Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/203

Rh it might prove rougher and more fatiguing, should still have the attraction of novelty.

Our first plan had been to go to Akaba, at the head of the Gulf of that name, a six days' march, and from there to Petra, four days, and from Petra to Hebron, or Gaza, six days — twenty in all, which, with four days at Petra, and four days of Sabbath rest, would make just four weeks. This route would take us to a point of great interest in the journeyings of the Israelites, Mount Hor, on which Aaron died. Petra too has in its rock-temples attractions well known to travellers. The only drawback to the pleasure of such a trip, is that this ancient city and the region about it are held by some of the worst Bedaween in all the East. Petra has long been notorious for its fierce and turbulent tribes, who demand enormous backsheesh from strangers who would pass through their country. Mr. Cook told me in Cairo that he had paid a hundred and fifty pounds to get a party through; that of late all expeditions that had been planning to go that way, had been broken up; and that he had declined to take the responsibility of sending any more. There were stories of travellers being taken prisoners, and held for ransom. At Sinai it was said, that even if we were to enter Petra, we might not be allowed to stay there — a presumption that was confirmed by the experience of a German gentleman and his wife, who left Sinai a few days before us. They set out boldly for Petra, and reached it, but were only allowed to remain over night, being driven out the next morning, glad to escape without the loss of all they carried with them, if they had not suffered also the loss of life. Even could we reach Petra, and be allowed to remain long enough to see it, we were told that it was doubtful if we could pass beyond it, for that the region between Petra and Hebron was held by tribes