My Servant[This Was The Same
Man Who Had Accompanied Me During My Journey To Upper Egypt, As Far As
Assouan.
I again engaged him in my service after my return fro[m] the
Hedjaz.] attempted to join the party, but the proud
WADY ROMMAN
[p.619] Arabs told him that he was a Fellah, not of good breed, and
would not permit him to mix in the dance. He met with the same repulse
last night at Feiran.
June 3d.—We followed the valley by a slight slope through its windings
W.N.W. and N.W. Many tamarisk trees grow here, and some manna is
collected. The fertility of these valleys is owing chiefly to the
alluvial soil brought down from the mountains by the torrents, and which
soon acquires consistence in the bottom of the Wady; but if a year
passes without rain these alluvia are reduced to dust, and dispersed by
the winds over the mountains from whence they came. The surface was
covered with a yellow clay in which a variety of herbs was growing. At
two hours the valley, for the length of about an hour, bears the name of
Wady el Beka [Arabic], or the valley of weeping, from the circumstance,
as it is related, of a Bedouin who wept because his dromedary fell here,
during the pursuit of an enemy, and he was thus unable to follow his
companions, who were galloping up the valley to wards Feiran. The rock
on the side of the road is mostly composed of gneiss. At three hours and
a half we passed to our right Wady Romman [Arabic]. I was told that in
the mountains from which it descends is a fine spring, and some date-
trees about four hours distant. The road now turned N.W. b. W.; the
granite finishes and sand-stone begins; among the latter rock-salt is
found. At five hours we halted under a large impending sandstone rock,
where the valley widens considerably, and continues in a W. direction
down to the sea-side. Leaving this valley to the left, we rode in the
afternoon N.W. b. W. ascending slightly over rocky ground, until we
reached an upper plain at the end of
WADY MOKATTEB
[p.620] six hours. The chain of granite mountains continued to our
right, parallel with the road, which was overspread with silex, and
farther on we met with a kind of basaltic tufa, forming low hills
covered with sand. We then descended, and at six hours and a half
entered the valley called Wady Mokatteb [Arabic]. The appellation of
Djebel Mokatteb, which several travellers have applied to the
neighbouring mountains, is not in use. To the north of the entrance of
this valley near the foot of the higher chain, is a cluster of magazines
of the Bedouins, at a spot called El Bedja [Arabic].
The Wady Mokatteb extends for three hours march in the direction N.W.;
in the upper part it is three miles across, having to the right high
mountains, and to the left a chain of lower sandrocks.
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