The People Of The Village, Who Are For The
Greater Part Bedouins Become Settlers, Could Not Suspect Any Motive I
Might Have For Residing Here, As They Saw That I Was Scarcely Able To
Stand Upon My Legs:
They treated me, in consequence, kindly; and little
presents of meat and other provision, which I distributed among them,
soon insured their good-will, and I had every reason to be satisfied
with their conduct.
Thus enjoying complete repose, and the good mountain
air of this village, which lies so much higher than Tor, my strength
soon returned.
[p.437] For the last four years, since I had left the society of my
friends Mr. Barker and Mr. Masseyk, and the delightful gardens of
Aleppo, I had not found myself so comfortable as I did here; and even
the first day that I passed in this retreat produced a visible
improvement in my health. As I thought that slight exercise might be
useful, I rode over to the Hammam, a warm bath, round the corner of the
mountain, situated to the north of Tor, and about half an hour distant
from El Wady. Several warm springs issue from the calcareous mountain,
the principal of which has a roof built over it, and is visited by all
the surrounding Bedouins. Some half-ruined buildings, probably as old as
the demolished castle of Tor, offered, in former times, accommodation to
the visiters. The water is of a moderate heat, and appears to be
strongly impregnated with nitre. Close by the springs are extensive
date-plantations. I have never seen a richer and more luxurious growth
of palm-trees than in this place; they form so thick a wood, that it is
difficult to find one's way through it. These plantations belong to the
Bedouins of the peninsula, who come here with their families at the
date-harvest. The largest grove, however, is the property of the Greek
priests of Mount Sinai, one of whom lives in an insulated tower in the
midst of it, like a hermit, for he is the only constant resident in the
place. The fear of the Bedouins keeps him shut up for months in this
tower the entrance to which is by a ladder; and a waterman, who provides
him every week with a supply of water, is the only individual who
approaches him. The priest is placed here as gardener of the convent;
but experience shows the inefficacy of all attempts to protect the trees
from the pilfering Bedouins, and they have therefore given up the fruit
to the first comer: so that this grove, the produce of which often
amounts to the value of four or five thousand piastres, becomes public
property.
I had some difficulty in providing myself with flesh-meat at Wady: sheep
are very scarce in the whole peninsula, and no Arab is inclined to sell
what he has. A flock had been sent from Suez to Tor, for the supply of
Mohammed Aly's lady and her suite.
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