The Land of Midian, Vol. 1 by Richard Burton

R >> Richard Burton >> The Land of Midian, Vol. 1

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And now we were able to cast an intelligent glance in review of
the scenes made familiar by our first or northern march. The
surpassing purity of the transparent atmosphere, especially at
this season, causes the land to look as near at twenty as at ten
miles; and thus both distances, showing the horizon with the
utmost distinctness, appear equally close to the ship. Beginning
towards El-'Akabah, the Jebel el-Zanah behind Maghair Shu'ayb,
and its mighty neighbour, the Jebel el-Lauz, form the horizon of
mountains which are not the least amongst the giants. Southwards
appear the Jibal el-Tihamah, the noble forms of the seaboard, the
parallel chains noting the eastern boundary of Madyan (Proper);
while behind them the Jibal el-Shafah, reduced to blue heads and
fragments of purple wall, are evidently disposed on a far more
distant plane.

As regards the Jibal el-Tihamah, I have registered ad nauseam the
names of the eight several blocks into which, between El-Zahd
north and El-Sharr south, the curtain, rising from a sea-horizon,
seems to divide itself. Every one consulted gave me a new or a
different term; and apparently seamen and landsmen have their
separate nomenclature. Thus, the pilots call the Fas, Harb and
Dibbagh blocks, Jibal el-Musaybah, Tiryam, and Damah, after the
Wadys and main valleys that drain them. The Bedawin, again, will
name the whole block after the part most interesting to them:
thus the tower-like formation characterizing Jebel Dibbagh was
often called "Jebel el-Jimm," and even this, as will afterwards
appear, was not quite exact.[EN#142]

We fired a gun off El-Muwaylah, where our camp, ranged in long
line, looked clean and natty. At five p.m. we were once more at
home in our old quarters, the Sharm Yaharr: the day's work had
numbered fifty direct geographical miles between Sina'fir and
El-Muwaylah, with five more to our dock.

Resume

Our journey through Madyan Proper (North Midian) had lasted
fifty-four days (December 19, 1877, to February 13, 1878). During
nearly two months the Expedition had covered only 105 to 107
miles of ground: this, however, does not include the various
by-trips made by the members, which would more than double the
total; nor the cruise of two hundred miles round the Gulf of
'Akabah, ending at El-Muwaylah. The total of camels employed
varied from 106 to 61, and their hire, including "bakhshish" and
all minor charges, amounted, according to Mr. Clarke, to L316
14s. 3d.

This section of North Midian may be described as essentially a
mining country, which, strange to say of a province so near
Egypt, has been little worked by the Ancients. The first
Khedivial Expedition brought back specimens of free gold found in
basalt, apparently eruptive, and in corundophyllite, which the
engineer called greenstone porphyry: silver appeared in the red
sands, in the chloritic quartz, and in the titaniferous iron of
the Jebel el-Abayz; the value being 265 to 300 francs per ton,
with traces in the scoria. The second Expedition failed to find
gold, but brought back argentiferous galena in copper-stained
quartz, and possibly in the ochraceous red veins seaming the
Secondary gypsum; with silicates and carbonates of copper: select
specimens of the latter yielding the enormous proportion of forty
per cent. In this northern region the great focus of metallic
deposit appears to lie between north lat. 28 40' and 27 50';
that is, from the Jebel Tayyib Ism, north of Makna, to the
southern basin which contains the Jebel el-Abyaz or "White
Mountain." Its characteristics are the argentiferous and
cupriferous ores, whereas in South Midian gold and silver were
worked; and the parallelogram whose limits are assigned above,
might be converted into a Northern Grant. Concerning the immense
abundance of gypsum, and the sulphur which is suspected to be
diffused throughout the Secondary formation, ample details have
been given in the preceding pages.

The principal ruins of ancient settlements, and the ateliers, all
of them showing vestiges of metal-working, numbered eight: these
are, beginning from the south, Tiryam, Sharma, 'Aynunah, the
Jebel el-Abyaz, Maghair Shu'ayb, Makna', Tayyib Ism, and
El-'Akabah. Maghair Shu'ayb, the Madiama of Ptolemy, is evidently
the ancient capital of the district. It was the only place which
supplied Midianitish (Nabathaan) coins. Moreover, it yielded
graffiti from the catacombs; fragments of bronze which it will be
interesting to compare by assay with the metal of the European
prehistoric age; and, finally, stone implements, worked as well
as rude.

I will end with a few words concerning the future industry of
North Midian.

For the success of these mines the greatest economy will be
necessary. The poorest ore can be treated on the spot by crushing
and washing, where no expenditure of fuel is required. The richer
stone, that wants roasting and smelting, would be shipped, when
worth the while, from North Midian to Suez: there coal is
abundant, and the deserted premises of Dussaud-Bey, belonging to
the Egyptian Government, would form an excellent site for a great
usine centrale. Finally, the richest specimens--especially those
containing, as many do, a medley of metals--would be treated with
the least expenditure, and the greatest advantage, at Swansea or
in other parts of England, where there are large establishments
which make such work their specialty.

The following analyses of the specimens brought home by the first
Khedivial Expedition, were made at the Citadel, Cairo, by the
well-known chemist, Gastinel-Bey, in conjunction with M. George
Marie, the engineer attached to the Expedition:--

Analyses (Mm. Gastinel-bey and George Marie of Cairo) of Rocks
Brought Home by the First Khedivial Expedition.

(All by Voie Seche.)

Gold (assay on 100 grammes)--

1. In basalt (lava?).

2. In serpentine.
(None in white quartz.)

Silver--

1. In Filon Husayn, 1/1000 = 265 to 300 francs per ton (very
good).

2. In red sands, 1/10,000 (= 20 francs per ton).

3. In scoria, traces.
(None in white quartz or in the black sands.)

Copper--

1. In 'Aynunah quartz, 4 1/2 per 100.

2. In Filon Husayn, 2 1/2 to 3.40 per cent.
Filon Husayn = Titaniferous iron, 86.50
Silica, 10.10
Copper, 3.40.

3. In chloritic slate, 1.40 per cent.
(Chloritic slate of Makna' =
Silica, 90.50
Carbonate of lime, 5.60
Oxide of iron, 2.30
Copper, 1.40.)

Sulphur (Jebel el-Kibri't of El-Muwaylah)--
4 per cent. above. 9 ditto below.

Lead everywhere.

Calamine (zinc) very rich.

Part II.

The March Through Central and Eastern Midian.

Chapter IX.

Work in and Around El-Muwaylah.

We arrived at El-Muwaylah too late to meet the Hajj-caravan,
which, home returning, had passed hurriedly through the station
on February 9th. This institution has sadly fallen off from its
high estate of a quarter of a century ago. Then commanded by an
Amir el-Hajj--"Lord of the Pilgrimage"--in the shape of two
Pashas (generals), it is now under the direction of a single Bey
(colonel). The "True Believers," once numbering thousands, were
reduced in 1877-78 to some eight hundred souls, of whom only
eighty appeared at El-Muwaylah; and the peculiar modification of
modern days is that the Mahmal is escorted only by paupers. Yet
the actual number of the Hajis who stand upon Jebel 'Arafat,
instead of diminishing, has greatly increased. The majority
prefer voyaging to travelling; the rich hire state-cabins on
board well-appointed "Infidel" steamers, and the poor content
themselves with "Faithful" Sambuks. Indeed, it would seem that
all the present measures, quarantines of sixty days (!) and
detention at wretched Tor, comfortless enough to make the
healthiest lose health, are intended to discourage and deter
"palmers" from proceeding by land. If this course be continued, a
very few years will see the venerable institution represented by
only the Mahmal and its guard. The late Sa'id Pasha of Egypt once
consigned the memorial litter per steam-frigate to Jeddah: the
innovation saved Ghafr ("blackmail") to the Bedawin; but it was
not approved of by the Moslem world.

The Hajis were so poor that they had nothing for barter or for
sale. Happily, however, there was a farrier amongst them, and
Lieutenant Yusuf took care that our mules were properly shod. M.
Philipin had been a marechal ferrant, but a kick or two had left
him no stomach for the craft. Our two fellow-travellers, with the
whole camp, had set out from Makna on February 6th, and marched
up the great Wady el-Kharaj. Along the eastern flank of the Jebel
el-Fahisat, the "Iron Mountain," they found many outcrops of
quartz, a rock which appears sporadically all the way to the
northern soufriere. In two places it was green-stained, showing
copper, while in another hydrated oxide and chromate of iron
(hematite)[EN#143] abounded. After a stage of four hours and
twenty minutes they left the caravan, struck off to the west,
accompanied by Shaykh Furayj, and reached their destination.
Here, however, they met with accidents: the mules bolted,
followed by the Shaykh's dromedary, and they were obliged to
hurry off for fear of losing the caravan, now well ahead of them.
Thus, when I had ordered Lieutenant Yusuf to make a detailed plan
of the formation, he had spent exactly ten minutes on the spot,
and he appeared not a little proud of his work.

This young officer was not a pleasant companion. He had doubtless
received his orders, but he carried them out in a peculiarly
disagreeable way, taking notes of all our proceedings under our
eyes. Together with Lieutenant Amir, he began to make a
collection of geology: both, being utterly innocent of all
knowledge, imitated us in picking up specimens; mixed them
together without notes or labels; and, on return to Cairo, duly
presented them at the Citadel. This was all that was required.
The papers were "written to" and reported as follows: "Closer
examination has shown that the 'turquoises' brought to Cairo are
merely malachite (!); and that the existence of any such quantity
of gold as would pay for the working is, to say the least of it,
very doubtful."[EN#144]

The whole camp, indeed, was seized with a mania for collecting:
old Haji Wali again gathered bits of quartz, which he once more
presented as gold-stone to his friends and acquaintances at
Zagazig; and Anton, the dragoman, triumphantly bore away
fragments bristling with mica-slate, whose glitter he fondly
conceived to be silver.

Lieutenant Yusuf was presently despatched with three soldiers,
three quarrymen, Jazi, the Arab guide of a former visit, and
eight camels, to bring back specimens of the copper silicate to
the south of 'Aynanah, and to make a regular survey of the
northern solfatara. He set out early on February 18th, and after
twenty-one hours of caravan-marching reached the Jebel el-Fara'.
Here the outcrop is bounded north by the Wady el-Fara', and south
by the Wadys el-Marikhah and Umm Niran, the latter forming the
general recipient of these Nullahs. The Jebel is about 120 feet
high, of oval form, stretching 1750 metres from north-north-west
to south-south-east. The rich silicate (not carbonate) of copper,
which disdains a streak and affects the file, is found, as usual
with this ore, only in one part of the valley to the south-west,
some thirty-five feet above the sole: it is a pocket, a
"circumscribed deposit," as opposed to a "true vein" or a
"vein-fissure." The adjoining rocks contain carbonates of iron
and copper, and the ore-mass is apparently carbonate of lime.
This second visit generally confirmed the report of Ahmed Kaptan,
except that there were no signs of working, as he had supposed.
The travellers passed the whole of February 20th at the diggings,
made a plan, and sent back two camel-loads (four sacks) of the
gangue, in charge of a soldier, to the Fort of El-Muwaylah.

On the next day the little party made for the Wady 'Aynunah, and,
striking to the left of the straight line, crossed the maritime
country, here a mass of Wadys, including our old friend the
'Afal. This highway to the northern Hisma falls, I have said,
into the Minat el-'Ayanat, a portlet useful to Sambuks: its
sickle-shaped natural breakwater, curving from west to south,
resembles that of Sinaitic Marsa el-Ginai, and those which are so
common in Western Iceland. On February 22nd, a very devious path,
narrow and rocky, lasting for one hour, led them, about noon, to
the northern Jebel el-Kibrit. The distance from El-Muwaylah is
about sixty-six miles; and the country west of a line drawn from
'Aynunah to Makna was, before this march, utterly unknown to us,
consequently to all the civilized world.

Lieutenant Yusuf's two journals checking each other, his plan and
his specimens enable me to describe the northern deposit with
more or less accuracy. The Sulphur-hill is a long oval of four
hundred metres (east-west), by a maximum of one hundred and
eighty (north-south); but it extends branches in all directions:
the mineral was also found in a rounded piton, a knob on the Wady
Musayr, attached to the north-eastern side. The flattened dome is
from fifty to sixty feet high, and the piton one hundred and
forty. The metal underlying a dark crust, some twelve to fifteen
centimetres thick, appears in regular crystals and amorphous
fragments of pure brimstone pitting the chalky sulphate of lime:
blasting was not required; the soft material yielded readily to
the pick. This gypseous or Secondary formation was found to
extend, not only over the adjacent hills, but everywhere along
the road to Makna. The important point which now remains to be
determined is, I repeat, whether sulphur-veins can be found
diffused throughout these non-plutonic rocks.

Lieutenant Yusuf fixed his position by climbing the adjacent
hills, whence Sina'fir bore 190 , and Shu'shu' 150 (both
magnetic); while greater elevations to the west shut out the view
of lofty Ti'ra'n, and even of the Sinaitic range. The nearest
water in the Wady el-Nakhil to the north-east was reported to be
a two hours' march with loaded camels (= five miles) Several
little ports, quite unknown to the Hydrographic Chart, were
visited. These are, beginning from the north, the Minat Hamdan,
lying between Makna and Dabbah; a refuge for Sambuks defended,
like that of old "Madyan," by rising ground to the north. About
three miles and a quarter further south is the Sharm Dabbah, the
"Sherm Dhaba, good anchorage" of the Chart: this mass of reefs
and shoals may have been one of the "excellent harbours"
mentioned by Procopius. It receives the Wady Sha'b el-Gann
(Jann), "the Watercourse of the Demons' (Ja'nn) Ravine," flowing
from a haunted hill of red stone, near which no Arab dares to
sleep. From that point the travellers struck nine miles and a
half to south-east of Ghubbat Suwayhil: this roadstead, used only
by native craft, lies eastward of the long point forming the
Arabian staple of the Gulf el-'Akabah's gate, where the
coast-line of Midian bends at a right angle towards the rising
sun. Adjoining it to the east, and separated by a long thin spit,
is the Ghubbat el-Wagab (Wajb), the mouth of the watercourse
similarly named: it is also known to the Katirah or "smaller
vessel," and about a mile up its bed, which comes from the
north-east, there is a well. According to Jazi, the guide, this
Ghubbah ("gulf"), distant only four to five hours of slow
marching from the Sulphur-hill, will be the properest place for
shipping produce. In another eastern feature, the Wady Giyal
(Jiyal), distant some eleven miles and a half from 'Aynunah and
ending in a kind of sink, there is a fine growth of palms, about
a quarter of a mile long, and a supply of "wild" (brackish) water
in wells and rain-pools. These uninteresting details will become
valuable when the sulphur-mines of North Midian are ripe for
working.

From the Ghubbat el-Wagab, the path, easy travelling over flat
ground, strikes to the north-east; and, fourteen miles and a half
beyond, joins the 'Aynunah highway. On February 26th, at the end
of nine days' work, Lieutenant Yusuf returned to El-Muwaylah with
two sacks of sulphur-bearing chalk which justified his previous
report. As will appear, the Expedition was still travelling
through the interior: after a halt for rest at head-quarters, he
rejoined us on our northward route from Ziba, and I again found
useful occupation for his energies.

Upon our happy return "home," i.e. Sharm Yaharr, preparations for
a march upon the Hisma were at once begun. My heart was firmly
fixed upon this project, hoping to find an "unworked California"
to the east of the Harrah volcanoes; but the Shaykhs and
camel-men, who did not like the prospect of a rough reception by
the Ma'azah bandits, threw sundry small stumbling-blocks in our
path. It was evidently useless to notice them so far from the
spot; they would develop themselves only too well as we
approached the tribal frontier. While these obstacles were being
cleared away, we carefully examined the little dock that had so
often given us shelter in the hour of need; and I set a small
party to work at the central Jebel el-Kibri't, which had been
explored by the first Expedition.

Sharm Yaharr is the usual distorted T, a long channel heading in
a shorter cross-piece: it is formed by the confluence of four
valleys, all composed of corallines and conglomerates of new
sandstone. Those to the north and the north-west show distinct
signs of upheaval; the two eastern features, known as the Wady
el-Harr ("the Hot Watercourse"), of which Yaharr appears to be a
corruption, bear marks of man's hand. The dock is divided into an
outer and inner "port" by a projecting northern point which is
not sufficiently marked in the Chart (enlarged plan). At this
place, where the tide rises a full metre, the crew of the Mukhbir
had built a jetty of rough boulders, by way of passe-temps and to
prevent wading. Native craft lie inside, opposite the ruins of a
stone house: the existence of a former population is shown by the
many graves on the upper plateau. In the northern Wady el-Harr,
also, we picked up specimens of obsidian, oligistic iron, and
admirably treated modern (?) slags showing copper and iron;
evidently some Gypsy-like atelier must once have worked upon the
Wady Yaharr. The obsidian also has apparently been subjected to
the artificial fire; and a splinter of it contains a paillette of
free copper.

What concerned us most, however, was the discovery of oysters,
which, adhering to the reefs projected under water from the rocky
northern cliff, formed a live conglomerate; and from the present
time forwards we found the succulent molluscs in almost every
bay. Those to the south, where the shallows overlie sand and mud,
are not so good. At this season the Ustrida is flat, fleshy, and
full sized; the shell has a purple border, and the hinge muscle
of the savage, far stronger than that of the civilized animal,
together with its exceeding irregularity of shape, giving no
purchase to the knife, makes oyster-opening a sore trouble. We
tried fire, but the thick-skinned things resisted it for a long
time; and, when they did gape, the liquor had disappeared,
thereby spoiling the flavour. The "beard" was neither black, like
that of the Irish, nor colourless, as in the English oyster. The
Bedawin, who ignore the delicacy, could not answer any questions
about the "spatting season"--probably it is earlier than ours,
which extends through June; whether also a close time is
required, as in England to August 4th, we could not guess. The
young probably find a natural "culch" in the many shells, cockle
and others, that strew the rock, sand, and clay.

Knowing that my gallant friend, Admiral McKillop (Pasha) of
Alexandria, takes great interest in "ostreoculture," I sent him
from Suez a barrel of the best Midianites The water had escaped
by the carelessness of the magazine-man: enough, however,
remained alive to be thrown into the harbour Eunostos, where they
will, I hope, become the parents of a fine large progeny of
"natives." Similarly we had laid in a store of forty-two
langoustes (crayfish) for presentation at Court, and to gladden
the hearts of Cairene friends: our Greeks placed the tubs in the
sun and so close to the funnel, that, after about three hours,
all the fine collection perished ignobly.

We will now proceed to the central Jebel el-Kibri't; a
superficial examination of which by the first Expedition[EN#145]
proved that the upper rock yielded four, and the lower nine, per
cent. of tolerably pure brimstone. The shortest cut from the
dock-harbour lies up the southern Wady Ha'rr, with its strangely
weathered sandstone rocks, soft modern grits that look
worm-eaten. Amongst them is a ledge-like block with undermined
base projecting from the left bank: both the upper and the lower
parts are scattered over with Wasm, or Arab tribal marks. On our
return from El-Wijh we found this sandstone tongue broken in two:
the massive root remained in situ, but the terminal half had
fallen on the ground. This was probably the work of an earthquake
which we felt at Sharm Dumayghah on March 22nd.[EN#146] The track
then strikes the modern Hajj-road, which runs west of and close
to the Sulphur-hill; the line is a succession of
watercourses,[EN#147] and in Wady Khirgah we found blocks of the
hydrous silicate, corundophyllite which may be Serpentine: it is
composed of a multitude of elements, especially pyrites. After an
hour and a quarter's sharp walking, we hit the broad Wady
el-Kibrit, which rounds its Jebel to the south-east, and which
feeds the Wady el-Jibbah, itself a feeder of the Sharm Jibbah.
The latter, which gave us shelter in the corvette Sinnar (Captain
Ali Bey), is a long blue line of water bounding the western base
of the Sulphur-hill.

This central Tuwayyil el-Kibrit is an isolated knob, rising
abruptly from Wady-ground; measuring some 240 feet in height, and
about 880 metres in diameter, not including its tail of four
vertebra which sets off from north-west to south-east. Viewed
from the north it is, as the Egyptian officers remarked, a
regular Haram ("pyramid"), with a kidney-formed capping of
precipitous rock. Drinkable water, like that of the Wady el-Ghal,
is said to be found in the Wady el-Kibrit to the north-east; and
the country is everywhere tolerably wooded. The Bedawin brought
us small specimens of rock-crystal and fragments of Negro-quartz,
apparently rich in metal, from a neighbouring "Maru." They placed
it amongst the hill-masses to the east and south; and we
afterwards found it for ourselves.[EN#148]

Our middle Sulphur-hill differs essentially from the other two
deposits, the northern near Makna, and the southern near El-Wijh,
in being plutonic and not sedimentary. One would almost say that
it smokes, and the heat-altered condition of the granite, the
greenstone, and other rocks, looking as if fresh from a fire,
suggests that it may be one of the igneous veins, thrown westward
by the great volcanic region, El-Harrah. In parts it is a
conglomerate, where a quantity of quartz takes the place of chalk
and gypsum. Other deposits are iron-stained and have the
appearance of the decomposed iron pyrites which abounds in this
neighbourhood. Usually the yield is the normal brimstone-yellow,
yet some of the beds are deep red, as if coloured by ochre or
oxide of iron: this variety is very common in the solfataras of
Iceland; and I have heard of it in the Jebel Mokattam, near
Cairo. The colour is probably due to molecular changes, and
possibly shows greater age than the yellow.

M. Philipin was directed to take charge of Sergeant Mabruk, the
nine quarrymen, and the Bedawi owners of two camels to carry his
boring-irons, forge, and water from El-Muwaylah. I advised him to
dig at least forty feet down all round the pyramid, wherever
surface-indications attracted notice: old experience had taught
me that such depth is necessary before one can expect to find
brimstone beds like those of Sicily. The borings brought up
sulphur from fourteen metres; beyond these, six were pierced, but
they yielded nothing. In and around the pyramid M. Philipin sank
five pits; the northernmost shaft, half-way up the hill, gave
crystals of the purest sulphur.

If the depth of the deposit be not great, the surface extent is.
The pyramid evidently forms the apex of a large vein which
strikes north-south. The field consists of this cone with its
dependencies, especially the yellow cliffs to the north and the
south, facing, in the latter direction, a large plain cut by the
Wady el-Kibrit. Moreover, a vein of the red variety, about three
kilometres long by twenty-five to thirty metres broad, lies to
the south-east near a gypsum hill: the latter also yields the
crystallized salt which so often accompanies sulphur, and heaps
of gigantic half-fossilized oyster-shells are strewed about it.

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