Just over the road, a place was shewn to
me from whence, some years since, a Bedouin of the Arabs of Tor
precipitated his son, bound hands and feet, because he had stolen
WADY HOMMAR
[p.476] corn out of a magazine belonging to a friend of the family. In
the great eastern desert the Aeneze Bedouins are not so severe in such
instances; but they would punish a Bedouin who should pilfer any thing
from his guest’s baggage.
April 28th.—We set out before dawn, and continued for three quarters of
an hour in the Wady, after which we ascended E. b. S. and came upon a
high plain, surrounded by rocks, with a towering mountain on the N.
side, called Sarbout el Djemel [Arabic]. We crossed the plain at sun
rise; and the fresh air of the morning was extremely agreeable. There is
nothing which so much compensates for the miseries of travelling in the
Arabian deserts, as the pleasure of enjoying every morning the sublime
spectacle of the break of day and of the rising of the sun, which is
always accompanied, even in the hottest season, with a refreshing
breeze. It was an invariable custom with me, at setting out early in the
morning, to walk on foot for a few hours in advance of the caravan; and
as enjoyments are comparative, I believe that I derived from this
practice greater pleasure than any which the arts of the most luxurious
capitals can afford.
