CHAPTER XXVI 
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 
347 
