[p.589] secured building in a large town. The Towara are well entitled
to pride themselves on this trait in their character; for I found
nothing similar to it among other Bedouins. The only instance upon
record of a magazine having been plundered among them, is that mentioned
in page 475, for which the robbers own father inflicted the punishment
of death.
We continued our route in a side branch of the Rababa, till at the end
of five hours and a half, we ascended a mountain, and then descended
into a narrow valley, or rather cleft, between the rocks, called Bereika
[Arabic]. The camel which I rode not being able to proceed farther on
account of the rocky road, I left it here in charge of one of the
Djebalye. This part of Sinai was completely parched up, no rain having
fallen in it during the last winter. W.S.W. from hence, on entering a
narrow pass called Wady Zereigye [Arabic], we found the ground moist,
there being a small well, but almost dried up; it would have cost us
some time to dig it up to obtain water, which no longer rose above the
surface, though it still maintained some verdure around it. This defile
was thickly overgrown with fennel, three or four feet high; the Bedouins
eat the stalks raw, and pretend that it cools the blood. Farther down we
came to two copious springs, most picturesquely situated among the
rocks, being overshaded by large wild fig-trees, a great number of which
grow in other parts of this district. We descended the Zereigye by
windings, and at the end of eight hours reached its lowest extremity,
where it joins a narrow valley extending along the foot of Om Shomar,
the almost perpendicular cliffs of which now stood before us. The
country around is the wildest I had yet seen in these mountains; the
devastations of torrents are every where visible, the sides of the
mountains being rent by them in numberless directions; the surface of
the sharp rocks is blackened by the sun; all vegetation is dry and
withered; and the whole
[p.590] scene presents nothing but utter desolation and hopeless
barrenness.
We ascended S.E. in the valley of Shomar, winding round the foot of the
mountain for about an hour, till we reached the well of Romhan [Arabic],
at nine hours from the convent, where we rested. This is a fine spring;
high grass grows in the narrow pass near it, with several date-trees and
a gigantic fig-tree. Just above the well, on the side of the mountain,
are the ruins of a convent, called Deir Antous; it was inhabited in the
beginning of the last century, and according to the monks, it was the
last convent abandoned by them. I found it mentioned in records of the
fifteenth century in the convent; it was then one of the principal
settlements, and caravans of asses laden with corn and other provisions
passed by this place regularly from the convent to Tor, for this is the
nearest road to that harbour, though it is more difficult than the more
western route, which is now usually followed. The convent consisted of a
small solid building, constructed with blocks of granite. I was told
that date plantations are found higher up in the valley of Romhan, and
that the monks formerly had their gardens there, of which some of the
fruit trees still remain.
May 24th.Early this morning I took Hamd with me to climb the Om Shomar,
while the other man went with his gun in pursuit of some mountain-goats
which he had seen yesterday at sunset upon the summit of a neighbouring
mountain; he was accompanied by another Djebalye, whom we had met by
chance. I had promised them a good reward if they should kill a goat,
for I did not wish to have them near me, when examining the rocks upon
the mountain. It took me an hour and a half to reach the top of Shomar,
and I employed three hours in visiting separately all the surrounding
heights, but I could no where find the slightest traces of a volcano, or
of any volcanic productions, which I have not observed in any part of
[p.591] the upper Sinai. Om Shomar consists of granite, the lower
stratum is red, that at the top is almost white, so as to appear from a
distance like chalk; this arises from the large proportion of white
feldspath in it, and the smallness of the particles of hornblende and
mica. In the middle of the mountain, between the granite rocks, I found
broad strata of brittle black slate, mixed with layers of quartz and
feldspath, and with micaceous schistus. The quartz includes thin strata
of mica of the most brilliant white colour, which is quite dazzling in
the sun, and forms a striking contrast with the blackened surface of the
slate and red granite.
The mountain of Om Shomar rises to a sharp-pointed peak, the highest
summit of which, it is, I believe, impossible to reach; the sides being
almost perpendicular, and the rock so smooth, as to afford no hold to
the foot. I halted at about two hundred feet below it, where a beautiful
view opened upon the sea of Suez, and the neighbourhood of Tor, which
place was distinctly visible; at our feet extended the wide plain El
Kaa. The southern side of this mountain is very abrupt, and there is no
secondary chain, like those on the descent from Sinai to the sea, in
every other direction. I have already mentioned the low chain called
Hemam, which separates the Kaa from the gulf of Suez. In this chain,
about five hours from Tor, northward, is the Djebel Nakous, or mountain
of the Bell. On its side next the sea a mass of very fine sand, which
has collected there, rushes down at times, and occasions a hollow sound,
of which the Bedouins relate many stories; they compare it to the
ringing of bells, and a fable is repeated among them, that the bells
belong to a convent buried under the sands. The wind and weather are not
believed to have any effect upon the sound.
Bearings from Om Shomar.
Tor, W.1.S. The usual road to Tor from the upper Sinai lies through the
valley of El Ghor [Arabic], not far distant to the N.W.