We Bought Here For Thirty-Two Paras, Or
About Four-Pence Halfpenny, Thirty-Two Salted Fish, Each About Two Feet
In Length, And A Measure Of The Dried Shell-Fish, Zorombat, Which In
This State The Arabs Call Bussra.
For the smaller kinds of fish the
fishermen use hand-nets, which they throw into the sea from the
Shore;
the larger species they kill with lances, one of which Ayd carried
constantly with him as a weapon; there is not a single boat nor even a
raft to be found on the whole of this coast, but the Bedouins of the
eastern coast have a few boats, which may sometimes be seen in the gulf.
We saw here a great number of porpoises playing in the water close to
the shore. I wished to shoot at one of them, but was prevented by my
companions, who said that it was unlawful to kill them, as they are the
friends of man, and never hurt any body. I saw parts of the skin of a
large fish, killed on the coast, which was an inch in thickness, and is
employed by these Arabs instead of leather for sandals.
We now turned from Nabk upwards to the convent, and in half an hour
entered the chain of mountains along a broad valley called Wady Nabk, in
which we ascended slightly, and rested at two hours and a quarter from
Nabk under a large acacia tree. In the vicinity were three tents of
Aleygat Arabs, the women of which approached the place where we had
alighted, and told us that two men and a child were there ill of the
plague, which they had caught from a relative of theirs, who had lately
come from Egypt with the disease upon him, and who had died. At that
time they were
WADY RAHAB
[p.533] in a large encampment, but as soon as the infection shewed
itself, their companions compelled them to quit the camp, and they had
come to this place to await the termination of the disorder. My guides
were as much afraid of the infection as I was, and made the women remain
at a proper distance; they asked me for some rice, and sugar, which
latter article they believe to be a sovereign remedy against diseases. I
was glad to be able to gratify them, and I advised them to give the
patients whey which is almost the only cooling draught the Arabs know;
they conceive that almost all illnesses proceed from cold, and therefore
usually attempt to cure them by heat, keeping the patient thickly
covered with clothes, and feeding him upon the most nourishing food they
can afford.
Not far from our halting place, on the ascent of the mountain, is a
reservoir of rain water, where we filled our skins. The acacia trees of
the valley were thickly covered with guin arabic. The Towara Arabs often
bring to Cairo loads of it, which they collect in these mountains; but
it is much less esteemed than that from Soudan.
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