(ix) The Elba — Shendib group (1,912 metres[35]), a great mass of spiky mountains lying near the sea between Wadi Di-ib and the coast.
Besides these main groups, there are numerous more or less isolated mountains, of which Gebels Abu Khrug (Bd, 870 metres), Hamrat Mukbud (Cf, 890 metres), Zergat Naam (Ej, 845 metres), and the two Niqrubs (Fn and Fo, 829 metres and 1,078 metres) are examples.
Some of the mountains, especially the granite “bodkin” of Gebel Faraid (Hl), and some of the peaks of the Elba group, appear to be unclimbable. A few others are rather dangerous of ascent, as, for example, Gebel Abu Hamamid (Ef) on account of its steepness, and Gebel Abu Dahr (Gk) by reason of combined steepness and rotten rock, which comes away in tons at a touch. The highest peak of all within the district, Gebel Hamata (Gf), is a comparatively easy climb from the north.
Hydrography.
The course of the main watershed which parts the Red Sea and Nile drainages is highly irregular both in altitude and direction, as will be evident from the orographical map ([Plate I]), on which it is shown by a red line. From Gebel Hamrat Wogud, in the north, it passes east of Gebel Atut, thence through the high masses of Gebels Hangalia, Nugrus, Hafafit, and Migif, beyond which it drops southward through the low country round Gebel Abu Had. Entering the mountains again at Gebel Nukheira, it takes an eastward bend, passing along the great ridges of Gebels Abu Hamamid, Um Usher, Um Hasidok, and Ras el Kharit. Striking southward across the head of Wadi Kharit, it courses through the mountains of Mikbi and Abu Gurdi, thence dropping to the south on the plain near the hills called Marwot Elemikan. Turning here sharply westward over the plain, it passes through the hill-mass of Gebel Abu Derega and on to Gebel Zergat Naam, south-west of which it crosses the low tract at the head of Wadi el Arned to the sandstone plateaux of Dagalai, whence it courses a little to the west of Gebel Um Reit and enters the mountainous tract of Gebel Aqab el Negum. Its further course has not been traced in detail, but from guides’ statements and the indications of the main drainage-lines it is believed to run as shown on the map, in a great curve through the two sharp peaks of Gebel Sheyenit to the west of Gebel Mishbih, and then in another flatter curve south-eastwards to Gebel Soaorib, at the head of Wadi Hasium. Continuing along the mountain ridges of Gebel Soaorib, it crosses to Gebel Is,[36] separating the Wadi Is from the heads of Wadi Alaqi on the Sudan frontier.
The watershed is for a great part of its course quite impassable for camels. The principal places where it can be crossed are at the head of Wadi Nugrus, near Abu Had, the Wadi Marasan between Huluz and Wadi el Sheikh, the heads of Wadi Lahami, Wadi el Fil, Wadi Arned, and Wadi Um Reit, passes at Aqab el Negum and Hamrat el Feg, near Gebel Mishbih, the head of Wadi Hasium, and the pass of Adar Ameit, north of Gebel Is. All these places are practicable for baggage camels, though in some of them, as, for instance, at the head of Wadi Nugrus, care is required because the track is steep and stony.
The principal drainage-basins are shown on the small scale map on [Plate II.] The westward drainage ultimately reaches the Nile by the three main trunk wadis of Shait, Kharit, and Alaqi; Shait and Kharit enter the Nile Valley at Kom Ombo, while Alaqi debouches near Dakka. The eastward drainage is much more complex, the principal trunk wadis, such as Um Khariga, Gemal, Khoda, Rahaba, Hodein, Ibib, Di-ib, and Serimtai, being separated by very numerous minor wadis draining independently to the sea.[37]
Nearly all the wadis contain vegetation in the form of trees and bushes, and plant life flourishes as a rule far more luxuriously in wadis draining seawards than in those leading to the Nile. Feqoh, Naam, and the lower reaches of Hodein are, however, exceptionally barren. Forming, as they do, the only possible roads, furnishing the entire supply of camel food, and containing most of the wells, the wadis are to the desert what the Nile is to Egypt proper. The intervening mountains are of no interest to the Arabs, except when they contain water-reservoirs. Hence the place-naming starts from the wadis, even the smallest of which have names unless they are barren. Mountains are generally named after the nearest wadi, and may thus have two names when situated between two wadis, the particular name used depending on which side the mountain is seen from.
Coast-line.
The coast-line of this part of Egypt is somewhat irregular, the peninsula of Ras Benas forming a prominent projection in latitude 24°. In the south part of the area the eastward extension of the country, culminating in Ras Hadarba (Cape Elba of existing maps), is very marked, extending nearly to 37° of east longitude. The coast is almost entirely fringed by coral reefs, passage through which is only possible at certain points, and then only with the utmost care in navigation.[38] Between the feet of the mountains and the sea there extends a gently sloping plain, varying in width from about eight to twenty-five kilometres, covered with sand, over which the drainage meanders in shallow courses, often only traceable by the vegetation which occurs along them. A rather surprising result brought out by the levelling observations is that the slope of the coast plain, even where it looks flattest and sandiest, is as steep as the floors of some of the wadis draining on to it, and several times more steep than the beds of the wadis which drain westwards to the Nile, its fall seawards averaging six metres per kilometre and reaching over ten metres per kilometre in some sections.