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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