[p.484] seen, the valleys reaching to the very summits, where they form
a plain, and thence descend on the other side. A very pointed peak of
rocks, near the left of the summit of Wady Genne, is known by the
appellation of Zob el Bahry [Arabic]. After crossing a short plain, we
again descended S.E. by S. and entered the valley called Wady Berah
[Arabic], where I saw another block with inscriptions. Near it were many
others, but effaced. The following was more regularly and clearly
written than any I have seen: [not included] We descended slowly through
this valley, which is covered with sand, till, at the end of ten hours,
we entered a side valley called Wady Osh [Arabic], and at ten hours and
a half alighted at an encampment of Bedouins, pitched at no great
distance from a burial ground similar to that which we had passed in the
morning.
This encampment belonged to the Oulad Said [Arabic], a branch of the
Szowaleha tribe, and one of their Sheikhs, Hassan [Arabic], had his tent
here; this we entered, though he was absent, and the Arabs had a long
and fierce dispute among themselves to decide who should have the honour
of furnishing us a supper, and a breakfast the next morning. He who
first sees the stranger from afar, and exclaims: There comes my guest,
has the right of entertaining him, whatever tent he may alight at. A
lamb was killed for me, which was an act of great hospitality; for these
Bedouins are poor, and a lamb was worth upwards of a Spanish dollar, a
sum that would afford a supply of butter and bread to the family for a
whole week. I found the same custom to prevail here, which I observed in
my journey through the northern parts of Arabia Petraea; when meat is
served up, it is the duty of one of the guests to demand a, portion for
the women, by calling out Lahm el
[p.485] Ferash, i.e. the meat for the apartment of the women; and a
part of it is then either set aside, or he is answered that this has
been already done. In the evening we joined in some of the popular
songs, of which a description will be found in my illustration of
Bedouin manners.[This will form part of a subsequent volume. Ed]
I was naturally asked for what object I had come to these mountains. As
the passage of Greeks on their way to visit the convent of Sinai is
frequent, I might have answered that I was a Greek; but I thought it
better to adhere to what I had already told my guides, that I had left
Cairo, in order not to expose myself to the plague, that I wished to
pass my time among the Bedouins while the disease prevailed, and that I
intended to visit the convent. Other Moslems would have considered it
impious to fly from the infection; but I knew that all these Bedouins
entertain as great a dread of the plague as Europeans themselves. During
the spring, when the disease usually prevails in Egypt, no prospect of
gain can induce them to expose themselves to infection, by a journey to
the banks of the Nile; the Bedouins with whom I left Cairo were the last
who had remained there. Had the Pasha granted me a Firmahn to the great
Sheikh of the Towara Arabs, I should have gone directly to his tent, and
in virtue of it I should have taken guides to conduct me to Akaba; but
being without the Firmahn, I thought it more prudent to visit the
convent in the first instance, and to depart from thence for Akaba, in
order to take advantage of such influence as the Prior might possess
over the Bedouins, for though they pay little respect to the priests,
yet they have some fear of being excluded from the gains accruing from
the transport of visitors to the convent. As every white-skinned person,
who makes his appearance in the desert, is supposed by the Arabs to be
attached to the Turkish army, or the government of Cairo, my
[p.486] going to Akaba without any recommendations would have given rise
to much suspicion, and I should probably have been supposed to be a
deserter from the Turkish army, attempting to escape by that circuitous
route to Syria; a practice which is sometimes resorted to by the
soldiers, to whom, without the Pashas passport, Egypt is closed both by
sea and land.
In the Wady Osh there is a well of sweet water. From hence upwards, and
throughout the primitive chain of Mount Sinai, the water is generally
excellent, while in the lower chalky mountains all round the peninsula,
it is brackish, or bitter, except in one or two places. The Wady Osh and
Wady Berah empty their waters in the rainy season into Wady el Sheikh,
above Feiran.
April 30th.We did not leave our kind hosts till the afternoon, for they
insisted on my taking a dinner before I set out. I gave to their
children, who accompanied me a little way, some coffee beans to carry to
their mothers, and some Kammereddein, a sweetmeat made at Damascus from
apricots, of which I had laid in a large stock, and which is very
acceptable to all the Bedouins of Syria, Egypt, and the Hedjaz. The
offer of any reward to a Bedouin host is generally offensive to his
pride; but some little presents may be given to the women and children.
Trinkets and similar articles are little esteemed by the Bedouins; but
coffee is in great request all over the desert; and sweetmeats and sugar
are preferred to money, which, though it will sometimes be accepted,
always creates a sense of humiliation, and consequently of dislike
towards the giver. For my own part, being convinced that the hospitality
of the Bedouin is afforded with disinterested cordiality, I was in
general averse to making the slightest return. Few travellers perhaps
will agree with me on this head; but will treat the Bedouins in the same
manner as the Turks, and other inhabitants of the towns, who never
proffer their services or