_Observations on the Desert, from the Valley of Natron to the
Mountains of Ummesogier._
The Desert forms a natural boundary to Egypt, on the west extending
from the _Natron Valley_ to the mountains of _Ummesogier_; to the
north, the dreary and barren plain is bounded by a chain of lofty
hills, in view during the whole course of the caravan; and to the
south, extends a journey, probably, of several days, by the ordinary
mode of computation in these countries; but in this direction its
limits are not defined, or are not known.
In this vast tract of sands, petrified wood is found, of various
forms and size: sometimes are seen whole trunks of trees, of twelve
feet circumference or more; sometimes only branches and twigs,
scarcely of a quarter of an inch diameter; and sometimes merely
pieces of bark of various kinds, and in particular of the oak, are
to be found. Many of the great stems yet retain their side branches,
and in many the natural timber has undergone so little change, that
the circular ranges of the wood are discernible, and especially in
those trunks which apparently were of oak. The interior of other
bodies of timber was become a petrifaction, shewing no distinctions
of grain or fibre, but bearing the appearance of mere stone; though
the outward coat and form of the substance clearly denoted the tree.
Several Arabs informed me, that in travelling over this Desert,
petrified trees were often found upright, and as if growing in the
soil; but I presume, respecting those I did not see, from those
I inspected, that they were merely trunks raised by hand, round
the base of which the sand had quickly gathered before the winds,
and formed a mound, as if heaved up by a root. The colour of the
petrified wood is in general black, or nearly so; but in some
instances it is of a light gray, and then so much resembling the
wood in its natural state, that our slaves would often collect,
and bring it in, for the purposes of firing.
These petrifactions are sometimes scattered in single pieces, but
are oftener found in irregular layers, or strata, covering together
a considerable space of ground.
If there yet remains any trace of a western branch of the Nile, as
mentioned by ancient writers,[3] it is probably to be discovered in
some part of this Desert. I observed no channel, or vestige of such
course of river, on the route taken by the caravan. I would direct
the researches of any future traveller specially to the tract of
country round where we encamped on the nights when we halted at the
foot of the sand hill west of _Wadey-el-Latron_, and in the district
of _Muhabag_: these places we reached not till after sunset, and
departing before day, I myself had no opportunity of examining
the country. The term _Bahr-bella-ma_, commonly rendered _river
without water_, by no means designates or points to any specific
channel or tract in which any ancient channel may be more probably
discovered: for if petrified trees fit for masts, or petrified timbers
suited to other purposes of ship-building, said to be found in the
_Bahr-bella-ma_, characterize and give the name (as we are told)
to the tract of land throughout which they are to be found, then
the appropriate translation is not river, but _sea without water_,
for such petrifactions are scattered over the whole Desert. Indeed
the general appearance of this vast and barren tract, well accords
to the title of _sea without water_; its sandy surface resembling
that of a leeshore, over which the waters streaming before the storm
have, on their ebb, deposited timber, or what else was carried on
by the tide. I say not wreck of vessels, for I saw no wood that had
the least appearance of the tool, or of having been wrought for
any purpose of man. Such as, by light observers, have been taken
for fragments of masts, are merely trunks of trees of from thirty
to forty feet in length, broken and shivered into large splinters,
which lying near each other, shew in their forms and grain of timber,
the mass they formerly belonged to and composed.
To the north of the Desert runs a chain of steep and bare calcareous
mountains, which were in constant view of our caravan travelling at
the distance of three to seven miles in like direction. At the foot
of these, runs a flat tract of moorish swampy land, from one to six
miles in breadth, abounding in springs, and to which we resorted every
second or third day for a supply of water; but at the period of our
journey, the springs throughout the whole valley were nearly dried
up. The water which remained, and run or spread on the surface, was
_bitter_;[4] yet digging wells near to these rivulets or marshes,
we found water at the depth only of five or six feet, which was
sweet and palatable.