The rocks dip in various directions, but generally at an angle of 18°.
The Jibel Gulat is one of the highest hills we have yet come to. It is about six hundred feet high: its top is tabular, and its sides exceedingly rugged, from an amazing number of detached pieces. The lowest exposed stratum is a calcareous tufa, containing, or indeed almost formed of sea-shells; the most abundant are a species of oyster and limpet, in a very entire state. Above, beds of soft carbonate of lime, like whiting, and falling into dust on the slightest touch, and in which is imbedded a large quantity of lamellar calcareous spar. Above, and apparently extending to the summit, tolerably fine marble. The quantity of debris, and the size and appearance of the masses, might make one believe that an earthquake had been the cause of that rent state; but it appears to me more probable that the undermining, by the mouldering of the soft stratum underneath, accounts well for the state and appearance of the side of the hill. The hill is about three miles long, and runs from east to west. It is inhabited by a solitary family; a man, his wife, and several children. We were told that he had resided in this dreary and barren place for eleven years, and it is said lives chiefly by plunder.
Near Niffud, the hills are of lime, and in structure and form not unlike those of the Tarhona range.
In the vicinity of the long range there are a number of small conical hills, of a soft whiting-like substance, appearing as if recently thrown up, although, from every thing around, that is not at all probable. The range runs parallel to that near the coast; but we had no opportunity of determining how far it extends to the eastward and westward. There are several passes, into one of which we entered. It is rugged, from the number of masses that have fallen from the sides of the hills. Several tumuli of stones are observable, marking the burial-places of unfortunate travellers, who have been murdered here, it was said, by large rocks rolled from the overhanging heights. When I was examining the rocks, in the dry bed of a river, these monuments were pointed out, to make me aware my presence there was not free from danger. This led to a valley, with some thick groves of acacias, and a plant like a mespilus, with pleasant small astringent berries: it is called by the natives butomo. From this we passed over a low hill, into the valley Niffud. This valley has been the seat of much fighting, as our conductors informed us, among the Arabs of different tribes.
We left the valley, by a pass to the southward, and entered an extensive plain, named Ambulum: in this we travelled the whole day. The surface, in some places, a firm sand, with here and there rocky eminences, and patches of gravel: the latter was fine, and mixed with fragments of shells. Often, for a considerable extent, not the least vestige of vegetation; and in no place was the ground completely covered, except in a few small oases, where there was a species of grass, of the genus festuca. The feniculum duter, and a beautiful genista, which extends all the way from the coast, were common. The butum occurred in abundance, and its shade was a defence to us at times. We found some beautiful fragments of striped jasper, and some small pieces of cornelian.
Bonjem.—We had no opportunity of examining any of these; but from the strewed masses they appear to be limestone. The wadey of Bonjem has characters different from any of the other valleys we have passed through. This valley is strewed over with gypsum in different states, with numerous shells, of the genus pecten, and several terebrellæ. There are here and there sand, and many incrustations of the carbonate, mixed with crystals of the sulphate, of lime, that gives to the surface a shining white appearance, which, in place of being pleasing, is disagreeable, by the power of the reflected light. There are small ranges of low hills, composed of soft white chalk (whiting), covered with a crust of gypsum. In this structure we found one large pit, about forty feet deep, and nearly as much in diameter. These low hills are bounded by much higher, and of a dark brown colour: the low hills are numerous, some are separate, but in general they are in short ridges, and have, at a distance, very much the appearance of fortifications. A small senecio, a geranium, and a statice, were the principal beings of the vegetable creation. Barometer 30.020. temperature 72.
Near the wells, the arundo phragmites grows in abundance; it has long creeping roots, the first true roots of that kind I have seen in North Africa. Plants of this kind would soon make considerable encroachments on the desert, and render habitable where it is difficult even to travel over. This quarter is poor in the grasses, for I think I have not seen above eight different kinds. Our course was among sand-hills, and over a gravelly road, strewed with masses of common opal, with small portions of botroidal iron ore, and thick layers of gypsum, with their edges appearing above ground. The low hills presented the same features as those near which we remained in the wadey: one, detached on the road, had a curious appearance, and was called, by the natives, “The Bowl of Bazeen.” It is about forty feet high, and formed above of a calcareous crust, with sulphate of lime, and below of soft chalk.
The higher ridge was observable on each side of us, running south-south-east on the east side, and south-south-west on the west: some of those to the westward have detached hills, and one has the name of the “Salt Hill.” W. O.
[2]Captain Lyon’s travelling name.
[3]This is only called jaafa when a bride is conveyed in it—at other times a caramood.