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MR. E. M. BEDHEAD ON THE FtOEA OE SINAI. 219 



We now have oitce more a glimpse of the great rocky limestone 

 wall of the central desert, Et-Tih, and pass through a picturesque 

 wady with brown and red sandstone rocks on one side, and on 

 the other huge heaps of crumbling greenstone, surely so called 

 (like the greensand of Sussex) on the lucus a non lucendo prin- 

 ciple, as they are black heaps resembling coal in colour. 



We then reach the sandy plain " Debbet er Eamleh," which is 

 m places covered with the lilac Malcomia arenaria and a pretty 

 dwarf Brassica^ for which the camels displaced great fondness ; 

 and their Arab owTiers darted from side to side to pluck hand- 

 fuls of it, which the animals received with the greatest pleasure. 

 In some parts of this plain, huge detached masses of orange and 

 red sandstone rise out of the white, drifting sand oh which our 

 camels' feet fell noiselessly ; and it needed no vivid imagination to 

 see in these ruins of a former world the likeness of castles and 

 churches in decay. We encamped near 'Ain Huderah, under an 

 mmense precipice of sandstone, at whose base was growing, out 

 of the pure-white sand, the elegant drooping shrub Salicornia 

 arabica, and the curious Passerina hirsuta. The next day in 

 Wady Wetir, a magnificent gorge between lofty cliffs of granite, 

 we found for the first time a large shrub with oval, dark green 

 leaves, woolly underneath, not in bloom, but recognizable as the 

 Calotropis (Asclepias) proceru^ the Osher of the Arabs. 



This evening we had our first glimpse of the Elanitic Q-ulf, wilt 

 the mountains of Arabia beyond, lighted up by the setting sun 

 until they more Resembled a Scene on the stage lighted by red 

 fire than any natural landscape. This was followed by that ex- 

 quisite after-glow, changing from blue and purple to gold and 

 pink, and finally pale green, so unlike anything we have in our 

 western longitudes. We were now 5500 feet lower than when at 

 the convent ; and the change in temperature was extraordinary. 

 Our course led us for the next two days along the western shored 

 of the Gulf of 'Akaba ; and the interest of these two days, apart 

 'from the varying but gorgeous colouring of the landscape, was 

 conchological rather than botanical. The collecting of shells in 

 a broiling sun, and when travelling on a camel, is by no means an 

 easy, although to me a most agreeable task, this shore being be- 

 yond all I had seen fertile in species, mostly having an Indian 

 type, and unlike those of the Mediterranean and Northern Sea. 

 I collected, during the two days' journey, at least 100 species, of 

 which the following are the principal. 



I append this lirt df shell* found on the shores of the Gulf of 



q2 



