CHAPTER X.

THE RETURN FROM THE WHITE MOUNTAIN TO EL-MU

WAYLÁH, via WADY SHARMA AND WADY TIRYAM.

NOTES ON BOTANY.

WITH a last fond look at the Grand Filon, we set out next morning (April 11th), westing towards the Erythræan Sea. Nothing could be more refreshing than the sense of complete freedom, of breathing boundless air, of feeling that the world lay open before one. The sunrise was of splendid wildness, the rays of light being divided by the peaked and pinnacled sky-line of the mountain-wall into distinct and several shafts which, sharply defined on the east, melted away before they reached the zenith.

The gorgeously-tinted gala-robes worn by the giants of earth; seawards the ora variis ornata coloribus, which even the ancients, who cared little for landscape, described as a Mirificum præternavigantibus Spectaculum; and the infinite shades and shiftings of colour, which made the features of the

ground mobile as the face of the waves-were the especial charms of the morning hours. Nor could

we help admiring the perfumed vegetation of the Desert; small, tender and mignonne as that of Iceland, and filling the liberal air with its lavish fragrance.

After many a halt to "prospect," we entered the

smooth line of the

Wady el-Maka'adah, which

begins at the station. A carriage * A carriage and four could be driven along it, avoiding only the normal outcrops and islets of grey granite, here and there weathered to whiteness. Presently this rock entirely disappeared, and we saw nothing but débris of porphyry, which had slipped from the lofty red walls of the cañon.

The dromedaries came up with us after a walk of fifty minutes; and now we determined to try their speed. After travelling about nine miles, we were shown on the left the head of Wady Sharma, the objective of our march: we presently learned why the guides did not take the direct road down the great southern fork, whose "báb" (gate) is rendered impassable to camels by a marsh. The Bedawin pointed out to us the valley-banks of ruddy-pink, and told us that the same material formed the surface of the Hismá.

I lately heard of a dignitary making the Pilgrimage from Cairo in a carriage. Presently there will be Wenham Lake ice on the Hajj road, and the days of Hárún el-Rashíd will be revived.

Presently we reached the seaward gap of Wady el-Maka'adah, and once more felt the delicious gulfbreezes full in our faces. This breach in the falaise, as usual about 200 mètres broad, is distinguished from its inhabited neighbours by being waterless; consequently there are no ruins, and thorns usurp the place of palms. Here we stood nearly opposite the southern end of the long strip of wooded island"Umm Maksúr." The shore was close at hand; and we were shown the place where the Arabs collect, when the waters are dried up, a coarse and sandy salt. The lower bed of the Fiumara, after issuing from the gate, hence changes its name to Wady Melláhah of Salinas.

We then wound along the seaward face of the ancient cliff, and passed, on the left, a second gap, or rather crack, tortuous and rock-strewn, which splits the wall from top to bottom. This gorge also On the right was

has evidently never had tenants.

a small cemetery of Bedawin graves, over which no man recited a Fátihah; and after a sharp trot of nearly three hours, we sighted with pleasure the long and broad "Nakhil" (palmetum) that announces Wady Sharmá, with its dates and dorns, reeds,

*We set out at 5.10 a.m., and arrived at 8.45 (=3 h. 35'): of this we walked 50' (= 2 miles) and rode 2 h. 45' (= 14 miles), or a total of 16 miles. At Camp Wady Sharma, the aneroid showed 29 30 and the therm. (F.) at 2 p.m., when the Khamsin was blowing, 93° in the shade.

sedges, and rushes. Water, treacherously clear and crystalline, but highly sulphureous, flowed over the sands in a prattling stream, and below camp formed a long pool, where all the birds of the neighbourhood assembled to chat and drink. A bath was immediately hollowed out; and the tents were pitched upon the raised right bank, beyond the reach of the mali culices, the gnats, the mosquitoes, and especially the flies, which here, I have said, are considered poisonous.

When the air had somewhat cooled, Mr. Clarke and Shaykh Abd el-Nabi set out on their dromedaries to bring up the remainder of our camp from Wady Aynúnah. I had resolved to rendezvous at the next station, and to march in one body upon El-Muwayláh. We then proceeded to inspect the "houses of the Nazarenes," which had been described to us as larger and more important than in the other cities of Midian; whilst the local supply of iron-ore is famous amongst the Bedawin.

The shelf upon which the tent stood was a mass of débris, pottery-sherds, scoriæ, and ashes-in fact, animal and vegetable matter, capped with that saline efflorescence which the people connect with ancient ruins. A couple of men, set to dig, found nothing save a scorpion. We then walked to the place where the Wady splits and forms a long flat holm, uniting somewhat below it. This was the

site of a strong fortress, with angles adapted to the ground, and with the usual complicated entrance, apparently a long couloir. It was several kilomètres in circuit, and the plan-tracing occupied Lieutenants Árif and Hasan until noon the next day. They also hunted out the furnaces, whose scoriæ strewed the maritime plain; while I collected pottery, but failed to find any glass-fragments. The only other remarkable work of the old town was a deep cut in the soft rock, apparently artificial, and possibly used for metal-washing: it extended from the ruins to the northern bank of the stream's southern branch, where the waters slept in a dark, deep, and sullen pool, which did not invite a header.

Thence we walked up the Wady Sharmá, a generic name made proper;* and found the fine palm-grove in the same neglected condition as that of Wady Aynúnah, while traces of Bedawi fires appeared in the shape of scorched trunks, standing as well as felled. A swamp defends the upper part of the islet, while the right bank, choked with marsh and vegetation, hardly affords a footpath. The tall and stiff falaise, now based as usual upon granite, is composed of the normal stalactite-like corallines and meandrinæ. The material shows frequent moulds of Venus, oyster, and other modern

* Sharm being a bight or creek: the principal port in Hadramaut is also called Sharma.