The Land of Midian — Volume 2

Richard Francis Burton

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• Publié par: inkea
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 21
• Langue: English

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by Richard Burton
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Title: The Land of Midian, Vol. 2Author: Richard Burton
Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7113]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of
schedule] [This file was first posted on March 11,
2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG
EBOOK THE LAND OF MIDIAN, VOL. 2 ***
Produced by JC Byers and proofread by MaryAnn
Short
The Land of Midian (Revisited).
By Richard F. Burton.
In Two Volumes.
Vol. II.
C. Kegan Paul & Co.
London:1879.
To the Memory of My Much Loved Niece,
Maria Emily Harriet Stisted,
Who Died at Dovercourt,
November 12, 1878.
CONTENTS
PART II. The March Through Central and
Eastern Midian. (Continued)
Chapter XI. The Unknown Lands South of the
Hismá—Ruins of Shuwák and Shaghab Chapter
XII. From Shaghab to Zibá—Ruins of El-
Khandakí and Umm Ámil—The Turquoise Mine
—Return to El-Muwaylah Chapter XIII. A Week
Around and Upon the Shárr Mountain—Résumé
of the March Through Eastern or Central MidianChapter XIV. Down South—To El-WijhNotes on
the Quarantine— The Hutaym Tribe. Chapter
XV. The Southern Sulphur-Hill—The Cruise to
El-Haurá- -Notes on the Baliyy Tribe and the
Volcanic Centres of North-Western Arabia
Chapter XVI. Our Last March—The Inland Fort
—Ruins of the Gold-Mines at Umm El-Karáyát
and Umm El-Haráb Chapter XVII. The March
Continued to El-Badá—Description of the Plain
Badais Chapter XVIII. Coal a "Myth"—March to
Marwát—Arrival at the Wady Hamz Chapter
XIX. The Wady Hamz—The Classical Ruin—
Abá'l- Marú, The Mine of "Marwah"—Return to
El- Wijh—Résumé of the Southern Journey
Conclusion
Appendix I. Dates of the Three Journeys
(Northern,
Central, and Southern) made by the
Second
Khedivial Expedition
Appendix II. EXpenses of the Expedition to Midian,
Commanded by Captain R. F. Burton,
H.B.M.
Consul, Trieste
Appendix III. Preserved Provisions and other
Stores,
Supplied by Messrs. Voltéra Bros., of
the
Ezbekiyyah, Cairo
Appendix IV. Botany and List of Insects
Appendix V. Meteorological Journal
IndexPART II. The March
Through Central and
Eastern Midian.
(Continued.)
Chapter XI. The
Unknown Lands South
of the HismáRuins of
Shuwák and Shaghab.We have now left the region explored by
Europeans; and our line to the south and the
south-east will lie over ground wholly new. In front
of us the land is no longer Arz Madyan: we are
entering South Midian, which will extend to El-
Hejáz. As the march might last longer than had
been expected, I ordered fresh supplies from El-
Muwaylah to meet us in the interior viâ Zibá. A very
small boy acted dromedary-man; and on the next
day he reached the fort, distant some thirty-five
and a half direct geographical miles eastward with
a trifling of northing.
We left the Jayb el-Khuraytah on a delicious
morning (6.15 a.m., February 26th), startling the
gazelles and the hares from their breakfast graze.
The former showed in troops of six; and the latter
were still breeding, as frequent captures of the
long-eared young proved. The track lay down the
Wady Dahal and other influents of the great Wady
Sa'lúwwah, a main feeder of the Dámah. We made
a considerable détour between south-south-east
and south-east to avoid the rocks and stones
discharged by the valleys of the Shafah range on
our left. To the right rose the Jibál el-Tihámah,
over whose nearer brown heights appeared the
pale blue peaks of Jebel Shárr and its southern
neighbour, Jebel Sa'lúwwah.
At nine a.m. we turned abruptly eastward up the
Wady el-Sulaysalah, whose head falls sharply from
the Shafah range. The surface is still Hismáground, red sand with blocks of ruddy grit, washed
down from the plateau on the left; and, according
to Furayj, it forms the south-western limit of the
Harrah. The valley is honeycombed into man-traps
by rats and lizards, causing many a tumble, and
notably developing the mulish instinct. We then
crossed a rough and rocky divide, Arabicè a Majrá,
or, as the Bedawin here pronounce it, a
"Magráh,"[EN#1] which takes its name from the
tormented Ruways ridge on the right. After a hot,
unlively march of four hours (= eleven miles), on
mules worn out by want of water, we dismounted
at a queer isolated lump on the left of the track.
This Jebel el-Murayt'bah ("of the Little Step") is
lumpy grey granite of the coarsest elements,
whose false strata, tilted up till they have become
quasi-vertical, and worn down to pillars and drums,
crown the crest like gigantic columnar
crystallizations. We shall see the same freak of
nature far more grandly developed into the "Pins"
of the Shárr. It has evidently upraised the trap, of
which large and small blocks are here and there
imbedded in it. The granite is cut in its turn by long
horizontal dykes of the hardest quadrangular
basalt, occasionally pudding'd with banded lumps
of red jasper and oxydulated iron: from afar they
look like water-lines, and in places they form walls,
regular as if built. The rounded forms result from
the granites flaking off in curved laminæ, like
onion-coats. Want of homogeneity in the texture
causes the granite to degrade into caves and
holes: the huge blocks which have fallen from the
upper heights often show unexpected hollows in
the under and lower sides. Above the water wefound an immense natural dolmen, under which
apparently the Bedawin take shelter. After El-
Murayt'bah the regular granitic sequence
disappears, nor will it again be visible till we reach
Shaghab (March 2nd).
About noon we remounted and rounded the south
of the block, disturbing by vain shots two fine black
eagles. I had reckoned upon the "Water of El-
Murayt'bah," in order to make an exceptional
march after so many days of deadly slow going.
But the cry arose that the rain-puddle was dry. We
had not brought a sufficient supply with us, and
twenty-two miles to and from the Wady Dahal was
a long way for camels, to say nothing of their
owners and the danger of prowling Ma'ázah. In
front water lay still farther off, according to the
guides, who, it will be seen, notably deceived us.
So I ordered the camp to be pitched, after
reconnoitering the locale of the water; and we all
proceeded to work, with a detachment of soldiers
and quarrymen. It was not a rain-puddle, but a
spring rising slowly in the sand, which had filled up
a fissure in the granite about four feet broad; of
these crevices three were disposed parallel to one
another, and at different heights. They wanted only
clearing out; the produce was abundant, and
though slightly flavoured with iron and sulphur, it
was drinkable. The thirsty mules amused us not a
little: they smelt water at once; hobbled as they
were, all hopped like kangaroos over the plain, and
with long ears well to the fore, they stood
superintending the operation till it was their turn to
be happy.Our evening at the foot of El-Ruways was cheered,
despite the flies, the earwigs, and the biting
Ba'úzah beetle, which here first put in an
appearance, by the weird and fascinating aspect of
the southern Hismá-wall, standing opposite to us,
and distant about a mile from the dull drab-
coloured basin, El-Majrá. Based upon mighty
massive foundations of brown and green trap, the
undulating junction being perfectly defined by a
horizontal white line, the capping of sandstone
rises regular as if laid in courses, with a huge
rampart falling perpendicular upon the natural
slope of its glacis. This bounding curtain is called
the Taur el-Shafah, the "inaccessible part of