ABOUT the beginning of April 1816 Cairo was again visited by the plague.
The Franks and most of the Christians shut themselves up; but as I
neither wished to follow their example nor to expose myself
unnecessarily in the town, I determined to pass my time, during the
prevalence of the disease, among the Bedouins of Mount Sinai, to visit
the gulf of Akaba, and, if possible, the castle of Akaba, to which, as
far as I know, no traveller has ever penetrated. Intending to pass some
days at the convent of Mount Sinai, I procured a letter of introduction
to the monks from their brethren at Cairo; for without this passport no
stranger is ever permitted to enter the convent; I was also desirous of
having a letter from the Pasha of Egypt to the principal Sheikh of the
tribes of Tor, over whom, as I knew by former experience, he exercises
more than a nominal authority. With the assistance of this paper, I
hoped to be able to see a good deal of the Bedouins of the peninsula in
safety, and to travel in their company to Akaba. Such letters of
recommendation are in general easily procured in Syria and Egypt, though
they are often useless, as I found on several occasions during my first
journey into Nubia, as well as in my