Wady Sadr, we threaded the various bends to the south and
south-east, with a general south-south-eastern direction. The
normal dark-green traps and burnished red porphyries and grits
were sparsely clad with the Shauhat and the Yasár trees,
resembling the Salvadora and the Tamarix. The country began to
show a few donkeys and large flocks of sheep and goats; the
muttons have a fine "tog," and sell for three dollars and a half.
The women in charge, whose complexions appeared notably lighter
than those of the seaboard, barked like the men. They were much
puzzled by a curious bleating which came from the mules; and
hurriedly counted their kids, suspecting that one had been
purloined, whilst they had some trouble to prevent the whole
flock following us. All roared with laughter when they found that
Mr. Clarke was the performer.
We crossed two short cuts over long bends in the Wady; and at the
second found a pot-hole of rain-water by no means fragrant,
except to nostrils that love impure ammonia. It has a grand name,
Muwah (for Miyáh) el-Rikáb ("the Waters of the Caravan"); and we
made free with it, despite the morning's threats. We again camped
in the valley at an altitude of 2200 feet (aner. 27.80); and,
though the thermometer showed 66° F. at five p.m., fires inside
and outside the mess-tent were required. A wester or sea-breeze,
deflected by the ravines to a norther, was blowing; and in these
regions, as in the sub-frigid zones of Europe, wind makes all the
difference of temperature. During the evening we were visited by
the Ma'ázah Bedawin of a neighbouring encampment: they began to
notice stolen camels and to wrangle over past times--another bad
sign.
Setting out on a splendidly lucent morning (6:45 a.m., February
23rd), when the towering heads of Harb and Dibbagh looked only a
few furlongs distant, we committed the imprudence of preceding,
as usual, the escort. Our men had become so timid, starting at
the sight of every wretched Bedawi, that they made one long for a
"rash act." After walking about a mile and a half, we passed some
black tents on the left bank, where the Sadr enters a narrow
rocky gorge; and suddenly about a dozen varlets were seen
scampering over the walls, manning the Pass, and with lighted
matches threatening to fire. Then loud rang the war-song--
"Hill el-Zawáib, hilla-há;
W'abdi Nuhúdak kulla-há!"
"Loose thy top-locks with a loosing (like a lion's mane);
And advance thy breast, all of it (opponite pectora without
shrinking)."
Other varieties of the slogan are:--
"O man of small mouth (un misérable)!
If we fail, who shall win?"
And--
"By thy eyes (I swear), O she-camel, if we go (to the
attack) and gird (the sword),
We will make it a day of sorrow to them, and avert from
ourselves every ill."
We dismounted, looked to our weapons, and began to parley. The
ragged ruffians, some of them mere boys, and these always the
readiest to blow the matches of guns longer than themselves,
began with high pretensions. They declared that they would be
satisfied with nothing less than plundering us; they flouted
Shaykh Furayj, and they insulted the Sayyid, threatening to take
away his sword.
Presently the escort and the Arab camel-men were seen coming up
at the double. The Ma'ázah at once became abject; kissed our
heads and declared "there was some mistake." I had already
remarked, whilst the matchlock-men were swarming up the
Wady-sides, that the women and children remained in camp, and the
sheep and goats were not driven off. This convinced me that
nothing serious had been intended: probably the demonstration was
ordered from head-quarters in order to strike us with a wholesome
awe.
The fellows gently reproached us with travelling through their
country without engaging (and paying) Ghafír--"guides and
protectors." So far, as owners of the soil, they were "in their
right;" and manning a pass is here the popular way of levying
transit dues. On this occasion the number of our Remingtons
sufficed to punish their insolence by putting the men to flight,
and by carrying off their camels and flocks; but such a step
would have stopped the journey, and what would not the
"Aborigines Protection Society" have said and done? I therefore
hired one of the varlets, and both parties went their ways
rejoicing that the peace had not been broken.
The valley, winding through the red and green hills, was dull and
warm till the cool morning easter, which usually set about eight
a.m., began to blow. The effect of increasing altitude showed
itself in the vegetation. We now saw for the first time the Kidád
(Astragalus), with horrid thorns and a flower resembling from
afar the gooseberry: it is common on the Hismá and in the South
Country. The Kahlá (Echium), a bugloss, a borage-like plant, with
viscous leaves and flowers of two colours,--the young light-pink
and the old dark-blue,--everywhere beautified the sands, and
reminded me of the Istrian hills, where it is plentiful as in the
Nile Valley. The Jarad-thorn was not in bloom; and the same was
the case with the hyacinth (Dipcadi erythraeum), so abundant in
the Hisma', which some of us mistook for a "wild onion." The
Zayti (Lavandula) had just donned its pretty azure bloom. There
were Reseda, wild indigo, Tribulus (terrestris), the blue
Aristida, the pale Stipa, and the Bromus grass, red and yellow.
The Ratam (spartium), with delicate white and pink blossoms, was
a reminiscence of Tenerife and its glorious crater; whilst a
little higher up, the amene Cytisus, flowering with gold, carried
our thoughts back to the far past.
Presently the great Fiumara opened upon a large basin denoting
the Ras ("head") Wady Sadr: native travellers consider this their
second stage from El-Muwaylah. In front the Jibál Sadr extended
far to the right and left, a slight depression showing the
Khuraytah, or "Pass," which we were to ascend on the morrow.
Buttressing the left bank of the broad watercourse was the dwarf
hill of which we had been told so many tales. By day its red
sands gleam and glisten like burnished copper; during the night
fire flashes from the summit: in truth, its sole peculiarity is
that of being yellow amongst the gloomy heights around it; whilst
the Wady el-Safrá, higher up to the left, discharges from its
Jebel a torrent of quartz and syenite, gravel and sand. Abú
Khartám, the author of the romance, was among the party: he only
smiled when complimented upon the power of his imagination.
This was a day of excitement: even the mules kept their ears
pricked up. After a short nine miles we had camped below the
Jebel Kibár, and we had remounted our animals to ascend a
neighbouring hill commanding a bird's-eye view of the Hismá
plain. There was evidently much excitement amongst the Bedawi
shepherds around us; and presently Ahmed el-Ukbí, our messenger,
appeared in sight, officially heading the five chiefs of the
Ma'ázah, who were followed by a tail of some thirty clansmen.
Only two rode horses, wretched garrons stolen from the Ruwalá,
the great branch of the Anezah, which holds the eastern regions;
the rest rode fine sturdy and long-coated camels, which looked
Syrian rather than Midianite.[EN#154] We returned hurriedly to
make arrangements for the reception: our Shaykhs could not,
without derogating, go forth to meet the strangers; but the
latter were saluted with due ceremony by the bugler and the
escort, drawn up in line before the mess-tent.
After the usual half-hour's delay, the "palaver," to speak
Africanicè, "came up," and M. Lacaze had a good opportunity of
privily sketching the scene. The Shaykh, Mohammed bin Atíyyah,
who boasts (falsely) that he commands more than half the two
thousand males composing the tribe, is a tall, sinewy man of
about fifty, straight-featured, full-bearded, and gruff-voiced:
his official style of speaking from the throat, a kind of vaccine
low, imitated in camp for many a day, never failed to cause
merriment. His costume rose to the height of Desert-fashion,
described when pourtraying Shaykh Khizr the Imráni; his manners
were those of a gentleman below the Pass, and above it he became
an unmitigated ruffian, who merited his soubriquet El-Kalb ("the
Hound"). On one side sat his son Sálim, a large, beardless lad,
who had begun work by presenting us with a sheep--Giorgi (cook)
said it cost us £40. On the other was his eldest brother and
alter ego: the wrinkled Sagr (Sakr) has been a resident at Cairo,
and still boasts that he received the "tribute" of a horse from
the Viceroy, whom he affects to treat as an equal or rather an
inferior. The others were old Sagr's ill-visaged son Ali, and,
lastly, a cunning-eyed villain, Abayd bin Sálim, the rightful
heir to the chieftainship, which, however, he had been unable to
keep. All the Shaykhs were dressed in brand-new garments and
glaring glossy Kúfíyahs ("head-kerchiefs"); they trade chiefly
with Mezáríb in the Haurán; and, during the annual passage to and
fro of the Damascus caravan, they await it at Tabúk, and threaten
to cut off the road unless liberally propitiated with presents of
raiment and rations. The Murátibah (honorarium) contributed by
El-Shám would be about one hundred dollars in ready money to the
headman, diminishing with degree to one dollar per annum: this
would not include "free gifts" by pilgrims. The Ma'ázah are under
Syria, that is, under no rule at all; and they are supposed to be
tributary to, when in reality they demand tribute from, the
Porte. In fact, nothing can be more pronounced than the contrast
of the Bedawin who are subject to Egypt, and those supposed to be
governed by the wretched Ottoman.
During the palaver all outside was sweet as honey, to use the
Arab phrase, and bitter as gall inside. The Ma'ázah, many of whom
now saw Europeans for the first time, eyed the barnetá (hat)
curiously, with a certain facial movement which meant, "This is
the first time we have let Christian dogs into our land!" They
were minute in observing the escort, and not a little astonished
to find that all were negroes--in the old day Egyptian soldiers,
under the great Mohammed Ali Pasha and his stepson, Ibrahim
Pasha, had made themselves a terror to the Wild Man. "What had
now become of them?" was the mental question. When asked whence
they had procured the two horses, they answered curtly, Min
Rabbiná--"From our Lord," thus signifying stolen goods; and, like
mediaeval knights, they took a pride in avowing that not one of
their number could read or write. Finally a tent was assigned to
them; food was ordered, and they promised us escort to their dens
on the morrow.
During the raw and gusty night the mercury sank to 38° F., the
aneroid (26.91) showing about three thousand feet above
sea-level; and blazing fires kept up within and without the
tents, hardly sufficed for comfort. On the morning of February
24th
"Over the wold the wind blew cold;"
and the Egyptian officers all donned their gloves. The early
hours were spent in a last struggle with our Shaykhs, who now
felt themselves and their camels hopelessly entering the lion's
lair. The sole available pretext for delay was that their animals
could never carry the boxes and tents up the Pass; but, though
very ugly reports prevailed concerning the reception of Ahmed
el-Ukbí, and the observations that had been made last night, not
a word was suffered to reach my ears until our retreat had been
resolved upon. Such concealment would have been inexcusable in a
European; in the East it is the rule.
At 7.15 a.m. we struck the camp at Jebel Kibár, and moved due
eastward towards the Pass. This north-eastern Khuraytah (Col) is
termed the Khuraytat el-Hismá or el-Jils, after a hillock on the
plateau-summit, to distinguish it from the similar feature to the
south-west: the latter is known as the Khuraytat el-Zibá; or
el-T h m , the local pronunciation of Tihámah. About two miles of
rough and broken ground lead to the foot of the ladder. The
zigzags then follow the line of a mountain torrent, the natural
Pass, crossing its bed from left to right and from right again to
left: the path is the rudest of corniches, worn by the feet of
man and beast; and showing some ugly abrupt turns. The absolute
height of the ascent is about 450 feet (aner. 26.70--26.25) and
the length half a mile. The ground, composed mostly of irregular
rock-steps, has little difficulty for horses and mules; but
camels laden with boards (the mess-table) and long tent-poles
must have had a queer time--I should almost expect after this to
see an oyster walking up stairs. Of course, they took their
leisure, feeling each stone before they trusted it, but they all
arrived without the shadow of an accident; and the same was the
case during the two subsequent descents.
We halted on the Sath el-Nakb ("the Passtop") to expect the
caravan, and to prospect the surrounding novelties. Heaps and
piles of dark trap dotted the summit like old graves; many of the
stones were inscribed with tribal marks, and not a few were
capped with snowy lumps of quartz detached from their veins in
the porphyry. This custom, which appears universal throughout
Midian, has many interpretations. According to some it denotes
the terminus of a successful raid; others make it show where a
dispute was settled without bloodshed; whilst as a rule it is an
expression of gratitude: the Bedawi erects it in honour of the
man who protected or who did a service to him, saying at the same
time, Abyaz alayk yá Fula'n--"White (or happy) be it to thee!"
naming the person. Amongst these votive stones we picked up
copper-stained quartz like that of Aynúnah, fine specimens of
iron, and the dove-coloured serpentine, with silvery threads, so
plentiful in the Wady Surr. The Wasm in most cases showed some
form of a cross, which is held to be a potent charm by the
Sinaitic Bedawin; and on two detached water-rolled pebbles were
distinctly inscribed lH and Vl, which looked exceedingly like
Europe. Apparently the custom is dying out: the modern Midianites
have forgotten the art and mystery of tribal signs (Wusúm). In
many places the people cannot distinguish between inscriptions
and "Bill Snooks his mark," and they can interpret very few of
the latter.
Looking westward through the inverted arch formed by the two
hill-staples of the Khuraytah, and down the long valley which had
given us passage, the eye distinguishes a dozen distances whose
several planes are marked by all the shades of colour that the
most varied vegetation can show. There are black-browns,
chocolate-browns, and light umber-browns; bright-reds and
dull-reds; grass-greens and cypress-greens; neutral tints and
French greys contrasting with the rosy pinks, the azures, the
purples, and the golden yellows with which distance paints the
horizon. From a few feet above the Col-floor appear the eastern
faces of the giants of the coast-range; and our altitude, some
3800 feet, gave us to a certain extent a measure of their grand
proportions.
We now stand upon the westernmost edge of the great central
Arabian plateau, known as El-Nejd ("the Highlands"), opposed to
El-Tihámah, the lowland regions. In Africa we should call it the
"true" subtending the "false" coast; delightful Dahome compared
with leprous Lagos. This upland, running parallel with the
"Lip"-range and with the maritime Gháts, is the far-famed Hismá.
It probably represents a remnant of the old terrace which, like
the Secondary gypseous formation, has been torn to pieces by the
volcanic region to the east, and by the plutonic upheavals to the
west. The length may be 170 miles; the northern limit is either
close to or a little south of Fort Ma'án; and we shall see its
southern terminus sharply defined on a parallel with the central
Shárr, not including "El-Jaww."[EN#155] An inaccessible fortress
to the south, it is approached on the south-west by difficult
passes, easily defended against man and beast. Further north,
however, the Wadys Afál near El-Sharaf, El-Hakl (Hagul), and
El-Yitm at El-Akabah, are easy lines without Wa'r ("stony
ground") or Nakb ("ravines").
The Hismá material is a loose modern sandstone, showing every hue
between blood-red, rose pink, and dead, dull white: again and
again fragments had been pointed out to us near the coast, in
ruined buildings and in the remains of handmills and rub-stones.
Possibly the true coal-measures may underlie it, especially if
the rocks east of Petra be, as some travellers state, a region of
the Old, not the New Red. According to my informants, the Hismá
has no hills of quartz, a rock which appears everywhere except
here; nor should I expect the region to be metalliferous.
We ascended the Jebel el-Khuraytah, a trap hillock some 120 feet
high, the southern jamb of the Khuraytah gate: the summit, where
stands a ruined Burj measuring fourteen metres in diameter, gives
a striking and suggestive view. After hard dry living on grisly
mountain and unlovely Wady, this fine open plain, slightly
concave in the centre, was a delightful change of diet to the
eye--the first enjoyable sensation of the kind, since we had
gazed lovingly upon the broad bosom of the Wady el-Arabah. The
general appearance is that of Eastern Syria, especially the
Haurán: at the present season all is a sheet of pinkish red,
which in later March will turn to lively green. On this parallel
the diameter does not exceed a day's march, but we see it
broadening to the north. Looking in that direction over the
gloomy-metalled porphyritic slopes upon which we stand, the
glance extends to a manner of sea-horizon; while the several
planes below it are dotted with hills and hill-ranges, white,
red, and black, all dwarfed by distance to the size of thimbles
and pincushions. The guides especially pointed out the ridge
El-Mukaykam, a red block upon red sands, and a far-famed
rendezvous for raid and razzia. Nearer, the dark lumps of
El-Khayráni rise from a similar surface; nearer still lie the two
white dots, El-Rakhamatayn; and nearest is the ruddy ridge Jebel
and Jils el-Rawiyán, containing, they say, ruins and inscriptions
of which Wallin did not even hear.
The eastern versant of the Hismá is marked by long chaplets of
tree and shrub, disposed along the selvage of the watercourses;
and the latter are pitted with wells sunk after the fashion of
the Bedawin. In this rhumb the horizon is bounded by El-Harrah,
the volcanic region whose black porous lavas and honey-combed
basalts, often charged with white zeolite, are still brought down
even to the coast to serve as mortars and handmills. The profile
is a long straight and regular line, as if formed under water,
capped here and there by a tiny head like the Syrian Kulayb
Haurán: its peculiar dorsum makes it distinguishable from afar,
and we could easily trace it from the upper heights of the Shárr.
It is evidently a section of the mighty plutonic outburst which
has done so much to change the aspect of the parallel Midian
seaboard. Wallin's account of it (p. 307) is confined to the
place where he crossed the lava-flood; and he rendered El-Harrah,
which in Arabic always applies to a burnt region, by
"red-coloured sandstone."
The Bedawin far more reasonably declare that this Harrah is not a
mere patch as it appears in Wallin's map, a narrow oblong not
exceeding sixty miles (north lat. 27°--28°), disposed diagonally
from north-west to south-east. According to them, it is a region
at least as large as the Hismá; and it extends southwards not
only to the parallel of El-Medínah, but to the neighbourhood of
Yambú'. The upper region has two great divisions: the
Harrat-Hismá or the Harrah par excellence, which belongs to the
Ma'ázah, and which extends southwards through El-Sulaysilah as
far as the Jaww. The latter region, a tract of yellow sand,
dotted with ruddy hills, apparently a prolongation of the Hismá,
separates it from the Harrat el-Awayraz, in which the Jebel
el-Muharrak lies.[EN#156] This line of volcanism is continued
south by the Harrat el-Mushrif (P.N. of a man); by the Harrat
Sutúh Jaydá; and, finally, by the Harrat el-Buhayri. the latter
shows close behind the shore at El-Haurá, in nearly the same
latitude as El-Medínah, where we shall presently sight it. There
is great interest and a general importance in this large
coast-subtending eruptive range, whose eastern counterslope
demands long and careful study.
Sweeping the glance round to south, we see the southern of the
two Jilsayn, tall mounds of horizontal strata, with ironstone in
harder lines and finial blocks. This is the Jils el-Dáim, so
distinguished from the northern Jils el-Rawiyán. The lower edge
of the Hismá swells up in red and quoin-like masses, the Jibál
el-Záwiyah, and then falls suddenly, with a succession of great
breaks, into the sub-maritime levels. During our next ten days'
travel we shall be almost in continuous sight of its southern
ramparts and buttresses. Far over the precipices lie the low
yellow sands of the Rahabah, alias the Wady Dámah; and behind it
rises the sky-blue mountain block, which takes a name from the
ruins of Shaghab and Shuwák.
We breakfasted upon the Khuraytah crest; and Mr. Clarke set out
to shoot the fine red-legged "Greek" partridges (caccabis) that
haunt the hilltops, whilst the rest of us marched with the
caravan to the nearest camping-ground. About a mile from the Col,
and lying to the west of the Jils el-Rawiyán, it is supplied with
excellent drinking-water by the Miyáh el-Jedayd, lying nine
hundred to a thousand metres to the south-east. On the other
hand, fuel, here a necessary of life, was wanting; nor could the
camels find forage. Thus we were camped upon the western edge of
the Hismá. The Ma'ázah Shaykhs, who vainly urged us forwards,
showed a suspicious disappointment at our not reaching their
quarters on the far side, where, they said, a camel was awaiting
to be slaughtered for our reception.
Meanwhile, we were enjoying the reverse of hospitality. The
Bedawin evidently now held that all which was ours had become
theirs. Their excessive greed made them imprudent. Not satisfied
with "eating us up," with a coffee-pot ever on the fire, with
demanding endless tobacco, and with making their two garrons
devour more barley than our eight mules, they began to debate,
aloud as usual, how much ready money they should demand. This was
at last settled at four hundred dollars; and the talk was
reported to me by the Básh-Buzúk Husayn, whom they had compelled
to cook for them. At the same time unpleasant discussions were
beginning: "This man stole my camel!" "That man killed my
father," already took the form of threats; in fact, I almost
repented having brought the Huwaytát and their camels into the
trap. Still they all respected Furayj, as might be seen by their
rising and making room for him whenever he approached the fire.
At last an evil rumour arose that the Ma'ázah had determined to
supply us with transport, and had sent messengers in all
directions to collect the animals. This step looked uncommonly
like a gathering of war-men. I was sorely disappointed, for more
reasons than one. The state of affairs rendered a distant march
to the east highly unadvisable. The principal object of this
journey had been to investigate the inland depth of the
metalliferous deposits; in fact, their extent from west to east.
Their north-south length would be easily ascertained, but the
width would still remain unknown. The "Land of Midian," through
which we have been travelling, has evidently been worked, and in
places well worked; thus the only chance of finding a virgin
California would be in the unknown tracts lying to the east of
the "Harrahs." Too bad to be thwarted in such a project by the
exorbitant demands of a handful of thieves!
The disappointment was aggravated by other considerations. From
all that I had heard, the Hismá is a region full of archæological
interest. Already we were almost in sight of the ruins of Ruáfá,
lying to the north between the two white dots El-Rakhamatayn.
Further eastward, and north of the pilgrim-station Zát-Hajj, are
the remains of Karáyyá, still unvisited by Europeans. Finally, I
had been shown, when too late to inspect the place, a fragment of
a Nabathæan inscription, finely cut in soft white
sandstone:[EN#157] it had been barbarously broken, and two other
pieces were en route. The stone is said to be ten feet long (?),
all covered with "writings," from which annalistic information
might be expected: it lies, or is said to lie, about two hours'
ride north of our camp, and beyond the Jils el-Rawiyán famed for
Hawáwít. At first I thought of having it cut to portable size;
but second thoughts determined me to leave it for another visit
or for some more fortunate visitor. Lastly, we were informed, a
few weeks afterwards, that the Ma'ázah Shaykhs had carried it off
to their tents--I fear piecemeal.
It was not pleasant to beat a retreat; but, under the
circumstances, what else could be done? No one was to be relied
upon but the Europeans, and not all even of them. The black
escort, emancipated slaves, would have run away at the first
shot; except only Acting-Corporal Khayr. And when I told the
officers assembled at mess that we should march back early next
morning, the general joy showed how little they relished the
prospect of an advance. Then came out in mass the details--many
doubtless apocryphal--which should have been reported to me, and
which had carefully been kept secret. The Ma'ázah, when our
messenger first notified our visit, had declared that they would
have no Nazarenes in their mountains; that they did not care a
fico for Egypt. Why had not "Effendíná" written to them? they
were his equals, not his subjects! It was then debated whether
they should not raise a force of dromedary-men to fall upon us.
Some of them proposed to summon to their aid the rival chief, Ibn
Hermás; but the majority thought it would be better to reserve
for themselves the hundred dollars per diem, of which they
proposed to fleece us.
Of course, everything around us was intrigue; the Máyat taht
el-Tibn ("water under the straw") of the Arab saying. Furayj, it
is true, looked serene, and privately offered me to fight the
affair out; but he was alone in the idea. The Sayyid was
tranquil, as usual; Hasan the Ukbi wore an unpleasant appearance
of satisfaction, as if he had been offered a share in the plunder
of the Huwaytát; and Alayán, a brave man on his own ground,
could hardly conceal his dejection. I might, it is evident, have
seized Shaykh Mohammed, placed a pistol to his ear, and carried
him off a prisoner; but such grands moyens must be reserved for
great occasions. The worst symptoms in camp were that the Ma'ázah
at once knew the whole of my project; while the Egyptian officers
were ever going to their tents, and one stayed talking with them
till near midnight.
February 25th was a day of humiliation. I aroused the camp at
4.30 a.m., and at once gave orders to strike the tents and load.
The command was obeyed in double quick time; but not before
Shaykh Mohammed had visited us to propose a march to his home in
the east. He was not comfortable; probably his reinforcements had
still to arrive: his face was calm, as the Eastern's generally
is; but his feet trembled, and his toes twitched. I drily told
him of our changed plans, and he left us in high dudgeon. The
tragi-comedy which followed may be divided into six acts:--
1. The Ma'ázah mount their horses and camels: I walk up to them,
and expostulate about so abrupt a departure without even drinking
a friendly cup of coffee.
2. They dismount, and squat in council round the fire, sending on
three dromedary-riders to crown a hill commanding the pass. The
"burning question" is now whether armed clansmen are or are not
lurking behind the heights.
3. Shaykh Mohammed comes forward, and demands blackmail to the
extent of two hundred dollars. I offer one hundred dollars.
4. Our hosts break off the debate in a towering rage; refuse
coffee, and declare that the caravan of "Effendíná" (the Viceroy)
shall not be loaded. Mohammed's feet twitch more violently as the
camels are made to kneel.
5. The caravan shows too much emotion. I pay the two hundred
dollars into the chief's hands. He at once demands his Sharaf
("honour") in the shape of a Kiswah, or handsome dress, and, that
failing, an additional twenty-five dollars for each of the five
headmen. I promise that a robe shall be sent from
El-Muwaylah.[EN#158]
6. The caravan sets out for the Pass, when the three
dromedary-riders open with the war-cry: it is stopped with much
apparatus by the Shaykhs, who affect to look upon it as
dangerous.
* * * * *
We now marched without delay upon the Col, which was reached at
8:15 a.m.; Mohammed bin Atíyyah having meanwhile disappeared. We
descended the Khuraytat el-Jils in twenty-six minutes, and
dismissed the remainder of our Ma'ázah escort at the foot. I
vainly offered them safeguard to El-Muwaylah, which they have not
visited for the last dozen years; all refused absolutely to pass
their own frontiers.
Au revoir Mohammed ibn Atíyyah and company!
Having broken our fast and sent forward the caravan, we at once
began to descend the southern Pass, the Khuraytat el-Zibá. Here
the watershed of the Wady Surr heads; and merchants object to
travel by its shorter line, because their camels must ascend two
ladders of rocks, instead of one at the top of the Wady Sadr. The
Col was much longer and but little less troublesome than its
northern neighbour; the formation was the same, and forty-five
minutes placed us in a gully, that presently widened to a big
valley, the Wady Dahal or El-Khuraytah. We reached it at 12:30
p.m., and laid down the distance from the summit of the northern
Col at about five miles and a quarter. The air felt tepid, the
sun waxed hot; drinking-water was found on the left of the bed,
and a hole in the sole represented a spring, which the people say
is perennial: we were dismounting to quench our thirst at the
latter, when Juno plunged into it, and stood quietly eyeing us
with an air of intense satisfaction.
We spent that night at a place lower down the Wady Dahal, known
as the Jayb el-Khuraytah ("Collar of the Col"). The term "Jayb"
is locally applied to two places only; the other being the Jayb
el-Sa'lúwwah, which we shall presently visit. A larger feature
than a Wady, it reminds us of a Norfolk "broad," but it is of
course waterless. Guards were placed around the camp; and a
wholesome dread of the Ma'ázah kept them wide awake. The only
evil which resulted was that none dared to lead our mules to
water; and the poor animals were hardly rideable on the next day.
Of the Hismá in its present state, we may say as of Ushant, Qui
voit Ouessant, voit la mort. Nothing can be done towards working
the mines of Midian until this den of thieves is cleared out. It
is an asylum for every murderer and bandit who can make his way
there--a centre of turbulence which spreads trouble all around
it. Under the sham rule of miserable Shám (Syria), with its
Turkish Wális, men like the late Ráshid Pasha, matters can only
wax worse. Subject to Egypt, the people will learn discipline and
cease to torment the land.
Happily for their neighbours there will be no difficulty in
reducing the Ma'ázah. They are surrounded by enemies, and they
have lately been obliged to pay "brother-tax" to the Ruwalá as a
defence against being plundered: the tribute consists of one
piece of hair-cloth about twenty cubits long. On the north, as
far as El-Ma'án, they meet the hostile Beni Sakr (Jawázi), under
the Shaykh Mohammed ibn Jázi; southwards the Baliyy, commanded by
Shaykh Afnán, are on terms of "blood" with them; eastward stand
the Anezah and the warlike Sharárát-Hutaym, who ever covet their
two thousand camels: westward lie in wait their hereditary foes,
the Huwaytát. Shaykh Furayj, the tactician, has long ago proposed
a general onslaught of his tribesmen by a simultaneous movement
up the Wadys Surr, Sadr, Urnub, and Afál: they seemed to have
some inkling of his intentions, as they hastened to conclude with
him a five months' Altwah or "truce." Finally, a small
disciplined force, marching down the Damascus-Medínah
pilgrimage-road to the east, and co-operating with the Huwayta't
on the west would place this vermin between two fires.
The tale of my disappointment may conclude with an ethnological
notice of those who caused it.
The Ma'ázah is a Syro-Egypto-Bedawi clan, originally Arab, or
rather Syrian, but migratory, as are all Arabs. It now extends
high up the valley of the Nile, and it is still found in the Wady
Musá (of Suez) and on the Za'faránah block. Even in Egypt it is
turbulent and dangerous: the men are professional robbers; and
their treachery is uncontrolled by the Bedawi law of honour--they
will eat bread and salt with the traveller whom they intend to
murder. For many years it was unsafe to visit the camps within
sight of Suez, until a compulsory residence at head-quarters
taught the Shaykhs manners. The habitat in Arabia stretches from
the Wady Musá of Petra, where they are kinsmen of the Tiyáhah,
the Bedawin of the Tíh-desert; and through Ma'án as far as the
Birkat el-Mu'azzamah, south of Tabúk. Finally, they occupy the
greater part of the Hismá and the northern Harrah.
According to Mohammed el-Kalb, these bandits own the bluest of
blue blood. Their forefather was one Wáíl, who left by his
descendants two great tribes. The first and the eldest took a
name from their Ma'áz ("he-goats"); while the junior called
themselves after the Annáz ("she-goats"): from the latter sprung
the great Anezah family, which occupies the largest and the
choicest provinces of the Arabian peninsula. Meanwhile
genealogists ignore the Ma'ázah.
Wallin would divide the tribe into two, the Ma'ázah and the "Beni
Atiyá:" of the latter in Midian I could hear nothing except that
they represent the kinsmen of the Shaykh's family. We find "Benoo
Ateeyah" in maps like that of Crichton's (1834), where the
Ma'ázah are laid down further south; and northwards the Beni
Atiyyah are a powerful clan who push their razzias as far as the
frontiers of Moab. My informants declare that the numbers of
fighting men in the Midianite division of the race may be two
thousand (two hundred?), and that they are separated only by
allegiance to two rival Shaykhs. The greater half, under Ibn
Hermás, is distributed into five clans, of whom the first, Orbán
Khumaysah, contain two septs. Under Mohammed ibn Atíyyah
(El-Kalb) they number also five divisions. Amongst them are the
Subút or Beni Sabt, "Sons of the Sabbath," that is, Saturday;
whom Wallin suspects to be of Jewish origin, relying, it would
appear, principally upon their name. The ringing of the large
bell suspended to the middle pole of the tents at sunset, "to
hail the return of the camels and the mystic hour of descending
night," is an old custom still maintained, because it confers a
Barakat ("blessing") upon the flocks and herds. Certainly there
is nothing of the Bedawi in this practice, and it is distinctly
contrary to the tradition of El-Islam; yet many such survivals
hold their ground amongst the highly conservative Wild Men, and
they must be looked upon only as local and tribal peculiarities.
End of Vol. I.
Endnotes
[EN#1] My collection dates from between the first century B.C.
and the first century A.D.; this can be gathered from comparison
with the coins of Alexander Jannaeus and his successor, Alexander
II. The tetradrachm may belong to the reign of Alexander the
Great, or the ages preceding it.
[EN#2] Here probably disappeared some fine specimens of silicate
of copper which caused a delay of three months in the report.--R.
F. B.
[EN#3] Messrs. Edgar Jackson found in the same box:--
Silver (per statute ton)...............2 oz. 17 dwts. 11 grs.
[EN#4] "Box No. 37" yielded silver....13 dwts. 1.6 grs.
[EN#5] "Box. No. 47" yielded silver...12 dwts. 1.6 grms.
[EN#6] In boxes Nos. 48 and 51 Mr. Jenken found silver 2 oz. 13
dwts. 8 grs.; and 4 oz. 5 dwts. 12 grms.
[EN#7] In a fragment of similar "turquoise rock," from the same
site (Ziba), Dr. L. Karl Moser, of Trieste, found silver.
[EN#8] In a fragment of similar chalcedony, from the same site
(Aba'l-Maru), Dr. Moser found specks of "free gold."
[EN#9] This was the "splendid button" smelted at Makna.
[EN#10] The "button" was pronounced to be almost pure antimony in
the Government Establishment of Mines, Trieste.
[EN#11] In "box No. 4" Messrs. Jackson found rough crystals of
corundum; and a qualitative analysis of this sample and "box No.
7" yielded quartz, carbonate of lime, alumina, and oxide of iron.
[EN#12] The italics are mine. Mr. Mathey remarks of the specimen
containing 48 grains of gold per ton, "It would be worthless in
its present condition; if however, it could be enriched by proper
washing and dressing, and the cost in labour, etc., be not too
great, it might be made to give fair returns."
[EN#13] "Little health" at Cairo prevented my choosing the
instruments; and the result was that at last I had to depend upon
my pocket-set by Casella. Even this excellent maker's maxima and
minima failed to stand the camel-jolting. The barometer, lent by
the Chief of Staff (Elliott Brothers, 24), contained amalgam, not
mercury. The patent messrad, or odometer (Wittmann, Wien), with
its works of soft brass instead of steel, was fit only to measure
a drawing-room carpet. M. Ebner sold us, at the highest prices,
absolutely useless maxima and minima, plus a baromètre aneroide,
whose chain was unhooked when it left the box. M. Sussmann, of
the Muski, supplied, for fifty francs, a good and useful
microscope magnifying seventy-five times. The watches from M.
Meyer ("Dent and Co.!") were cheap and nasty Swiss articles; but
they were also subjected to terrible treatment:--I once saw the
wearers opening them with table-knives. Fortunately M. Lacaze,
the artist, had a good practical knowledge of instruments; and
this did us many a good turn.
[EN#14] For Arabian travel I should advise aconite, instead of
Dover's powder; Cockle's pills, in lieu of blue mass; Warburg's
Drops, in addition to quinine; pyretic saline and Karlsbad,
besides Epsom salts; and chloral, together with chlorodyne. "Pain
Killer" is useful amongst wild people, and Oxley's ginger, with
the simple root, is equally prized. A little borax serves for
eye-water and alum for sore mouth. I need not mention special
medicines like the liqueur Laville, and the invaluable Waldöl
(oil of the maritime pine), which each traveller must choose for
himself.
[EN#15] It is Lane's "Kiyakh, vulgó Kiyák," and Michell's "Kyhak,
the ancient Khoiak," or fourth month. The Copts begin their solar
year on our September 10-11; and date from the 2nd of Diocletian,
or the Era of the "Martyrs" (A.D. 284). It is the old Sothic, or
annus quadratus, which became the Alexandrine under the
Ptolemies; and which Sosigenes, the Egyptian, converted into the
Julian, by assuming the Urbs condita as a point de départ, and by
transferring New Year's Day from the equinox to the solstice.
Thus Kayhák I, 1594, would correspond with December 9, A.D. 1877,
and with Zúl-Hijjah 4, A.H. 1294. On the evening of Kayhák 14
(December 22nd) winter is supposed to set in. The fifth month,
Tubá--Lane's "Toobeh," and Michell's "Toubeh, the ancient
Tobi"--is the coldest of the year at Suez, on the isthmus and in
the adjacent parts of Arabia; rigorous weather generally lasts
from January 20th to February 20th. In Amshír, about early March,
torrents of rain are expected to fall for a few hours. The people
say of it, in their rhyming way, Amshír, Za'bíb
el-kathir--"Amshír hath many a blast;" and
"Amshir
Yakul li'l-Zará 'Sir!
Wa yalhak bi'l-tawi'l el-kasi'r."'
"Amshír saith to the plants, 'Go (forth), and the little shall
reach the big."' It is divided into three 'Asharát or tens--1.
'Asharat el-'Ajúz ("of the old man"), from the cold and killing
wind El-Husúm; 2. 'Asharat el-'Anzah ("of the she-goat"), from
the blasts and gales; and 3. 'Asharat el-Rá'í' ("of the
shepherd"), from its change to genial warmth. Concerning Barmahát
(vulgó Barambát), of old Phamenoth (seventh month), the popular
jingle is, Ruh el-Ghayt wa hát--"Go to the field and bring (what
it yields);" this being the month of flowers, when the world is
green. Barmúdah (Pharmuthi)! dukh bi'l-'amúdah ("April! pound
with the pestle!") alludes to the ripening of the spring crops;
and so forth almost ad infinitum. For more information see the
"Egyptian Calendar," etc. (Alexandria: Mourès, 1878), a valuable
compilation by our friend Mr. Roland L. N. Michell, who will, let
us hope, prefix his name to a future edition, enlarged and
enriched with more copious quotations from the weather-rhymes and
the folk-lore of Egypt.
[EN#16] This is a most interesting feature. According to Forskâl
(Descriptiones xxix.), "Suénsia litora, a recedente mari serius
orta, nesciunt corallia;" and he makes the submaritime
"Cryptogama regio animalis" begin at Tor (Raitha) and extend to
(Gonfoda). Near Suez is the Newport Shoal, which could be sailed
over with impunity twenty years ago, and which is now dangerous:
it resembles, in fact, the other reef at the entrance of the
Gulf, where tile soundings have changed, in late years, from 7-7
1/2 fathoms to 3-3 1/2. Geologists differ as to the
cause--elevation or accretion by current-borne drift.
[EN#17] In Chap. XIV, we will return to this subject.
[EN#18] "The Gold-Mines of Midian," etc. (London: C. Kegan Paul &
Co., 1878).
[EN#19] Assuming the sovereign at 97 piastres 40 parahs, this
hire would be in round numbers one and two shillings; the
shilling being exactly 4 piastres 24 parahs. See Chap. VII. for
further details.
[EN#20] Besides a popular account of the stages in "The Gold
Mines of Midian," a geographical itinerary has been offered to
the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society.
[EN#21] They were, perhaps, a trifle too long for small beasts:
seventy-seven centimètres (better seventy); and too deep, sixty,
instead of fifty-eight. The width (forty-six) was all right. The
best were painted, and defended from wet by an upper plate of
zinc; the angles and the bottoms were strengthened with iron
bands in pairs; and they were closed with hasps. At each end was
a small block, carrying a strong looped rope for slinging the
load to the pack-saddle; of these, duplicates should be provided.
In order to defend our delicate apparatus from excessive shaking,
we divided the inside, by battens, into several compartments. The
smaller cases of bottles and breakables should have been cut to
fit into the larger, but this had been neglected at Cairo.
Finally, not a single box gave way on the march: that was
reserved for the Suez-Cairo Railway, and for landing at the
London Docks.
[EN#22] MM. Gastinel (Bey) and Marie give it per cent.:--
Titaniferous iron . . . .. . . . . . . 86.50
Silica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.10
Copper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.40 (2 1/2 per cent.)
Silver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0
[EN#23] Hence, evidently, the derivation of the "Marwah" hill
near Meccah, and the famous "Marwah" gold mine which we shall
visit in South Midian. The Arabs here use Jebel el-Mará and Jebel
el-Abyaz (plur. Jibál el-Bayzá) synonymously.
[EN#24] Spon: London, 1875. A book opening a new epoch, and duly
neglected.
[EN#25] So said the engineer. He relied chiefly upon M. Amedée
Burat, p. 229, "Géologic Appliquáe" (Paris: Garnier, 1870), who
quotes the compte rendu of M. Guillemin, C.E. to the Exposition
of 1867. The latter gentleman, who probably did not, like the
former, place Mexico in South America, makes the metalliferous
lands measure four-fifths of the total surface. I am much
mistaken if the same is not the case with Midian.
[EN#26] In "The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 171, I erroneously
asserted that the Beden does not extend to these mountains. The
second Expedition could learn nothing about the stag with large
branches vaguely spoken of by the Bedawin.
[EN#27] When "miles" are given, I mean the statute of 1760 yards
as opposed to the geographical; the latter equals 1 minute (of a
degree) = 1 Italian or Arab = 1/4 German = 1 1/4 Roman = 10
stadia.
[EN#28] Were I a wealthy man, nothing would delight me more than
to introduce London to La Zarzuela, the Spanish and Portuguese
opera bouffe. Sir Julius Benedict tells me that it has reached
Paris.
[EN#29] See Le Pionnier, Chemin de Fer Abyssinien d'apré's les
desseins de M. J. L. Haddan. Another valuable form is "The
Economical" (Mr. Russell Shaw).
[EN#30] Chloritic slate is the matrix of gold in the Brazil and
in Upper Styria.
[EN#31] Chap. IX.
[EN#32] Not Tayyibat Ism, as I wrongly wrote in "The Gold Mines
of Midian," misled by the Hydrographic Chart. None of the Bedawin
could explain the origin of the flattering title.
[EN#33] "The Gold-Mines of Midian." Chap. XII.
[EN#34] The so-called Oriental, stalactitic, or variegated
alabaster of Upper Egypt was nowhere hit upon.
[EN#35] The Ptolemeian parallel is nearly right; the place must
not be confounded with Modi'ana or Modouna (ibid.), a
coast-settlement in north lat. 27 degrees 45', between Onne and
the Hippos Mons, Monte Cavallo.
[EN#36] I have no wish to criticize my able predecessor. His map,
all things considered, is a marvel of accuracy; and the high
praise of Wellsted (ii. 148) only does it justice.
[EN#37] The "Muttali" (high town) when small is termed a Burj,
pyrgos, tower, Pergamus (?)
[EN#38] The Masháb or "camel-stick" of all Arabia is that
carried by the Osiris (mummy), and its crook is originally the
jackal-headed Anubis.
[EN#39] The collection has been submitted to Mr. R. Stanley
Poole, who kindly offered them for inspection to the Numismatic
Society of London (Nov. 21, 1878).
[EN#40] "Ægypten," etc., p. 269, et seq.
[EN#41] "Les Inscriptions des Mines d'Or," etc. Paris, 1862.
[EN#42] In Tafel viii. (p. 387), he has added some cursory notes
on the Sepulcral-Monumente in dem Thale Beden.
[EN#43] Wellsted, vol. ii., appendix.
[EN#44] All the useful matter has already been borrowed from
Abulfeda. Dr. Badger tells me that he looked through his Jarídat
el-'Ajáib, wa Farídat el-Gharáib, by Siráj el-Din Umar ibn
el-Wardí, A.H. 940 (= A.D. 1533--1534), where he expected to
find, but did not find, notices of Madyan.
[EN#45] Geschichte Ægyptens unter den Pharaonen. Nach den
Denkmählern bearbeitet, von Dr. Heinrich Brugsch-Bey. Erste
deutsche Ausgabe. Leipzig: Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, 1877.
Already the Première Partie had appeared in French, "Histoire
d'Égypte, Introduction--Histoire des Dynasties i.--xvii.;"
published by the same house with a second edition in 1875. An
English translation of this most valuable compendium, whose
German is of the hardest, is now being printed in London.
[EN#46] Pun, or Punt, the region on both sides of the Red
Seamouth, including El-Yemen and Cape Guardafui, was made holy by
the birth of Osiris, Isis, and Horus. Dr. Brugsch-Bey shows that
one of the titles of the he-god was Bass, the cat or the leopard
(whence our "Puss"); whilst his wife, Bast (the bissat or
tabby-cat of modern Arabic), gave her name to Bubastis (Pi-Bast,
the city of Bast). From the Osiric term (Bass) the learned
Egyptologist would derive Bacchus and his priests, the Bacchoi
and the Bacchantes, whose dress was the leopard's skin. Could
Osiris have belonged to the race whose degenerate descendants are
the murderous Somal of modern days?
[EN#47] Vulg. Snefrou, "he who makes it good;" the ninth of the
third Dynasty; the twenty-fourth successor of Mena (Menes) in the
papyri, and the twenty-sixth according to Manetho the priest. He
conquered the "Mafka-land," as the Sinaitic Peninsula was then
called; and Wady Maghárah still shows his statue, habited in
warrior garb, with the proud inscription, "Vanquisher of Stranger
Races." This campaign lends some colour to my suspicion that
Sináfir Island, at the mouth of the Gulf el-'Akabah, may preserve
his name.
[EN#48] The German Türkis, and the English and French Turquoise,
are both evidently derived from Gemma Turcica, Western Turkistan
being considered tile source of the finest stones.
[EN#49] The accompanying lithograph gives a list of the letters
and the syllabic signs which occur in the inscription. {not
included in this e-text}
[EN#50] The article "Ná" is emphatic, the with the sense of that
or those.
[EN#51] "Khomet" signifies, 1. Copper, 2. Metal generally, as
argent, etc.
[EN#52] "Mensh" is always applied to sea-going ships, as opposed
to Bari, Uáu, Kerer, etc., riverine craft.
[EN#53] "Kemi" signifies, 1. Found, 2. Found out, discovered.
[EN#54] That is, the royal pavilion at Thebes.
[EN#55] The word "Deb" (brick) still survives in the Arabic Tob,
and, perverted to the Iberian Adobe (Et-tob) it has travelled to
Mexico.
[EN#56] "Hefennu," as is shown by the ideograph to the right over
the three perpendiculars denoting plurality, may be either a frog
or a lakh (one hundred thousand).
[EN#57] The Egyptians divided gold into four qualities--1, 2, 3,
and two-thirds. But it is not known whether No. 1 was the best,
and we can only guess that two-thirds alluded to some alloy.
[EN#58] The same as the Shu'ayb of my pages.
[EN#59] For a notice of "Moses' Well," now quite forgotten by the
Arabs, see Chapter VI.
[EN#60] For an account of these diggings, see "The Gold-Mines of
Midian," Chap. IX.
[EN#61] This strange legend will be found copied into many
subsequent authors.
[EN#62] El-Abjad, the oldest existing form of the Arabic
alphabet; to judge from its being identical with the Hebrew. It
is supposed to date from after the beginning of the Christian
era, when the Himyaritic form fell into disuse, and it is now
used in chronograms only.
[EN#63] L'auteur est doublement inexact en avanc, ant que
l'Aboudjed se compose de vingt-quatre lettres seulement, d'abord
parce que les six mots qu'il énumère ne renferment que vingt-deux
lettres, et en second lieu, parce qu'il oublie de citer les deux
derniers mots techniques, <Arabic> et <Arabic>, lesquels
complétent les vingt-huit lettres prises comme valeurs
nume'riques ("Voyez l'Exposé des signes de numération chez les
Orientaux," par M. Pihan, p. 199 et suiv.). To this I may add
that the French translators have sadly corrupted the words which
should be Abjad, Hawwaz, Hutti, Kalaman, Sa'fas, and Karashat;
whilst Sakhiz and Zuzigh are not found in the Hebrew and cognate
dialects.
[EN#64] The "Gate of Lamentation," vulgarly and most erroneously
written, "Babelmandel."
[EN#65] That is, "spoiled," dry; instead of "honoured,"
respected. The difference of the words is in the "pointing" of
the third letter, and the change of m and l.
[EN#66] Not to be confounded with a cosmography of the same name
by Ahmed ibn Yahyá el-Shá'ir. Cf. Journal of the Royal
Geographical Society, vol. xx. of 1850, p. 343.
[EN#67] This route, from Suez to El-'Akabah, probably one of the
oldest in this world, has been traversed perfunctorily by
Burckhardt and by Beke. It still wants a detailed survey, and
even hieroglyphic inscriptions may be expected. Beke's map marks
Hawáwit ("ruins") near one of his nighting-places, but apparently
the remains were not visited.
[EN#68] The Syrian Hajj no longer pass through El-'Akabah to
Makná, but inland or eastward of it. The reason is made evident
in Chap. VII.
[EN#69] Thus the Khálú or Khárú of the old Egyptians, meaning a
"mixed multitude," were originally Phoenicians and domiciled from
earliest ages about Lake Menzálah. So the "mixed multitude," or
mingled people, which followed Israel from Egypt would be a
riff-raff of strangers. D'Herbelot says (sub voce Midian):
"Quoyque les Madianites soient reputez pour Arabes, neanmoins ils
ne sont pas du nombre des Tribus qui partageoient l'Arabie, et
dont les Auteurs nous ont rendu un compte exact dans leur
Histoire et dans leurs Genealogies; de sorte qu'il passe pour un
peuple étranger qui s'est établi parmi eux." Yet, as we have seen
by the foregoing extracts, Madyan was reckoned within the
territory of El-Medi'nah, i.e. the Hejaz.
Caussin de Perceval ("Essai sur l'Histoire des Arabs avant
l'Islamisme") regards the old Midianites as one of the "Races
éteintes;" and he makes them (vol. i. p. 23) descendants of
Céthura, Abraham's second wife. In vol. ii. p. 232, he brings the
Banu-Djodha'm (Juzám) from El-Yemen, and settles them in the
country of the ancient Midianites. He adds: "La region sur
laquelle ils étaient répandus avec leurs frères les Benou-Lakhm,
et, je crois aussi, avec les families Codhaites, de Bali (Baliyy)
et de Cayn, touchait par l'ouest à la Mer Rouge, par le nord au
pays que les Romains appelaient troisième Palestine, par le sud
aux déserts . . . par l'est, enfin, au territoire de
Daumat-Djandal sur laquelle campaient les Benou-Kelb, tribu
Codhaïte, alors Chrétienne, et alliée ou sujette des Romains." In
vol. iii. p. 159, he recounts from the Táríkh el-Khamísí, and the
Sírat el-Rasúl, how Zayd made an expedition against the "Djodhám
(Juzám) established at Madyan on the coast of the Red Sea." The
warrior captured a number of women and children who were exposed
for sale, but the "Prophet," hearing the wails of the mothers,
ordered that the young ones should not be sold apart from the
parents.
[EN#70] The "Burd," or "Burdah," was worn by Mohammed, as we know
from a celebrated poem, for which see D'Herbelot, sub voce
"Bordah."
[EN#71] Michaud ("Hist. des Croisades," ii. 27) says: "Une fois
qu'il (Saladin) fût maitre de la capitale (Damascus); son armée
victorieuse et l'or pur appelé Obreysum (Ubraysun ou Hubraysum)
qu'il tirait de l'E'gypte, lui soumirent les autres cités de la
Syrie." The question is whether this gold was not from Midian: my
friend Yacoub Artin Bey, who supplied me with the quotation,
thinks that it was.
[EN#72] The most curious form, perhaps, which the ancient
Midianitic tradition has assumed, was in the thirteenth century,
when the Russians believed that the Tartars, "with their
four-cornered faces," were the ancient Midianites coming in the
latter days to conquer the world. Lieutenant C. R. Conder, R.E.
("Tentwork in Palestine," Bentley, 1878), has done his best to
rival this style of ethnology by declaring that "the hosts of
Midian" were, no doubt, the ancestors of the modern Bedawin.
[EN#73] Alluding to the legend that the shepherds, after watering
their flocks, rolled a great stone over the mouth of the well, so
that the contents might not be used by Jethro's daughters. Musá
waxed wroth, and, weak as he was with travel, gave the stone such
a kick that it went flying full forty cubits from the spot. See
"Desert of the Exodus," Appendix, p. 539.
[EN#74] A name now unknown to the Bedawin of Madyan. The
culminating peak is now supposed to be either the Shárr, the
Jebel el-Lauz, or the Jebel Zánah.
[EN#75] The Badais of Ptolemy, which we shall presently visit.
[EN#76] A large ruin east of Zibá, also visited.
[EN#77] For a notice of El-Khalasah, also called El-Khulusah,
El-Khulsah, or Zu'l-Khalasah, consult the art. "Midian," Smith's
"Dict. of the Bible," by E. S. Poole, vol. ii. p. 356. For the
Khalasah of the Negeb, "where Venus was worshipped with all the
licentious pomp of the Pagan ritual," see Professor Palmer's
"Desert of the Exodus," p. 385. The text, however, alludes to a
ruin called El-Khulasah, one march from El-Muwaylah to the east
(Chap. VIII.).
[EN#78] El-Mederah is possibly Hasíyat el-Madrá, which, like
El-A'waj, El-Bírayn, and Ma'ín, is now included in Syria.
El-Mu'allak may be Jebel Yalak,--at least, so say the Bedawin.
[EN#79] In the last remark, also found in El-Kazwíní, the Madyan
of El-Shu'ayb is referred to the district of Tiberias. Thus it
would belong to Syria, whilst the majority of geographers refer
it to the Hejaz, and a minority to El-Yemen.
[EN#80] Alluded to in a note to p. 331 of "The Gold Mines of
Midian," etc.
[EN#81] This means only according to Hebrew and Arabic tradition,
neither of them being, in this case, of much value. As I remarked
before ("The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 177), the hieroglyphic
name of the land is Mádí, in the plural Mádí-án or Mádí-ná; on
the other hand, we have no information concerning the origin and
derivation of Mádí, except that it is not Egyptian.
[EN#82] None of the tribes or families now inhabiting Midian
represent the ancient Midianites; and all speak the vulgar
half-Fellah Arabic, without any difference of accent or
vocabulary from their neighbours.
[EN#83] See the preceding notes on El-Makrízi.
[EN#84] The Ma'ázah spoke of Kanátir (arches, i.e. aqueducts) and
Bibán (doors or catacombs).
[EN#85] I inquired in vain concerning the ruins near Sharm
Burayttah, south of Yambú' in the Harb country. Wellsted, who
visited the site (11. xi.), conjectures them to be Niebuhr's
"El-Jár." He makes that near the point "as large as Yembo,
extending about a mile in length, and half that space in breadth,
with a square fort in the vicinity, the remains of which have
towers at the corners and gates." Near the middle on either side,
the tall walls are six feet thick, strong enough where artillery
is unknown. At the landing-place are a quay paved with large hewn
stones, and a jetty of solid masonry in ruins. The sailors dug
and found only shapeless fragments of corroded copper and brass;
coloured glass, as usual more opaque than the modern, and
earthenware of the kind scattered about Egyptian ruins. About one
mile from the fort were other remains, built of coral, now much
blackened by exposure; and similar constructions on the further
side of the Sharm could not be examined, as the Harb Bedawin were
jealous and hostile.
[EN#86] The name is from Gen. xx. 1, and it signifies the country
lying to the south of Palestine. See "The Negeb," by the late
Rev. E. Wilton (London, 1863), and vol. ii. "The Desert of the
Exodus," so often alluded to in these pages.
[EN#87] "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. IX.
[EN#88] Kúfah <Arabic> or <Arabic> in Persian means a basket or
a coffin.
[EN#89] Roaring when the rider mounts, halts, or dismounts, is
considered a proof of snobbish blood among the Bisha'ri'n: for
some months the camel-colt is generally muzzled on such occasions
till it learns the sterling worth of silence.
For an admirable description, far too detailed to place before
the general public, of the likeness and the difference between
the dromedary of the Bishárín and the Númaní and Maskatí, the
purest blood of the Arabs, see pp. 145--154, "L' Etbaye, etc.,
Mines d Or," by my old friend Linant de Bellefonds Bey, now
Sulayman Pasha. Paris: Arthus Bertrand (no date).
[EN#90] The contents worked into shape by Mr. William J. Turner,
of the Royal Geographical Society, appear in the Appendix.
[EN#91] "Desert of the Exodus," p. 347.
[EN#92] "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. VI.
[EN#93] In "The Gold-Mines of Midian" (passim) this "Spring of
the She-Cook" appeared as the "She-Cork!"
[EN#94] A region to the north-west of 'Aynúnah, afterwards
visited by Lieutenant Yusuf. See Chap. IX.
[EN#95] Such an act would disgrace an Arab tribe, and of course
it is denied by the Beni 'Ukbah. We visited this valley, which is
one of the influents of the Wady 'Aynúnah, during the first
Expedition ("The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 165).
[EN#96] The modern Beni 'Ukbah ignore the story of Abú Rísh, not
wishing to confess their obligations to the Huwaytát.
[EN#97] The tomb on the hillock north of El-Muwaylah.
[EN#98] South-east of EI-Muwaylah.
[EN#99] These hard conditions were actually renewed some
twenty-five years ago.
[EN#100] For ample notices on this subject, see "The Gold-Mines
of Midian," Chap. XII. In p. 337, however, I made the mistake of
supposing Makná to be the capital, instead of the port of the
capital. The true position is north lat. 28 degrees 24'.
[EN#101] For historical notices of the diamond in North-Western
Arabia, see "The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 168.
[EN#102] Dr. Beke's artist made a plan of this rude affair (p.
349), and nothing can be worse. The Egyptian Staff-officers drew
the ruin correctly; but the poor remains by no means deserve the
honour of a wood-cut.
[EN#103]. The word is corrupted from Jamb, "the side," alluding
to the animal's gait; we did not find the true lobster (Homarus
vulgaris), the astica of the Adriatic, whose northern waters
produce such noble specimens.
[EN#104] The spirit-tins, prepared for me at Trieste, were as
most things there are, very dear and very bad; after a short use
they became full of holes. So the bowie-knives, expressly made to
order at old Tergeste, proved to be of iron not of steel.
[EN#105] "Travels," Vol. II. Chap. IV.
[EN#106] Confirmed by Dr. Beke, p. 533.
[EN#107] P. 351.
[EN#108] I am doubtful about this name, which the Bedawi apply to
more than one place.
[EN#109] Strictly speaking, the dust of the Nevada country was
oxide of silver.
[EN#110] M. Burat ("Géologie Appliqée," i. 8) gives the following
minima proportions in which metal may be worked on a grand scale,
of course under the most favourable circumstances. The extremes
are 0.25 (iron), and 0.00001 (gold); and antimony, bismuth,
cobalt, and nickel are neglected, because the proportions vary so
much.
Iron, 0.25
Zinc, 0.20
Lead, 0.02 (two per cent.)
Copper and mercury, 0.01
Tin, 0.005 (1/2 per cent.)
Silver, 0.0005 (1/2 per 1000)
Gold, 0.00001 (1/100,000)
This table is recommended to the many "profane" who do not
believe a rock to be auriferous or argentiferous, unless they can
see the gold and silver with the naked eye.
[EN#111] The button, when assayed by the official mining office
at Trieste, was pronounced to be antimony! It was extracted from
ruddle (red ochre) and limonite (brown ochre or hydrous oxide of
iron): both are sesquioxides (Fe2O3) which become dark when
heated and change to magnetic oxide (Fe3O4). M. Marie is probably
the first who ever "ran down" iron oxide with lead. No wonder
that Colonel Ross pronounced his culot a marvellous alloy.
[EN#112] Kárún was a pauper cousin of Musá, who had learned
alchemy from Kulsum, the Lawgiver's sister. The keys of his
treasure loaded forty mules; and his palace had doors and roof of
fine gold. As he waxed fat he kicked against his chief, who as
usual became exceeding wroth, and prayed that the earth might
swallow him.
[EN#113] Pp. 337--339.
[EN#114] "Tasbíh" literally means uttering Subhán Allah!--"Praise
be to Allah!"
[EN#115] It is curious how this goddess has extended, through the
Dalmatian "Fortunale" and the Slav "Fortunja" of the Bosnian
peasants, to Turkey, Egypt, and even Arabia. Applied to a violent
storm, perhaps it is a euphuism for the Latin word in the sense
of good sign or omen; so in Propertius--"Nulla ne placatæ veniet
fortuna procellæ."
[EN#116] P. 341.
[EN#117] The singular is Maknáwi, pronounced Magnáwi.
[EN#118] Loc. cit. p. 79.
[EN#119] The passage was brought to my notice by my excellent
friend, Mr. James Pincherle of Trieste. In the "Atlante Storico e
Geografico della Terra Santa, esposto in 14 Tavole e 14 Quadri
storici della Palestina," republished (without date) by Francesco
Pagnoni of Milan, appears an annexed commentary by Cornelius à
Lapide. The latter, Cornelius Van den Steen (Corneille de la
Pierre), born near Liege, a learned Jesuit, profound theologian,
and accomplished historian, was famous as a Hebraist and lecturer
on Holy Writ. He died at Rome March 12, 1637; and a collected
edition of his works in sixteen volumes, folio, appeared at
Venice in 1711, and at Lyons in 1732. It is related of him that,
being called to preach in the presence of the Pope, he began his
sermon on his knees. The Holy Father commanded him to rise, and
he obeyed; but his stature was so short that he appeared to be
still kneeling. The order was reiterated; whereupon Zacchaeus,
understanding its cause, said modestly, "Beatissime Pater, ipse
fecit nos, et non ipsi nos."
[EN#120] The name and other points connected with it have been
noticed in "The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 338.
[EN#121] See "The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 338.
[EN#122] "Travels in Syria, etc.," p. 524.
[EN#123] In "The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 338, this name became,
by virtue of the author's cacography, "Beoche."
[EN#124] "Diario in Arabia Petrea" (1865) di Visconte Giammartino
Arconati. Roma, 1872.
[EN#125] Wellsted, ii. 143.
[EN#126] "Ghor" is the whole depression including the Jordan and
the Dead Sea, while El-'Akabah is its southernmost section. In
older maps this gulf is made to fork at the north--a
topographical absurdity. I have also fallen into a notable
blunder about the Jebel el-Shará', in "The Gold-Mines of Midian,"
note ?, p. 175.
[EN#127] See Appendix, p. 537, "Geological Notes," etc., in Dr.
Beke's "Sinai in Arabia."
[EN#128] See "The Gold-Mines of Midian," pp. 338, 339.
[EN#129] This Yitm, which Burckhardt first wrote El-Ithem,
unfortunately gave Dr. Beke an opportunity of finding, in his
"Wady el-Ithem," the "Etham of the Exodus." (See "The
Gold-Mines of Midian," pp. 359--361). The latter has been
conclusively shown by Brugsch-Bey in his lecture, "La Sortie des
Hébreux d'E'gypte" (Alexandrie: Mourès, 1874), p. 31, to be the
great fort of Khatom, on the highway to Phoenicia. The roots
Khatam, Asham, Tam, like the Arabic "Khatm" (<Arabic>) signify to
seal up, close; and thus Khatom in Egyptian, as Atham, Etham in
Hebrew, means a closed place, a fortress. Wallin calls the
"Yitm," which he never visited, "Wâdî Lithm, a cross valley
opening through the chain at about eight hours (twenty-four
miles) north of 'Akaba'"--possibly Lithm is a misprint, but it is
repeated in more than one page.
[EN#130] Dr. Beke, who afterwards changed his mind, would
identify Hor, the burial-place of Aaron, with Horeb of the Rock
("Orig. Biblicae," 195). He then adopted ("Sinai in Arabia," p.
77) the opinion of St. Jerome ("De Situ," etc., p. 191), "Mihi
autem videtur quod duplice nomine mons nunc Sina, nunc Choreb
vocatur." Wellsted (ii. 103) also makes Horeb synonymous with
"Wilderness of Sinai." Professor Palmer (118) translates Horeb by
"ground that has been drained and left dry:" he would include in
it the whole Desert of Sinai, together with "the Mountain;"
whilst he warns us that the monks call the whole southern portion
of their mountain "Horeb." Others confine "Horeb" to Jebel Musá,
and even to its eastern shoulder.
[EN#131] For the Mount or Mountain see Exodus xix. 2, 12, 20, 23;
also xxxii. 19; Deut. iv. II, and v. 23; Heb. xii. 18. Josephus
("Antiq.," II. ii. I) speaks of it similarly as a "mountain," and
describes it with all the apparatus of fable; while his
compatriot and contemporary, St. Paul (Epist. to the Galatians
iv. 25), calls it only "Mount Sinai in Arabia," i.e. east of
Jordan.
[EN#132] See Athenaeum, February 8th and 15th, 1873.
[EN#133] They were heard of by Burckhardt ("Syria," p. 510).
[EN#134] Beke (p. 446), on February 6th, estimated the rise of
the tide at 'Akabah head to be three to four feet. This is
greatly in excess of actuality; but, then, he was finding out
some rational way of drowning "Pharaoh and his host."
[EN#135] Those living further north, the 'Ammárín and the
Liyásinah, are unmitigated scoundrels and dangerous ruffians:
amongst the former Shaykh Sala'mah ibn 'Awwád with his brother,
and among the latter Ibrahím el-Hasanát, simply deserve hanging.
In Edom, too, 'Abd el-Rahmán el-'Awar ("the One-eyed"), Shaykh of
the Fellahín, is "wanted;" and the 'Alawín-Huwaytát would be
greatly improved were they to be placed under Egyptian, instead
of Syrian, rule.
[EN#136] Dr. Beke's artist (p. 374) has produced a work of
imagination, especially in the foreground and background of his
"Migdol or Castle of Akaba."
[EN#137] Commonly written Kansúh (Kansooh) and corrupted by
Europeans to Campson (like Sampson) Goree.
[EN#138] Not Hámid, as some mispronounce the word.
[EN#139] "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. XII.
[EN#140] The chain did not part. The anchor was afterwards fished
up by divers from El-Muwaylah, and its shank was found broken
clean across like a carrot. Yet there was no sign of a flaw. Mr.
Duguid calculated the transverse breaking strain of average
anchor-iron (8 1/2 inches x 4 = 22 square inches), at 83 1/10
tons; and the tensile breaking strain at 484 tons, or 22 tons to
the square inch; while the stud-length cable of 1 1/8 inch chain,
150 fathoms long, would carry, if proof, 24 tons. Captain
Mohammed was persevering enough, after the divers had failed, to
recover his chain when on his cruise homewards; and the Rais of
the Sambúk was equally lucky.
[EN#141] "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Ch. XII. p. 317.
[EN#142] See Chap. X.
[EN#143] Lieutenant-Colonel Bolton kindly compared the specimens
with those in his cabinet. The first, which was accompanied by
quartz, resembled the produce of Orenburg. A Peruvian
mine-proprietor had pronounced it to be "Rosicler" silver. The
magnetic sand bore a tantalizing resemblance to the highly
auriferous black sand of Ekaterinburg.
[EN#144] Correspondence of the Sheffield Telegraph (May 18),
copied into the Globe of May 25, etc., etc., etc.
[EN#145] "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. XI. It was then
visited from its creek, Sharm Jibbah.
[EN#146] Chap. XIV.
[EN#147] A water-rolled fragment of this rock is called
Korundogeschieb by Dr. L. Karl Moser, Professor of Natural
History at the Gymnasium of Trieste, who kindly examined my
little private collection of "show things."
[EN#148] Chap. XII.
[EN#149] Let me at once protest against the assertions contained
in an able review of "The Gold-Mines of Midian" (Pall Mall
Gazette, June 7, 1878). The writer makes ancient Midian extend
from the north of the Arabic Gulf (El-'Akabah?) and Arabia Felix
(which? of the classics or of the moderns?) to the plains of
Moab"--exactly where it assuredly does not now extend.
[EN#150] Described in Chap. XV.
[EN#151] This place is noticed in "The Gold-Mines of Midian,"
Chap. X.
[EN#152] I am not certain of this name, as several variants were
given to me. For historical notices of the ruined town of
Khulasah, see Chap. IV.
[EN#153] In "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. V., occur several
differences of nomenclature, which may or may not be mistakes.
They are corrected in my "Itineraries," part ii. sect. 2.
[EN#154] To this breed belonged the beast which carried me on the
first Expedition.
[EN#155] For a short notice of this region, hitherto unvisited by
Europeans, see Chap. XVIII.
[EN#156] For a note on the "Burnt Mountain," so well known at
El-Wijh, see Chap. XVIII.
[EN#157] It was afterwards exhibited at the Hippodrome, Cairo,
and was carefully photographed by M. Lacaze. Others said that it
came from the east of our camp, near the Jils el-Dáim.
[EN#158] It was duly committed to the charge of our Sayyid.
End of The Land of Midian (Revisited) By Richard F. Burton,
End of Project Gutenberg's The Land of Midian, Vol. 1, by Richard Burton