Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/81

Rh and exclaimed, “If you find one of these on my body or in my hair you may kill me!” All this I did not ascertain until Sala and I had parted for ever. I mention the matter here, in order that other travellers may avoid a similar fate by having their camel-saddles deposited within the tents at night.

We had now reached Jebel Mûsa, the most southern point of our proposed route, and henceforth our course took a north-easterly direction. In order to explore the district lying between the head of the Gulf of Akabah and the eastern margin of the Tîh, and connect the topographical and geological features with those of the Sinaitic peninsula, which had been so well worked out by Captains Wilson and Palmer, we took a course towards Akabah seldom traversed by travellers hitherto. We retraced our steps for some distance by the Wâdy es Sheikh, passed again through the gorge of El Watiyeh, and emerged on an extensive undulating plain, Elwi ’l’ Ajramiyeh, which we traversed nearly due north to the head of the Wâdy Zelegah. Major Kitchener took a course more to the left, in order to determine the position of an important spring called “Ain el Akhdar,” and rejoined us late in the evening at our camp, some distance down the Zelegah Valley. It is probable that a large portion of the plain we traversed during this day had formerly been the bed of a lake. It was covered with fine gravel, through which bosses of granite or basalt sometimes protruded. This lake may have been connected with that of the Wâdy es Sheikh previously referred to.

The upper part of the Wâdy Zelegah is remarkable for its geological features. The valley itself is excavated through beds of brown, red, and variegated sandstone, which are but slightly removed from the horizontal position, having a dip towards the N.E. of two or three degrees. These sandstone beds are sometimes deeply channelled; and form terraces, flat- topped tables, and sometimes isolated tors. The cliffs rise on either hand; those on the south of the valley giving origin to a scarped ridge called Jebel es Zerf. Through these sandstone beds the old foundation rocks, consisting of granite, porphyry, or greenstone, occasionally protrude; showing that the rocky floor, on which the sandy strata were originally deposited, was exceedingly uneven in form, rising into ridges or solitary peaks, or hollowed into furrows. An instance of this kind was observed about four miles below the head of the valley.

The Wâdy Zelegah was first explored by Laborde; afterwards by Palmer. It is about 20 miles in length, and its general direction is