596
NAKB EL RAHA.
of the monks, and especially of the worthy Ikonómos, who presented -
me at parting with a leopard’s skin, which he had lately
bought of the Bedouins; together with several fine specimens of
rock crystals, and a few small pieces of native cinnabar ().
The crystals are collected by the Arabs in one of the mountains
not far distant from the convent, but in which of them I did not
learn ; I have seen some six inches in length, and one and a half
in breadth; the greater part are of a smoky colour, with pyramidal ¬
tops. The cinnabar is said, by the Bedouins, to be found in
great quantities upon Djebel Sheyger (), a few hours
to the N. E. of Wady Osh, the valley in which I slept, at an
Arab encampment, two nights before Tarrived at the convent from
Sueż.
May 3Oth.—We issued from the narrow valley in which the convent ¬
stands, into a broader one, or rather a plain, called El Raha,
leaving on our right the road by which I first reached the convent.
We continued in El Raha N. N. W. for an hour and an half, when
we came to an ascent called Nakb el Raha ( ), the top
of which we reached in two hours from the convent. I had chosen ¬
this route, which is the most southern from the convent to Suez,
in order to see Wady Feiran, and to ascend from thence the mountain ¬
Serbal, which, with Mount Saint Catherine and Shomar, is
the highest peak in the peninsula. Ihad mentioned my intention to
Hamd, who it appears communicated it this morning to his brother, ¬
for the latter left us abruptly at Nakb el Raha, saying that he
had forgot his gun, giving his camel in charge to Hamd, and promising ¬
to join us lower down, as his tent was not far distant. Instead, ¬
however, of going home, he ran straight to the Arabs assembled ¬
at Sheikh Szaleh, and acquainted them with my designs.
Their chiefs immediately dispatched a messenger to Feiran to enjoin ¬
the people there to prevent me from ascending Serbal; but,
