1868.] BAUERillK- ARABIA PETR^A. 31 



plain of Eamleh contimies, and, near the bend of Wady Saaou, forms 

 a square edge, so that the drifted sand of the plain pours down like 

 water over a weir, and forms great heaps on either side. 



Sarahut el KJiadem, Wachj Chamile, S^'c. (see PI. I. fig. 4). — The ruins 

 of Sarabut el lOiadem are on the high sandstone-plateau, 2290 feet 

 above the sea-level. There are ten sculptured stones upright, which 

 are, I am informed, of the period of the 18th Dynasty. Below the 

 temple or necropolis, whichever it may be, are two small quarries in the 

 red sandstone, whence have been derived the blocks upon which the 

 hieroglyphics were sculptured. Great numbers of fl.int flakes are found 

 all over the plateau and in the quarries, where they are associated with 

 stone hammers of a double conchoidal form. The iron and manganese 

 bed crops out at the top of the hill, overlying some shaly beds con- 

 taining a little green carbonate of copper, probably the same as those 

 seen in the mine at TS^ady Khalig. The limestone-beds are also seen 

 capping many of the smaller hills on the plateau. About 15 feet 

 below the limestone, turquoises are found in a bed of ferruginous 

 sandstone, which has been followed to a certain extent in two caves 

 of ancient date, as evidenced by the hieroglyphics near the entrance. 

 The workings are still kept up in a small way by the Bedaween. 

 The turquoises occur principally in the joints traversing the sand- 

 stone, and are apparently rare and small, though of good colour. 



Erom Sarabut el Khadem "W^ady Saaou runs in a south-easterly 

 direction for about four miles to the height of land which divides it 

 from Wady Chamile. The valley is about J or | of a mile broad, 

 with alluvial terraces covered in part with blown sand. The cliffs 

 are everywhere formed by New Eed Sandstone above gneissic rocks, 

 and on the right-hand side (going up) thej rise to a consider- 

 able height, probably exceeding 4000 feet in the peak of Gharabi 

 akeady mentioned. This, together with many of the neighbouring 

 hills, is capped by a thick bed of markedly columnar lava. Close to 

 the top of the pass, which is 2100 feet above the sea-level, the same 

 rock breaks through the soft sandstones, and forms a dyke about 

 50 feet thick. Here it is much decomposed, forming earthy spheroidal 

 masses, the original character of which can scarcely be made out by 

 inspection. Dykes of a very similar kind are found in the valley 

 going up to the plain of Eamleh on the north. The course of these 

 dykes is about south-east, or parallel to the direction of the 

 valleys. 



After crossing into Yv^ady Chamile, which also runs in a south- 

 easterly direction, the sandstones become softer, the valley widens, 

 and is fairly well covered with grass and scrubby bushes. This con- 

 tinues for about three or four miles, when the sedimentary rocks 

 come to an end, only a few small and scattered outliers being visible 

 on the tops of the gneissic hills. About this ]3oint the vaUej turns 

 round to the south-west, and becomes narrow and very tortuous be- 

 tween steep wall-like cliffs of granite, with many hard red porphy- 

 ritic dykes. Although perfectly dry in the summer months, there 

 is abundant evidence of the effect of great floods of water coming- 

 down occasionally at other times of the year ; and the risk of such 



