Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/127

 The results of the day’s work were very valuable. Major Kitchener and his assistant, Mr. Armstrong, were successful in taking angles on several prominent points, both backwards and forwards, along the line of the Arabah valley, and as far north as the hills overlooking The Ghôr. Mr. Hart found a considerable number of plants, amongst others three species of ferns, indicating a moister and more temperate climate than that we had experienced, and leading to the belief that in spring time the mountain side must exhibit a rich carpeting of flowers, such as crocuses, lilies, and amarillas, which were only now appearing above ground. Mr. Laurence took barometrical readings at the summit of the mountain, in addition to those of the hypsometer (an instrument for determining altitudes by the temperature of the boiling point of water). To myself the observations I was enabled to make on the geological structure of the Edomite range were of essential value in the construction of the geological map of that part of the district. We were all delighted with our visit to this most wonderful of cities, and congratulated ourselves on having accomplished it on terms far more favourable than those of previous visitors. I here give the altitude of Mount Hor as determined by the aneroid observations of Mr. Laurence.

The elevation of Mount Hor, as determined by the hypsometer, was 4,260 feet, and of Petra 2,935 feet, and it is probable that these are more reliable results. The elevation of the former, as determined by Major Kitchener by triangulation, is 4,580 feet.

The next morning (Tuesday, 11th December), we broke up our camp for a march into the Arabah, but a scene, half tragic, half comic, was first to be enacted. Our conductor handed to the sheikhs the money and the bakhsheesh agreed upon, but still they were not satisfied. All night long the Petra envoys. Sheikh Ali, and others had kept up a protracted wrangle, and next morning the gale increased to a storm. We had strictly fulfilled