Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/394

 316 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. advances into the Reel Sea in the form of a triangular peninsula, terminating in the Ras-Benas headland, and sheltering on the south the gulf of Umm-el-Ketef, identified as the ancient port of Berenice. North of the Nubian frontier, where the crystalline rocks occupy the whole breadth of Upper Egypt, the zone of granitic formations is gradually narrowed, while still maintaining its chief elevations in the neighbourhood of the coast. This reo'ion, now frequented only by a few scattered nomad tribes, was formerly worked for its mineral wealth by nimierous gangs of miners and quarrymen. The Jebel-Zabarah, the Sraaragdus of the ancients, which rises on the Red Sea coast, under the latitude of Edfu, contains in its veins garnets and other valuable crys- tals ; and in the year 1816, Cailliaud here discovered the beds of emeralds, which though far from abundant and of rather indifferent quality, were worked by the sovereigns of Egypt down to the year 1358. North and south of the mountain are still visible the remains of the villages erected by the miners. Farther north, in the depression which runs from the Nile at Keneh to the port of Kosseir, and near the Hamamat wells, have been discovered the remains of a town of two thousand inhabitants, built of stone, and not far off vast quarries of " verde antico," of " Egyptian breccia," and of other varieties of diorite, which were used especially for cutting vases, sarcophagi, and statues. Still farther north follow the two groups forming the ancient Mount Claudian, now severally distinguished as the Jebel-Dokhan and the Jebel-Fatireh, the latter granitic, the former porphyritic. The monoliths hewn out of these hills were conveyed down to the coast of the Red Sea, and thence transported by the Suez Canal, or " Trajan's R,iver," to the Nile, and so on to Alexandria, and there shipped for all the Mediterranean cities of the Roman world. The Jebel-Dokhan, or " Smoky Mountain," the " Porphyrites Mons " of the ancients, contained a group of quarries, which during the Roman epoch was more actively worked than any other in Egypt, although the Egyptians themselves had never quarried this close-grained stone. Since the reign of the Emperor Claudius, Rome and Byzantium continued to import the admirable red porphyry, which was used in the erection of their temples and palaces. Here are still found columns 58 feet long, and 24 feet in compass, hence larger than the largest block in " Pompey's Pillar." The Arab invasion of Egypt put an end to the operations carried on at these famous quarries, whose site is still indicated by enormous heaps of refuse and the remains of large towns. The porphyry formation of the Jebel-Dokhan crops out in the midst of the granitic rocks, like the analogous porphyries of the Jebel-Katherin amid the granites of the Sinai peninsula. Over against Mount Tor, on the Sinaitic coast, stands the Jebel-Gharib, whose granite peaks rise to an altitude of 6,120 feet. This is the last lofty summit of the border range, and according to Schweinfurth, it forms the culminating point of the whole Arabian desert. So abrupt are its sides that it seems quite inaccessible. In the distance are visible Mount Tenareb and the Jebel-Shellalla, the latter separated by the Wadj-el-Tih from the Jebel-Attaka. All the mountain groups in this region are distinguished by nimierous pyramidal crests, whose spurs are