Nothing more about it till night, when seeing me take a hearty
draught of the water, and hearing me praise its sweetness, compared with
the brackish water of the coast, he stopped me, and said, “Young man,
for the future never call an old Bedouin a babbler.”
On the opposite side of the gulf the mountains recede somewhat from the
shore, leaving at their feet a sloping plain. A place on
[p.504] the coast, called Hagol [Arabic], bore from hence E. b. S; it is
a fruitful valley by the water side, with large date plantations, which
were clearly discernible. It is in possession of the tribe of Arabs
called Akraba [Arabic]. Behind them, in the mountains, dwells the strong
and warlike tribe of Omran [Arabic]. Hagol is one long day’s journey
from Akaba; to the south of it about four hours is a similar cluster of
date trees, called El Hamyde [Arabic], which bore from us S.E. b. E. The
mountains on that coast are steep, with many peaks.
No Arabs live on the western coast, owing to the scanty pasturage; it is
occasionally visited by fishermen and others, who come to collect the
herb from which the soda ashes are obtained, or to cut wood and burn it
into charcoal.
