For some eighteen kilometres south of the Wadi Khoda, the seaward drainages have not been explored, but they are believed to be only short wadis, as the high mountains of Faraid are here only about ten kilometres from the coast. From guides’ statements, the Wadi Um Etli, coursing eastward and draining the south faces of Gebel Um Etli, enters the sea in about latitude 23° 38′, and there is probably at least one other short wadi draining to the sea about in latitude 23° 35′ from the north part of Gebel Faraid. The sandy coast-plain in this region is about five kilometres wide.
The Wadi el Sorubiab, draining from the north part of Gebel Faraid, and the Wadi Bint el Kurdum, draining the mountains around the remarkable “Bodkin” peak, enter the sea together by way of a small lagoon in latitude 23° 30′. Another wadi, for which I could not obtain any name from my guides, drains the extreme south parts of Gebel Faraid and the north slopes of the smaller Gebel Fereyid, entering the sea in about latitude 23° 19′.
Wadi Rahaba, with a basin of about 900 square kilometres in area, drains the country between Gebels Faraid and Abu Dahr. From its head, situated about six kilometres south-east of Gebel Abu Dahr, there is an easy pass into Wadi Salib el Azrak, a tributary of Wadi Khoda. About three kilometres below its head, a feeder called Wadi Titai enters Rahaba from the hill country to the east; and a kilometre lower down, another feeder called Wadi Abu Nikheil, comes in from the west. At this point there is an important well, Bir Rahaba, sunk in the alluvium of the wadi floor; this is said to yield good summer supplies, but was filled up by downwash when I visited it early in 1907. Some three kilometres below Bir Rahaba, a tributary called Wadi Abu Reye enters Wadi Rahaba from the north-west; and there is said to be a well, called Bir Abu Reye, about one and a half kilometres up this wadi. Another feeder, the Wadi Um Buerat, joins Rahaba from the south-west a little further on, and then the wadi, which has thus far taken a southerly course, turns south-east, winding considerably for some eight kilometres till it is joined by its most important feeder, the Wadi el Abiad.
This Wadi el Abiad drains the western side of the northern peaks of Gebel Faraid, and derives its name from the white granitic sand which forms its floor. It has a length of some twenty kilometres and is fed by the Rod Elbel, which heads in a sandy plain at the foot of the highest peak of Faraid, and by the Wadi Abu Ribian, which collects the drainage from the lower hill country west of the Bodkin peak.
About three kilometres lower down than the point of influx of Wadi el Abiad, Wadi Rahaba receives the Wadi Megah as a tributary from the north-west; a well, called Bir el Gahlia is said to exist at the head of this wadi, about twelve kilometres up from its opening into Wadi Rahaba. Some six kilometres further down, Wadi Rahaba opens out; its course down to this point has been shut in by high hills, but now becomes an ill-marked drainage line over a sandy plain. The plain is broken by small hills, and is limited east and west by other hills which increase in height further away, forming in fact the foot-hills of Gebels Orga and Um Tenebda on the west and of Gebel Faraid on the east. In this part of its course Rahaba receives several tributaries, the principal being Wadi Hutit from the north-west, Wadi Dagalai lil Rahaba and Wadi Abu Had from the east, and Wadi el Marafai, which runs for some ten kilometres nearly parallel to Wadi Rahaba, among low hills two or three kilometres east of the main Wadi, joining the latter about due west of Gebel Fereyid.
Wadi Rahaba curves round to the south of Gebel Fereyid in a quadrant of about seven kilometres radius, and then proceeds nearly due east to reach the sea in about latitude 23° 12′.
The upper parts of Wadi Rahaba, where it is shut in by high hills, contain many trees and bushes; but the lower parts are more barren and sandy, the actual drainage line being in places difficult to define on account of the paucity of vegetation and the openness of the plain. The total length is about seventy-five kilometres, and the total fall 450 metres; the slope averages eight metres per kilometre in the upper twenty-five kilometres, where the wadi is narrow and shut in, but only five metres per kilometre in the broad and sandy course which forms the remaining fifty kilometres.
Wadi Hodein, one of the largest and most important of the seawards draining wadis of the Eastern Desert, has a basin of nearly 12,000 square kilometres, or over a square degree of the earth’s surface. Its main channel, formed by the union of the Wadis Arned, el Sania, Um Sumur, Saalek, Um Reit, and el Nom, in latitude 23° 18′, longitude 34° 43′, and reaching the sea at Bir Shalatein[95] in latitude 23° 8′, longitude 35° 37′, has a length of 108 kilometres and an average slope of three metres per kilometre. For the first fifteen kilometres of its course it is shut in by the high sandstone scarps of Gebel Abraq and Gebel Hodein; but shortly after passing the Abu Saafa Springs its channel becomes wide and sandy, passing through lower metamorphic hill country; and in the last twenty-five or thirty kilometres of its course it is merely an ill-defined drainage line over the sandy coast-plain. Its lower reaches are dreary and inhospitable, but its upper-portion is pleasantly wooded, and contains the perennial springs of Abu Saafa. Wadi Hodein is remarkable for the large number and length of its tributary wadis, some of which exceed the main channel itself in length, while many of them contain wells and form important lines of communication by leading to easy passes over the main watershed. In the description which follows, I shall first consider the wadis which by their union form the head of the main channel, afterwards tracing the course of the main wadi in detail to the sea, noting the influx of the various tributaries on either hand, and finally describing the larger tributaries themselves.
The most important of the wadis which join to form the head of Wadi Hodein are Wadis Arned, Saalek, and Um Reit. These join in a small plain with the Wadis el Sania, Um Sumur and El Nom, which are smaller and will not need further mention.
Wadi el Arned originates on the main watershed about five kilometres south-east of Galt el Aguz. The watershed here is only 427 metres above sea-level, and is so flat and sandy that it is almost impossible to say within a kilometre where the divide actually is; the wadi in fact heads in a sandy plain about two kilometres wide with low sandstone hills on either hand, from which feeders join the main drainage line. About six kilometres below its head, Wadi Arned is joined from the south by its most important feeder, the Wadi Muegil. This wadi, which has a length of some twenty kilometres, originates in the hill country about nine kilometres north of Gebel Um Reit, where an easy pass connects it with Wadi Saalek; it flows in a northerly direction, entirely among sandstone hills, and is fairly provided with vegetation. Some two kilometres lower down, Arned receives a smaller feeder from the north, called Wadi Um Arta; by following this up for about five kilometres, one can reach a rather steep and sandy eastward pass into the head of Wadi Silsila, and this forms the shortest route from the Galt el Aguz to the springs of Abraq. About four kilometres below the junction of Wadi Abu Arta, near an isolated hill on the east side of the Wadi Arned, there appears to be another opening into one of the heads of Wadi Silsila; this opening is very sandy and looks like a practicable alternative route to Abraq Springs, though it has not been explored. Lower down its course, Wadi Arned is at first very sandy and bare, with high sand-drifts swathing the feet of the hills on the east; but it gradually narrows into a gorge and becomes less sandy, then opens out again, and near its junction with Wadi Hodein it contains abundant vegetation. The Wadi Arned forms the easiest and most direct road from Abu Saafa to Daraw, via Galt el Aguz, Bir Abu Hashim, and Bir Qoleib.