If The Knowledge Of The Natural History
Of Syria And Arabia Was The Principal Object Of M. Seetzen’S Researches,
He was perfectly right in the course which he adopted, but if he
considered these countries only as intermediate steps
Towards the
exploring of others, he placed his ultimate success in the utmost peril;
and though he may have succeeded in elucidating the history of the brute
creation, he had little chance of obtaining much information on the
human character, which can only be done by gaining the confidence of the
inhabitants, and by accommodating our notions, views, and manners, to
their own. When M. Seetzen visited these mountains, the Towaras were
not yet reduced to subjection by Mohammed Ali; he was obliged, on
several occasions, to pay large sums for his passage through their
country, and the Mezeine would probably have executed a plot which they
had laid to kill him, had not his guides been informed of it, and
prevented him from passing through their territory.
I had much difficulty in soothing Ayd; he remained quiet during the rest
of the journey, but after our return to the convent, the
RAS METHNA
[p.521] report spread among the Arabs that I was a writer like those who
had preceded me, and I thus completely lost their confidence.
May 11th.—We continued along the coast S.S.W. and at four hours passed a
promontory, called Djebel Abou Ma [Arabic], consisting of granite. From
hence we proceeded S.W. by S. and at seven hours came to a sandy plain,
on the edge of a large sheltered bay. We found here some Bedouin girls,
in charge of a few goats; they told us that their parents lived not far
off in the valley Omyle [Arabic]. We went there, and found two small
tents, where three or four women and as many little children were
occupied in spinning, and in collecting herbs to feed the lambs and
kids, which were frisking about them. Ayd knew the women, who belonged
to his own tribe of Mezeine. Their husbands were fishermen, and were
then at the sea-shore. They brought us some milk, and I bought a kid of
them, which we intended to dress in the evening. The women were not at
all bashful; I freely talked and laughed with them, but they remained at
several yards distance from me. Ayd shook them by the hand, and kissed
the children; but Hamd, who did not know them, kept at the same distance
as myself. Higher up in the Wady is a well of good water, called Tereibe
[Arabic].
From hence we went S.W. by S. and at eight hours came to Ras Methna
[Arabic], a promontory whose cliffs continue for upwards of a mile close
by the water side. Granite and red porphyry here cross each other in
irregular layers, in some places horizontally, in others
perpendicularly. The granite of this peninsula presents the same
numberless varieties as that above the cataract of the Nile, and near
Assouan; and the same beautiful specimens of red, rose-coloured, and
almost purple may be collected here, as in that part of Egypt.
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