[p.602] probably the cells of the hermits of Sinai. Their construction
is similar to that of the magazines already mentioned, but the stones
although uncemented, are more carefully placed in the walls, and have
thus resisted the force of torrents. Upon the summits of three different
mountains to the right were small ruined towers, originally perhaps,
chapels, dependant on the episcopal see of Feiran. In descending the
valley the mountains on both sides approach so near, that a defile of
only fifteen or twenty feet across is left; beyond this they again
diverge, when a range of the same hills of Tafel, or yellow pipe-clay
are seen, which I observed in the higher parts of this Wady. At the end
of four hours we entered the plantations of Wady Feiran [Arabic],
through a wood of tamarisks, and halted at a small date-garden belonging
to my guide Hamd. Wady Feiran is a continuation of Wady el Sheikh, and
is considered the finest valley in the whole peninsula. From the upper
extremity, where we alighted, an uninterrupted row of gardens and date-
plantations extends downwards for four miles. In almost every garden is
a well, by means of which the grounds are irrigated the whole year
round, exactly in the same manner as those in the Hedjaz above Szafra
and Djedeyde. Among the date-trees are small huts where reside the Tebna
Arabs, a branch of the Djebalye, who serve as gardeners to the Towara
Bedouins, especially to the Szowaleha, who are the owners of the ground;
they take one-third of the fruit for their labour. The owners seldom
visit the place, except in the date harvest, when the valley is filled
with people for a month or six weeks; at that season they erect huts of
palm-branches, and pass their time in conviviality, receiving visits,
and treating their guests with dates. The best species of these is
called Djamya [Arabic], of which the monks send large boxes annually to
Constantinople as presents, after having taken out the stone of the
date, and put an almond in its place. The
[p.603] Nebek (Rhamnus Lotus), the fruit of which is a favourite food of
the Bedouins, grows also in considerable quantity at Wady Feiran. They
grind the dried fruit together with the stone, and preserve the meal,
called by them Bsyse [Arabic], in leathern skins, in the same manner as
the Nubian Bedouins do. It is an excellent provision for journeying in
the desert, for it requires only the addition of butter-milk to make a
most nourishing, agreeable, and refreshing diet.
The Tebna cultivators are very poor; they possess little or no landed
property, and are continually annoyed by visits from the Bedouins, whom
they are under the necessity of receiving with hospitality. Their only
profitable branch of culture is tobacco, of which they raise
considerable quantities; it is of the same species as that grown in the
mountains of Arabia Petraea, about Wady Mousa and Kerek, which retains
its green colour even when dry. It is very strong, and esteemed for this
quality by the Towara Bedouins, who are all great consumers of tobacco,
and who are chiefly supplied with it from Wady Feiran; they either smoke
it, or chew it mixed with natron or with salt. Tobacco has acquired here
such a currency in trade, that the Tebna buy and sell minor articles
among themselves by the Mud or measure of tobacco. The other vegetable
productions of the valley are cucumbers, gourds, melons, hemp for
smoking, onions, a few Badendjans, and a few carob trees. As for apple,
pear, or apricot trees, &c. they grow only in the elevated regions of
the upper Sinai, where in different spots are about thirty or forty
plantations of fruit trees; in a very few places wheat and barley are
sown, but the crops are so thin that they hardly repay the labour of
cultivation, although the cultivator has the full produce without any
deduction. The soil is every where so stony, that it is impossible to
make it produce corn sufficient for even the smallest Arab tribe.