42 John Hogg, Esq., on the Geography and 



forms a conspicuous object ; it is calcareous, and strewed with 

 flints. Low ridges extend from it westward and eastward ; 

 the latter terminating in a headland or bluff, called Gebel 

 Makrah. 



The wide sandy Wadi-el-Ghudhagidh — the Ghudhaghidh of 

 Robinson — is probably the Gudgodah ; or, as it is written in 

 Hebrew, Ghudghodah, mentioned in Deut. x. 7, whither the 

 Israelites journeyed from Mosera {Wadi Mousa) after Aaron's 

 death. After this valley were some low chalky cliffs, and 

 then succeeded a barren flinty tract. 



Towards the NW. and W., a broad open district stretches 

 out apparently to GebelJaraf, said to be 1300 feet above the 

 sea level, through which is the course of the Wadi Khereir, 

 elevated about 1000 feet at its nearest point to that mount, 

 and flowing northward into the large Wadi- el- Ag aba, — upon 

 one side, and to Gebel Yelak, the " white mountain," on the 

 other side ; but it is broken in some places by limestone or 

 chalk hills. 



Tlie Wadi Ghudhagidh, and the more southern tributaries 

 of the Jerafah, flow to the NE. to the Dead Sea, as already 

 explained ; and they, with some smaller winter torrents that 

 unite with them, are the only water-courses in this part of 

 Arabia Fetrcea which supply that sea. On the SE. of the 

 upper Jerafah, some low limestone ridges present themselves ; 

 but, on the other side is the sandy plain El Adhbeh: beyond 

 this, northwards, follows a level plain covered with pebbles 

 and black flints. The high West Desert, called by the Arabs 

 El Tyh, the " wandering," and so named in Edrisi and Abul- 

 feda, near its centre at Nakhl, signifying " date trees" (at 

 which station there exists a grove of those trees), at an 

 elevation of near 1500 feet above the sea, consists of vast 

 plains, or plateaux of varying, mostly higher, altitudes, a 

 sandy, flinty, or gravelly soil, and limestone hills of the cre- 

 taceous or secondary formation, having very irregular ridges 

 disposed in difi'erent directions. 



The numerous Wadis, or water-courses, and winter tor- 

 rents of this enormous desert, all run to the N. or NW., and 

 pour their waters into the Mediterranean Sea ; while those 

 Wadis that lie on the other side of the Great Mountain range. 



