[p.477] The direction of our road across it was S. E. by S. At six hours
and a half we entered a mountainous country, much devastated by
torrents, which have given the mountains a very wild appearance. Here
sand-stone rocks begin. We followed the windings of a valley, and in
seven hours and a quarter reached the Wady el Naszeb [Arabic], where we
rested, under the shade of a large impending rock, which for ages,
probably, has afforded shelter to travellers; it is I believe the same
represented by Niebuhr in vol. i. pl. 48. He calls the valley Warsan,
which is, no doubt, its true name, but the Arabs comprise all the
contiguous valleys under the general name of Naszeb. Shady spots like
this are well known to the Arabs, and as the scanty foliage of the
acacia, the only tree in which these valleys abound, affords no shade,
they take advantage of such rocks, and regulate the days journey in
such a way, as to be able to reach them at noon, there to take the
siesta.
The main branch of the Wady Naszeb continues farther up to the S.E. and
contains, at about half an hour from the place where we rested, a well
of excellent water; as I was fatigued, and the sun was very hot, I
neglected to go there, though I am sensible that travellers ought
particularly to visit wells in the desert, because it is at these
natural stations that traces of former inhabitants are more likely to be
found than any where else. The Wady Naszeb empties its waters in the
rainy season into the gulf of Suez, at a short distance from the Birket
Faraoun.
While my guides and servant lay asleep under the rock, and one of the
Arabs had gone to the well to water the camels and fill the skins, I
walked round the rock, and was surprised to find inscriptions similar in
form to those which have been copied by travellers in Wady Mokatteb.
They are upon the surface of blocks which have fallen down from the
cliff, and some of them appear to have been engraved while the pieces
still formed a part of the main
[p.478] rock. There is a great number of them, but few can be distinctly
made out. I copied the following from some rocks which are lying near
the resting-place, at about an hundred paces from the spot where
travellers usually alight. [not included] The fallen blocks must be
closely examined in order to discover
[p.479] the inscriptions; in some places they are still to be seen on
the rock above. They have evidently been done in great haste, and very
rudely, sometimes with large letters, at others with small, and seldom
with straight lines. The characters appear to be written from right to
left, and although mere scratches, an instrument of metal must have been
required, for the rock, though of sandstone, is of considerable
hardness. Some of the letters are not higher than half an inch; but they
are generally about fifteen lines in height, and four lines in breadth;
the annexed figure, (as M. Seetzen has already observed in his
publication upon these inscriptions in the Mines de lOrient) is seen at
the beginning of almost every line. Hence it appears that none of the
inscriptions are of any length, but that they consist merely of short
phrases, all similar to each other, in the beginning at least. They are
perhaps prayers, or the names of pilgrims, on their way to Mount Sinai,
who had rested under this rock. A few drawings of camels and goats, done
in the coarsest manner, are likewise seen. M. Niebuhr (vol. i. pl. 50)
has given some sketches of them.
Some Syale trees, a species of the mimosa, grow in this valley. The pod
which they produce, together with the tenderest shoots of the branches,
serve as fodder to the camels; the bark of the tree is used by the Arabs
to tan leather. The rocks round the resting-place of Naszeb are much
shattered and broken, evidently by torrents; yet no torrents within the
memory of man have ever rushed down the valley.
In the afternoon we entered a lateral branch of the Naszeb, more
northerly than the main branch which contains the well, and we gradually
ascended it. We had been joined at the Ayoun Mousa by an Egyptian
Bedouin, belonging to the Arabs of the province