Notwithstanding Its Verdure, The Wady Kyd Is An Uncomfortable Halting-
Place, On Account Of The Great Number Of Gnats And Ticks With Which It
Is Infested.
Beyond the source of the rivulet, which oozes out of the
ground, the vegetation ceases, and the valley widens.
We rode on, and at
seven hours entered Wady Kheysy, a wild pass, in which the road is
covered with rocks, and the sides of the mountains are shattered by
torrents. We ascended through many windings, in the general direction of
W.N.W. until we found the valley shut up by a high mountain, called
Djebel Mordam [Arabic]. The rocks are granite and porphyry; in many
parts of the valley grow wild fig-trees, called by the Arabs Hamad; here
also grows the Aszef [Arabic], a tree which I had already seen in
several of the Wadys; it springs from the fissures in the rocks, and its
crooked stem creeps up the mountain’s side like a parasitic plant; it
produces, according to the Arabs, a fruit of the size of a walnut, of a
blackish colour, and very sweet to the taste. The bark of the tree
MOUNTAIN OF MOHALA
[p.537] is white, and the branches are thickly covered with small
thorns; the leaves are heart-shaped, and of the same shade of green as
those of the oak. This Wady, as well as the Kyd, is inhabited by
Mezeine; but they all return in summer to the highest mountains of the
peninsula, where the pasture is more abundant than in these lower
valleys.
We ascended the Mordam with difficulty, and on the other side found a
narrow valley, which brought us, at the end of eleven hours, to a spring
called Tabakat [Arabic], situated under a rock, which shuts up the
valley. The spring is thickly overgrown with reeds and sometimes dries
up in summer. Above the rock extends a plain or rather a country
somewhat more open, intersected with hills, and bounded by high
mountains. The district is called Fera el Adlial [Arabic], and is a
favourite pasturing place of the Arabs, their sheep being peculiarly
fond of the little berries of the shrub Rethem [Arabic], with which the
whole plain is overspread. In order to take the nearest road to the
convent, we ascended in a N. direction, the high mountain of Mohala
[Arabic], the top of which we reached at the end of eleven hours and
three quarters; from hence the convent was pointed out to me N. b. E. On
the other side we descended N.E. into a narrow valley on the declivity
of the mountain, where we alighted, after a long day’s march of twelve
hours and a quarter. This mountain is entirely of granite; but at
Tabakat beautiful porphyry is seen with large slabs of feldspath,
traversed by layers of white and rose-coloured quartz.
May 17th.—The night was so cold that we all lay down round the fire, and
kept it lighted the whole night.
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