WILDERNESS OF SHUR.

113

crossed the sea only four or five miles to the south, and that nearly a month afterward they had advanced scarcely fifty miles towards Sinai, we may infer that they rested for some time in the neighbourhood of the miraculous passage. Yet we do not hear of any want of water until they had commenced their marches in the wilderness of Shur, when, having proceeded three days without finding any, they began to complain. Perhaps, then, they were supplied with water while they rested immediately after their forced marches from Egypt and their passage of the sea; and as there is no indication of water in this vicinity except at these wells and the fountain of Naba, half an hour to the north, they may have encamped around them for some time. Here every morning, as on that of their deliverance, in the presence of the whole camp of Israel," Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them, 'Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; and the band of matrons and maidens responded in full chorus, The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.'

At four o'clock we mounted our camels and fairly entered the wilderness of Shur, the name of which is still retained in Wady Sudr. It is a gravelly district, lying between the black, mural range of Gebel Rehah, six or eight miles to our left, and the sea, from four to six miles to our right. It is crossed transversely by the dry beds of many torrents. In these a few stunted shrubs, on which our camels browsed as we rode along, were the only vegetation to be seen. This is the country of the Terabin Arabs, consisting of about forty families, whose coarse black tents travellers may occasionally see near the heads of the wadys in the mountains,

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ENCAMPMENT.-OUR COMPANY.

where water is to be be found; at the same time, their few goats are seen nibbling a scanty subsistence under the care of a dusky maid, whose slight covering scarcely conceals her person.

The second night out from Suez our tents were pitched among the gravelly sandhills which divide Wady Wardan from Wady el Amarah. The intense excitement which I had experienced from Besatin to the Wells of Moses had nearly subsided, and I had leisure to think of myself and my companions. I have already said enough of Tualeb: he continued to bear himself well; but Materh was the favourite of the party. He is older than Tualeb, of a mild disposition, and venerable for his age and long gray beard. Inferior in rank, he never wears the red diadem, as Tualeb does, but yet rides on a camel. We had, besides, one tall, fine fellow, with a real Roman nose, and a youth whose peculiarly delicate frame and face suggested the idea that he might be a girl; but this is impossible among Arabs. My gray-bearded camelman, of small stature, light and agile, was my favourite. He had a benevolent expression of countenance, and his conduct agreed with it. I often, as we rode along, used to share with him my hard biscuit, figs, cheese, and bottle of water, when no one was near to see and demand part. The football of the caravan was a jet black negro, a slave to a Bedouin in Cairo, whose camel he accompanied. He was the nearest to a baboon, in appearance, of any human being I had ever seen, and so black that the flesh under the skin partook of the colour of the surface, if one may judge from the ebony gums enclosing his ivory teeth. The others merit no description. They were all lightly and coarsely clad, and at night divided into three parties, each around a fire of sticks and dry camel's dung, which they took care to collect

GEORGE'S SKILFUL CATERING.-LIFE IN THE DESERT. 115

during the afternoon. Around these fires the camels were made to lie down in a circle, with their heads outward, as if to keep guard. Within the camel-circle the luggage was disposed, as an inner wall. These arrangements being completed, the Arabs open their long coarse shirts in front from the chin to the feet, and lie down close around the fires, with their faces inward. Then the unbroken silence covers all. How sweetly they sleep!

Our tent was quite a fanciful affair. It had twelve sides, alternately red and blue, and surmounted by a pyramidal top exhibiting the same variety. Within, mats were spread upon the sand to receive our cotton mattresses. A thick quilt, and our saddlebags for pillows, completed our bed furniture. I shall never forget the sweet sleep of the Desert. Our servants' tent was

always pitched near at hand, containing our domestic conveniences, charcoal, stoves, the cooking utensils, &c. On our second night out from Suez, to our great surprise, George sent us in for dinner greens and delicious radishes, which he had obtained from the garden at the Wells of Moses. He did not explain whether he got them by purchase, plunder, or gift, nor did we stop to inquire until we had devoured them. The tent of the venerable French physician completed our group.

Our daily life in the desert was very regular. Rising with the dawn, we took breakfast at sunrise, and immediately afterward our tents were struck by the Arabs. While they were loading the camels with the luggage, we generally set off and walked for an hour or two. I never could learn when the Arabs or our servants breakfasted; the first, I judge, ate but once a day, and that at night, but the latter all day en route, for I never asked either of them for bread, figs, cheese, or a bottle

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PLEASURABLE PASTIME.

of water, but it was drawn forth from some secret hole in the luggage. The day was enlivened by talking and laughing with our good-natured Tawaras, as they walked beside our camels. Sometimes the young men of our party ran foot-races with them, and they enjoyed the sport exceedingly. One day Mr. S. won a rusty sword from the swiftest Arab in the company. He delivered it up promptly, but a day or two after received for it more piastres than it was worth. The Arab is not so remarkable for his fleetness as his endurance on foot. We kept on very good terms with them throughout our journey. They are easily won upon by kindness. We chatted freely with them, expressed our gratification when they pleased us, and always displayed the utmost confidence in them: they, in turn, served us with promptitude and fidelity.

BITTER WATERS OF MARAH.

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CHAPTER XII.

THE DESERT OF ARABIA.

Bitter Waters of Marah.-Wady Ghurundel.-Elim.-The Twelve Wells.First Sight of Mount Serbal.-Graves of the Guilty.-Encampment of Israel by the Red Sea.-A dangerous Passage.-Wilderness of Sin.-Wady Shellal.-Sinaitic Inscriptions.

EARLY on the morning of the third day from Suez, two lone palm bushes were discovered in the distance. We hastened to the spot, and found a shallow pit with scarce one hundred gallons of water. It was the bitter waters of Marah, at which the Israelites arrived on the third day of their march from the Wells of Moses. I stepped into the pit and tasted the water, which I found saline rather than bitter, and drinkable in case of great thirst. The well is scooped out on the top of a broad, flat mound, formed by a whitish substance, deposited from the water through the lapse of many centuries. It is probable that when the Israelites arrived here the hill had scarcely begun to form, and, of course, the waters were at a much lower level. This is rendered still more probable from the indisputable fact that the whole plain along the coast is now much lower than formerly, as is evident from innumerable table hills, of equal height and similar structure, scattered through the plain, showing that their tops are portions of the former level. Here the Israelites remained for some time, for it is said "there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them.”—Exod., xv., 25. The Scriptures do not suggest that there was any want of water in this neighbourhood; but it was bitter, and hence the place was called Marah. It was miraculously sweetened by