[p.508] any thing worth seizing. Szaleh had completely deluded both
myself and his own nephew Hamd: he had confidently asserted that he knew
the Heywat well, and that the first individual of them whom we should
meet would easily be prevailed upon to join our party, and to serve as
an additional protector. About one hour before us was another
promontory, beyond which we knew that the country was well peopled by
two other tribes, the Alowein and Omran, who are the masters of the
district of Akaba, intrepid robbers, and allies of the Heywat, and who
are to this day quite independent of the government of Egypt. Through
them we must unavoidably pass to reach Akaba, and Ayd could not give me
the smallest hope of being able to cross their valleys without being
attacked. Had I been furnished with a Firmahn from Mohammed Ali Pasha, I
should have repaired at once to the great Sheikh of the Towara, and
obliged him to send for some Heywat or Omran guides, who might have
ensured my safety. But having been disappointed in this respect, I had
no alternative but to turn back. Hamd, it is true, bravely offered to
accompany me wherever I chose to go, though he knew nothing of the road
before us, or the Arabs upon it; but I saw little chance of success, and
knew, from what I had heard during my journey from Kerek to Cairo, that
the Omran not only rob but murder passengers. Ayd had seen on the shore
the footsteps of a man, which he knew to be those of a fisherman, a
friend of his who had probably passed in the course of this day. Had we
met with him he might have served as our guide, but not a soul was any
where to be seen. Under these circumstances I reluctantly determined to
retrace my steps the next day, but, instead of proceeding by the shore,
to turn off into the mountains, and return to the convent by a more
western route.
[p.509] Akaba was not far distant from the spot from whence we returned.
Before sun-set I could distinguish a black line in the plain, where my
sharp-sighted guides clearly saw the date-trees surrounding the castle,
which bore N.E. 1 E.; it could not be more than five or six hours
distant. Before us was a promontory called Ras Koreye [Arabic], and
behind this, as I was told, there is another, beyond which begins the
plain of Akaba. The castle is situated at an hour and a half or two
hours from the western chain, down which the Hadj route leads, and about
the same distance from the eastern chain, or lower continuation of Tor
Hesma, a mountain which I have mentioned in my journey through the
northern parts of Arabia Petraea. The descent of the western mountain is
very steep, and has probably given to the place its name of Akaba, which
in Arabic means a cliff or a steep declivity; it is probably the Akabet
Aila of the Arabian geographers; Makrizi says that the village Besak
stands upon its summit. In Numbers, xxxiv. 4, the ascent of Akrabbim
is mentioned, which appears to correspond very accurately to this ascent
of the western mountain from the plain of Akaba. Into this plain, which
surrounds the castle on every side except the sea, issues the Wady el
Araba, the broad sandy valley which leads towards the Dead sea, and
which I crossed in 1812, at a day and a half, or two days journey from
Akaba. At about two hours to the south of the castle the eastern range
of mountains approaches the sea. The plain of Akaba, which is from three
to four hours in length, from west to east, and, I believe, not much
less in breadth northward, is very fertile in pasturage. To the distance
of about one hour from the sea it is strongly impregnated with salt, but
farther north sands prevail. The castle itself stands at a few hundred
paces from the sea, and is surrounded with large groves of date-trees.
It is a square building, with strong walls, erected, as it now
[p.510] stands, by Sultan el Ghoury of Egypt, in the sixteenth century.
In its interior are many Arab huts; a market is held there, which is
frequented by Hedjaz and Syrian Arabs; and small caravans arrive
sometimes from Khalyl. The castle has tolerably good water in deep
wells. The Pasha of Egypt, keeps here a garrison of about thirty
soldiers, to guard the provisions deposited for the supply of the Hadj,
and for the use of the cavalry on their passage by this route to join
the army in the Hedjaz. Cut off from Cairo, the soldiers of the garrison
often turn rebellious; three years ago an Aga made himself independent,
and whenever a corps of troops passed he shut the gates of the castle,
and prepared to defend it. He had married a daughter of the chief of the
Omran, and thus secured the assistance of that tribe. Being at last
attacked by some troops sent against him from Cairo he fled to his
wifes tribe, and escaped into Syria.
It appears that the gulf extends very little farther east than the
castle, distant from which one hour, in a southern direction, and on the
eastern shore of the gulf, lies a smaller and half-ruined castle,
inhabited by Bedouins only, called Kaszer el Bedawy. At about three
quarters of an hour from Akaba, and the same distance from Kaszer el
Bedawy, are ruins in the sea, which are visible only at low water: they
are said to consist of walls, houses, and columns, but cannot easily be
approached, on account of the shallows. This information was not given
to me by my guides, but after my return to Cairo, by some French
Mamelouks, in the army of Mohammed Ali Pasha, who had formerly been for
several weeks in garrison at Akaba; they, however, had never seen the
ruins except from a distance. I enquired particularly whether the gulf
did not form two branches at this extremity, as it has always been laid
down in the maps, but I was assured that it had only a single ending, at
which the castle is situated.
[p.511] To the north of Akaba, in the mountain leading up to Tor Hesma,
is a Wady known by the name of Wady Ithem [Arabic]. I was told that at a
certain spot this valley is shut up by an ancient wall, the construction
of which is ascribed by the Arabs to a king named Hadeid, whose
intention in erecting it was to prevent the tribe of Beni Helal of
Nedjed from making incursions into the plain. By this valley a road
leads eastwards towards Nedjed, following, probably, a branch of the
mountain which extends towards the Akaba of the Syrian Hadj route, where
the pilgrims coming from Damascus descend by a steep and difficult pass
into the lower plains of Arabia. I believe this chain of mountains
continues in a direct and uninterrupted line from the eastern shore of
the Dead sea to the eastern shore of the Red sea, and from thence to
Yemen. Makrizi, the Egyptian historian, says, in his chapter on Aila
(Akaba); It is from hence that the Hedjaz begins; in former times it
was the frontier place of the Greeks; at one mile from it, is a
triumphal arch of the Caesars. In the time of the Islam it was a fine
town, inhabited by the Beni Omeya. Ibn Ahmed Ibn Touloun (a Sultan of
Egypt), made the road over the Akaba or steep mountain before Aila.
There were many mosques at Aila, and many Jews lived there; it was taken
by the Franks during the Crusades; but in 566, Salaheddyn transported
ships upon camels from Cairo to this place, and recovered it from them.
Near Aila was formerly situated a large and handsome town, called
Aszyoun [Arabic], (Eziongeber.)
My guides told me, that in the sea opposite to the above mentioned
promontory of Ras Koreye, there is a small island; they affirmed that
they saw it distinctly, but I could not, for it was already dusk when
they pointed it out, and the next morning a thick fog covered the gulf.
Upon this island, according to their statement, are ruins of infidels,
but as no vessels are kept in these parts,
[p.512] Ayd, who had been here several times, had never been able to
take any close view of them; they are described as extensive, and built
of hard stone, and are called El Deir, the convent, a word often
applied by Arabs to any ruined building in which they suppose that the
priests of the infidels once resided.
The Bedouins in the neighbourhood of Akaba, as I have already observed,
are the Alouein, Omran, and Heywat. They are all three entitled to a
passage duty from the Hadj caravan; the Alouein exact it as owners of
the district extending from the western mountain, across the plain to
Akaba; the Heywat, as the possessors of the country from the well of
Themmed, to the summit of the same mountain; and the Omran as masters of
the desert from Akaba southward as far as the vicinity of Moeleh.
Caravans of these tribes come occasionally to Cairo in search of corn,
but they are independent of the Pasha of Egypt, of which they give
proofs, by continually plundering the loads of the Hadj caravans, and of
all those who pass the great Hadj route through their districts. Their
intercourse with Syria, especially with Khalyl, is much more frequent
than with Cairo.
We had had through the whole of this day a very intense Simoum, or hot-
wind, which continued also during the night. In the evening I bathed in
the sea, but found myself immediately afterwards as much heated as I had
been before. After retiring to sleep we were awakened by the barking of
Ayds dog, upon which Ayd springing up said he was sure that some people
were in the neighbourhood. We therefore got our guns ready, and sat by
the fire the whole night, for whatever may be the heat of the season,
the Bedouin must have his fire at night. Szaleh gave evident signs of
fear, but happily the morning came without realizing his apprehensions.