A Small House Has Been Built Over It, The Walls Of Which Are
Thickly Hung With Various Offerings By The Bedouins; And A Few Lamps
Suspended From The Roof Are Sometimes Lighted By Sailors.
Sherif Edrisi,
in his geography, mentions these two bays of Sherm, and calls the one
Sherm el Beit [Arabic], or of the house, and the other Sherm el Bir
[Arabic], or of the well, thus accurately describing both;
[P.528] for near the shore of the northern bay are several copious wells
of brackish water, deep, and lined with stones, and apparently an
ancient work of considerable labour. The distance from Sherm to the Cape
of Ras Abou Mohammed is four or five hours; on the way a mountain is
passed, which comes down close to the sea, called Es-szafra [Arabic],
the point of which bears from Sherm S.W. by S.
Bedouins are always found at Sherm, waiting with their camels for ships
coming from the Hedjaz, whose passengers often come on shore here, in
order to proceed by land to Tor and Suez. The Arab tribes of Mezeine and
Aleygat have the exclusive right of this transport. Shortly after we had
alighted at the well, more than twenty Mezeine came down from the
mountain with their camels; they claimed the right of conducting me from
hence, and of supplying me with a third camel; and as both my camels
belonged to Arabs of the tribe of Oulad Sayd, they insisted upon Hamd
taking my baggage from his camel, and placing it upon one of theirs,
that they might have the profits of hire. After breakfasting with them,
a loud quarrel began, which lasted at least two hours. I told them that
the moment any one laid his hands upon my baggage to remove it, I should
consider it as carried off by force, and no longer my property, and that
I should state to the governor of Suez that I had been robbed here.
Although they could not all expect to share in the profits arising from
my transport, every one of them was as vociferous as if it had been his
exclusive affair, and it soon became evident that a trifle in money for
each of them was all that was wanted to quiet them. They did not,
however, succeed; I talked very boldly; told them that they were
robbers, and that they should be punished for their conduct towards me.
At last their principal man, seeing that nothing was to be got, told us
that we might load and depart. He accompanied us to a short
[p.529] distance, and received a handful of coffee-beans, as a reward
for his having been less clamorous than the others.
These people believed that my visit to Sherm was for the mere purpose of
visiting the tomb of the saint. I had assigned this motive to Ayd, who
was himself a Mezeine, telling him that I had made a vow to thank the
saint for his protection in our encounter with the robbers; Ayd would
otherwise have been much astonished at my proceeding to this distance
without any plausible object.
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