2. 6 a.m. 29.90 68 Wind east. Fine day.
Noon. 30.00 80 Damp.
3 p.m. 29.90 81 Red clouds at sunset.
Gale of wind at El-Wijh from north-east, began at seven p.m. Ship under shelter. Rain for half
an hour.
April 3. 6 a.m. 30.00 69 Wind north.
Noon. 30.20 80 Damp.
3 p.m. 30.00 79 Wind north-west at sunset.
April 4. 6 a.m. 30.00 73 Wind north-west.
Noon. 30.03 76 Wind north-west all day.
3 p.m. 30.00 77
Storm on seaboard. Heavy clouds, wind, and gale all day from north-west. Sinnár rolling.
April 5. 6 a.m. 29.93 66 Wind north-west.
Noon. 30.00 76 Wind north-west.
3 p.m. 30.00 75 Fine day.
April 6. 6 a.m. 29.93 62 Wind north.
Noon. 30.00 74 Wind north-west.
3 p.m. 30.00 74 Same weather.
April 7. 6 a.m. 29.94 64 Wind north.
Noon. 30.00 79 Fine day.
3 p.m. 30.00 76 Wind north-west from noon to sunset. Fine weather.
April 8. 6 a.m. 30.02 61 Wind east.
Noon. 30.04 73 Fine day.
3 p.m. 30.04 78 From noon to sunset, fine but damp.
April 9. 6 a.m. 30.04 68 Wind east.
Noon. 30.06 77
3 p.m. 30.06 81 Damp from noon to sunset.
April 10. 6 a.m. 30.06 64 Wind north. Fine day. Damp and north-west wind
from noon to sunset.
CAIRO.
Reaching Cairo, I found Dr. T. E. Maclean from Thebes, with good instruments. He kindly compared
mine with his, and gave me the following results:--The difference between my aneroid (Casella)
and his is very slight, varying generally from 0.05 to -0.10. He advises me to neglect this
slight difference. The dry bulb is, on the whole, a little higher than his; and we have not
sufficient observations for the wet bulb. The pocket thermometer wants correction; it reads from
+1 deg. to +2 deg. 15'.
LIST OF OBSERVATIONS.
N&Z = Negretti and Zambra
No obs. = No observation.
Date. Time. N&Z's My Differ- Casellás Differ- N&Z's Casellás Differ- N&Z's Casellás Differ-
(1878) standard Casella. ence for portable ence for dry bulb. dry bulb. ence. wet wet ence for
aneroid. correc- thermo- correc- No. bulb. bulb. correc-
No.1140. tions. meter tions. 39,518. tions.
(deg.).
April 28. 12.30p.m. No obs. No obs. - 91 -1.6 89.4 90.0 -0.6 71.75 71.0 +0.75
3p.m. No obs. No obs. - 84 -2.1 81.9 82.5 -0.6 69.0 69.0 0.0
6.30p.m. No obs. No obs. - 73 -2.5 70.5 71.0 -0.5 61.0 61.0 0.0
April 29. 9a.m. No obs. No obs. - 69 -2.4 66.6 67.0 -0.4 59.1 59.0 +0.1
11.30p.m. 29.796 29.850 -.054 77.5 -2.0 75.5 76.0 -0.5 63.5 64.0 -0.5
3p.m. 29.755 29.752 +.003 77.5 -1.5 76.0 76.0 0.0 62.75 62.0 -0.75
April 30. 9a.m. 29.828 29.850 -.022 67.5 -2.15 65.0 66.0 -1.0 59.5 60.5 -1.0
12.30p.m. 29.822 29.850 -.028 76 -1.5 74.5 75.0 -0.5 63.75 63.5 +0.25
3p.m. 29.799 29.802 -.003 77 -2.0 75.0 73.5 -0.5 64.0 58.0 +1.5
May 1. 9a.m. 29.959 30.100 -.141 66.5 -1.75 64.75 65.5 -0.75 57.5 58.0 -0.5
12.30p.m. 29.945 29.952 -.007 76 -2.5 73.5 74.5 -1.0 61.5 62.0 -0.5
3p.m. 29.984 29.902 +.082 77.5 -1.75 75.75 76.5 -0.75 61.75 61.5 +0.25
May 2. 9a.m. 30.051 30.102 -.051 66 -1.25 64.75 65.0 -0.25 58.0 58.5 -0.5
12.30p.m. 29.978 30.000 -.022 78 -2.0 76.0 76.0 0.0 63.0 66.5 -2.5
3p.m. 29.936 29.950 -.014 78 -1.5 76.5 No obs. - 63.75 No obs. -
May 3. 9a.m. 29.961 29.952 +.009 71.5 -1.5 70.0 No obs. - 58.5 No obs. -
12.30p.m. 29.880 29.900 -.020 83 -2.5 80.5 81.0 -0.5 63.23 62.0 +1.25
3p.m. 29.820 29.850 -.030 83 -1.1 81.9 82.5 -0.6 62.0 62.5 -0.5
May 4. 9a.m. 29.716 29.750 -.024 71.5 -1.25 70.25 71.0 -0.75 63.25 63.0 +0.25
12.30p.m. 29.679 29.700 -.021 89.5 -1.25 87.75 88.0 -0.25 70.25 69.5 +0.75
3.30p.m. 29.617 29.650 -.033 89.5 -1.0 88.5 89.0 -0.5 70.0 69.0 +1.0
May 5. 9.30a.m. 29.586 29.600 -.014 76.5 -1.5 75.0 No obs. - No obs.No obs. -
12.30p.m. No obs. No obs. - 83 -2.0 81.0 82.0 -1.0 69.75 68.5 +1.25
3p.m. 29.603 29.602 -.001 82 -1.5 80.5 81.0 -0.5 69.0 67.0 +2.0
May 6. 9a.m. 29.780 29.800 -.020 70 -1.75 68.25 69.0 -0.75 63.0 63.0 0.0
12.30p.m. 29.785 29.800 -.015 77 -2.0 75.0 76.0 -1.0 65.25 65.0 +0.25
3p.m. 29.778 29.800 -.022 79 -2.0 77.0 77.5 -0.5 67.5 66.0 +1.5
May 7. 9a.m. 29.854 29.850 +.004 67 -2.0 65.0 66.0 -1.0 60.75 61.0 -0.25
12.30p.m. 29.822 29.802 -.020 80.5 -1.5 79.0 79.0 0.0 66.0 65.0 +1.0
Endnotes:
[EN#1] The word is explained in my "Itineraries," part ii. sect.
3.
[EN#2] See Appendix IV. "Botanical Notes."
[EN#3] "Opens," i.e. the door for a higher price: it is the usual
formula of refusing to sell.
[EN#4] Chap. XVI.
[EN#5] The Saturday Review, in a courteous notice of my first
volume (May 25, 1878), has the following remarks:--"The Arabs
talk of some (?) Nazarenes, and a 'King of the Franks,' having
built the stone huts and the tombs in a neighbouring cemetery
('Aynúnah). But there can be no local tradition worth repeating
in this instance." Here we differ completely; and those will
agree with me who know how immutable and, in certain cases,
imperishable Arab tradition is. The reviewer, true, speaks of
North Midian, where all the tribes, except the Beni 'Ukbah, are
new. Yet legend can survive the destruction and disappearance of
a race: witness the folk-traditions of the North-Eastern Italians
and the adjacent Slavs. Here, however, in South Midian we have an
ancient race, the Baliyy. And what strengthens the Christian
legend is that it is known to man, woman, and child throughout
the length and breadth of the land.
[EN#6] In Sinai "Shinnár" is also applied to a partridge, but I
am unable to distinguish the species--caccabis, Desert partridge,
(Ammoperdix heyi, the Arab Hajl), or the black partridge
(Francolinus vulgaris).
[EN#7] Chap. IX. has already noticed Ptolemy's short measure.
[EN#8] Chap. XVII.
[EN#9] Helix desertorum (Forsk.) and Helix (sp. incert.)
[EN#10] See "The Gold Mines of Midian,'' Chap. II.
[EN#11] So in Moab the ruins of "Méron" or Mérou of the Greeks
has degenerated into Umm Rasás, "the Mother of Lead."
[EN#12] Their names will be given in Chap. XIII.
[EN#13] A. G., p. 24. See "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. XI.
Sprenger spells the word either with a Zád or a Zá: I have
discussed the question in my "Itineraries," part ii. sect. 4.
[EN#14] See the end of this Chapter for a list.
[EN#15] See Chap. XIV.
[EN#16] "Irwin's Voyage," 1777.
[EN#17] This was probably a misprint originally, but it has been
repeated in subsequent editions. Hence it imposed upon even such
careful workmen as the late Lieutenant Henry Raper, "The Practice
of Navigation," etc., p. 527, 6th edition.
[EN#18] See an excellent description of the phenomenon in that
honest and courageous work, "Through Bosnia and the Herzegovina
on Foot," by Arthur J. Evans, B.A., F.S.A. London: Longmans,
1877.
[EN#19] There is, however, nothing to prevent its being eaten.
[EN#20] See Chap. X.
[EN#21] Chap. X.
[EN#22] Not to be confounded with the luguminous "Tanúb"
mentioned by Forskâl ("Flora," etc., p. 197).
[EN#23] The word classically means the cypress or the
juniper-tree: in Jeremiah, where it occurs twice (xvii. 6 and
xlviii. 6), the Authorized Version renders it by "heath." It is
now generally translated "savin" (Juniperus sabina), a shrub
whose purple berries have a strong turpentine flavour. When shall
we have a reasonable version of Hebrew Holy Writ, which will
retain the original names of words either untranslatable or to be
translated only by guess-work?
[EN#24] In Cairo generally called Espadrilles, and sold for 1.25
francs. Nothing punishes the feet at these altitudes so much as
leather, black leather.
[EN#25] The explorers laid this down at a few hundred feet. But
they judged from the eye; and probably they did not sight the
true culmination. Unfortunately, and by my fault, they were not
provided with an aneroid.
[EN#26] See Chap. V.
[EN#27] For the usual interpretations see Chapter I. The
Egyptians, like other nations, often apply their own names, which
have a meaning, to the older terms which have become
unintelligible. Thus, near Cairo, the old goddess, Athor el-Núbí
("of the Gold"), became Asr el-Nabi ("the Footprint of the
Apostle").
[EN#28] "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. XI.
[EN#29] See Chap. XI.
[EN#30] Chap. XII.
[EN#31] Chap XV.
[EN#32] Chap. XV.
[EN#33] Vol. ii. Chap. X. I have also quoted him in "The
Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. VI.
[EN#34] My "Pilgrimage" (Vol. I. Chap. XI.) called it "Sherm
Damghah": it is the "Demerah" of Moresby and the "Demeg" of 'Ali
Bey el-'Abbási (the unfortunate Spaniard Badia).
[EN#35] See "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. VII.
[EN#36] The old being the classical (Iambia Vicus), in
north lat. 24°. This is Yambú' el-Nakhil, in Ptolemy's time a
seaport, now fifteen miles to the north-east (north lat. 24° 12'
3"?) of the modern town. The latter lies in north lat. 24° 5' 30"
(Wellsted, ii. II), and, according to the Arabs, six hours' march
from the sea.
[EN#37] Vol. I. pp. 364, 365.
[EN#38] "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. IX.
[EN#39] Chap. VI. describes one of the sporadic (?) outcrops near
Tayyib Ism; and Chap. IX notices the apparently volcanic
sulphur-mount near El-Muwaylah.
[EN#40] See Chap. IX.
[EN#41] "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. XII.
[EN#42] See "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. VIII.
[EN#43] "Pilgrimage," Vol. I. Chap. XI.
[EN#44] In "The Gold Mines of Midian" (Chap. IV.) I unconsciously
re-echoed the voice of the vulgar about "the harbour being bad
and the water worse" at El-Wijh.
[EN#45] This style of writing reminds me of the inch allah
(Inshallah!) in the pages of a learned "war correspondent"--a
race whose naive ignorance and whose rare self-sufficiency so
completely perverted public opinion during the Russo-Turkish war
of 1877-78.
[EN#46] Not Shaykh Hasan el-Marábit--"Pilgrimage," Vol. I. Chap.
XI.
[EN#47] "Pilgrimage," Vol. I. Chap. XI., where it is erroneously
called "Jebel Hasan;" others prefer Hasa'ni--equally wrong.
Voyagers put in here to buy fish, which formerly was dried,
salted, and sent to Egypt; and, during the Hajj season, the
Juhaynah occupy a long straggling village of huts on the south
side of the island.
[EN#48] There are now no less than three lines of steamers that
connect the western coast of Arabia with the north. The first is
the Egyptian Company, successively called Mejidíyyah, Azízíyyah,
and Khedivíyyah, from its chief actionnaire: the packets, mostly
three-masted screws, start from Suez to Jeddah every fortnight.
Secondly, the Austro-Hungarian Lloyd which, with the subvention
of £1400 per voyage, began in 1870 to ply monthly between
Constantinople, Port Sa'íd, Suez, Jeddah, and Hodaydah: it has
been suspended since the beginning of the Russo-Turkish war.
Thirdly, the British India Steam Navigation Company sends every
three weeks a ship from London viâ the Canal to Jeddah, Hodaydah,
and Aden. A fourth is proposed; Bymen's (Winan's?) steamers are
establishing a London-Basrah (Bassorah) line, in whose itinerary
will be Jeddah.
[EN#49] The observation was taken on board the Sinnár, by the
first lieutenant Násir Effendi Ahmed: of course I am not
answerable for its correctness, although the latitude cannot be
far out. Thus the difference of parallel between it and El-Wijh
(north lat. 26° 14') would be sixty-eight direct geographical
miles.
[EN#50] Beni Kalb: so the Juhaynah were called in the Apostle's
day.
[EN#51] The site was probably near the Shaykh's tomb, where there
are wells which in winter supply water.
[EN#52] This is the volume which I have translated: see also Dr.
Beke's papers in the Athenæum (February 8 and 15, 1873).
[EN#53] See "Mount Sinai a Volcano" (Tinsleys). For a list of
Yakut's volcanoes, see Dr. Beke, "Sinai in Arabia," Appendix, p.
535.
[EN#54] Vol. II. p. 187.
[EN#55] "The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 213.
[EN#56] As regards these and similar graffiti see (Athenaeum,
March 16, 1878) an excerpt from the last Comptes Rendues of the
Acad. des Inscript. et B. Lettres, Paris. The celebrated M.
Joseph Halévy attacked in their entirety (about 680) the
rock-writings in the Safá desert, south-east of Damascus. The
German savants, mostly attributing them to the Sabá tribes, who
immigrated from Yemen about our first century, tried the
Himyaritic syllabaries and failed. M. Halévy traces them to the
Beni Tamúd (Thamudites), who served as mercenaries in the Roman
army, and whose head-quarters we are now approaching. They
contain, according to him, mostly proper names, with devotional
formulae, similar to those of the Sinaitic inscriptions and the
Kufic and later epigraphs which we discovered. For instance, "By
A., son of B., in memory of his mother; he has accomplished his
vow, may he be pardoned." The language is held to be intermediate
between Arabic and the northern Semitic branches. Names of the
Deity (El and Loo or La'?) are found only in composition, as in
Abd-El ("Abdallah, slave of El"); and the significant absence of
the cross and religious symbols remarked in the Syrian
inscriptions, denotes the era of heathenism, which lasted till
the establishment of Christianity, about the end of the third
century. "At that time," M. Halévy says, "Christianity became the
official religion of the Empire; doubt and scepticism penetrated
amongst those Arabic tribes which were the allies of Rome, and
amongst whom, for a certain time, a kind of vague Deism was
prevalent until the day when they disappeared, having been
absorbed by the great migrations which had taken place in those
countries."
[EN#57] Some call it so; others Umm Karáyát: I have preferred the
former--"Mother of the Villages," not "of Villages"--as being
perhaps the more common.
[EN#58] See Chap. XIX.
[EN#59] Vol. II. Chap. X.
[EN#60] This rock, assayed in England, produced no precious
metal. As has been said, gold was found in its containing walls
of quartz.
[EN#61] This is the valley confounded by Wallin and those who
followed him (e.g. Keith Johnston) with the Wady Hamz, some forty
miles to the south.
[EN#62] See the illustration, "Desert of the Exodus," p. 306.
[EN#63] Vol. II. Chap. X.
[EN#64] Described in "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. XII.
[EN#65] Chap. XVIII.
[EN#66] The barbarous names, beginning from the west, are Jebels
Sehayyir, 'Unká ("of the griffon"), Marákh (name of a shrub),
Genayy (Jenayy), El-Hazzah, El-Madhanah, Buza'mah, and Urnuwah.
[EN#67] Dr. C. Carter Blake examined the four brought home, and
identified No. 1, superior pharyngeal bone and teeth (Scarus);
No. 2, inferior bone and teeth of a large fish allied to Labrus
or Chrysophrys; No. 3, left side, pre-maxillary, possibly same
species; and No. 4, lower right mandible of Sphrodon
grandoculis, Rüppell.
[EN#68] The MS. of this geographer was brought to light by
Professor Sprenger, and Part I. has been published by Professor
de Goeje in his "Bibliotheca Geographarum Arabicorum," here
alluded to.
[EN#69] We have seen (Chap. II.) that the Arabs of Midian mistake
iron for antimony; and the same is the case in the Sinaitic
Peninsula.
[EN#70] Ahmed Kaptán's solar observation.
[EN#71] Written in pleasant memory of two visits to Uriconium,
the favourite "find" of poor Thomas Wright, under the guidance of
our steadfast and hospitable friend, Mr. Henry Wace, of
Brooklands, Shrewsbury.
[EN#72] The capital was also transported to Cairo; it could not
have been voluted as there were only two projections.
[EN#73] Lib. xvi. c. iv. § 24. The MSS. differ in the name of the
"village situated on the sea;" some call it Egra, others Negra,
after the inland settlement; and the commentator Kramer remarks,
Mire corrupta est h?c ultima libri pars.
[EN#74] North lat. 26°, which would correspond with that of the
Abá'l-Maru' ruins.
[EN#75] My friend Sprenger strongly protests against Ælius
Gallus, begging me to abandon him, as the Romans must long have
held the whole coast to El-Haurá, their chief settlement.
[EN#76] For a specimen of the superficiality which characterizes
Lane's "Modern Egyptians," and of the benefits which, despite the
proverbial difficulty of changing an old book into a new one, an
edition, much enlarged and almost rewritten, would confer upon
students, see Vol. III. Chap. XXI. Instead of a short abstract of
all this celebrated story, we have only popular excerpts from the
first volume.
[EN#77] On the maritime road between Meccah and El-Medínah,
celebrated for the apostolic battle which took place in A.H. 2.
[EN#78] The names marked with interrogations are unknown to all
the Arabs whom I consulted : they are probably obsolete.
[EN#79] Identified by Niebuhr and Wellsted with certains ruins
south of Yambú'. See Chap. IV.
[EN#80] The straight path, the highway to Egypt or Cairo.
[EN#81] Elsewhere called Sukyat Yezíd, a name now forgotten.
[EN#82] I have remarked that the name of the Patriarch Jacob is
no longer connected with the Badá plain.
[EN#83] Schweinfurth (the Athenæum, July 6, 1878) speaks of a
"Wadi Abu Marwa ('Quartz Valley')" south of the Galalah block.
[EN#84] Chap. IX.
[EN#85] A paper describing our "finds" was read before the
Anthropological Section of the British Association Meeting at
Dublin on August 21, 1878, and subsequently before the
Anthropological Institute of London (December 10, 1878).
[EN#86] The following was the announcement offered to the
public:--
"La collection minéralogique et archéologique rapportée par le
Capitaine Burton, de sa seconde Expédition au pays de Midian, est
exposée dans les salles de l'Hippodrome, avant d'être envoyée à
l'Exposition Universelle de Paris, sous la direction de M. G.
Marie, inge'nieur des mines.
"La salle du sud renferme les croquis et les aquarelles faits par
M. E. Lacaze.
"La partie du nord commence avec Akabah, point extrême atteint
par l'Expédition; elle contient les résultats du premier voyage
de l'Expédition, c'est-à-dire: Shermá, Djebel el-Abiat, Aynouneh,
Moghair-Schuaib, Mokna et Akabah.
"Le mur de l'est contient tout ce qui se rapporte à la seconde
exploration, c'est-à-dire l'Hismá et le grand massif du Shárr.
"Le mur du sud contient les principaux points de vue pris au sud
du pays de Midian: Wedje, la forteresse, la montagne de
Omm-el-Karáyát, travaillée par les anciens, la mine de Omm
el-Hárab, le temple antique, etc., etc.
"Sur la table sont les médailles et la collection anthropologique
fait par le Capitaine Burton.
"La salle du nord contient la collection géologique et
minéralogique faite par M. G. Marie; les minéraux sont classés
suivant l'ordre des pays parcourus, c'est-à-dire en commencant à
Akabah et finissant au Ouadi Hamz, frontière du Hedjaz.
"Tout autour de la salle sont rangées les vingt caisses contenant
des échantillons que Son Altesse le Khédive envoie en Angleterre
pour y être analysés. Près de la porte de l'est sont placés les
restes du temple de l'Ouadi Hamz, les moulins pour écraser le
quartz, les briques réfractaires, et enfin les inscriptions
Nabathéennes.
"Dans les loges de l'Hippodrome, derrière les deux salles, sont
déposés environ quinze tonnes d'échantillons, destinès a être
analysés par une Commission locale, nommée par Son Altesse le
Khédive."
[EN#87] M. Marie, £35 12s.; Haji Wali, £23; M. Philipin, £12 4s.;
M. Lacaze, £3 16s.
[EN#88] Starting with a hundred camels and three Shaykhs.
[EN#89] For all hands.
[EN#90] Includes "bakhshísh."
[EN#91] Sixty-one camels, four Shaykhs.
[EN#92] For all hands.
[EN#93] Fifty camels, three Shaykhs.
[EN#94] For all hands.
[EN#95] Got from Mukhbir.
[EN#96] Fifty-eight camels, three Shaykhs.
[EN#97] For all hands.
[EN#98] Includes "bakhshísh."
[EN#99] Six months' pay.
[EN#100] Four months.
[EN#101] Four months and a half.
[EN#102] Employed on special service.
End of The Land of Midian, (Revisited) By Richard F. Burton,
Volume 2.
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