The Bedouins Also
Mentioned An Eagle Whose Outspread Wings Measure Six Feet Across, And
Which Carries Off Lambs.
After four hours and a half we reached Wady Kyd [Arabic], and rested at
its entrance under two immense
Blocks of granite, which had fallen down
from the mountain; they form two spacious caverns, and serve as a place
of shelter for the shepherdesses; we saw in them several articles of
tent furniture and some cooking utensils. On the sides figures of goats
are drawn with charcoal; but I saw no inscriptions cut in the rock. The
blocks are split in several places as if by lightning. We followed the
Wady Kyd, continuing on a gentle ascent from the time of our setting out
in the morning. The windings of the valley led us, at the end of five
hours and a half, to a small rivulet, two feet across, and six inches in
depth, which is lost immediately below, in the sands of the Wady. It
drips down a granite rock, which blocks up the valley, there only twenty
paces in breadth, and forms at the foot of the rock a small pond,
overshadowed by trees, with fine verdure on its banks. The rocks which
overhang it on both sides almost meet, and give to the whole the
appearance of a grotto, most delighful to the traveller after passing
through these dreary valleys. It is in fact the most romantic spot I
have seen in these mountains, and worthy of being frequented by other
people than Arabs, upon whom the beauties of nature make a very faint
impression. The camels passed over the rocks with great difficulty;
beyond it we continued in the same narrow valley, along the rivulet,
amidst groves of date, Nebek, and some tamarisk trees, until, at six
hours, we reached the source of the rivulet, where we rested a little.
This is one of the most noted date valleys of the Sinai Arabs; the
contrast of its deep verdure with the glaring rocks by which it is
closely hemmed in, is very striking, and shews that wherever water
passes in these districts, however
DJEBEL MORDAM
[p.536] barren the ground, vegetation is invariably found. Within the
enclosures of the date-groves I saw a few patches of onions, and of
hemp; the latter is used for smoking; some of the small leaves which
surround the hemp-seed being laid upon the tobacco in the pipe, produces
a more intoxicating smoke. The same custom prevails in Egypt, where the
hemp leaves as well as the plant itself are called Hashysh. In the
branches of one of the date-trees several baskets and a gun were
deposited, and some camels were feeding upon the grass near the rivulet,
but not a soul was to be seen in the valley; these Bedouins being under
no fear of robbers, leave their goods and allow their beasts to pasture
without any one to watch them; when they want the camels they send to
the springs in search of them, and if not found there, they trace their
footsteps through the valleys, for every Bedouin knows the print of the
foot of his own camel.
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