[p.464] Rains are much more frequent in this desert than in the valley
of Egypt, and the same remark may be made in regard to all the mountains
to the southward, where a regular, though not uninterrupted rainy season
sets in, while in the valley of the Nile, as is well known, rain seldom
falls even in winter. The soil and hills are here entirely calcareous.
We had been for the whole morning somewhat alarmed by the appearance of
some suspicious looking men on camels at a distance in our rear, and our
Bedouins had, in consequence, prepared their matchlocks. When we halted
during the mid-day hours, they also alighted upon a hill at a little
distance; but seeing us in good order, and with no heavy loads to excite
their cupidity, they did not approach us. They, however, this evening,
fell upon a small party of unarmed Egyptian peasants who were carrying
corn to Suez, stripped them, took away their camels and loads, and the
poor owners fled naked into Suez. It was afterwards learnt that they
belonged to the tribe of Omran, who live on the eastern shore of the
gulf of Akaba. Without establishing regular patrols of the Bedouins
themselves on this road, it will never be possible to keep it free from
robbers.
At six hours and a half begins a hilly country, with a slight descent
through a narrow pass between hills, called El Montala [Arabic], a
favourite spot for robbers. At seven hours and a half we passed Adjeroud
[Arabic], about half an hour to our left; about two miles west of it is
a well in the Wady Emshash, called Bir Emshash, which yields a copious
supply of water in the winter, but dries up in the middle of summer if
rains have not been abundant; the garrison of Adjeroud, where is a well
so bitter that even camels will not drink the water, draws its supply of
drinking water from the Bir Emshash. From hence the road turns S.E. over
a slightly descending plain. At ten hours and a half is the well called
Bir Suez, a