MABOUK [P.453] September 1st.—We Continued Descending Among The Windings Of The Wady, Turning A Little To The Southward Of The Hadj Route.

Among the calcareous hills of the Wady deep sands have accumulated, which have been blown thither from the shores of the Red sea; and in several parts there are large insulated rocks of porous tufwacke.

After a march of four hours and a half we had a fine view of the sea, and gained the plain which extends to its shores, and which is apparently much below the level of the desert El Ty; it is covered with moving sands, among which a few low shrubs grow. The direction of our route was W.S.W. In seven hours we reached the wells of Mabouk (Arabic), to our great satisfaction, as we had not a drop of water left in our skins. These wells are in the open plain, at the foot of some rocks. Good water, but in small quantities, is found every where on digging to the depth of ten or twelve feet. There were about half a dozen holes, five or six feet in circumference, with a foot of water in each; on drawing up the water the holes fill again immediately. We here met some shepherds of the Maazye, a tribe of Bedouins of the desert between Egypt and the Red sea, who were busy in watering a large herd of camels. They were so kind as to make room for us, in consideration of our being strangers and travellers; and we were occupied several hours in drawing up water. These wells were filled up last year by the Moggrebyn Hadj, on its passage, to revenge themselves upon Mohammed Ali, with whose treatment they were dissatisfied. The Egyptian pilgrims take a more northern route, but the Arabs who accompany them fill the water skins for the use of the caravan at these wells, and rejoin the Hadj by the route we travelled this morning. Near the wells are the ruins of a small building, with strong walls, which was probably constructed for the defence of the water, when the Hadj was still in its ancient splendour.

ADJEROUD

[p.454] On quitting the wells we turned off in the direction of Suez, our route lying W.N.W. There are no traces of a road here, for the track of caravans is immediately filled up by the moving sands, which covered the plain as far as I could discern, and in some places had collected into hills thirty or forty feet in height. At ten hours from our setting out in the morning we entered a plain covered with flints, and again fell in with the Hadj road. Here we took a W. by N. direction. At the end of eleven hours the plain was covered with a saline crust, and we crossed a tract of ground, about five minutes in breadth, covered with such a quantity of small white shells, that it appeared at a distance like a strip of salt.

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