Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/114

84 is pretty wide, and contains a fair amount of shrubs and acacias. After winding up the valley for a mile in an easterly direction, it appears as if about to come to an abrupt termination. A spring of fresh water wells out, giving rise to a considerable amount of verdure. The cliffs are formed of red porphyry, which here rises up sharply against the limestone. We have in fact crossed the main fault of the Wâdy el Arabah. The porphyry is surmounted by other cliffs of the red Desert Sandstone. Through this mass of rock a small stream has cut its channel, and the only way up the valley is by this narrow chasm, averaging about 10 feet across, and bounded by walls gradually increasing in height. After passing up this for a few hundred yards, the chasm widens out somewhat; and the sandstone cliffs gain an altitude of over 800 feet, forming a magnificent and almost perpendicular wall of rock, specially towards the north. Some time was spent in this grand valley, which lays open the structure of the Edomite mountains almost to their centre. Having taken some photographs the party returned, and reached the camp at the base of Jebel Haroun long after dark.

During the day, when crossing the numerous sand-dunes, it helped to pass the time to note the many and varied footprints often clearly impressed on their surface. Of these the most numerous were those of the gazelle, which are somewhat like those of a sheep, but sharper and more closely compacted; others of hyænas, and a few of large felines, probably leopards. If one were to draw a conclusion from the great numbers of these footprints it would be that during the night the whole surface of the valley is alive with wild animals, which emerge from their dens and hiding-places in search of food and water.

After a long and fatiguing ride over very broken ground we camped in the Wâdy Abu Kuseibeh, near the entrance to the Wâdy Haroun, and at a distance of about five miles from the base of Mount Hor.