529
SHERM.
distance, and received a handful of coffee-beans, as a reward for
his having been less clamorous than the others.
These people believed that my visit to Sherm was for the mere
purpose of visiting the tomb of the saint. I had assigned this
motive to Ayd, who was himself a Mezeine, telling him that I had
made a vow to thank the saint for his protection in our encounter
with the robbers; Ayd would otherwise have been much astonished -
at my proceeding to this distance without any plausible
object. The nearest road from Sherm to the convent is at first
the same way by which we came, and it branches off northward
from Wady Orta ; but as I was desirous of seeing as much as possible ¬
of the coast, I suggested to my guides, that if we proceeded
by that route the Mezeine of Sherm might possibly ride after us,
and excite another quarrel in the mountain, where we should find
it more difficult to extricate ourselves. They consented therefore
to take the circuitous route along the shore. Such stratagems
are often necessary, in travelling with Bedouins, to make them
vield to the traveller’s wishes ; for though they care little for fatigue
in their own business, they are extremely averse to go out of their
way, to gratify what they consider an absurd whim of their
companion.
From Sherm we rode an hour and a quarter among low hills
near the shore. Here I saw for the first and only time, in this peninsula, ¬
volcanic rocks. For a distance of about two miles the hills
presented perpendicular cliffs, formed in half circles, and some of
them nearly in circles, none of them being more than sixty to eighty
feet in height ; in other places there was an appearance of volcanic
craters. The rock is black, with sometimes a slight red appearance,
full of cavities, and of a rough surface ; on the road lay a few
stones which had separated themselves from above. The cliffs
were covered by deep layers of sand, and the valleys at their feet
3 Y
