Bahr-bella-ma, characterize and give the name (as we are told) to
the tract of larid throughout which they are to be found, then the
appropriate translation is not river, but seti without water, for such
petrifactions are scattered over the whole Desert. Indeed the general
appearance of this vast and barren tract, well accords to the title
of sea without water; its sandy surface resembling that of a lee-
shore, over which the waters streaming before the storm have, on
their ebb, deposited timber, or what else was carried on by the tide.
I say not wreck of vessels, for I saw no wood that had the least
appearance of the tool, or of having been wrought for any purpose
of man. Such as, by light observers, have been taken for fragments
of masts, are merely trunks of trees of from thirty to forty feet in
length, broken and shivered into large splinters, which lying near
each other, shew in their forms and grain of timber, the mass they
formerly belonged to and cbmposed.
To the north of the Desert runs a chain of steep and bare calcareous
mountains, which were in constant view of our caravan
travelling at the distance of three to seven miles in like direction. At
the foot of these, runs a flat tract of moorish swampy land, from
one to six miles in breadth, abounding in springs, and to which We
resorted every second or third day for a supply of water; but at the
period of our journey, the springs throughout the whole valley were
nearly dried up. The water which remained, and run or spread
on the surface, was bitter;* yet digging wells near to these rivulets
or marshes, we found water at the depth only of five or six feet,
which was sweet and palatable.
* So too Alexander, on his march to the Fane of Ammon, found the water litter:
xotlrivlwsv Itt'i IIIKPAN xd^xfilvtlv AipiW.
Did. Sic. Tom. I. p. 198, edit. Wesseling.
SECTION III.
Ummesogeir, and further Journey to Svwah.
U m m e so g e ir is situated on a sandy plain stretching into the recess
between two diverging branches of the mountain. In the valley
thus formed, appear vast isolated masses of rock, on the largest of
which the village is built ; it is small, and contains few inhabitants,
furnishing only thirty men capable of bearing arms. The houses
are low, constructed of stones cemented with a calcareous earth,
and thatched with thé boughs of date trees. I was informed, that
some of these buildings covered caves or chambers cut in the rock ;
probably ancient catacombs. Our camp was pitched at the foot of
the rock, among date trees, through which the way leads up to the
town. Its inhabitants, poor as they appeared, received us with hospitality
; they came down, almost to a man, from their houses, and
assisted us in watering our camels, or whatever service was required.
Towards evening I walked up to the village by a path of very difficult
access. Coming to a kind of market-place, in its centre I observed
bargains making with such eagerness, noise, and altercation,
that one should suppose the dealings to be of the first moment;
but I soon perceived the sellers to be only a few poor pilgrims of
our caravan, and their articles of trade to be merely henna boecbel,
rings of lead or glass, and such like ornaments for women ; which,
with a little shot and gunpowder, they were bartering for dates : the
merchandise on either side was not altogether worth a crown.
The people of Ummesogeir are indeed in every respect poor, depending
wholly for subsistence on their dates, which they in part
Ce