The Nearest Road From Sherm To The Convent
Is At First The Same Way By Which We Came, And It
Branches off northward
from Wady Orta; but as I was desirous of seeing as much as possible of
the coast,
I suggested to my guides, that if we proceeded by that route
the Mezeine of Sherm might possibly ride after us, and excite another
quarrel in the mountain, where we should find it more difficult to
extricate ourselves. They consented therefore to take the circuitous
route along the shore. Such stratagems are often necessary, in
travelling with Bedouins, to make them yield to the traveller’s wishes;
for though they care little for fatigue in their own business, they are
extremely averse to go out of their way, to gratify what they consider
an absurd whim of their companion.
From Sherm we rode an hour and a quarter among low hills near the shore.
Here I saw for the first and only time, in this peninsula, volcanic
rocks. For a distance of about two miles the hills presented
perpendicular cliffs, formed in half circles, and some of them nearly in
circles, none of them being more than sixty to eighty feet in height; in
other places there was an appearance of volcanic craters. The rock is
black, with sometimes a slight red appearance, full of cavities, and of
a rough surface; on the road lay a few stones which had separated
themselves from above. The cliffs were covered by deep layers of sand,
and the valleys at their feet
WADY SZYGHA
[p.530] were also overspread with it; it is possible that other rocks of
the same kind may be found towards Ras Abou Mohammed, and hence may have
arisen the term of black [Arabic], applied to these mountains by the
Greeks. It should be observed, however, that low sand hills intervene
between the volcanic rocks and the sea, and that above them, towards the
higher mountains, no traces of lava are found, which seems to shew that
the volcanic matter is confined to this spot.
We issued from the low hills upon a wide plain, which extends as far as
Nabk, and is intersected in several places by beds of torrents. Our
direction was N.E. by N. The plain terminates three or four miles to the
east, in rocks which line the shore. At the end of three hours and a
half we halted under a rock, in the bed of one of the torrents. The
whole plain appears to be alluvial; many petrified shells are found
imbedded in the chalky and calcareous soil. In the afternoon we again
passed several low water-courses in the plain, and, at the end of five
hours Wady Szygha [Arabic]. At six hours and a half from Sherm we rested
in the plain, in a spot where some bushes grew, amongst which we found a
Bedouin woman and her daughter, living under a covering made of reeds
and brush-wood. Her husband and son were absent fishing, but Ayd being
well known to them, they gave us a hearty welcome, and milked a goat for
me.
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