into five clans, viz. el-Ŭsbâny, el-Humeidy, er-Rubî'y, el-Humâdy, and el Fudhly. The present head-Sheikh over the whole is named el-Makbûl. None of the tribe have horses, except the Sheikh; and he only four or five. This fact shows that their country is a desert.' The 'Amrân and Haweitât are leagued tribes.-The right of pasturage in a given region does not belong exclusively to the tribe inhabiting the tract; but any foreign tribe that chooses, may come in and pasture, and go away again, without asking permission. In this way bands of the Haweitât (as we had seen) were now migrating for the season to the southern borders of Palestine.—If any one steals, the loser takes from the thief an article of equal or greater value, and deposits it with a third person. The thief is then summoned to trial; and if he refuses, he forfeits the thing thus taken from him. The judges are not always the Sheikhs; other persons may exercise this office. If a person slays another, the nearest relative of the deceased is entitled to a certain number of camels, or to the life of one equal to the deceased.2

The following are the Wadys and springs known to our guides, running down into el-'Arabah from the western mountain. They are all small, except the Jerâfeh; and all the fountains are living water. Beginning from the South, the first is el-Hendis with sweet water; then el-Ghudyân (Ezion?) with brackish water; esh-Sha'ib with a road ascending through it; el-Beyânch with the most direct road from 'Akabah to Gaza; el-Jerâfeh nearly opposite mount Hor; elWeiby; el-Khurâr. With the three last we became

1) Horses and neat cattle require a supply of water and fresh pasturage. Hence by inquiring after the animals which a tribe possessed, we were always able to

ascertain the nature of their country.

2) Compare the similar traits of law among the Tawarah, p. 208-10 above.

better acquainted at a later period; of the others we learned nothing more.

Sunday, April 8th. We remained all day encamped. The morning was clear and cold; the coldest indeed which we at any time experienced; the thermometer having fallen at sunrise to 35° F. The day became also windy; so that we were somewhat incommoded in our tent by the drifting sand. Our Arabs had a visit from some of the Haiwât, who are the possessors of all this eastern part of the desert; and afterwards from several of the party of the Haweitât whom we had seen the day before. We obtained from them camel's milk for our tea, and found it richer and better than that of goats.

Our Arabs bought of their visitors a kid, which they killed as a "redemption" (Arabic Fedu), in order, as they said, that its death might redeem their camels from death; and also as a sacrifice for the prosperity of our journey. With the blood they smeared crosses on the necks of their camels, and on other parts of their bodies. Such sacrifices are frequent among them. This mark of the cross we supposed they had probably imitated from their neighbours, the monks of Sinai; or perhaps they only made it as being one of the simplest marks.

Monday, April 9th. Soon after retiring to rest last night, we had quite a little alarm. For two or three days a lean half-starved Arab dog, probably from the Haiwât or Haweitât, had attached himself to our caravan, and like his masters was particularly attentive to Komeh and his kitchen. About 11 o'clock, when I was already sound asleep, this dog, himself half wolf, began to bark. This was an indication that some strange person or animal was near us; and we remembered the barking of old 'Aîd's dog, the night before Burckhardt and his party were attacked

by robbers. In the present case it might be some prowling hyæna; or some of our visitors of yesterday, looking around for an opportunity of thieving; or it might be also a party of armed robbers from beyond the 'Arabah. We had heard indeed at 'Akabah, that two tribes of that region, the Beni Sukhr and the Hejâya, were at war with the Arabs of the desert etTîh, often committing robberies in the 'Arabah itself, and sometimes extending their marauding expeditions into the western desert; and it was not impossible, that we might now be threatened with a visit of this nature. Our Arabs were evidently alarmed. They said, if thieves, they would steal upon us at midnight; if robbers, they would come down upon us towards morning. All proposed and promised to watch during the whole night; and we also thought it best to sit up in turn. But we heard nothing further; and the morning found us undisturbed. One of our 'Amrân guides professed afterwards to have found the tracks of a hyæna not far from the tent; or the alarm may very probably have proceeded from a thief, who withdrew at the barking of the dog. We now took the poor dog into more favour; he proved a faithful guard, and continued with us all the way to Jerusalem. But his Bedawy habits were too strong to be overcome; and he vanished as we entered the city.

We were again upon our way at 5 o'clock, ascending by a small branch Wady, called Raudh elHumârah, through a tract of undulating country, of limestone formation like all this desert, and covered with black flints and pebbles. At 7 o'clock we came out of this Wady and up a low ascent to a small plain, crossing the heads of several more Ridhân or dry brooks of the same name. At this place, two or three years before, a robbery had been committed by a party of the Hejâya, one of the tribes" from the rising sun,"

on a caravan of the 'Amrân. They fell upon the caravan as it was encamped at night, seizing the plunder and taking the lives of one or two.

Our road now led over a most desert tract of swelling hills, covered in like manner with black flints; our course being still N. by W. towards Jebel 'Arâif. At 7h 20' the cliff el-Mukrâh bore N. E. while the western end of its high ridge bore North. Ten minutes further on, the road from 'Akabah through Wady Beyâneh fell into ours from the right. At 7 40′ we crossed a Wady running off to the right to Wady elGhudhâghidh and so to el-'Arabah. Ascending again slightly to a small plateau, we came immediately upon the water-shed, or dividing line between the waters of el-'Arabah and those of the Mediterranean; the former drained off by the Jerâfeh, and the latter by the great Wady el-'Arîsh. At no great distance on our left were low chalky cliffs of singular form, apparently spurs from the ridges we had before seen in that direction. Descending a little, we immediately struck and crossed Wady el-Haikibeh at 8 o'clock, here running towards the N. E. but sweeping round again afterwards to the N. W., so that our path crossed it a second time after three quarters of an hour. It is full of shrubs. We now continued along its side N. N. W. until a quarter past nine o'clock, and then left it running to join the Kureiyeh, a tributary of Wady el-'Arîsh. Just beyond this Wady were the chalky cliffs above mentioned; and as we left them behind, other low ridges appeared on our left at different distances of five, ten, or fifteen miles. We now rode over another barren flinty tract, with a few small Rîdhân running towards the Haikibeh. In some spots we found very small tufts of grass springing up among the pebbles, the effect of recent rains. Our guides said, that in those years when there is plenty of rain, grass

springs up in this way all over the face of the desert. In such seasons, they said, the Arabs are kings. At 10 o'clock a path went off to the right leading to some wells of sweet water called el-Mâyein, lying in a direction N. by E. in the mountains beyond Jebel 'Arâif. This path passes to the right of 'Arâif, over the low part of the ridge extending East from that mountain; and falls again into our road further on.

We reached Wady el-Kureiyeh at 10" 10', coming down from near the ridge of el-Mŭkrâh, which was now not far off. Here a round mountain on our left called Jebel Ikhrimm bore W. by N. The Kureiyeh bends around and passes at the northern base of this hill; and further down, about half a day's journey from the point where we crossed, there are in it pits of rain-water, Emshâsh, forming a station on the great road from the convent to Gaza.-Another similar flinty tract now succeeded, called Hemâdet et-'Anaz, over which our course was N. N. W. A clayey Wady called Abu Tîn followed at 12h 50'; and another, the deep bed of a torrent, el-Khŭrâizeh, at half past one; both running S. W. into the Kureiyeh. The country now became open quite to the base of Jebel 'Arâif enNâkah, which had so long been our landmark. The mountain is of a conical form, five or six hundred feet high, consisting of limestone thickly strewed with flints. At a distance it seems wholly isolated; the low ridges, which extend from it E. and W. being there overlooked. That on the E., as has been said already, connects with higher ridges further on, and terminates in the bluff el-Mukrâh; while that on the W. continues lower and more broken. The 'Arâif forms a striking object, as thus seen in the middle of the mighty waste. It is indeed a huge bulwark, terminating the open desert on this part, and forming the outwork or bastion of a more mountainous tract be