42 
JOURNEY FROM 
less wet, would have proved a much greater annoyance. With 
this reflection we pursued our journey very contentedly, and our 
Arab friends, composing Shekh Mahommed’s escort, appeared to be 
equally well satisfied ; for they soon began to open the several budgets 
of songs with which an Arab is never unprovided, roaring them out 
to the full extent of their well-practised and powerful lungs, till they 
fairly drowned the noise of the gale. 
At 10 A.M. we passed through Wady’m’Seyd, a small stream some- 
what inferior to Wady Ramleh, and soon entered upon the extensive 
plain of Jumarr. Wady’m’Seyd may be termed the eastern limit of 
the long sandy tract which stretches from thence far to the west- 
ward, and passing to the southward of Tripoly, is bounded, in that 
direction, by the Gharian mountains. 
The sandy nature of the ground to the westward of Wady’m’Seyd 
had latterly led us away from that part of the coast, and we now 
endeavoured to regain the beach ; but the sands were so soft 
that our horses sank up to their saddle-girths, and our utmost 
efforts to reach it were unavailing : we were in consequence obliged 
to give up the attempt, and leave this portion of the coast hne incom- 
plete. Among the sand-hills we found several patches of rocky 
ground strewed with fragments of pottery, but no vestiges of build- 
ing were discernible. The plain of Jumarr, from the excellence 
of its soil, would no doubt be extremely productive ; but notwith- 
standing this advantage, and its vicinity to the metropohs, a small 
part of it only is cultivated, and but few Arab tents were to be seen. 
The Gharian range may here be considered to be about seven miles 
