Gebel Egat, one of the best known and most remarkable of the mountains of the group, is a high steep cone rising to 1,145 metres above sea on the north side of the Wadi Alaqi in latitude 22° 5′ 39″, longitude 34° 52′ 15″. It is a landmark for Bir Egat, which lies about five kilometres to the east, and for the mines of Alfawi, which lie some ten kilometres south-east of the peak.
Gebel Shanaiyet (907 metres) and Gebel Hamida lie south of the Wadi Defeit, between that wadi and the Wadi Egat.
Gebel Hateib or Suhin (854 metres) forms the main collecting ground for the Wadis Hateib and Suhin, which are tributaries of Alaqi.
Gebel Um el Tiur el Foqani is a group of very high steep hills on the south side of Wadi Defeit. It has a well-marked peak as its summit, in latitude 22° 17′ 56″, longitude 34° 41′ 14″, 946 metres above sea-level. This peak forms a point on the administrative boundary between Egypt and the Sudan.
Gebel Um el Tiur el Tahtani, situated some twelve kilometres west-north-west of the foregoing, and on the opposite side of the Wadi Defeit, is a somewhat similar but lower group of hills, its highest point rising to 783 metres above sea.
Gebel el Adraq (770 metres) and Gebel Guqub are two other hill-groups south of Gebel Um el Tiur el Tahtani, lying between the Wadis Defeit and Alaqi. Gebel el Adraq is a landmark for some old mines called Betan, while Gebel Guqub is the collecting ground, the drainage of which supplies the important well of Bir Guqub.
Gebel Muqsim is a conspicuous mountain on the south side of the Wadi Alaqi near the meridian of 34°. The triangulation cairn on its summit is in latitude 22° 10′ 11″, longitude 34° 1′ 12″, at an altitude of 825 metres above sea-level. Gebel Muqsim forms a point on the administrative boundary between Egypt and the Sudan.
The Elba-Shendib Group.
This group of granite mountains is situated near the sea in the extreme south-east corner of Egypt, between longitudes 36° and 37°, on and about the parallel of 22° of north latitude. Part of the group, including the highest peak (Asotriba, 2,216 metres) is in the Sudan, and we shall here consider only the northern parts, which fall within Egypt proper. The principal mountains of the group are Gebels Elba (1,428 metres), Shendib (1,912 metres), Hanquf (1,465 metres), Shendodai (1,529 metres), and Shellal (1,409 metres). Besides these, which form a cluster of high rugged ridges and bristling peaks, there are some outlying hills to the east and west, and it is convenient to consider all the hills east of Wadi Di-ib as belonging to the group. The principal of these outlying hills are Gebels Balatitda, Sul Hamid (572 metres), Qash Amir (724 metres), and Sela (560 metres) on the west, and Karam Elba (586 metres) and Gebel Hadarba (217 metres) on the east of the main masses. The general relations of the Elba district will be seen from the orographical map on [Plate I,] while the large scale map on [Plate XIX] shows the detailed features on a larger scale.
Towering to great heights from the coast-plain, the mountains of the Elba group are very conspicuous from long distances either on sea or on land when the air is clear. But often for weeks together they are so shrouded in mist as to be invisible even when one is fairly near to them. These very mists, which so often hinder the view being obtained, are the cause of much added beauty to the scene when the air is clear; for the moisture produces a rich vegetation, not only in the wadis, but along all clefts right up to the tops of the mountains, and furnishes in addition the largest and most important water sources in the Eastern Desert. So abundant is the vegetation in all the wadis draining from Elba, that it is impossible to approach the mountains very closely with loaded camels, owing to the closeness of the trees. Richest in water supply and in vegetation of all tracts in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, it is natural that the Elba district should also be the greatest centre of desert population, and there are considerable settlements of Bisharin Arabs round the feet of the mountains.