THE RED SEA HILLS 



THE mountain - ranges which flank the Red Sea from 

 Suez to Bab-el- Mandeb are more or less familiar to the 

 traveller eastward of Suez, since their serrated skylines 

 and apparent sterility shock his sight during several 

 days' voyaging. Probably that traveller regards his 

 deck-chair with iced drink at elbow as infinitely 

 preferable to any prospect of adventure amidst such re- 

 pellent scenes. Certainly from a distance they gave me 

 that impression ; yet in these very hills I have spent one 

 of the most enjoyable periods of my life ! 



These ranges, at the point of our investigations, reach 

 elevations of but little exceeding 5000 feet, and even that 

 rising from a basal plateau of 3000 feet. Farther south, 

 on the borders of Eritrea, they attain nearly double 

 that height. 



Naturally the fauna of this rugged and elevated region 

 dew-drenched nightly by mists from the Red Sea 

 differs essentially from that of those arid and low-lying 

 levels of southern Sudan which have hitherto engaged 

 our attention. The typical big-game of the hills com- 

 prises ibex and ariel, with some smaller gazelles, klip- 

 springer and Salt's dikdik, also Nubian wild asses on 

 the plateaux. In bird-life, the characteristic species en- 

 countered here for the first time included the lammer- 

 geier, with various -fresh forms of eagles and vultures ; 

 also new types of hawks, kites, and ravens. There are 

 francolins as big as blackcocks and tiny rock-partridges 



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