[p.523] and had not the slightest altercation either with Hamd or Ayd.
On the eastern shore of the gulf, opposite the place where we rested,
lies a valley called Mekna [Arabic], inhabited by the tribe of Omran.
Close to the shore are plantations of date and other fruittrees. The
inhabitants of Mekna cross the gulf in small boats, and bring to this
side sheep and goats for sale, of which they possess large flocks, and
which are thus more plentiful in this part of the peninsula than in any
other. The mountains behind Mekna recede from the sea, and further to
the south take a more eastern direction, so as to leave a chain of hills
between them and the shore, rising immediately from the water-side. The
appearance of this gulf, with the mountains enclosing it on both sides,
reminded me of the lake of Tiberias and of the Dead sea; and the general
resemblance was still further heightened by the hot season in which I
had visited all these places.
May 12th.Our road lay S.S.W. along a narrow sandy plain by the sea
side. In one hour and a half we reached Dahab [Arabic], a more extensive
cluster of date trees than I had before seen on this coast; it extends
into the sea upon a tongue of land, about two miles beyond the line of
the shore; to the north of it is a bay, which affords anchorage, but it
is without protection against northerly winds. Dahab is, probably, the
Dizahab mentioned in Deut. i. 1. There are some low hummocks covered
with sand close to the shore of the low promontory, probably occasioned
by the ruins of buildings. The plantations of date trees ar[e] here
enclosed by low walls, within many of which are wells of indifferent
water; but in one of them, about twenty-five feet deep, and fifty yards
from the sea, we found the best water I had met with on any part of this
coast in the immediate vicinity of the sea. About two miles to the south
of the date groves
[p.524] are a number of shallow ponds into which the sea flows at
hightide; here the salt is made which supplies all the peninsula, as
well as the fishermen for curing their fish; the openings of the ponds
being closed with sand, the water is left to evaporate, when a thick
crust of salt is left, which is collected by the Bedouins. Dahab is a
favourite resort of the fishermen, who here catch the fish called Boury
[Arabic] in great quantities.
The date trees of Dahab, which belong to the tribe of Mezeine and
Aleygat, presented a very different appearance to those of Egypt and the
Hedjaz, where the cultivators always take off the lower branches which
dry up annually; here they are suffered to remain, and hang down to the
ground, forming an almost impenetrable barrier round the tree, the top
of which only is crowned with green leaves. Very few trees had any fruit
upon them; indeed date trees, in general, yield a very uncertain
produce, and even in years, when every other kind of fruit is abundant,
they are sometimes quite barren. We met here several families of Arabs,
who had come to look after their trees, and to collect salt. In the
midst of the small peninsula of Dahab are about a dozen heaps of stones
irregularly piled together, but shewing traces of having once been
united; none of them is higher than five feet. The Arabs call them
Kobour el Noszara, or the tombs of the Christians, a name given by them
to all the nations which peopled their country before the introduction
of the Islam.
We remained several hours under the refreshing shade of the palm trees,
and there continued our road. In crossing the tongue of land I observed
the remains of what I conceived to be a road or causeway, which began at
the mountain and ran out towards the point of the peninsula; the stones
which had formed it were now separated from each other, but lay in a
straight line, so as to afford sufficient proof of their having been
placed here by the