Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/93

Rh is not the Khoran, and that is not the way to pray.” So he goes over to the Bedawin — now half dead with agony — and loosens the string of the bag, upon which out fly the wasps, and every one scampers away. The secret was out, and the poor Arab found out that he was “sold to the Egyptians!”

The man and his tribe were henceforth called “Dabours,” and they inhabit a district of the Tîh between Nakel and the Gulf of Suez. It will probably be allowed that a dragoman, with an illimitable stock of such stories, must be a favourite on a long day's march!

We camped for the night in the Wâdy el Khiass (Valley of Thieves), a wide valley in the district of the Tîh, but of ill repute, as its name signifies. It lies in fact on the border land of several tribes, and is thus more than ordinarily open to the incursions of those who do not respect the rights of property, especially in the matter of flocks and herds. As we were approaching the time when we should part with our escort, my son thought it a favourable opportunity for taking measurements of their individual heights of stature, breadth of chest, and length of arm, with the general result of showing that the Arabs of the Towara tribe (at least as represented by our guides) are somewhat lower of stature than the British army standard. Their power of enduring fatigue, and bodily agility, would probably be found superior.

The next morning we were on camel back by 7.30. The air was very cold, the thermometer having registered 27° Fahr. during the night, and in an hour we reached a tableland about 3,450 feet above the sea level; the highest point of our line of march in the region of the Tîh. Towards the east hills rose above us still enveloped in the morning mists; but in the opposite direction the sun was lighting up an extensive range of white limestone ridges, stretching in a north-easterly direction, the upper surface of which corresponded to an imaginary plain at least 1,000 feet above our present level, but broken through by many glens and depressions, amongst which the early rays of the sun were playing with exquisite effect. In about two hours more we came in sight of the Wâdy el Arabah, with the mountains beyond. It appeared like a vast plain, bounded on the eastern side by ragged and dark mountains rising behind each other, range above range, to a great, but unknown, elevation. Near our midday camp (Nov. 28), we descended from the limestone ridge on to an extensive plain of the sandstone formation. The boundary of the two formations runs along the crest of a broken ridge called Turf-er-Rukn (Fig. 5), at an