Ascending Again In This Wady, We Came In An Hour To The Springs Of Abou Tereyfa [Arabic], Oozing, Like That Of Tabakat, From Below A Rock Which Shuts Up The Narrow Valley.

On the declivity of the mountains, farther on, I saw many ruins of walls, and was informed by my

Guides, that fifty years ago this was one of the most fertile valleys of their country, full of date and other fruit trees; but that a violent flood tore up all the trees, and laid it waste in a few days, and that since that period it has been deserted. At the end of two hours and a half, we descended into a broad valley, or rather plain, called Haszfet el Ras [Arabic], and perceived at its extremity an encampment, which we reached at three hours and a quarter, and alighted under the tent of the chief; he happened to be the same Bedouin who had conducted me last year from Tor to Cairo, and who had also brought the from Cairo to the convent. I knew that he was angry with me for having discharged him on my arrival at the latter place, and for having hired Hamd to conduct me to Akaba; he was already acquainted with my return, and that I had gone to Sherm, but little expected to see me here. He, however, gave me a good reception, killed a lamb for my dinner, and would not let me depart in the afternoon, another Arab having prepared a goat for our supper.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 684 of 870
Words from 186018 to 186274 of 236498