height. A long, high, dark-looking mountain was pointed out to us, called ez-Zebîr, bearing S. about two hours distant; on the top of which there was said to be table-land and pasturage for camels. Passing down the plain on the same course as before (S. E. by S.) we came at 4 o'clock to its S. E. part, where it contracts between noble granite cliffs; and entering Wady Berâh for a short distance, we encamped at 4h 15' on its western side. The rocks on both sides of this valley presented everywhere surfaces so well adapted for inscriptions, that leaving my companions to follow down the right side, I struck across to the left. Here on a large rock I found four short inscriptions in the usual unknown character. Over the longest of them was a cross, evidently of the same date. Just by our tent was also a huge detached rock covered with similar inscriptions much obliterated. Here were two crosses, apparently of later date, or else retouched. This evening our Arabs again brought us good water from a spring in the small Wady Retâmeh, which enters the Berâh opposite our encampment. They had shown themselves every day more and more obliging; and commonly took as active a part in pitching the tent and arranging the luggage for the night, as our servants. In all these matters, our resolute Komeh was master and director, and made the Arabs do his bidding. He found the less difficulty in this, as being cook and purveyor he knew how to distribute the fragments in his department with great nicety and discrimination; so that it was an object of some importance to a hungry Bedawy to keep on good terms with him. Among the many plants we had noted on this and the preceding days, some of the most frequent besides the 'Abeithirân were the Retem, a species of the broom plant, Genista raetam of Forskal,' with small whitish variegated blossoms, growing in the water-courses of the Wadys; the Kirdhy, a green thorny plant with small yellow flowers, which our camels cropped with avidity; the Silleh, apparently the Zilla myagrioides of Forskal; the Shih or Artemisia Judaica of Sprengel; and the 'Ajram, from which the Arabs obtain a substitute for soap, by pounding it when dry between stones, and mixing it with the water in which they wash their linen. Friday, March 23d. We set off again at 61 25′ down Wady Berâh, our course being S. S. E.E. We had ever wished to set off earlier in the morning, than we had yet been able to do. The Arabs were never in a hurry to break up; and this morning especially they were occupied with Beshârah's camel, which had come up late at evening, and was now sent home to their encampment. As we were approaching Sinai, and no longer needed to carry a load of water, this caused us little inconvenience. But let us rise as early as we would, we found it difficult to start under an hour and a half or two hours. It was decidedly a saving of time, on the whole, to breakfast before setting off, rather than stop on our way for that purpose; and this with the delay of packing the utensils and tent, and loading the camels, always made our departure later than the time appointed. As we proceeded down the valley, the rocks on the right presented several inscriptions in the same unknown writing. Indeed we found them at almost every point where the overhanging or projecting rocks seemed to indicate a convenient resting place. The mountains on either side continued of the same character as those we had passed yesterday, chiefly porphyry 1) Flora Aegypt. Arab. 2) Ibid. p. 121. and red granite, with an occasional vein of gray granite. The rock was mostly of a coarse texture, much disintegrated and often worn away by the weather, like sandstone. Not unfrequently thin perpendicular veins apparently of grünstein or porphyry were to be seen, projecting above the granite and running through the rocks in a straight line over mountains and vallies for miles, and presenting the appearance of low walls. They reminded me strongly of the stone-fences of New England.-At a quarter past 7 o'clock the Wady spread out into a plain, where the peak of Jebel Mûsa was first pointed out to us bearing S. E. while the left hand peak of Serbâl bore S. W. Ten minutes later Wady 'Ösh, a side valley, entered the Berâh from the left, in which sweet water is found at some distance. Opposite its mouth, on our right, was an old cemetery, apparently no longer used by the Arabs. The heaps of stones which mark the graves are larger than usual, and our guides referred them back to the times of the Franks; as the Bedawîn do every thing of which they know nothing themselves. They seem to have a general impression, not perhaps a distinct tradition, that the country was once in the possession of Frank Christians. At 7 o'clock Wady el-Akhdar came in from the N. E. It was said to begin near Jebel et-Tîh, where there is a spring of the same name, 'Ain el-Akhdar; and uniting here with the Berâh, it passes on S. W. to join Wady esh-Sheikh. The united valley after this junction takes the name of Wady Feirân. The point where the Berâh and Akhdar unite, is a broad open space covered with herbs and surrounded by low hills. Here is a fine view of Mount Serbâl, which rose in full majesty upon our right at the distance of twelve or fifteen miles, being separated from us only by a low ridge or tract beyond which lies Wady Feirân. As thus seen, it presents the appearance of a long, thin, lofty ridge of granite, with numerous points or peaks, of which there are reckoned five principal ones; the whole being strictly what the Germans call a Kamm. We saw it now in the bright beams of the morning sun, a grand and noble object, as its ragged peaks were reflected upon the deep azure beyond. Thus far we had followed the same route which Burckhardt took in 1816; but from this point he turned into the Akhdar, and then crossed higher up to Wady esh-Sheikh, which he then followed to Mount Sinai. We kept the more direct and usual road, crossing the Akhdar, and continuing on a S. S. E. course up the short ascent of Wady Soleif to the top or water-shed, which we passed at 8 o'clock; and then descending along a Wady still called Soleif towards Wady eshSheikh. Here we met Sheikh Tuweileb, on foot, the same who was to be our future guide, returning it was said to his family. At three quarters past 8 o'clock we reached Wady esh-Sheikh, one of the largest and most famous vallies of the peninsula. It takes its rise in the very heart of Sinai, whence it issues a broad valley at first in an eastern direction, and then sweeping round to the North and West, it passes down towards Serbâl. We found it here running from N. E. to S. W. After receiving the Akhdar, it takes the name of Feirân, and as such is well-watered, has gardens of fruit and palm-trees, and receiving many branches runs to the northward of Serbâl quite down to the sea. The lower and easier road from Wady et-Taiyibeh to Sinai enters the Feirân from the head of Wady Mukatteb, and follows it up through Wady esh-Sheikh almost to the Convent. From the point where we now were, this road is long and circuitous; while a shorter one strikes directly towards the Convent, ascending in part by a narrow and difficult pass. We took the latter; and crossing Wady esh-Sheikh proceeded on a course S. E. by S. up the broad Wady or rather sloping plain, es-Seheb, thickly studded with shrubs, but without trees. Here and around Wady esh-Sheikh are only low hills, lying between the rocky mountains behind us and the cliffs of Sinai before us; and forming as it were a lower belt around the lofty central granite region. Over these hills, low walls of porphyry or grünstein, like those above described, run in various directions, stretching off to a great distance. This plain of Seheb had been last year the scene of threatened war between the different tribes of the Tawarah; growing out of a dispute as to the right of conducting travellers to and from the convent. The story had some reference to Lord Lindsay and his party; and I shall give it, as we heard it, at the close of the present Section, in speaking of the divisions and character of the Tawarah. We came to the top of the plain at a quarter before 11 o'clock, where is a short but rough pass, full of debris, having on the right a low sharp peak called el-'Örf. From this point to the base of the cliffs of Sinai there is a sort of belt or tract of gravel and sand, full of low hills and ridges, sinking down towards the foot of the cliffs into the Wady Solâf, which runs off W. along their base to join Wady esh-Sheikh. The black and frowning mountains before us, the outworks as it were of Sinai, are here seen to great advantage, rising abrupt and rugged from their very base eight hundred to a thousand feet in height, as if forbidding all approach to the sanctuary within. On the West of the pass, which is here hardly distinguishable, the cliffs bear the name of Jebel el-Haweit. Descending S. S. E. across the belt, we came at 12h 15' to Wady Solâf, which has its head not very far to the left, near |