The lower mountains of Sinai
are much more regularly shaped than the upper ones: they are less
rugged, have no insulated peaks, and their summits fall off in smooth
curves.
The Wady Sal is extremely barren: we found no pasture for our camels, as
no rain had fallen during the two last years, in the whole of this
eastern part of the peninsula. A few acacia trees grew in different
places; we rested at noon under one of them while a cup of coffee was
prepared, and then pursued the Wady downwards until, at the end of seven
hours, we issued from it into a small plain, which we soon crossed, and
at seven hours and a half entered another valley, similar to the former,
where I again saw some granite, of the gray, small-grained species[.]
Our descent was here very rapid, and at the end of nine hours and a half
we reached a lower level, in a broad valley running southwards.
HAYDAR
[p.494] From hence the summit of Mount St. Catherine, behind the
convent, bore S.W. by W. Calcareous and sand rocks begin here, and the
bottom of the valley is deep sand. We rode in it in the direction N.E.
by N. and after a march of eleven hours alighted in a plain, at a spot
which afforded some shrubs for our camels to feed upon. The elder of my
two guides, by name Szaleh, soon proved himself to be ignorant of the
road.
