Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/119

 camel, and turning round to us protested by all that was sacred that, if any of us ascended Jebel Haroun without the permission of Sheikh Arari of Wâdy Mûsa, he would return back to Akabah. To do so, he said, would produce a feud between himself and his friend, the Sheikh of Petra, and he would not be responsible for the consequences. After much disputation it was agreed that we should pitch our tents near the entrance to the gorge, still on his (Sheikh Ali's) ground, and then push up the pass, and hold a consultation during lunch. So on we went, Ali breaking out from time to time in protestations. The gorge was very fine; the rocks of marvellously varied forms and colours; and soon it contracted to a mere torrent bed, above which the cliffs of sandstone towered aloft in great precipitous walls of several hundred feet. We wound our way over blocks of rock and masses of shingle amidst luxuriant bushes of the oleander,—not however now in flower, but laden with large fruit pods—along with which were several other plants and shrubs, such as the tamarisk and the ubiquitous broom. Amongst the rocks which form the sides of the valley may be recognised massive agglomerates of volcanic origin, formed of blocks of trap, granite, and porphyry; much older, however, than the Desert Sandstone which rests upon them, and probably of the age of the dykes of porphyry or diorite which penetrate the granitic and gneissose rocks of this region.

We accordingly proceeded up the Wâdy Haroun to a spot where the path to Petra ascends the northern side, and where there are the remains of some ancient buildings. We discussed our future course of action, and came to the conclusion that it would now be useless to attempt to ascend Mount Hor unrecognised, as we had been informed that guards had been posted to prevent our progress. A messenger was accordingly despatched to Petra to request Sheikh Arari to send word upon what terms we could visit both Petra and Mount Hor.

On returning down the valley to our camp, about four o'clock in the afternoon. Sheikh Abdullah of Petra arrived, accompanied by several other horsemen, with the reply that the Head Sheikh of Wâdy Mûsa (Sheikh Arari) was absent in Damascus; that on no consideration could we be allowed to ascend Mount Hor, and that to visit Petra each of us (i.e., the hawajahs) would have to pay thirty dollars. We replied that we must visit both Mount Hor and Petra;—or neither; and that the terms were so