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-Rawiyn, it is supplied with excellent drinking-water by the Miyh 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 Hism. The Ma'zah 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 Bsh-Buzk 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 Huwaytt 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'zah 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 Hism is a region full of archological interest. Already we were almost in sight of the ruins of Ruf, lying to the north between the two white dots El-Rakhamatayn. Further eastward, and north of the pilgrim-station Zt-Hajj, are the remains of Karyy, still unvisited by Europeans. Finally, I had been shown, when too late to inspect the place, a fragment of a Nabathan 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-Rawiyn famed for Hawwt. 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'zah 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'zah, 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 "Effendn" 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 Herms; 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 Myat 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 Huwaytt; and Alayn, 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'zah 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'zah 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 "Effendn" (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 Atyyah having meanwhile disappeared. We descended the Khuraytat el-Jils in twenty-six minutes, and dismissed the remainder of our Ma'zah 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 Atyyah and company!

Having broken our fast and sent forward the caravan, we at once began to descend the southern Pass, the Khuraytat el-Zib. 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'lwwah, 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'zah 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 Hism 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 Shm (Syria), with its Turkish Wlis, men like the late Rshid 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'zah. They are surrounded by enemies, and they have lately been obliged to pay "brother-tax" to the Ruwal 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'n, they meet the hostile Beni Sakr (Jawzi), under the Shaykh Mohammed ibn Jzi; southwards the Baliyy, commanded by Shaykh Afnn, are on terms of "blood" with them; eastward stand the Anezah and the warlike Sharrt-Hutaym, who ever covet their two thousand camels: westward lie in wait their hereditary foes, the Huwaytt. 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 Afl: 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-Mednah 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'zah 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 Mus (of Suez) and on the Za'farnah 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 Mus of Petra, where they are kinsmen of the Tiyhah, the Bedawin of the Th-desert; and through Ma'n as far as the Birkat el-Mu'azzamah, south of Tabk. Finally, they occupy the greater part of the Hism and the northern Harrah.

According to Mohammed el-Kalb, these bandits own the bluest of blue blood. Their forefather was one Wl, who left by his descendants two great tribes. The first and the eldest took a name from their Ma'z ("he-goats"); while the junior called themselves after the Annz ("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'zah.

Wallin would divide the tribe into two, the Ma'zah and the "Beni Atiy:" 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'zah 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 Herms, is distributed into five clans, of whom the first, Orbn Khumaysah, contain two septs. Under Mohammed ibn Atyyah (El-Kalb) they number also five divisions. Amongst them are the Subt 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 baromtre 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 Waldl (oil of the maritime pine), which each traveller must choose for himself.

[EN#15] It is Lane's "Kiyakh, vulg Kiyk," 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 dpart, and by transferring New Year's Day from the equinox to the solstice.

Thus Kayhk I, 1594, would correspond with December 9, A.D. 1877, and with Zl-Hijjah 4, A.H. 1294. On the evening of Kayhk 14 (December 22nd) winter is supposed to set in. The fifth month, Tub—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 Amshr, about early March, torrents of rain are expected to fall for a few hours. The people say of it, in their rhyming way, Amshr, Za'bb el-kathir—"Amshr hath many a blast;" and

"Amshir Yakul li'l-Zar 'Sir! Wa yalhak bi'l-tawi'l el-kasi'r."'

"Amshr saith to the plants, 'Go (forth), and the little shall reach the big."' It is divided into three 'Ashart or tens—1. 'Asharat el-'Ajz ("of the old man"), from the cold and killing wind El-Husm; 2. 'Asharat el-'Anzah ("of the she-goat"), from the blasts and gales; and 3. 'Asharat el-R'' ("of the shepherd"), from its change to genial warmth. Concerning Barmaht (vulg Barambt), of old Phamenoth (seventh month), the popular jingle is, Ruh el-Ghayt wa ht—"Go to the field and bring (what it yields);" this being the month of flowers, when the world is green. Barmdah (Pharmuthi)! dukh bi'l-'amdah ("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: Mours, 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 Forskl (Descriptiones xxix.), "Sunsia 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 centimtres (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-Mar and Jebel el-Abyaz (plur. Jibl el-Bayz) 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. Amede Burat, p. 229, "Gologic Applique" (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'apr'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 Mashb 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] "gypten," 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 Jardat el-'Ajib, wa Fardat el-Gharib, by Sirj el-Din Umar ibn el-Ward, A.H. 940 (= A.D. 1533—1534), where he expected to find, but did not find, notices of Madyan.

[EN#45] Geschichte gyptens unter den Pharaonen. Nach den Denkmhlern bearbeitet, von Dr. Heinrich Brugsch-Bey. Erste deutsche Ausgabe. Leipzig: Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, 1877. Already the Premire Partie had appeared in French, "Histoire d'gypte, 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 Maghrah 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 Sinfir Island, at the mouth of the Gulf el-'Akabah, may preserve his name.

[EN#48] The German Trkis, 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 "N" 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, Uu, 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 numre ne renferment que vingt-deux lettres, et en second lieu, parce qu'il oublie de citer les deux derniers mots techniques, et , lesquels compltent les vingt-huit lettres prises comme valeurs nume'riques ("Voyez l'Expos des signes de numration 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 Yahy el-Sh'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 Hawwit ("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 Makn, but inland or eastward of it. The reason is made evident in Chap. VII.

[EN#69] Thus the Khl or Khr of the old Egyptians, meaning a "mixed multitude," were originally Phoenicians and domiciled from earliest ages about Lake Menzlah. 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 tranger qui s'est tabli 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 teintes;" and he makes them (vol. i. p. 23) descendants of Cthura, Abraham's second wife. In vol. ii. p. 232, he brings the Banu-Djodha'm (Juzm) from El-Yemen, and settles them in the country of the ancient Midianites. He adds: "La region sur laquelle ils taient rpandus avec leurs frres les Benou-Lakhm, et, je crois aussi, avec les families Codhaites, de Bali (Baliyy) et de Cayn, touchait par l'ouest la Mer Rouge, par le nord au pays que les Romains appelaient troisime Palestine, par le sud aux dserts . . . par l'est, enfin, au territoire de Daumat-Djandal sur laquelle campaient les Benou-Kelb, tribu Codhate, alors Chrtienne, et allie ou sujette des Romains." In vol. iii. p. 159, he recounts from the Trkh el-Khams, and the Srat el-Rasl, how Zayd made an expedition against the "Djodhm (Juzm) 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) ft maitre de la capitale (Damascus); son arme victorieuse et l'or pur appel Obreysum (Ubraysun ou Hubraysum) qu'il tirait de l'E'gypte, lui soumirent les autres cits 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. Mus 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 Shrr, the Jebel el-Lauz, or the Jebel Znah.

[EN#75] The Badais of Ptolemy, which we shall presently visit.

[EN#76] A large ruin east of Zib, 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 Hasyat el-Madr, which, like El-A'waj, El-Brayn, and Ma'n, 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-Kazwn, 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 Md, in the plural Md-n or Md-n; on the other hand, we have no information concerning the origin and derivation of Md, 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-Makrzi.

[EN#84] The Ma'zah spoke of Kantir (arches, i.e. aqueducts) and Bibn (doors or catacombs).

[EN#85] I inquired in vain concerning the ruins near Sharm Burayttah, south of Yamb' in the Harb country. Wellsted, who visited the site (11. xi.), conjectures them to be Niebuhr's "El-Jr." 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] Kfah or 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 Bishrn and the Nman and Maskat, 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 'Aynnah, 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 'Aynnah, during the first Expedition ("The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 165).

[EN#96] The modern Beni 'Ukbah ignore the story of Ab Rsh, not wishing to confess their obligations to the Huwaytt.

[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 Makn 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 ("Gologie Appliqe," 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] Krn was a pauper cousin of Mus, 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] "Tasbh" literally means uttering Subhn 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 placat veniet fortuna procell."

[EN#116] P. 341.

[EN#117] The singular is Maknwi, pronounced Magnwi.

[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 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-Shar', 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 Hbreux d'E'gypte" (Alexandrie: Mours, 1874), p. 31, to be the great fort of Khatom, on the highway to Phoenicia. The roots Khatam, Asham, Tam, like the Arabic "Khatm" () 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, "Wd 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 Mus, 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 'Ammrn and the Liysinah, are unmitigated scoundrels and dangerous ruffians: amongst the former Shaykh Sala'mah ibn 'Awwd with his brother, and among the latter Ibrahm el-Hasant, simply deserve hanging. In Edom, too, 'Abd el-Rahmn el-'Awar ("the One-eyed"), Shaykh of the Fellahn, is "wanted;" and the 'Alawn-Huwaytt 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 Kansh (Kansooh) and corrupted by Europeans to Campson (like Sampson) Goree.

[EN#138] Not Hmid, 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 Sambk 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-Dim.

[EN#158] It was duly committed to the charge of our Sayyid.



End of The Land of Midian (Revisited) By Richard F. Burton,