I Had Still About Eighty
Piastres In Gold, But Kept Them Carefully Concealed In Case Of Some
Great Emergency; For
I knew that if I were to shew a single sequin, the
Arabs would suppose that I possessed several hundreds,
And would either
have robbed me of them, or prevented me from proceeding on my journey by
the most exorbitant demands.
August 13th.—I remained two days at Beszeyra, and then set out with the
family of my guide, consisting of his wife, two children, and a servant
girl. We were on foot, and drove before us the loaded camel and a few
sheep and goats. Our road ascended; at three quarters of an hour, we
came to a spring in the mountain. The rock is here calcareous, with
basalt. At two hours and a half was Ain Djedolat (Arabic), a spring of
excellent water; here the mountain is overgrown with short Balout trees.
At the end of two hours and three quarters, direction S. we reached the
top of the mountain, which is covered with large blocks of basalt. Here
a fine view opened upon us; to our right we had the deep valley of Wady
Dhana, with the village of the
EL GHOEYR
[p.409] same name on its S. side; farther west, about four hours from
Dhana, we saw the great valley of the Ghor, and towards the E. and S.
extended the wide Arabian desert, which the Syrian pilgrims cross in
their way to Medina. In three hours and a quarter, after a slight
descent, we reached the plain, here consisting of arable ground covered
with flints.
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