Shady Spots Like
This Are Well Known To The Arabs, And As The Scanty Foliage Of The
Acacia, The Only
Tree in which these valleys abound, affords no shade,
they take advantage of such rocks, and regulate the day’s
Journey in
such a way, as to be able to reach them at noon, there to take the
siesta.
The main branch of the Wady Naszeb continues farther up to the S.E. and
contains, at about half an hour from the place where we rested, a well
of excellent water; as I was fatigued, and the sun was very hot, I
neglected to go there, though I am sensible that travellers ought
particularly to visit wells in the desert, because it is at these
natural stations that traces of former inhabitants are more likely to be
found than any where else. The Wady Naszeb empties its waters in the
rainy season into the gulf of Suez, at a short distance from the Birket
Faraoun.
While my guides and servant lay asleep under the rock, and one of the
Arabs had gone to the well to water the camels and fill the skins, I
walked round the rock, and was surprised to find inscriptions similar in
form to those which have been copied by travellers in Wady Mokatteb.
They are upon the surface of blocks which have fallen down from the
cliff, and some of them appear to have been engraved while the pieces
still formed a part of the main
[p.478] rock.
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