[p.530] were also overspread with it; it is possible that other rocks of
the same kind may be found towards Ras Abou Mohammed, and hence may have
arisen the term of black [Arabic], applied to these mountains by the
Greeks. It should be observed, however, that low sand hills intervene
between the volcanic rocks and the sea, and that above them, towards the
higher mountains, no traces of lava are found, which seems to shew that
the volcanic matter is confined to this spot.
We issued from the low hills upon a wide plain, which extends as far as
Nabk, and is intersected in several places by beds of torrents. Our
direction was N.E. by N. The plain terminates three or four miles to the
east, in rocks which line the shore. At the end of three hours and a
half we halted under a rock, in the bed of one of the torrents. The
whole plain appears to be alluvial; many petrified shells are found
imbedded in the chalky and calcareous soil. In the afternoon we again
passed several low water-courses in the plain, and, at the end of five
hours Wady Szygha [Arabic]. At six hours and a half from Sherm we rested
in the plain, in a spot where some bushes grew, amongst which we found a
Bedouin woman and her daughter, living under a covering made of reeds
and brush-wood. Her husband and son were absent fishing, but Ayd being
well known to them, they gave us a hearty welcome, and milked a goat for
me. After sunset they joined our party, and sitting down behind the bush
where I had taken up my quarters, eat a dish of rice which I presented
to them. The daughter was a very handsome girl of eighteen or nineteen,
as graceful in her deportment and modest in her behaviour, as the best
educated European female could be; indeed I have often had occasion to
remark among the Bedouins, comparing them with the women of of the most
polished parts of Europe, that grace and modesty are not less than
beauty the gifts of nature. Among these Arabs the