Steps Had Been Cut In Several
Places, And The Ascent Rendered Less Steep, By Conducting It, In Many
Windings, To The Top:
Half a dozen spacious resting-places had also been
formed on the side of the mountain, where the caravans take breath,
there being no where so much as eight square feet of level ground.
The
same spring, which comes from near the top, is crossed several times. I
met many of the Hodheyl Bedouins, with their families and flocks of
sheep, near the road. One of them gave me some milk, but would not take
any money in return; the sale of milk being considered by these Bedouins
as a scandal, though they might derive great profits from it at Mekka,
where one pound of milk is worth two piastres. I conversed freely with
the men, and with the wife of one of them. They seemed a race of hardy
mountaineers, and, although evidently poor, have a more robust and
fleshy appearance than the northern Bedouins, which I ascribe chiefly to
the healthiness of the climate, and the excellence of the water. The
Beni Hodheyl, famous in the ancient history of Arabia, were nominally
subject to the Sherif of Mekka, in whose territory they live; but they
were in fact quite independent, and often at war with him.
We were full two hours in ascending from the coffee-huts to the summit
of the mountain, from whence we enjoyed a beautiful prospect over the
low country. We discerned Wady Muna, but not Mekka; and as far as the
eye could reach, winding chains of hills appeared upon a flat surface,
towards the north and south, with narrow stripes of white sand between
them, without the slightest verdure. Close to our right rose a peak of
the mountain
[p.65] Kora, called Nakeb el Ahmar, from four to five hundred feet
higher than the place where we stood, and appearing to overtop all the
neighbouring chain. Towards the north, the mountain, about thirty miles
distant, seemed to decrease considerably in height; but southward it
continues of the same height. After half an hour's ride from the summit,
we came to a small village called Ras el Kora. Finding myself much
fatigued, I insisted upon sleeping here, with which my guide reluctantly
complied, as he had received orders to travel expeditiously.
August 28th. - The village and neighbourhood of Ras el Kora is the most
beautiful spot in the Hedjaz, and more picturesque and delightful than
any place I had seen since my departure from Lebanon, in Syria. The top
of Djebel Kora is flat, but large masses of granite lie scattered over
it, the surface of which, like that of the granite rocks near the second
cataract of the Nile, is blackened by the sun. Several small rivulets
descend from this peak, and irrigate the plain, which is covered with
verdant fields and large shady trees on the side of the granite rocks.
To those who have only known the dreary and scorching sands of the lower
country of the Hedjaz, this scene is as surprising as the keen air which
blows here is refreshing.
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