WADY MEZEIRYK.
505
From hence northwards the shore runs N. E. ½N. Having
doubled the point of Om Haye, we found on the other side, after
again passing round a small bay, at five hours and three quarters,
a bank of sand running into the sea to a considerable distance, and
several miles in breadth ; it is called Wady Mokabelat (egs),
and is the termination of a narrow Wady in the mountains to our
left, from whence issues a torrent which spreads in time of rain over
a wide extent of ground, partly rocky and partly sandy, where it
produces good pasturage, and irrigates many acacia trees. The view
up this Wady or inlet of the mountain is very curious : at its mouth
it is nearly two miles wide, and it narrows gradually upwards with
the most perfect regularity, so that the eye can trace it for five or six
miles, when it becomes so narrow as to present only the appearance ¬
of a perpendicular black line. At six hours and a half we
came again to a mountain forming a promontory, called Djebel
Sherafe (). The mountains from Om Haye northward decline ¬
considerably in height. The highest point of the chain appears ¬
to be the summit above Noweyba, where we had descended
to the shore.
Beyond Djebel Sherafe we found the road along the shore obstructed -
by high cliffs, and were obliged to make a detour by entering ¬
a valley to the west, called Wady Mezeiryk(). We
ascended through many windings, entered several lateral valleys,
and descended again to the shore at the end of eight hours and a
half, at a point not more than half an hour distant from where we
had turned out of the road. We found the valley Mezeiryk full
of excellent pasture ; many sweet-scented herbs were growing in it,
and the acacia trees were all green. Upon enquiry I learnt that to
the north of Djebel Tyh copious rains had fallen during the winter,
while to tlie south of it there had been very little for the last two
years, and in the eastern parts none.
3 T
