As There Are No
Countries Where Ancient Manners Are So Permanent As In The Desert, It Is
Probable That The Same Customs Of Sepulture Then Prevailed Which Still
Exist, And That The Burying Ground Described By Niebuhr By No Means
Proves The Former Existence Of A City.
Among the rude tombs of Mokbera,
which consist, for the most part, of mere heaps of earth covered with
loose stones, the tomb of Sheikh Hamyd, a Bedouin saint, is
distinguished; the Szowaleha keep it always carefully covered with fresh
herbs.
At the end of three hours and a half we entered another valley, called
Wady Barak [Arabic], where the ascent becomes more steep. Here the rock
changes to porphyry, with strata of grünstein; the surface of the former
is in most places completely
WADY GENNE
[p.483] black. The mountains on both sides of the valley are much
shattered: detached blocks and loose stones covered their sides, and the
bottom of the valley was filled, in many places to the depth of ten
feet, with a layer of stones that had fallen down. The Wady becomes
narrower towards the upper end, and the camels ascended with difficulty.
At the end of six hours and a quarter we reached the extremity, to which
the Bedouins apply the name of Djebel Leboua [Arabic], the mountain of
the lioness, a name indicating, perhaps, that lions existed at one
period in the peninsula of Mount Sinai, though no longer to be found
here. In ascending Wady Barak, I saw upon several blocks lying by the
road side short inscriptions, generally of one line only, all of which
began with the remarkable character already represented.
From the top of Djebel Leboua we descended a little, and entered the
Wady Genne [Arabic, a fine valley, several miles in breadth, and covered
with pasturage. It lay in a straight line before us, and presented much
of Alpine scenery. We here found several Bedouins occupied in collecting
brush-wood, which they burn into charcoal for the Cairo market; they
prefer for this purpose the thick roots of the shrub Rethem [Arabic],
Genista raetam of Forskal, which grows here in abundance. Of the herbs
which grow in this valley many were odoriferous, as the Obeytheran,
Sille [Arabic], perhaps the Zilla Myagrum of Forskal; and the Shyh
[Arabic], or Artemisia. The Bedouins collect also the herb Adjrem
[Arabic], which they dry, break in pieces and pound between stones, and
then use as a substitute for soap to wash their linen with. I was told
that very good water is found at about two miles to the E. of this
valley.
We gained the upper extremity of Wady Genne at the end of nine hours.
The ranges of mountains in this country differ in their formation from
all the other Arabian chains which I have
WADY OSH
[p.484] seen, the valleys reaching to the very summits, where they form
a plain, and thence descend on the other side. A very pointed peak of
rocks, near the left of the summit of Wady Genne, is known by the
appellation of Zob el Bahry [Arabic]. After crossing a short plain, we
again descended S.E. by S. and entered the valley called Wady Berah
[Arabic], where I saw another block with inscriptions.
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