came nearest to it; and all the camels were sent up the valley to be watered at the fountain, which was said to be more than half an hour distant towards etTîh. Meantime we lay down upon the sand and slept. After a while, some of the men came back with five of the camels; saying the path was so rugged and difficult that their camels could not reach the spring. The others however succeeded; and after a delay of nearly three hours, returned, bringing a supply of tolerably good water, though slightly brackish. It is the only perennial water in these parts. These Arabs, being out of Tuweileb's sight, had probably turned their camels loose at the fountain to feed; and had themselves followed our example, and refreshed themselves with a nap. From this point a high mountain, said to lie in the fork of Wady Zugherah and Wady Nusb, bore S. S. W.IS.

Burckhardt has already suggested, that this fountain el-Hudhera is perhaps the Hazeroth of Scripture, the third station of the Israelites after leaving Sinai, and either four or five days' march from that mountain.' The identity of the Arabic and Hebrew names is apparent, each containing the corresponding radical letters; and the distance of eighteen hours from Sinai accords well enough with the hypothesis. The determination of this point is perhaps of more importance in Biblical history, than would at first appear; for if this position be adopted for Hazeroth, it settles at once the question as to the whole route of the Israelites between Sinai and Kadesh. It shows that they must have followed the route upon which we now were, to the sea and so along the coast to 'Akabah; and thence probably through the great Wady el-'Arabah to Kadesh. Indeed, such is the nature of the country, that

1) Num. xi. 35. xxxiii. 17. Comp. x. 33.—Burckhardt, p. 495.

having once arrived at this fountain, they could not well have varied their course, so as to have kept aloof from the sea and continued along the high plateau of the western desert.

We were again upon our way at 2 o'clock, approaching now the southern chain of the Tîh. Our general course was E. N. E. At 2h 40' there was a narrow pass and a slight descent among hills of sandstone. Here on the rocks at the left were several Arabic inscriptions with crosses, marking them as the work of pilgrims; and lower down along the descent were many rude drawings of animals. The route now winds much among sandstone hills and ridges, itself very sandy; and at 3 o'clock we came out into a large open tract or plain called el-Ghôr, extending far to the S. E. and connecting apparently with the great sandy plain which skirts the Tîh further to the West. We had now reached the line of the southern chain of the Tîh; which here sinks down into precipitous isolated hills and masses of sandstone rock, rent to the bottom by narrow sandy vallies or clefts, through which the route passes, neither ascending nor descending except slightly. We may call these hills the fragments of the Tîh. Entering among these cliffs, we came without perceptible ascent at 34 o'clock to the point which divides the waters of Wady Murrah and Sa'l from those which run northwards to Wady Wetîr. Here we struck the head of Wady Ghŭzâleh, which we followed down N. E. having perpendicular walls of sandstone on each side, and so narrow that in some places it might be closed by a gate. At the end of another fifteen minutes we emerged from these hills or fragments of the Tîh, into an open sandy plain, with hills upon the left, and on the right at some distance Jebel es-Sumghy, a long ridge running from N. W. to S. E. and forming a sort of continuation of this

part of the Tîh towards the eastern coast. In this mountain on the other side rises the Wady of the same name. At 3h 50' the middle of the ridge bore E. At 4 o'clock we left the bed of Wady Ghůzâleh running off N. to join Wady Wetîr; and crossing a sandy tract for fifteen minutes we struck Wady er-Ruweihibîyeh' coming down from the N. E. and flowing by a short turn into Wady Ghŭzâleh. We ascended this valley till half past 4 o'clock and then encamped in it for the night and for the next day. It is one of the prettiest Wadys we had found; the sand ceased as we entered it and the bottom is of fine gravel. The valley is broad; the sides are rugged naked cliffs, where sandstone, grünstein, and granite, all appear alternately. It is everywhere dotted with herbs; and many Seyâltrees scattered in it give it almost the appearance of

an orchard.

The country we had passed through this day is a frightful desert. In some of the Wadys there were herbs and shrubs; in others none; while the sandy plains and ragged sandstone hills were without a trace of vegetation. As we emerged from the narrow part of Wady Ghŭzâleh, the aspect of the country changed; and it was evident that we had passed the southern range of the Tîh. We were now among another net of Wadys, which drain the mountainous region between the two parallel ridges of that mountain. The most central and frequented spot in this region is the fountain and Wady called el-'Ain, lying several hours distance to the N. W. of our present encampment; where there is living water and a brook and luxuriant vegetation, resembling apparently Wady Feirân, though without cultivation.2 The water is said not to be so

1) Wady Rahab of Burckhardt,

p. 496.

VOL. I.

2) Rüppell's Reisen in Nubien, p. 255, seq.

29

good as that of el-Hudhera. From that point the great Wady Wetîr runs down eastward by a winding course to the Gulf, forming the great drain into which all the Wadys of the region from the N. and S. empty themselves. A road already mentioned leads from the convent to el-'Ain, crossing the southern Tîh at a point considerably further West than our route, and then following down Wady Zulakah. From 'Ain a route goes off northwards to Gaza and Hebron, crossing the northern ridge of the Tih; and another keeps down Wady Wetîr to the Gulf, and so along the coast to 'Akabah.

Sunday, April 1st. We remained all day encamped. In the afternoon I wandered away into a lone side-valley and wrote a letter. Scarcely ever have I had such a sense of perfect solitude. No human eye was there; and no sound save that of the wind among the rocks. Just as I was about to return, a wild-looking Arab with his gun stood suddenly before me. I might have been startled, had I not recognised him at once as one of our own men,-a goodnatured fellow who had come to look for me on account of my long absence.

Monday, April 2d. We started at 5 o'clock. The morning was bright and beautiful; the sky serene; and the air of the desert fresh and invigorating. We proceeded up the valley N. E. by E. A little bird sat chirping on the topmost twig of one of the Seyâl-trees; and reminded me strongly of the notes of the American robin on my own green native hills. What a contrast to this desert! in which we had only once seen a blade of grass since we left the region of the Nile. In twenty minutes we came out on an open plain at the head of Wady er-Ruweihibîyeh. This plain consists of sandstone only partially covered with earth; the surface declines slightly towards the

N. E. and its waters flow off in that direction to Wady es-Sumghy. At 6h 25' we struck a small Wady descending N. E. along the northwestern extremity or base of Jebel Sumghy. The rocks here still exhibited alternate specimens of sandstone, grünstein, and granite. Twenty-five minutes further, the Wady entered very obliquely among the cliffs, which on this side form the commencement of the mountainous tract extending without much change of character to the coast. The cliffs were dark; and as we advanced, seemed to be chiefly of gray granite, with an occasional intermixture of porphyry and grünstein. Nothing could be of a more barren and uninviting aspect. At a quarter past 7 o'clock we left the Wady running on in the same direction to join Wady es-Sŭmghy further down, and turned at right angles into a branch Wady coming from the S. E. Here we ascended gradually for a few minutes, and then crossing the low water-shed descended towards Wady Sŭmghy, which we reached at 8 o'clock. This is a wide valley coming from the S. W. It is joined at this point from the S. by another broad Wady or plain called elMukrih; and the united valley flows off N. N. E. It is quite wide, and has many Seyâl-trees, from which gum arabic is collected in summer. All the trees of this species which we had seen since leaving the convent, were larger than those on the western side of the peninsula, and might compare with apple-trees of a moderate size.

Our course now lay down Wady Sumghy N. N. E. The cliffs on each side are high and irregular, and occasionally capped with sandstone. After half an hour we had a distant view of the northern ridge of the Tîh, in which a high point bore N. 15° E. The shrubs in this valley were greener than we had seen before; indicating that more rain had fallen in this