1890.] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 125 



raohs, and reopened by Major Macdonald in 1863, are now 

 entirely abandoned. Bedouins ofEer for sale to tourists poor 

 specimens found in Wadi Feiran and elsewhere. 



Near Sarbiit-el-Klitidem (which I did not visit) are ancient 

 copper-mines ; the ore is described by Eiippell as an earthy 

 oxide and is not entirely exhausted, though no longer exploited. 

 In the plain of Er Eaha is a "dark green spot in which anti- 

 mony is probably to be found/' but this statement of Baedeker 

 I cannot verify. 



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

 yet I imagine that much remains to be studied. Again remind- 

 ing you that this paper is a mere record of my impressions, and 

 confessing my ignorance of the science of botany, the variety, 

 beaut}^ and fragrance of the shrubs and flowers which the 

 traveller meets in the most forbidding and unexpected spots, 

 were to my unprepared mind a remarkable feature. In March I 

 gathered 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, seyal (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 5,000 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- 

 ling 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 2^ 

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

 killed an intensely energetic scorpion, and at many places noted 

 chameleons basking in tlie sun. Of the numerous and curious 

 fish in the Rod Sea, I can only say that some of them jiroved to 

 be exceiient food. 



Insects were rarely seen in the desert, and only in the neigh- 

 borhood of water, or in tlie oases. I observed red and 1)1 ack 

 ants, one large caterpillar, very few flies, many black beetles 

 leaving behind them well-defined tracks as they crawled over 

 the fine-grained sand, a few moths, a bee, a grasshopper, many 

 spiders, a ladybug (so-called), gnats near the sea-coast, and my 

 travelling companion noted fleas. Mosquitoes, so abundant in 



