SCIENTIFIC JOTTINGS IN EGYPT. 829 



the former existence of a lake, the barrier of which was probably- 

 near Hererat. I noticed also, at the point where the Wadi Es- 

 Sleh enters the plain of El Gaa, unmistakable signs of an ancient 

 lake. The wadi emerges suddenly from the mountain-range, and 

 a circular depression from thirty to fifty feet deep, with a per- 

 fectly level sandy bottom and bounded by nearly vertical gravel 

 cliffs, now marks the bed of a small lake. 



The uninhabitability of the peninsula is due to its sterility 

 rather than to its climate. Its sterility is due, I imagine, more to 

 the unequal annual distribution of the water than to its absence, 

 and, should the population warrant it, storage-dams, easily con- 

 structed in the narrow granite- walled wadis, would to a great 

 degree remedy this defect. Perhaps at some future day, when a 

 crowded world thrusts its surplus population into regions now 

 hardly regarded as habitable, Arabia Petrsea will bloom like a 

 garden. Granite and limestone furnish valuable soil -ingre- 

 dients, and the climate is not unfavorable to semi-tropical culti- 

 vation. 



The flora and fauna of the desert have been often described, 

 yet I imagine that much remains to be studied ; the variety, 

 beauty, and fragrance of the shrubs and flowers which the trav- 

 eler meets in the most forbidding and unexpected spots were to 

 my unprepared mind a remarkable feature. In March I gath- 

 ered dandelions and daisies at Wadi Useit, also "butter and 

 eggs " ; in Wadi Tayyibeh, near saline water, spearmint ; and in 

 Wadi Feiran, on the hillsides, sorrel. 



The oases with their date-palms, tarfa (or tamarisk) yielding 

 manna, seydl (or acacia) yielding gum arabic, gharkad shrubs, 

 and thickets of tall reeds, are veritable islands of fertility in 

 an ocean of desolation. At the monastery, cypresses, oranges, 

 peaches, and vines are cultivated, although five thousand feet 

 above the sea-level. 



Naturalists enumerate a number of large animals that live in 

 the oases of the desert, among them the gazelle, ibex, jackal, and 

 fox. I met with the head of a gazelle and numerous horns of 

 ibexes, and in Wadi Es-Sleh a Bedouin suddenly appeared with 

 two little half-tamed ibexes about fourteen days old ; my travel- 

 ing companion bought them, but they were unable to withstand 

 the novelty of camel-riding, and, though kindly cared for, died 

 within a few days. Their skins were preserved. I noted on the 

 journey a large field-mouse, a small light-yellow snake two and a 

 half feet long, and a peculiar kind of lizard (?). At Assouan I 

 killed an intensely energetic scorpion, and at many places noted 

 chameleons basking in the sun. Of the numerous and curious 

 fish in the Red Sea, I can only say that some of them proved to 

 be excellent food. 



