WADY FEIRAN.
802
probably the cells of the hermits of Sinai.
Their construction
is similar to that of the magazines already mentioned, but the
stones although uncemented, are more carefully placed in the walls,
and have thus resisted the force of torrents.
Upon the summits of
three different mountains to the right were small ruined towers,
originally perhaps, chapels, dependant on the episcopal see of
Feiran. In descending the valley the mountains on both sides approach -
so near, that a defile of only fifteen or twenty feet across is
left; beyond this they again diverge, when a range of the same
hills of Tafel, or yellow pipe-clay are seen, which I observed in the
higher parts of this Wady. At the end of four hours we entered
the plantations of Wady Feiran (,), through a wood of tamarisks, ¬
and halted at a small date-garden belonging to my guide
Hamd. Wady Feiran is a continuation of Wady el Sheikh, and
is considered the finest valley in the whole peninsula. From the
upper extremity, where we alighted, an uninterrupted row of gardens ¬
and date-plantations extends downwards for four miles. In
almost every garden is a well, by means of which the grounds are
irrigated the whole year round, exactly in the same manner as
those in the Hedjaz above Szafra and Djedeyde. Among the
date-trees are small huts where reside the Tebna Arabs, a branch
of the Djebalye, who serve as gardeners to the Towara Bedouins,
especially to the Szowaleha, who are the owners of the ground;
they take one-third of the fruit for their labour. The owners
seldom visit the place, except in the date harvest, when the valley
is filled with people for a month or six weeks; at that season they
erect huts of palm-branches, and pass their time in conviviality, receiving ¬
visits, and treating their guests with dates. The best species
of these is called Djamya (), of which the monks send large
boxes annually to Constantinople as presents, after having taken
out the stone of the date, and put an almond in its place. The
