Ayd Told Me That In Summer, When The Wind Is
Strong, A Hollow Sound Is Sometimes Heard Here, As If Coming From The
Upper Country; The Arabs Say That The Spirit Of Moses Then Descends From
Mount Sinai, And In Flying Across The Sea Bids A Farewell To His Beloved
Mountains.
We rode from Noweyba round a bay, the southern point of which bore from
thence S. by W. In
Two hours and three quarters from Noweyba we doubled
the point, and rested for the night in a valley just behind it, called
Wady Djereimele [Arabic], thickly overgrown with the shrub Gharkad, the
berries of which are gathered in great abundance. Red coral is very
common on this part of the coast. In the evening I saw a great number of
shellfish leave the water, and crawl to one hundred or two hundred paces
inland, where they passed the night, and at sun-rise returned to the
sea.
During the last two days of our return from the northward I had found no
opportunity to take notes. I had never permitted my companions to see me
write, because I knew that if their suspicions were once raised, it
would at least render them much less open in their communications to me.
It has indeed been a constant
[p.518] maxim with me never to write before Arabs on the road; at least
I have departed from it in a very few instances only, in Syria; and on
the Nile, in my first journey into Nubia; but never in the interior of
Nubia, or in the Hedjaz. Had I visited the convent of Mount Sinai in the
character of a Frank, with the Pasha’s Firmahn, and had returned, as
travellers usually do, from thence to Cairo, I should not have hesitated
to take notes openly, because the Towara Arabs dread the Pasha, and dare
not insult or molest any one under his protection. But wishing to
penetrate into a part of the country occupied by other tribes, it became
of importance to conceal my pursuits, lest I should be thought a
necromancer, or in search of treasures. In such cases many little
stratagems must be resorted to by the traveller, not to lose entirely
the advantage of making memoranda on the spot. I had accustomed myself
to write when mounted on my camel, and proceeding at an easy walk;
throwing the wide Arab mantle over my head, as if to protect myself from
the sun, as the Arabs do, I could write under it unobserved, even if
another person rode close by me; my journal books being about four
inches long and three broad, were easily carried in a waistcoat pocket,
and when taken out could be concealed in the palm of the hand; sometimes
I descended from my camel, and walking a little in front of my
companions, wrote down a few words without stopping. When halting I lay
down as if to sleep, threw my mantle over me, and could thus write
unseen under it.
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