[p.494] From hence the summit of Mount St. Catherine, behind the
convent, bore S.W. by W. Calcareous and sand rocks begin here, and the
bottom of the valley is deep sand. We rode in it in the direction N.E.
by N. and after a march of eleven hours alighted in a plain, at a spot
which afforded some shrubs for our camels to feed upon. The elder of my
two guides, by name Szaleh, soon proved himself to be ignorant of the
road. He might have passed this way in his youth, and have had a
recollection of the general direction of the valleys; but when we
arrived in the plain, he proceeded in various directions, in search of a
road from the east. We had now, about six or eight miles to our left, a
long and straight chain of mountains, the continuation, I believe, of
that of Tyh or Dhelel, mentioned above, and running almost parallel with
our route. The northern side of these mountains is inhabited by the
tribe of Tyaha. Here passes the road which leads straight from the
convent to Akaba, while the one we took descended to the sea, and had
been chosen by my guides for greater security. The upper road passes by
the watering places Zelka, El Ain (the Well), a place much frequented by
Bedouins, and where many date-trees grow, and lastly by El Hossey. It is
the common route from the convent to Khalyl and Jerusalem.
May 6th.We started early, and continued our way over the plain, which
is called Haydar [Arabic]. It appears to follow the mountain of Tyh as
far as its western extremity, and there to join the Seyh, of which I
have already spoken, thus forming the northern sandy boundary of the
lower Sinai chain. As we proceeded, we approached nearer to the
mountain, and at length fell in with the looked for road. The ground is
gravelly but covered with moving sands which are raised by the slightest
wind. To the east the country was open, with low hills, as far as I
could see. Our road lay N.E.1/2 N. At one hour and a half Mount St.
Catharine bore