shore. The ruins therefore cannot well be referred to a period later than the twelfth century. Our Arabs called this island only el-Kurey, or el-Kureiyeh; the diminutive of a word which signifies a village, but which they also apply to the ruins of such a place. The Arabs of the eastern coast, according to Lieut. Wellsted, give it the name of Jezîrat Far'ôn, ‘Pharaoh's Island.'2 From the castle of 'Akabah it bears W. S. W.

Continuing our course we came in twenty minutes to the little Wady el-Kureiyeh, coming down from the left, so called from the island before it. Then followed the sand and stones of Wady el-Mezârîk, which we passed at 10 o'clock. Here low hills of sandstone and chalk interrupted the granite for a time. Further on, in the broad plain of Wady Tâba' we came at half past 11 o'clock to a brackish well, with many palmtrees. Among the latter was one tree of the species called Dôm, the Theban palm, so frequent in Upper Egypt. Here was also a large square hole dug in the ground, walled up with rough stones, like a cellar; in it had once been a well, but the bottom was now covered with young palm-trees.

Higher up in the valley there was said to be better water.

Beyond this valley or plain, the granite rocks come down to the shore again, forming a long black promontory, called by Burckhardt Râs Kureiyeh, and by our guides Elteit; but the Arabs at 'Akabah gave it the name of Râs el-Musry, and said that Elteit was the name of a valley on the eastern coast. Ten minutes

1) Wilken Gesch. der Kreuzzüge III. ii. p. 222. Abulfed. Arab. in Geogr. vet. Scriptores, ed. Hudson, Oxon. 1712. Tom. III. p. 41. Schultens Ind. Geogr. in Rommel's

Vit. Salad. art. Aila. Abulfeda, p. 78, 79. under Ailah, further on.

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2) This island has been described by Lieut. Wellsted, Travels, II. pp. 140, 142, seq; also by Laborde and by Rüppell, Reisen in Nubien, p. 252. Both these travellers have given views of the ruins ; that of Laborde is more elegant, and that of Rüppell more correct.

brought us to the side of this promontory running E. N. E. Our way led along its base; and we turned the extremity at a quarter past noon. Hence the little island bore S. 65° W. while the shore before us continued N. E. Just beyond this point, a valley called Wady el-Musry is said to come in; but we did not take note of it at the time. The mountains on the left here retire from the coast; and near it are only low hills of conglomerated sand and gravel, almost of the consistence of rock, and extending beyond the head of the Gulf. We now began to see the opening of the great valley el-'Arabah. The mountains on the East of it are high and picturesque; and a low spot in them marks the place of Wady el-Ithm. At 2 o'clock, we passed a small rock on the shore, with a heap of stones upon it, called Hajr el-'Alawy, 'Stone of the 'Alawy.' This Tuweileb said, was the ancient and proper boundary of the Tawarah in this quarter, separating them from the 'Alawîn; and here in former days, both men and beasts entering the territory of the Tawarah paid a tribute. At length, at a quarter past 2 o'clock, we reached the N. W. corner of the Gulf, and entered the great Haj road, which comes down from the western mountain and passes along the shore at the northern end of the sea. Just at this point we met a large caravan of the Haweitât coming from the eastern desert, whence they had been driven out by the drought. They were now wandering towards the South of Palestine, and had with them about seventy camels and many asses, but no flocks. These were the first real Arabs of the desert we had seen; not wearing the turban like the Tawarah, but decorated with the Kefiyeh, a handkerchief of yellow or some glaring colour thrown over the head, and bound fast with a skein of woollen yarn; the corners being left loose and hanging down the sides of the face and neck.

They were wild, savage, hungry-looking fellows; and we thought we had much rather be with our mild Tawarah than in their power. Tuweileb held a parley with them, which detained us fifteen minutes.

From this point, which we left at 2 o'clock, the N. shore of the Gulf runs S. E. almost in a straight line nearly to the castle of 'Akabah. The general course of Wady el-'Arabah, taken about the middle, is here N. N. E. Its width at this end is about four geogr. miles; farther North it is wider. The mountains on either side are high; those on the West fifteen to eighteen hundred feet, and those on the East two thousand to twenty-five hundred feet. The valley was full of sand-drifts as far as the eye could reach; and seemed to have little or no acclivity towards the North. The torrents, which in the rainy season stream into it from the adjacent mountains, flow along its western side, so far as they are not absorbed by the sand; and enter the sea at the N. W. corner. There is no appearance of a water-course in any other part of the valley. Along the shore from this point nearly to the castle, the waters of the Gulf have cast up an unbroken bank of sand and gravel which is higher than the level of the Wady, and would prevent the passage of any stream. On the North of the path, towards the western side, a large tract has the appearance of moist marshy ground, seemingly impregnated with nitre, and looking as if water had recently been standing upon it; which sinking or drying away, had left an incrustation on many portions of the surface. This tract is mostly naked of vegetation; yet the parts in the vicinity are full of shrubs, chiefly of the Ghurkud; and seen from a distance, the ground appears as if covered with a luxuriant vegetation. This however vanishes on a nearer approach. We looked in vain in the western part of the valley for

traces of ruins of any kind; we had hoped to find something by which to fix a site for Ezion-geber. Towards the eastern side and around the castle is a large grove of palm-trees, extending both ways for some distance along the shore.

At 3h 40′ we reached the end of the straight part of the shore, which here takes a direction due S. for perhaps half an hour; when it again curves around S. S. W. to the general line of the eastern coast. At this point the extensive mounds of rubbish, which mark the site of Ailah, the Elath of Scripture, were on our left. They present nothing of interest, except as indicating that a very ancient city has here utterly perished. We did not learn that they have now a name. Further E. than these, beyond a gully coming down from the eastern mountain, are the ruins of an Arab village, mere walls of stone once covered probably with flat roofs of palm-leaves, like the dwellings now just around the castle. Many of the palm-trees are here enclosed in reservoirs, in order to retain the water of the rainy season around them. At 3h 50' we reached the castle, and entered the huge portal from the N. W. through strong and massive doors heavily cased with iron; the whole passage-way being lined with many Arabic inscriptions.

The castle is an oblong quadrangle of high thick walls, with a tower or bastion at each of the four corners. All around the wall on the inside is a row of chambers or magazines one story high, with a solid flat roof, forming a platform around the interior of the castle. On this platform are erected in several parts temporary huts or chambers, covered with the stalks of palm-leaves, and occupied apparently by the garrison as dwellings. We did not learn the time when

1) A view of the castle of 'Akabah is given by Rüppell and by Laborde. VOL. I. 31

the fortress was built; the date is doubtless contained in some of the numerous inscriptions; but we were so much taken up with other matters, that this point was overlooked. Burckhardt says it was erected, as it now stands, by the Sultan el-Ghûry of Egypt in the sixteenth century. This is not improbable; though I am not aware of the authority on which the assertion rests. The garrison consisted at this time of thirty-three undisciplined soldiers, Mughâribeh or Western Africans, as they were called, but actually Bedawîn from Upper Egypt. In command of these were a Captain of the Gate, a Gunner, a Wakil or Commissary, and over all a Governor.

As we entered the fortress, the governor was sitting in the open air on a bench or platform under the windows of a room near the S. W. corner of the court. He received us with apathetic civility, invited us to sit upon his platform, ordered coffee, and meantime read the letters which we had brought from Habib Effendi and the governor of Suez. He was a young man, who had been here only four or five months; his predecessor having been recalled, it was said, on account of incivility to former travellers. There was therefore in his whole demeanour towards us, now and afterwards, an air of studied endeavour, not indeed to please and gratify us, but so to conduct as to avoid complaint and future censure. The room before which he was sitting, was assigned to us; it seemed to be his usual hall of audience, with coarse gratings for windows, but no glass. Here our luggage was deposited, and we spread our beds; and as the walls of the room were of stone and the floor of earth, and cold, we escaped the usual annoyance from bugs and fleas, for which the place is famous. Scorpions are also said to be in plenty here; but we saw none of them. They are caught by cats, of which there are great numbers