Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/151

Rh come from Jerusalem, we retired to our tents that night with spirits far from cheerful.

Next day, Wednesday, 19th December, we made excursions in several directions in search of objects connected with the topography, geology, and natural history of the remarkable district in which our lot was for the time cast. Accompanied by Sheikh Seyd, I examined the volcanic rocks along the flanks of Jebel es Somrah, consisting of irregular beds of felstone, porphyry, and agglomerate, with strata of finer volcanic tuff. From the flanks of this mountain I had an extensive view across The Ghôr, and the waters of the Salt Sea, as far north as the Lisan, the remarkable promontory which divides this sea into two unequal portions. I was impressed with the fact, when surveying its blue, still, waters from this point, that there is nothing about the appearance of the sea, or of the surrounding hills, to lead one to suspect that its surface is 1,300 feet below that of the Mediterranean; and it is therefore not surprising that this physical fact should have remained so long unrecognised by travellers. It is only when one looks at the face of the aneroid, and observes that the index hand has passed away beyond the highest (ordinary) reading of 31°, and points to the very lowest in the opposite direction, that we become conscious that we are under extraordinary atmospheric pressure, and only to be accounted for by the inference that we have descended far below the level of the ocean. The climate of The Ghôr at this time of year does not feel much warmer that we had been accustomed to in the Wady el Arabah; in fact, during one day of our sojourn at Es Safieh we had a hailstorm!

On returning to the camp I received the unwelcome tidings that a rigid quarantine had been established by the Turkish authorities for all travellers coming from the direction of Egypt and the Haj Road at Akabah, and that all such travellers were obliged to proceed to Gaza to put in a term of fifteen days in the quarantine station. It was, therefore, quite possible that our messengers might have been captured on their road to Jerusalem and sent off to Gaza, in which case our prospects would be far from enviable.

Next morning (Thursday, 20th December) we rose with the hope of soon hearing the tinkling of the baggage mule bells coming across the marsh to our relief, but hour after hour elapsed and no such sound greeted our ears. It was tantalizing to look across the blue waters of the Salt Sea