We Descended The Wady El Sheikh N.W. By W. Upon Several
Projecting Rocks Of The Mountain I Saw Small Stone Huts, Which Hamd Told
Me Were The Work Of Infidels In Ancient Times; They Were
WADY FEIRAN
[P.602] probably the cells of the hermits of Sinai. Their construction
is similar to that of the magazines already mentioned, but the stones
although uncemented, are more carefully placed in the walls, and have
thus resisted the force of torrents. Upon the summits of three different
mountains to the right were small ruined towers, originally perhaps,
chapels, dependant on the episcopal see of Feiran. In descending the
valley the mountains on both sides approach so near, that a defile of
only fifteen or twenty feet across is left; beyond this they again
diverge, when a range of the same hills of Tafel, or yellow pipe-clay
are seen, which I observed in the higher parts of this Wady. At the end
of four hours we entered the plantations of Wady Feiran [Arabic],
through a wood of tamarisks, and halted at a small date-garden belonging
to my guide Hamd. Wady Feiran is a continuation of Wady el Sheikh, and
is considered the finest valley in the whole peninsula. From the upper
extremity, where we alighted, an uninterrupted row of gardens and date-
plantations extends downwards for four miles. In almost every garden is
a well, by means of which the grounds are irrigated the whole year
round, exactly in the same manner as those in the Hedjaz above Szafra
and Djedeyde. Among the date-trees are small huts where reside the Tebna
Arabs, a branch of the Djebalye, who serve as gardeners to the Towara
Bedouins, especially to the Szowaleha, who are the owners of the ground;
they take one-third of the fruit for their labour. The owners seldom
visit the place, except in the date harvest, when the valley is filled
with people for a month or six weeks; at that season they erect huts of
palm-branches, and pass their time in conviviality, receiving visits,
and treating their guests with dates. The best species of these is
called Djamya [Arabic], of which the monks send large boxes annually to
Constantinople as presents, after having taken out the stone of the
date, and put an almond in its place. The
[p.603] Nebek (Rhamnus Lotus), the fruit of which is a favourite food of
the Bedouins, grows also in considerable quantity at Wady Feiran. They
grind the dried fruit together with the stone, and preserve the meal,
called by them Bsyse [Arabic], in leathern skins, in the same manner as
the Nubian Bedouins do. It is an excellent provision for journeying in
the desert, for it requires only the addition of butter-milk to make a
most nourishing, agreeable, and refreshing diet.
The Tebna cultivators are very poor; they possess little or no landed
property, and are continually annoyed by visits from the Bedouins, whom
they are under the necessity of receiving with hospitality.
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