We Found
The Valley Mezeiryk Full Of Excellent Pasture; Many Sweet-Scented Herbs
Were Growing In It, And The Acacia Trees Were All Green.
Upon enquiry I
learnt that to the north of Djebel Tyh copious rains had fallen during
the winter, while to the south of it there had been very little for the
last two years, and in the eastern parts none.
[P.506] In the whole way from the convent I had not met with the
smallest trace of antiquity, either inscriptions upon the rocks by the
road-side or any other labour of man, until we reached the summit of
Wady Mezeiryk, where, close to the road, is a large sand-stone rock,
which seems, for a small space, to have received an artificial surface.
Upon it I found rude drawings of camels, and of mountain and other
goats, resembling those which I had before seen, and those which I saw
afterwards in the Wady Mokatteb. No inscriptions were visible, but the
annexed figures were drawn between the animals. These were the only
drawings or inscriptions that I met with in the mountains to the E. of
the convent, although I passed many flat rocks, well suited to them. I
am inclined to think that the inscriptions have been written by pilgrims
proceeding to Mount Sinai, and that the drawings of animals which are
executed in a ruder manner and with a less steady hand, are the work of
the shepherds of the peninsula. We find only those animals represented
which are natives of these mountains, such as camels, mountain and other
goats, and gazelles, but principally the two first,[It may be worthy of
mention in this place that among the innumerable paintings and
sculptures in the temples, and tombs of Egypt, I never met with a single
instance of the representation of a camel. At Thebes, in the highest of
the tombs on the side of the Djebel Habou, called Abd el Gorne, which
has not, I believe, been noticed by former travellers, or even by the
French in their great work, I found all the domestic animals of the
Egyptians represented together in one large painting upon a wall,
forming the most elaborate and interesting work of the kind, which I saw
in Egypt. A shepherd conducts the whole herd into the presence of his
master, who inspects them, while a slave is noting them down. Yet even
here I looked in vain for the camel.] and I had occasion to remark in
the course of my tour, that the present Bedouins of Sinai are in the
habit of carving the figures of goats upon rocks and in grottos. Niebuhr
observes, that in the hieroglyphic
WADY TABA
[p.507] inscriptions which he saw in the ancient burying ground not far
distant from Naszeb, he found figures of goats upon almost every
inscribed tomb-stone; this animal is not very frequent in the
hieroglyphic inscriptions of Egypt.
From the point where we descended again to the shore, we followed a
range of black basaltic cliffs, into which the sea has worked several
creeks, appearing like so many small lakes, with very narrow openings
towards the sea; they are full of fish and shells. At the end of nine
hours and a half we had passed these cliffs, and reached the plain
beyond, upon which we continued our route near the shore, and rested for
the night at ten hours and a quarter, under a palm-tree, in the vicinity
of a deep brackish well, which we were obliged to excavate, in order to
procure some water for our camels, they having drank none since we
quitted Wasta. From hence the promontory of Om Haye bore S.W. b. S. This
plain, which is the extremity of a valley descending from the western
mountain, is called Wady Taba [Arabic]. Ayd had promised to conduct me
to this spot, but no farther; nor would the new offers which I now made
induce hire to advance. We had already passed beyond the limits of the
Arabs Towara, which terminate on this side of Wady Mokabelat, and we
were now in the territory of the Heywat, who have a very bad reputation.
We had met with nobody on the road, but in Wady Mezeiryk, as well as in
Wady Taba, we saw footsteps, which shewed that some persons must have
passed there a short time before. None of my guides were acquainted with
the tribe of Heywat; had we therefore met any strong party of them, they
would certainly have stripped us, although not at war with the Towara,
for it is a universal practice among Bedouins to plunder all passengers
who are unknown to them, and not attended by guides of their own tribe,
provided they possess
AKABA
[p.508] any thing worth seizing. Szaleh had completely deluded both
myself and his own nephew Hamd: he had confidently asserted that he knew
the Heywat well, and that the first individual of them whom we should
meet would easily be prevailed upon to join our party, and to serve as
an additional protector. About one hour before us was another
promontory, beyond which we knew that the country was well peopled by
two other tribes, the Alowein and Omran, who are the masters of the
district of Akaba, intrepid robbers, and allies of the Heywat, and who
are to this day quite independent of the government of Egypt. Through
them we must unavoidably pass to reach Akaba, and Ayd could not give me
the smallest hope of being able to cross their valleys without being
attacked. Had I been furnished with a Firmahn from Mohammed Ali Pasha, I
should have repaired at once to the great Sheikh of the Towara, and
obliged him to send for some Heywat or Omran guides, who might have
ensured my safety. But having been disappointed in this respect, I had
no alternative but to turn back. Hamd, it is true, bravely offered to
accompany me wherever I chose to go, though he knew nothing of the road
before us, or the Arabs upon it; but I saw little chance of success, and
knew, from what I had heard during my journey from Kerek to Cairo, that
the Omran not only rob but murder passengers.
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