The Arabs Nearest To Egypt
Use The Coloquint In Venereal Complaints; They Fill The Fruit With
Camel’S Milk, Roast It
[P.450] over the fire, and then give to the patient the milk thus
impregnated with the essence of the fruit.
In nine hours and a half we passed a chain of low chalky hills called
Ammayre (Arabic). On several parts of the road were holes, out of which
rock salt had been dug. At the end of ten hours and a half we arrived in
the vicinity of Nakhel (i.e. date-tree), a fortified station of the
Egyptian Hadj, situated about half an hour to the N. of the pilgrim’s
road. Our direction was still W. by N. Nakhel stands in a plain, which
extends to an immense distance southward, but which terminates to the N.
at about one hour’s distance from Nakhel, in a low chain of mountains.
The fortress is a large square building, with stone walls, without any
habitations round it. There is a well of brackish water, and a large
Birket, which is filled from the well, in the time of the Hadj. The
Pasha of Egypt keeps a garrison in Nakhel of about fifty soldiers, and
uses it as a magazine for the provisions of his army in his expedition
against the Wahabi. The appellation Nakhel was probably given to this
castle at a time when the adjacent country was covered with palm trees,
none of which are now to be seen here. At Akaba, on the contrary, are
large forests of them, belonging for the greater part to the Arabs
Heywat. The ground about Nakhel is chalky or sandy, and is covered with
loose pebbles.
We passed along the road as quickly as we could, for my companions were
afraid lest their camels should be stopped by the Aga of Nakhel, to
transport provisions to Akaba. The Arabs Heywat and Sowadye, who encamp
in this district, style themselves masters of Akaba and Nakhel, and
exact yearly from the Pasha certain sums for permitting him to occupy
them; for though they are totally unable to oppose his troops, yet the
tribute is paid, in order to take from them all pretext for plundering
small caravans.
NAKHEL
[p.451] About six hours to the S.W. of Nakhel is a chain of mountains
called Szadder (Arabic), extending in a S. E. direction.
Near Nakhel my Arab companions fell in with an acquaintance, who was
burning charcoal for the Cairo market. He informed us that a large party
of Arabs Sowaleha, with whom my Howeytats were at war, was encamped in
this vicinity; it was, in consequence, determined to travel by night,
until we should be out of their reach, and we stopped at sunset, about
one hour west of Nakhel, after a day’s march of eleven hours and a half,
merely for the purpose of allowing the camels to eat. Being ourselves
afraid to light a fire, lest it should be descried by the Sowaleha, we
were obliged to take a supper of dry flour mixed with a little salt.
During the whole of the journey the camels had no other provender than
the withered shrubs of the desert, my dromedary excepted, to which I
gave a few handfuls of barley every evening. Loaded camels are scarcely
able to perform such a journey without a daily allowance of beans and
barley.
August 31st—We set out before midnight, and continued at a quick rate
the whole night. In these northern districts of Arabia the Bedouins, in
general, are not fond of proceeding by night; they seldom travel at that
time, even in the hottest season, if they are not in very large numbers,
because, as they say, during the night nobody can distinguish the face
of his friend, from that of his enemy. Another reason is, that camels on
the march never feed at their ease in the day time, and nature seems to
require that they should have their principal meal and a few hours rest
in the evening. The favourite mode of travelling in these parts is, to
set out about two hours before sun-rise, to stop two hours at noon, when
every one endeavours to sleep under his mantle, and to alight for the
evening at about one hour before sunset. We always sat round the fire,
in conversation, for two or three hours after supper. During this
night’s march my companions frequently alluded to
EL THEGHAR
[p.452] a superstitious belief among the Bedouins, that the desert is
inhabited by invisible female demons, who carry off travellers tarrying
in the rear of the caravans, in order to enjoy their embraces. They call
them Om Megheylan (Arabic), from Ghoul (Arabic). The frequent loss of
men who, exhausted by fatigue, loiter behind the great pilgrim caravans,
and are cut off, stripped, and abandoned, by Bedouin robbers, may have
given rise to this fable, which afforded my companions a subject of
numerous jokes against me. “You townsmen,” said they, “would be
exquisite morsels for these ladies, who are accustomed only to the food
of the desert.”
We marched for four hours over uneven ground, and then reached a level
plain, consisting of rich red earth fit for culture, and similar to that
of the northern Syrian desert. We crossed several Wadys, in which we
started a number of hares. At every twenty yards lay heaps of bones of
camels, horses, and asses, by the side of the road. At six hours was a
chain of low hills to the S. of the road, and running parallel with it.
In seven hours we crossed Wady Nesyl (Arabic), overgrown with green
shrubs, but without trees. At the end of ten hours and a half we reached
the mountainous country called El Theghar (Arabic), or the mouths, which
forms a boundary of the Desert El Ty, and separates it from the
peninsula of Mount Sinai. We ascended for half an hour by a well formed
road, cut in several places in the rock, and then followed the windings
of a valley, in the bed of a winter torrent, gradually descending.
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