There are some low hummocks covered
with sand close to the shore of the low promontory, probably occasioned
by the ruins of buildings. The plantations of date trees ar[e] here
enclosed by low walls, within many of which are wells of indifferent
water; but in one of them, about twenty-five feet deep, and fifty yards
from the sea, we found the best water I had met with on any part of this
coast in the immediate vicinity of the sea. About two miles to the south
of the date groves
[p.524] are a number of shallow ponds into which the sea flows at
hightide; here the salt is made which supplies all the peninsula, as
well as the fishermen for curing their fish; the openings of the ponds
being closed with sand, the water is left to evaporate, when a thick
crust of salt is left, which is collected by the Bedouins. Dahab is a
favourite resort of the fishermen, who here catch the fish called Boury
[Arabic] in great quantities.
The date trees of Dahab, which belong to the tribe of Mezeine and
Aleygat, presented a very different appearance to those of Egypt and the
Hedjaz, where the cultivators always take off the lower branches which
dry up annually; here they are suffered to remain, and hang down to the
ground, forming an almost impenetrable barrier round the tree, the top
of which only is crowned with green leaves.
