189U.] XEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 121 



The conditions of occurrence of water in the desert are 

 perhaps less familiar. Not only is water scarce, but when 

 obtained a large proportion of it is practically unpotable, being 

 saturated with saline matter to such an extent that the soil in 

 the vicinity is white with efflorescent salts of soda, magnesia, 

 and lime. The " bitter waters" of Marah are not exceptional. 

 The longest journey that I made without meetinggood drinking- 

 water was on the return from Tor to Suez, a distance of about 

 150 miles, occupying six-and-a-half days. On this route we 

 passed a well in Wadi Gharundel where camels and Bedouins 

 slaked their thirst, and our water-barrel was replenished with 

 water for washing; but had we not been supplied with sweet 

 water from the Nile, brought down to Tor on a boat from Suez, 

 Ave should have fared badly in this respect. At the time of my 

 visit, all wells were admittedly very low, and in some places 

 entirely dried up; so I saw the region in its most arid aspect. 



Good water, flowing from springs and running short distances, 

 — say a quarter of a mile before sinking into the thirsty soil, — 

 is found in Wadi Feiran and in Wadi Tarfa. In the former 

 place, many date-palms and even barley-fields make a charming 

 oasis; at the latter, palms, canes, and tamarisks line the babbling 

 brook, as it may truly be named, but the oasis is not extensive. 

 North of Tor, on the G-ulf, are flowing springs of warm and 

 saline water, not very palatable, but admirably adapted to the 

 culture of date-palms, of which there are many thousand. The 

 best drinking-water in the region that I visited is on the flanks 

 of Sinai; tiiere are four wells within the monastery walls, one 

 without, and others in the Leja valley and vicinity. 



The warm saline spring at the foot of Jebel Hammam Mousa, 

 mentioned in my paper on " Sonorous Sand" (read October 21st, 

 1889), is described by several travellers as sulphurous ; but at 

 the time of my visit it was assuredly devoid of the characteristic 

 taste and smell of sulphuretted hydrogen. Its temperature is 

 92°-94°, and it is strongly saline. 



Hot springs issue from caverns filled with steam at the base 

 of Jebel Hammam Fariin, a mountain of crystalline limestone 

 on the Gulf of Suez. These are described by Russegger, who 

 says the vapor had a sulphurous smell and the walls of the 

 caverns were encrusted with sulphur. The saline water has a 

 temperature of 153° and is used by the Bedouins for curative 

 purposes. 



In Wadi Es-Sleh, the romantic gorge southwest from Sinai, 

 I discovered a cold and sweet sulphur spring, agreeable to the 

 palate. It issues in the centre of the wadi, at a point two 

 hours' journey east of its mouth, and flows a short distance, 

 depositing characteristic bluish sulphur on its borders; it was 



