Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/341

 a large khan in which the pilgrims deposited a portion of the food supplies intended for the return journey.

Jean de Thevenot (1656 A.D.) (Voyages, Vol. 1, p. 477) and Gabrielle Bremond (Viaggi [edit. by G. Corra], pp. 163 f.) writing in the middle of the seventeenth century, likewise record the halting places on the Pilgrim Route from Egypt to al-Medîna. These lead us from Saṭḥ al-ʻAḳaba to the modern Ḳalʻat al-ʻAḳaba, six and a half hours to the watch-tower of Ẓahr al-Ḥmâr (Ḥaḳl) and after another seven and a half hours through a difficult region to the halting place of Šarafe Beni ʻAṭijje. Bremond writes “Scharafè betùgateie,” and both Bremond and Thévenot give the distance from Dâr al-Ḥmâr (Ẓahr al-Ḥmâr) to the latter halting place as fourteen hours; this, however, is not accurate, fourteen hours being the whole distance from Ḳalʻat al-ʻAḳaba as far as aš-Šerâf. The road runs farther to Moṛâjer Šuʻejb, which formerly belonged to the tribe of Madjan and is over fourteen hours distant; to ʻUjûn al-Ḳaṣab (the oasis of Šarma), where Moses is said to have helped the daughters of Jethro; thence in fourteen hours to Ḳalʻat al-Mwêleḥ; and in eleven hours to Castel. The latter halting place must be identical with the modern Ẓbe’. From Castel it is fifteen and a half hours to Ḳalʻat al-Aznam; fourteen hours to Iṣṭabel ʻAntar; and a further thirteen and a half hours to Ḳalʻat al-Weǧh.

In 1694 ʻAbdalṛani an-Nâbulusi (Ḥaḳîḳa, Codex Vindobonensis, 1269 [Mxt. 712], Vol. 2, fol. 11 r.—16 v.) rode with his guides from the halting place of al-ʻAḳaba southward along the shore, so that he had the sea on his right hand and the mountains on his left as far as the palms and fresh-water springs of al-Ḥaḳl, where they arrived only just before noon. After a short rest, they ascended the slope of Ẓahr al-Ḥmâr and before sunset were in the šeʻîb of Umm al-Ǧurfejn, where there was no water and where they spent the night. Before noon on the next day they reached al-Ǧurfejn; whereupon they journeyed between high rocks of porphyry and marble as far as the halting place of aš-Šaraf, or as it is also called, Šarafe Beni ʻAṭijje. They found no water there. In the morning they proceeded as far as the last spurs of aš-Šaraf, where they had luncheon. At four o’clock they again set out on the march, passing by the halting place of ar-Riǧm and encamping before sunset at ʻEfâl. On the afternoon of the following day they reached the halting place of Moṛâjer Šuʻejb, which the Bedouins call al-Bedʻ and where from numerous fresh-water springs rises a stream which forms several ponds. On the next day ʻAbdalṛani’s party rode till sunset and encampet in the šeʻîb of aṣ-Ṣwêr until sunrise. Shortly before noon they were at the wells of al-Ḳaṣab, which unite to form a large stream, by the side of which many reeds grow. They rested there till nearly the middle of the afternoon. Late in the evening they found themselves in a trackless region, where they lost the way and remained till daybreak. Thereupon they rested in the valley of al-ʻOḏejb until the middle of the afternoon and at evening reached the fortress of al-Mwêleḥ, where they were again within sight of the sea. They found fresh-water springs there, and the fortress was permanently inhabited. Leaving the sea once again, by the middle of the afternoon they were at al-Muḳâwel, where they spent the night. They then passed through al-Ṛâl and Šuḳḳ al-ʻAǧûz, reaching the halting place of Ẓbe’, where there were springs of pure fresh water. In the morning