CHAPTER II.. * * * * *

* * * * * =GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF SOUTH-EASTERN EGYPT.= * * * * *

In this chapter will be given a brief general account of the district, under the heads of:—

1. Extent.

2. Relief.

3. Hydrography.

4. Coast-line.

5. Climate.

6. Scenery.

7. Animal and Plant Life.

8. Water Supplies.

9. Geology.

10. Mineral Products.

11. Antiquities.

12. Inhabitants.

13. Languages.

14. Industries.

15. Communications.

16. Government.

The subjects of topography, water supplies, and geology, will be further considered more fully in succeeding chapters.

=Extent.=

As already mentioned in the introduction, the district treated of in this volume lies between the parallels of 25° and 22° of north latitude, and between the meridian of 34° E. and the Red Sea. It comprises an area of about 56,000 square kilometres (22,000 square miles).

=Relief.=

The higher mountains of the Eastern Desert generally form the watershed between the Nile and the Red Sea. This watershed is much nearer to the coast than to the Nile, with the result that the eastward drainage is much steeper than to the west.

Commencing from the north (see the orographical map, Plate I), the principal mountain masses are:—

(i) The Migif — Hafafit — Nugrus — Hangalia — Zabara group (1,505 metres), cut off to the south by the Wadi Gemal (Fd).

(ii) The Abu Hamamid — Hamata — Abu Gurdi group (1,978 metres), limited on the south by the Wadi Lahami (Hg).

(iii) The Um Gunud — Dahanib — Batoga group (1,270 metres), lying between Wadi Lahami on the north and Wadi Khoda (Hj) on the south.

(iv) The Abu Dahr — Orga — Um Tenedba group (1,131 metres), separating the drainage of Wadi Betan (Fl) from Wadis Khoda and Rahaba (Hl).

(v) The Faraid group, the Mons Pentadactylus of Ptolemy, comprising some very remarkable granite peaks (1,366 metres), lying near the coast between Wadi Khoda and Wadi Rahaba.

(vi) The Awamtib — Abraq — Dif — Aqab el Negum — Mishbih group (1,353 metres), forming the tripartite watershed between the great Wadi systems of Kharit and Alaqi on the west, and that of Wadi Hodein on the east.

(vii) The Gerf — Abu Hodeid group, a mighty mass rising to 1,736 metres, lying between Wadi Hodein (Jn) and Wadi Hasium (Hs).

(viii) The Meisah — Adar Qaqa — Is group, between the Wadis Hasium and Di-ib (Mr).

(ix) The Elba — Shendib group (1,912 metres), a great mass of spiky mountains lying near the sea between Wadi Di-ib and the coast.

Besides these main groups, there are numerous more or less isolated mountains, of which Gebels Abu Khrug (Bd, 870 metres), Hamrat Mukbud (Cf, 890 metres), Zergat Naam (Ej, 845 metres), and the two Niqrubs (Fn and Fo, 829 metres and 1,078 metres) are examples.

Some of the mountains, especially the granite “bodkin” of Gebel Faraid (Hl), and some of the peaks of the Elba group, appear to be unclimbable. A few others are rather dangerous of ascent, as, for example, Gebel Abu Hamamid (Ef) on account of its steepness, and Gebel Abu Dahr (Gk) by reason of combined steepness and rotten rock, which comes away in tons at a touch. The highest peak of all within the district, Gebel Hamata (Gf), is a comparatively easy climb from the north.

=Hydrography.=

The course of the main watershed which parts the Red Sea and Nile drainages is highly irregular both in altitude and direction, as will be evident from the orographical map (Plate I), on which it is shown by a red line. From Gebel Hamrat Wogud, in the north, it passes east of Gebel Atut, thence through the high masses of Gebels Hangalia, Nugrus, Hafafit, and Migif, beyond which it drops southward through the low country round Gebel Abu Had. Entering the mountains again at Gebel Nukheira, it takes an eastward bend, passing along the great ridges of Gebels Abu Hamamid, Um Usher, Um Hasidok, and Ras el Kharit. Striking southward across the head of Wadi Kharit, it courses through the mountains of Mikbi and Abu Gurdi, thence dropping to the south on the plain near the hills called Marwot Elemikan. Turning here sharply westward over the plain, it passes through the hill-mass of Gebel Abu Derega and on to Gebel Zergat Naam, south-west of which it crosses the low tract at the head of Wadi el Arned to the sandstone plateaux of Dagalai, whence it courses a little to the west of Gebel Um Reit and enters the mountainous tract of Gebel Aqab el Negum. Its further course has not been traced in detail, but from guides’ statements and the indications of the main drainage-lines it is believed to run as shown on the map, in a great curve through the two sharp peaks of Gebel Sheyenit to the west of Gebel Mishbih, and then in another flatter curve south-eastwards to Gebel Soaorib, at the head of Wadi Hasium. Continuing along the mountain ridges of Gebel Soaorib, it crosses to Gebel Is, separating the Wadi Is from the heads of Wadi Alaqi on the Sudan frontier.

The watershed is for a great part of its course quite impassable for camels. The principal places where it can be crossed are at the head of Wadi Nugrus, near Abu Had, the Wadi Marasan between Huluz and Wadi el Sheikh, the heads of Wadi Lahami, Wadi el Fil, Wadi Arned, and Wadi Um Reit, passes at Aqab el Negum and Hamrat el Feg, near Gebel Mishbih, the head of Wadi Hasium, and the pass of Adar Ameit, north of Gebel Is. All these places are practicable for baggage camels, though in some of them, as, for instance, at the head of Wadi Nugrus, care is required because the track is steep and stony.

The principal drainage-basins are shown on the small scale map on Plate II. The westward drainage ultimately reaches the Nile by the three main trunk wadis of Shait, Kharit, and Alaqi; Shait and Kharit enter the Nile Valley at Kom Ombo, while Alaqi debouches near Dakka. The eastward drainage is much more complex, the principal trunk wadis, such as Um Khariga, Gemal, Khoda, Rahaba, Hodein, Ibib, Di-ib, and Serimtai, being separated by very numerous minor wadis draining independently to the sea.

Nearly all the wadis contain vegetation in the form of trees and bushes, and plant life flourishes as a rule far more luxuriously in wadis draining seawards than in those leading to the Nile. Feqoh, Naam, and the lower reaches of Hodein are, however, exceptionally barren. Forming, as they do, the only possible roads, furnishing the entire supply of camel food, and containing most of the wells, the wadis are to the desert what the Nile is to Egypt proper. The intervening mountains are of no interest to the Arabs, except when they contain water-reservoirs. Hence the place-naming starts from the wadis, even the smallest of which have names unless they are barren. Mountains are generally named after the nearest wadi, and may thus have two names when situated between two wadis, the particular name used depending on which side the mountain is seen from.

=Coast-line.=

The coast-line of this part of Egypt is somewhat irregular, the peninsula of Ras Benas forming a prominent projection in latitude 24°. In the south part of the area the eastward extension of the country, culminating in Ras Hadarba (Cape Elba of existing maps), is very marked, extending nearly to 37° of east longitude. The coast is almost entirely fringed by coral reefs, passage through which is only possible at certain points, and then only with the utmost care in navigation. Between the feet of the mountains and the sea there extends a gently sloping plain, varying in width from about eight to twenty-five kilometres, covered with sand, over which the drainage meanders in shallow courses, often only traceable by the vegetation which occurs along them. A rather surprising result brought out by the levelling observations is that the slope of the coast plain, even where it looks flattest and sandiest, is as steep as the floors of some of the wadis draining on to it, and several times more steep than the beds of the wadis which drain westwards to the Nile, its fall seawards averaging six metres per kilometre and reaching over ten metres per kilometre in some sections.

=Climate.=

The climate of the district is predominantly hot and dry to the west of the watershed, hot and moist eastward of it; but very cold weather is apt to prevail for a few weeks in January and February, with strong north winds, on both sides of the watershed, and the transition from piercing cold to great heat at these times is often brought about very suddenly by a change of wind direction. There is seldom any frost, but water-bags are occasionally frozen on the mountain tops at night. Cool north-west winds prevail in the north part of the area, while hot damp winds from the south-east are usual in the south. In the central part, round Berenice, absolute calms are frequent. The highest mountain-masses are frequently swathed in clouds for weeks together, especially from January to March. The hot, dry, sand-laden winds called Khamsin occasionally blow for four or five days together in March and April; at these times the shade temperature rises to over 45° C., and the air is thick with sand and dust. Rain falls in most years, but its quantity is very variable; in some years there is barely enough to keep the wells supplied, and much of the vegetation withers; in others, heavy storms produce wild downrushes in the wadis, filling them for short periods with raging torrents. Curious electrical and optical phenomena can sometimes be seen on the mountain-tops during storms and in mists. The Elba region is seldom free from clouds, and receives far more rain than any other portion of the area, forming in fact the northern limit of the rainy tropical zone; it is in consequence relatively well wooded, while the other mountains are a dreary waste of naked rocks.

PLATE II.

Ball. Geography & Geology of South-Eastern Egypt.

Photo-Metal-Process. Survey Dept. Cairo 1910. (60-190)

Scale 1:2,000,000.]

=Scenery.=

The predominant types of scenery are extensive sandy plains and gaunt rugged mountains. In the low-lands, pleasant relief from the stony monotony is afforded by the trees and scrub which occur along most of the wadis, though their struggle for existence is often evidenced by miles of withered and blackened scrub in places which a few years ago were green and flourishing. The bareness of the mountains becomes slightly relieved in the Elba district, where beautiful trees and flowering plants thrive high up the mountain-side along all the drainage lines. As to the forms of the mountains, one sees extensive broken sandstone plateaux at Gebel Abraq (El), remarkable rounded granite bosses at Gebels Muelih (Ab), Nugrus (Dc), Selaia (Fh), and Um Rasein (Jr), jagged and spiky granite peaks in the mountains of Faraid (Jk), Qash Amir (Os), and Elba (Ps), and broken masses of gneiss, dark schists and serpentines at Gebels Hafafit (Dc), Hangalia (Dc), Abu Hamamid (Ef), Hamata (Gf), and Gerf (Hp). Perhaps the most remarkable of all the peaks are those of Faraid (Jk), which from the north look like the expanded fingers of a huge hand, whence they received their name of Mons Pentadactylus in antiquity, while one specially sharp peak is styled very appropriately “the Bodkin” on Admiralty Charts. The mass of Elba forms a very fine view from the north, but the prevalence of clouds about its summits frequently hides it from view for months together. The views from the mountain-tops are extensive and beautiful, especially at sunrise and sunset, when the peaks take on wonderful colours, and the views from the summits when the entire lower landscape is bathed in clouds, through which only the higher peaks project like islands from a great sea, are not less remarkable. Though a good look out was kept from the highest mountains across the sea, the mountains of the opposite shore of Arabia were never with certainty made out; the cone of Zeberged Island was, however, often seen. It is stated by d’Anville, on the authority of Castro, that both the Arabian and African mountains can be seen from the summit of Zeberged.

=Animal and Plant Life.=

Both animal and plant life is mainly confined to the drainage lines. Of wild animals suitable for human food, gazelles can be shot fairly frequently in the south part of the area, but are very scarce in the north. Sand grouse and partridges can occasionally be obtained round Abu Saafa, while doves are very abundant in the groves near Bir Akwamtra, at the foot of Gebel Elba. Ibex were never seen with certainty, though their horns and lairs were often found on the mountains. Conies inhabit the rocks near Bir Abraq and Bir Madi. The wild ass has disappeared from the area, as also has the ostrich, though fragments of ostrich eggs picked up here and there, and drawings of this bird on the rocks, attest its presence here in recent times. Vultures, kites, and ravens are everywhere in evidence, and several kinds of smaller birds, such as swallows and wagtails, are often seen about the greener wadis. Lizards of many kinds are to be seen. Scorpions and snakes are seldom met with. Of butterflies and moths, especially the latter, many varieties occur. The common fly occurs in such numbers as to be a great pest, but mosquitoes and sand-flies are practically absent. Camel ticks infest the ground under all trees used as shade by travelling Arabs. Earwigs are in some places very abundant, and a great variety of beetles and bugs occur. Near the sea, whole armies of crabs are to be seen marching on the shore, and hermit crabs are very numerous in all sorts of gasteropod dwellings.

Of plant life the district contains a great variety. The north and central parts of the area contain the same trees and bushes as abound further north in Egypt, and camel food is moderately abundant. As Elba is approached, many beautiful flowering plants not found further north are met with, while in the clefts of the slopes of Elba itself is a far richer vegetation than occurs wild in any other part of Egypt. I found the approach to Elba was stopped for baggage camels some four kilometres from the summit owing to the closeness of the trees, and the ascent on foot up the clefts of the mountain-face for the remainder of the way was more like going through an English wood than up a desert mountain. Many varieties of sweet-smelling flowers and some fruit-bearing trees unfamiliar in Egypt were seen, while mosses and lichens covered the tumbled masses of granite in many places. Schweinfurth, who examined the botany of this region in 1864, found that of 300 species of plants collected in the Elba district, the vast majority were of Abyssinian types; scarcely 100 were living in other more northerly parts of the Eastern Desert of Egypt, while still fewer are indigenous to the Nile Valley, and only fifteen species were of those found wild in Europe.

=Water Supplies.=

The sources of water comprise galts (rock basins forming rain water reservoirs in the mountains), springs and wells. Of these, galts yield the purest water, and form the principal supply of the pastoral Arabs, except in years of no rainfall, while springs and wells, the latter usually rude excavations in the alluvia of wadis, are most used by travellers from their easier accessibility. Small galts are called megal (Ababda) or megwel (Bisharin); they are frequently accompanied by small springs.

The small scale map on Plate III, which shows all sources known to exist within the area, gives a good idea of the distribution of water supplies. Water is scarce in the western parts of the country, Bir Abu Hashim being the only source within a radius of about sixty kilometres of itself, but galts and wells are fairly frequent among the mountainous tracts further east. The springs of Abraq and Abu Saafa are the most important sources in the central area. The portion of the country under the Sudan Administration is far richer in water that the Egyptian part, containing numerous fine wells and springs, such as Birs Meneiga, Abu Hodeid, Akwamtra, and Frukit. The coast plain is waterless, except for salty wells near the sea.

Water can usually be obtained at intervals of about two or three days when on the march, and in some parts much more frequently. The water of certain wells and springs has a purgative effect due to the absorption of magnesium salts, especially after a long interval without rain. That of others, again, such as Muelih and Shalatein, is so salty as to be only drinkable by camels.

=Geology.=

The rocks composing this part of Egypt are principally igneous and metamorphic deposits of very ancient origin. Granite is most prominent in the Nugrus, Faraid, and Elba areas, schists and diorites cover a large portion of the remaining country, and huge masses of serpentines form the mountains of Abu Dahr, Korabkansi, and Gerf. Of sedimentary rocks, plateaux of Nubian sandstone (Cretaceous) cover large areas round Bir Abraq and westward of it, while a narrow belt of the same rock also occurs along the sea coast in the north part of the district. Gypseous limestones (Miocene?) form the hills of Ras Benas and occur along the coast north of Wadi Lahami, as well as in small areas near the coast further south in the neighbourhood of Halaib.

PLATE III.

Ball. Geography & Geology of South-Eastern Egypt.

Photo-Metal-Process. Survey Dept. Cairo 1910. (60-190)

Scale 1:2,000,000.]

Crushing of the older rocks is almost everywhere strongly evidenced, but faulting is difficult to trace except in the sandstone areas, where it is strongly marked. The presence of clearly defined overthrust faulting in the Abraq area shows that tangential earth movements, so rare in this part of the world, have not been altogether absent.

=Mineral Products.=

The mineral resources of this part of Egypt are not of very great importance, owing partly to its inaccessible situation and desert character. Gold and copper ores occur in places; other localities contain beryl and peridots, while others, again, bear iron ores, gypsum, sulphur, steatite, asbestos, and magnesite, and good building stones abound over large areas.

The presence of ruins and excavations at places like Hangalia, Sikait, Zabara, Romit, and Darahib, are evidence of mining activity in the past, but the mean nature of the accommodation for the workers, and the presence of old stone hand mills where gold was the thing sought for, confirm the statement of Diodorus that the mines were worked by miserable convicts.

In recent years much prospecting has been done to test whether the ancient mines could be developed and made commercially productive under modern conditions. In the case of many areas, including that round Darahib, the mines of which are believed to be those referred to with a map in the Turin papyrus of the Nineteenth Dynasty, the prospecting licences have been surrendered to the Government because the results were unfavourable. In a few other cases prospecting is still being carried out, and in three localities the results have been sufficiently encouraging for exploitation to be undertaken.

The following tables, compiled from information supplied by the Mines Department, give particulars of the prospecting licences and mining leases at present (1912) held within the area described in this book:—

PROSPECTING LICENCES.

--------+----------------+---------+----------+----------------------- Licence|Date of Licence.|Principal|Holder of |Situation of Area No. | | Mineral | Licence. |licensed. | | sought. | | --------+----------------+---------+----------+----------------------- 49 | Nov. 1, 1909 | Gold. |Mr. Mack. |Kurdeman district. | | | | 50 | „ 1, 1909 | „ | „ |Sabahia district. | | | | 75 | May 14, 1911 | „ | „ |North-east side of | | | |Gebel Zabara. | | | | 59 | Feb. 17, 1910 |Sulphur. | Mr. |Gebel Ranga, near the | | |Venizelos.|mouth of Wadi Abu | | | |Ghusun. | | | | 60 | „ 17, 1910 | „ | „ |Adjoining the | | | |foregoing. | | | | 61 |March 19, 1910 | „ | „ | „ „ „ --------+----------------+---------+----------+-----------------------

MINING LEASES.

------+--------------+----------+----------+-----------+------------- Lease|Date of Lease.| Period | Mineral | Holder of |Area leased. No. | |for which |exploited.| Lease. | | | granted. | | | ------+--------------+----------+----------+-----------+------------- 13 | Dec. 1, 1910 |30 years. | Gold. | African |25 acres | | | |Reefs, Ltd.|near Gebel | | | | |Um el Tiur | | | | |el Tahtani. | | | | | 15 | Jan. 1, 1912 |30 years. | Gold. |Mr. Wells. |25 acres | | | | |near Gebel | | | | |Sukari. | | | | | 55 | June 1, 1906 |30 years. | Peridot. | Peridot & |Zeberged | | | | Egyptian |(St. John’s | | | | Gems Co., |Island). | | | | Ltd. | ------+--------------+----------+----------+-----------+-------------

Of the above three mining leases, the last mentioned (the Peridot and Egyptian Gems Co., Ltd.) is the only one under which any considerable exploitation has been carried on, large numbers of beautiful peridots having been obtained from the mines. The two gold mining undertakings have been commenced too recently for much to have been as yet accomplished.

=Antiquities.=

The archæological remains of pre-Arab times in this part of Egypt comprise the small ruined temples of Berenice and Sikait, the ruins of stations along the old mining roads, the ancient mines with the rude habitations of the miners, and sundry markings on rocks near the roads.

The =Temple of Berenice= is a low inconspicuous structure measuring only some ten metres square, containing five small rooms and a tiny corridor and staircase. Owing to its exposed situation on the coast and the soft limestone (from Ras Benas) of which it is built, it is in a very dilapidated condition, and it is difficult to make out many of the inscriptions on its walls. The axial direction of the temple (63° 20′ east of true north) appears to show that it was oriented to face the rising sun at the summer solstice. Of the village (one can hardly call it a city) of Berenice, only insignificant remains exist near the temple. The houses were mere hovels built of rough lumps of coral.

There are three =temples in Wadi Sikait=; they are small rock-hewn structures in even worse preservation than that of Berenice.

Many attempts have been made to trace the =ancient mining roads= mentioned by classical writers. The stations on the road from Koptos (Quft) to Berenice, enumerated by Pliny and Antoninus, have not been with certainty identified. The absence of any reliable map of the main features of the country has hitherto prevented travellers from locating the positions of stations found, while in careful surveying it has generally been necessary to travel by other roads than the ancient ones, so that it cannot be hoped that all the ruined stations, many of which are invisible till one is close to them, have been included in the maps. Now that all the principal features of the country have been accurately laid down, it will be much easier for future travellers to locate precisely any ruins they may come across.

Of the road leading from Contra-Apollinopolis (Edfu) to the emerald mines of Sikait and Zabara, much more is known, this route having been traversed by Golénischeff and most of its stations located by the Geological Survey. Leading from Edfu, past Bir Abad, the ruins of a large station and rock temple occur at a distance of about forty-five kilometres from the Nile, at a place now called Kanais (the churches), where a well yielding good water was sunk three years ago by the Mines Department. About forty-five kilometres further on is the station called Gariat Abu Medrik, where there are two ancient stucco-lined cylindrical reservoirs, but no well. At the next station, called Samut, there is a good well in the centre of a large rubble ruin. As all the stations just mentioned lie outside the limits of the maps which accompany this memoir, I give their approximate geographical positions below:—

------------------+-----------+------------+----------- Station. |Latitude N.|Longitude E.| Altitude | | |above Sea. ------------------+-----------+------------+----------- | | | metres. | | | Edfu | 24° 58′ | 32° 54′ | 90 | | | Kanais | 25° 0 ′ | 33° 19′ | 205 | | | Gariat Abu Medrik| 24° 55′ | 33° 41′ | 295 | | | Samut | 24° 49′ | 33° 54′ | 340 ------------------+-----------+------------+-----------

The next station after Samut appears to have been the ruins near Gebel Dweig. Further on, after passing over the watershed, is another station with two cisterns in a semicircular enclosure. The road continues past Gebel Abu Had to the Wadi Gemal, where there are two more cisterns, this time in a triangular enclosure, and thence up to the Wadi Nugrus and Wadi Sikait to the mines. The Edfu-Sikait road may have joined the Quft-Berenice road at the Wadi Gemal station.

A third ancient road is believed to have led northward from Berenice to Qoseir, along the coast; while a fourth, from near Dakka on the Nile up the Wadi Alaqi to the gold mines of the south, is now a regular route to the Nile Valley Company’s mine of Um Gariart.

The =ancient emerald mines of Zabara and Sikait= consist of numerous irregular shafts, mostly of no very great depth, excavated in schists of micaceous and talcose types. The =old gold mines=, such as those at Sukari, Um Eleiga, Seiga, Romit, and the Darahib district, are on a considerable scale, excavations having been carried on in quartz veins to fair depths. The dwellings at the mines were for the most part only miserable hovels of rubble stone. A view of those of Um Eleiga is given on Plate IV. The ancient quartz-grinding mills, mostly made of a hard diorite, are frequently found among the ruins of the hovels. There is no clear evidence that any of the mines yielded a very rich output; the workings were of the nature of penal settlements (Prof. Mahaffy has aptly termed them a “tropical Siberia”) in times when life and labour were cheap, and a very moderate yield may under those conditions have been satisfactory.

PLATE IV.

Besides those at the mining camps and stations, there are some other extensive collections of ruins in the district, two of the most considerable being at Shenshef and Bir Meneiga. The =ruins at Shenshef= (see Plate IV) are in part those of well-built houses, furnished with doors and windows, formed of slabs of fissile quartzose schist, quarried in the neighbouring hills. There are wells at Shenshef, but apparently no mines; the presence of watch towers on the hills, and the peculiar situation of the place, suggest that it may have been a slave dealer’s stronghold where slaves were herded till they could be shipped from Berenice. The better houses may have been those of the overseers, while the ruder hovels accommodated the slaves, and sentinels at the watch towers prevented any attempt at escape. The =ruins at Bir Meneiga=, though extensive, are very rude, and probably only represent a camping ground near the springs. A large rubble enclosure near Abraq springs has been thought by Purdy to have been a hunting station of the Ptolemies.

In many places there are =marks and drawings on the rocks= near roads. These are frequently spirited representations of animals, among which the ostrich is often seen. At the Galt el Aguz, near the watershed at the head of one of the branches of Wadi Garara, the drawings are accompanied by rude Greek inscriptions. At Abu Saafa, one of the springs issues from a niche cut in the sandstone, having a carved cornice with the remains of a Greek inscription on it.

Another class of remains are found scattered over the area in the form of =cylindrical rubble piles=, four metres in diameter and from one to two metres high. The natives consider these to be tombs of pre-Arab date.

Of =Arab tombs= in the area, the most considerable is that of Sheikh Shadli, near Gebel Abu Hamamid, a view of which is shown on Plate V. It is a well-built tomb of several domes, inhabited by a Moorish guardian. A yearly pilgrimage is made to this place by the Ababda Arabs, who hold the memory of Shadli in high veneration. The next largest tomb is probably that of Sheikh Hamid, near Abraq springs. Near the nose of Ras Benas is a large sheikh’s tomb, where sailors perform their devotions, and smaller tombs of the same type, built of drift-wood, are to be seen at other points near the coast. Cemeteries of small Arab graves exist near every well and spring.

=Inhabitants.=

The South-Eastern Desert of Egypt is inhabited by nomad Arabs of the various Ababda and Bisharin tribes. Ababda (Ashabab and Meleikab) occupy the country north of Muqsim and Bir Shalatein, while Bisharin (Hamedorab, Kurbeilab, Koatil, and Balgab) inhabit the country to the south. Only guesses are available as to their numbers, but it is not probable that they comprise so much as one inhabitant for each five square kilometres. A casual journey through the country would lead one to think that it was inhabited to an even less degree, but the Arabs mostly camp in selected narrow wadis out of sight of the traveller. They are a people of good physique, hardy, intelligent, and fair workers if once their employer knows how to handle them. They share, however, in the universal Bedouin dislike to protracted regular work; after a few months of regular routine, even the semi-nomad routine of a survey-expedition, they experience strong desires for their own independent roaming life, and it is impossible to retain them for longer periods. Many of the Ababda who are settled near the Nile have lost their true desert character, and on desert expeditions men of this class are far less satisfactory than nomads; they do not know the country, but fear the desert and are continually desirous of returning to the valley. The better desert guides, on the other hand, love the wilderness, and they have a perfectly marvellous geographic instinct. The skeleton on which they arrange their knowledge is always the system of drainage. If a map of their country is laid before them, and a few points named to them, they will delight in tracing out and naming all the wadis and peaks. But they have very vague ideas of proportion, and can only read a map when it is laid on the ground in its true orientation with respect to the meridian. The Ababda are generally regarded as the best type of Egyptian desert Arab, while my experience of the Bisharin of the Elba district is that they are superior, in industry, intelligence, truthfulness, and orderliness, to the Ababda. It is, however, necessary either to understand the Bishari tongue, or to have men who can interpret into Arabic, as the great mass of the Bisharin understand only their own language, which is quite different from Arabic. Education is very backward, but there is a kuttab (elementary school) at Halaib, where instruction in Arabic reading and writing is given to boys. All the Arabs are of course Moslems, but they are not at all fanatical.

PLATE V.

The manner of life of the Arabs is very simple. Most of the men have only a single cotton wrap about their middle, though some wear the ordinary galabia and cotton drawers. Their camps are rude tents of matting about two metres in diameter, but the men commonly sleep in the open, sheltering themselves from winds by their camel saddles, covered only with their cotton wrap, which they spread over their entire bodies, including their heads. They wear no head covering, having heavy “mops” of curled black hair plentifully supplied with mutton fat. Their food consists almost entirely of milk and meat, of which their flocks and herds give them a plentiful supply; they eat but little bread, but they are fond of a kind of gruel of flour and water, and of dates, which are imported from Arabia via Suakin. Only a few of them smoke tobacco, and that generally in soapstone pipes which they carve out for themselves. Intoxicants are unknown amongst true desert Arabs. For arms, they carry swords and knives, seldom fire-arms. Of their tribal customs, I saw but little; Linant de Bellefonds gives an interesting account of them in his “L’Etbaye.” On festive occasions, camel-racing and dancing are favourite amusements.

Slavery appears to be non-existent at present, for in the course of my twenty months’ wanderings I received no complaint under this head, as I should almost certainly have done had any oppressive servitude existed.

=Languages.=

My own study of the Ababda and Bishari tongues has been mainly confined to their geographical terms. The Ababda nowadays almost all speak Arabic, and most of their place-names are either Arabic or closely akin to it. A marked feature of their tongue is a fondness for diminutives. Thus we have Sellim and Seleim, Hafafit and Hefeifit, Faraid, and Fereyid, Wadi and Wadai, in each of which the second of the pair is a diminutive formed by vowel-change, generally accompanied by a change in the placing of the stress. The commonest special geographical terms in Ababda country are: erf, a ridge; rod, a tributary wadi; talet, a small tributary wadi; kab, a watershed or pass; hamrat, a (red) granite mountain; zergat, a black mountain; galt, a rock basin containing rain water; and megal, a small water hole. Thus we have such names as Hamrat Selma, Zergat Naam, and so on, the name often giving a clue to the nature of the rock.

As soon as one passes into Bisharin country the change in the nature of place-names is very striking. The definite article is no longer el, but o, u, ei, e (masc.), and to, tu, tei, ti (fem.). Many place-names end in ai and oi. The principal geographical terms are: kwan, a wadi; da-aiyob, a depression from which there is no drainage outlet; aweib and riba, a mountain; kulet, a hill; megwel, a water hole; adar, red; hadal, black; sotai, green; eire, white; sarara, deep; salala, rather deep (applied to wells). Hence we get such combinations as: Hadal Aweib Meisah, the black mountain near Wadi Meisah; Eir Arib, the white (granite) rock; Sarobi Kwan, the wadi where the Sarob plant (Capparis sodada) grows; Bir Sararat Seyet, the deep well in Wadi Seyet, and so on. A mountain called adar is generally of red granite, while one called hadal is usually diorite or serpentine. Asotriba, the green mountain south of Gebel Elba, receives its name from the vegetation on it.

=Industries.=

The principal industries carried on by the desert Arabs are the rearing of camels, sheep and goats, especially the first-named. The Bisharin devote much attention to camel-breeding, and supply many animals annually to the Coast Guard Administration. Their camels are very superior animals, and need to be hardy in order to negotiate the steep mountain passes of their country. Sheep and goats can be bought cheaply in the south, and are driven in to Aswân for sale at the higher rates there prevailing. It is common to find a flock of hundreds of sheep being watered at wells such as Bir Abu Hashim and Qoleib on the route to Kom Ombo; but many animals drop and die on the weary march from well to well.

Charcoal burning has been practised, especially in the Ababda country, but is not much carried on now; this industry deserves strong opposition, for it only impoverishes the country, and the seyal trees are few enough for the support of camels in years of drought.

In recent years some employment has been found for the Arabs by prospectors for mining companies, both as miners and for camel-transport, and they are occasionally, as in the present expedition, employed on Government work.

For the information of future travellers, it may be worth while to mention the prices paid for local labour on the survey expeditions. The men and animals were all the best obtainable of their particular class, and the prices include saddles and fodder for camels, their own provision of water and food for the men, and, in the case of sheikhs, postmen, and guides, their riding camels and fodder:—

Mills, per day.

Responsible sheikhs in charge of all Arabs 200

Skilled guides (also employed as beacon builders) 150

Postmen journeying regularly to and from the Nile Valley 150

Baggage camels, each to carry 300 pounds’ load, with one driver to every two camels, the drivers to act as general labourers at a camp and to collect wood and water and to carry supplies up the mountains when required 120

Riding camels 120

Porters 70 to 80

A small amount of agriculture is practised in the Wadi Di-ib, slightly south of the Sudan frontier, but there is none actually within the district here described. My camels were fed for some time on durra (Indian corn) brought from Wadi Di-ib.

A little fishing is carried on near Berenice and at Mersa Shab and Halaib, but only for the food of the fishermen, who subsist almost entirely on it, and thus recall the Ichthyophages of Ptolemy. When I had abundance of excellent fish at Shab and Halaib, I noticed that but few of my Bisharin cared to partake of what was to me a very welcome change of diet.

Halaib is the only permanent village, and even it is merely a miserable collection of wooden huts and tents, where trade is confined to dates, fat, corn, sugar, and such like necessaries; supplies are brought by boat from Suakin and sold to the local Arabs.

=Communications.=

There are numerous camel-roads connecting the various wells with each other and with the Nile, the principal of which are indicated on Plate III (p. 26). The most usual starting points from the valley are Edfu, Kom Ombo, Aswân, Dakka, and Berber. The roads lie mostly along wadis, and are far from being very direct, being necessarily so chosen as to pass water supplies and to avoid very steep places. From Aswân or Kom Ombo, Berenice can be reached in about seven or eight days by luggage camels, and the roads are fairly good; water is least scarce on the Kom Ombo road, which takes advantage of the wells of Qoleib and Abu Hashim. Between any two wells, there are generally several possible roads. The one taken by any particular traveller is naturally that which his guides happen to know best, or that along which the most camel food is to be found at the time; hardly any two Europeans have journeyed by precisely the same road. A “road” in desert parlance is only a track by which camels have passed at some time or other; there is nothing of the nature of a made road, even along the ancient routes mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary; and the tracks are sometimes obliterated by sand. Since the opening up of Port Sudan, the Elba district is most easily reached from that place, whence it is about 340 kilometres distant, by two roads of nearly equal length, one skirting the coast and the other more inland; the latter passes good wells at about two days’ intervals. To reach Elba from the valley, a camel journey of more than 500 kilometres is necessary whether Aswân, Dakka, or Berber be the starting point. The ports of Berenice, Shab, and Halaib are only touched occasionally and irregularly by coasting boats and Coast Guard steamers. News is passed orally among the wandering Arabs with remarkable rapidity, but naturally it frequently gets somewhat modified in transit.

=Government.=

The geographical frontier between Egypt and the Sudan is the 22nd parallel of north latitude. But for administrative purposes it has been found convenient to consider all Bisharin Arabs as under the Sudan Government, and all Ababda under that of Egypt. The administrative frontier therefore runs between the districts of the two main tribal divisions, along a zigzag line from Gebel Muqsim, via Gebel Um el Tiur el Foqani, Gebel Niqrub el Foqani, and Bir Meneiga, to Bir Shalatein on the coast. A territory of some 16,000 square kilometres in the extreme south-east corner of Egypt is thus placed for purposes of government under the Sudan mudiria of Berber, under which arrangement a moawin and small police force are maintained in the fort of Halaib. The remainder of the area is administered by the Egyptian mudir of Aswân. In Egypt, the Arabs are not taxed except in respect of any lands they may own in the Nile Valley. In the Sudan a tax is levied on each tribe in return for police protection and other advantages; the tax is paid very willingly, for the Bisharin are less poor than the Ababda, and thoroughly appreciate the advantage of good government, while they have unbounded faith in the justice of Anglo-Egyptian officials in settling their disputes. One of the incidents which most strongly impressed itself on my remembrance during my travels in the district was the meeting near Gebel Korabkansi of an English inspector from Berber, to whom a number of Bisharin Arabs engaged in disputes stated their rival claims quietly and reasonably, both sides having the utmost confidence that the judgment given would be just and fair. In Egypt, the Arabs are less friendly in their feelings towards the government, and prefer to settle their differences among themselves; a circumstance no doubt due to the fact that Egyptian governors have had their hands full with matters connected with the valley, and have had no time to become acquainted with Bedouin ideas and customs, while the Arabs, independent for centuries and very poor, are afraid of misunderstanding and taxation. It would, I think, be unfair to tax the true desert Arabs of Egypt, even to the moderate extent which is done for the Arabs of the Sudan, for their country is much more barren than that of the Bisharin, and their sources of income are consequently fewer. In a year of little or no rainfall, there is not enough vegetation to feed their animals, so that many are lost, and the only way a tax could be raised at such times would be by cutting down trees for charcoal; but, as already mentioned, any encouragement of the charcoal industry would soon impoverish the country still further, the thorny acacia trees being the principal reserve camel food in rainless years. That so many Ababda are settled in and near the Nile Valley is possibly in part due to their having been driven from the desert by the growing scarcity of trees consequent on the prosecution of the charcoal industry in the past.

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