[p.440] hills of Djebel Shera. After two hours march we began to
descend, in following the course of a Wady. At the end of four hours is
a spring called Ibn Reszeysz (Arabic). The highest point of Djebel
Hesma, in the direction of Akaba, bears from hence S.W. Hesma is higher
than any part of Shera. In five hours we reached Ain Daleghe (Arabic), a
spring in a fertile valley, where the Howeytat have built a few huts,
and cultivate some Dhourra fields. We continued descending Wady Daleghe,
which in winter is an impetuous torrent. The mountains are quite barren
here; calcareous rock predominates, with some flint. At the end of seven
hours we left the Wady, which takes a more northern direction, and
ascended a steep mountain. At eight hours and a half we alighted on the
declivity of the mountain, which is called Djebel Koula (Arabic), and
which appears to be the highest summit of Djebel Shera. Our road was
tolerably good all the way.
August 27th.After one hours march we reached the summit of Djebel
Koula, which is covered with a chalky surface. The descent on the other
side is very wild, the road lying along the edges of almost
perpendicular precipices amidst large blocks of detached rocks, down a
mountain entirely destitute of vegetation, and composed of calcareous
rocks, sand-stone, and flint, lying over each other in horizontal
layers. At the end of three hours we came to a number of tombs on the
road side, where the Howeytat and other Bedouins who encamp in these
mountains bury their dead. In three hours and a half we reached the
bottom of the mountain, and entered the bed of a winter torrent, which
like Wady Mousa has worked its passage through the chain of sand-stone
rocks that form a continuation of the Syk. These rocks extend southwards
as far as Djebel Hesma. The narrow bed is enclosed by perpendicular
cliffs, which, at the entrance of the Wady, are about fifteen or twenty
yards distant from each other, but wider lower down.