The View Here Opened Upon A High
Chain Of Mountains Which Extends From Sherm In The Direction Of The
Convent, And Which I Had Passed On My Return From Arabia, In Going From
Sherm To Tor.
It is called Djebel Tarfa [Arabic], and is inhabited
principally by the Mezeine.
At eight hours the plain widens; many beds
of torrents coming from the Tarfa cross it in their way to the sea. This
SHERM
[p.527] part is called El Ak-ha [Arabic], and excepting in the beds of
the torrents, where some verdure is produced, it is an entirely barren
tract. At nine hours we approached the Tarfa, between which and our road
were low hills called Hodeybat el Noszara [Arabic], i. e. the hump backs
of the Christians. The waters which collect here in the winter flow into
the sea at Wady Nabk. At ten hours the plain opens still wider, and
declines gently eastwards to the sea. To the left, where the mountains
terminate, a sandy plain extends to the water side. At eleven hours is
an insulated chain of low hills, forming here, with the lowest range of
the Tarfa, a valley, in which our road lay, and in which we halted,
after a fatigueing day’s journey of twelve hours. As there were only two
camels for three of us, we rode by turns; and Ayd regretted his younger
days, when, as he assured us, he had once walked from the convent to
Cairo in four days.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 669 of 870
Words from 181932 to 182182
of 236498
