ROAD TO SUEZ. 803 
pebbles were covered with dew of only 44° temperature, the air in 
the shade being 47°. In digging down, the temperature gradually 
rose one degree for every inch down to ten inches, beyond which 
I could not dig. Even in this winter-time, I found the sun’s rays 
give a heat of 100° to the soil; so that the poor plants have to 
undergo in winter a change of 56° every day. Here the only 
water they get is by the dew forming on them during the night. 
Unhappy plants! supposing their feelings to be like ours, who 
desire to drink most when most heated. 
At 7 o’clock, we breakfasted and were off again. The sun 
soon became powerful, and clouds of dust entered our van, almost 
suffocating the inmates. I got out for a few minutes at every stage, 
and saw the poor horses covered with sweat : the moment they were 
unharnessed, they threw themselves on the ground, and rolled in the 
sand in ecstacy. I could not help thinking of the Prophet’s in- 
junction in the Koran, that the Faithful should wash in the sand 
where no water was to be procured. We passed some little Oases, 
a few yards long, sparkling with the Hyoscyamus, and here and 
there a solitary stag-headed inclined Acacia ; but we never stopped 
near these less sterile spots. 
We had been gradually ascending from Cairo, and at forenoon 
of Friday we reached the highest ground on our road (800 or 
900 feet, perhaps,) between the Nile and the Red Sea. Here 
high ridges of red mountains appeared, their long precipitous 
sides all cut up into shallow ravines, dreadfully rugged, rocky, 
and barren. From the height I saw the Red Sea lifted up by 
refraction long before we sighted it really, and the mountains — 0 
of the peninsula of Sinai and Tor on the opposite side of the gulf — 
of Suez: all deeply interesting objects, especially to one who had 
been accustomed to much novelty of a totally different character. 
Except a few insects (Grylli, &c.,) and occasionally a herd of 
antelopes, there is no animal life in these parts of the desert. Now 
and then, however, solitary Arabs or small encampments may 
be seen, surrounded by dromedaries and packages of merchandize. — — 
These Arabs are an unruly set, and not remarkable for their at- — — 
tachment to the Pacha, whose road from Cairo to Suez they are — 
