Hamd Told Me That It Never Makes Its
Appearance But At Night, And Is Principally Attracted By Fire; Indeed I
Saw three others during this journey, and always near the evening fire.
The Bedouins entertain the greatest dread of them;
They say that their
bite, if not always mortal, produces a great swelling, almost instant
vomiting, and the most excruciating pains. I believe this to be the
Galeode phalangiste,
WADY RYMM
[p.599] at least it exactly resembles the drawing of that animal, given
by Olivier in his Travels, pl. 42-4.
May 31st.—A good night’s rest completely removed my feverish symptoms.
Fatigue and a check of perspiration often produce slight fevers in the
desert, which I generally cured by lying down near the fire, and drawing
my mantle over my head, as the Bedouins always do at night. The
Bedouins, before they go to rest, usually undress themselves entirely,
and lie down quite naked upon a sheep’s skin, which they carry for the
purpose; they then cover themselves with every garment which they happen
to have with them. Even in the hottest season they always cover the head
and face when sleeping, not only at night but also during the mid-day
hours.
We continued in Wady Solaf, which was entirely parched up, for an hour
and three quarters, and passed to the left a narrower valley called Wady
Keyfa [Arabic], coming from the Serbal mountains. At two hours we passed
Wady Rymm [Arabic], which also comes from the same chain, and joins the
Solaf; from thence we issued, at three hours, into the Wady el Sheik,
the great valley of the western Sinai, which collects the torrents of a
great number of smaller Wadys. There is not the smallest opening into
these mountains, nor the slightest projection from them, that has not
its name; but these names are known only to the Bedouins who are in the
habit of encamping in the neighbourhood, while the more distant Bedouins
are acquainted only with the names of the principal mountains and
valleys. I have already mentioned several times the Wady el Sheikh; I
found it here of the same noble breadth as it is above, and in many
parts it was thickly overgrown with the tamarisk or Tarfa; it is the
only valley in the peninsula where this tree grows, at present, in any
great quantity, though small bushes of it are here and there met with in
other parts. It is from the Tarfa that the manna is obtained, and it is
very strange that the fact should have remained unknown
WADY EL SHEIKH
[p.600] in Europe, till M. Seetzen mentioned it in a brief notice of his
tour to Sinai, published in the Mines de l’Orient. This substance is
called by the Bedouins, Mann [Arabic], and accurately resembles the
description of Manna given in the Scriptures. In the month of June it
drops from the thorns of the tamarisk upon the fallen twigs, leaves, and
thorns which always cover the ground beneath that tree in the natural
state; the manna is collected before sunrise, when it is coagulated, but
it dissolves as soon as the sun shines upon it.
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