Gebel Um Tundeba is a high granite hill near the head of Wadi Um Tundeba. Its summit is 550 metres above the sea. It forms a landmark for the water hole called Galt Um Tundeba, which is situated in a small gully, three kilometres west of the summit of the hill.
Gebel Amba-ut, seven kilometres south of the foregoing, is likewise believed to be of granite; the southern hill of this group is of a red colour and very conspicuous as one passes from Um Tundeba to Ghadir.
Gebel Ghadir, the summit of which, in latitude 24° 50′ 9″, longitude 34° 47′ 22″, and 636 metres above sea, is marked by a triangulation beacon, is thirteen kilometres north-east of Gebel Zabara. I ascended it from a camp 424 metres above sea-level in one of the gullies draining westward to Wadi Ghadir. The ascent is easy. The rocks are greenish serpentines and ophicalcites below, with a white quartz felsite above.
Gebel Allawi, situated on the south side of the Wadi Allawi, is a diorite hill rising to 515 metres above sea. It is best approached by ascending a small feeder of Wadi Allawi, in which a camp can be placed within a kilometre of the summit and 160 metres below it. There are some interesting old gold mines in the quartz veins just below the beacon on the summit of the hill, and a band of graphitic schist crops out near the north foot of the hill. The position of the beacon is latitude 24° 46′ 42″, longitude 34° 49′ 39″.
Gebel Lewewi is a dark craggy hill range eight kilometres east-south-east of Gebel Zabara, between Wadi Allawi and its tributary Wadi Lewewi. Its highest point, marked by a cairn, is 654 metres above sea-level. There are some old mines in the lower hills two and half kilometres south-east of Gebel Lewewi, and others a little further off in the same direction.
Gebel Sikait is a rugged ridge of schists and serpentine situated in the midst of hilly country fourteen kilometres south-east of Gebel Zabara. The triangulation beacon which marks its summit is in latitude 24° 39′ 55″, longitude 34° 48′ 5″, and 771 metres above sea-level, and 330 metres above the wadi which skirts its western foot. Gebel Sikait is of interest from the abundant ruins and old emerald mines which exist near it, as well as from the variety of minerals present in its rocks. It is the Sicily of the Eastern Desert. Beryl, tourmaline, actinolite, various micas, chlorite, talc and crystals of calcite are amongst the commoner minerals found. The serpentine which abounds in its upper parts is highly magnetic, and the compass was found to be disturbed by no less than 40° near the triangulation point. Gebel Sikait is drained from the west by the Wadi Sikait, a tributary of Wadi Nugrus, and from the east by the Wadi Um Gamil. The best place to climb it from is the Wadi Sikait, and the ascent, not a difficult one, is rendered interesting by the ruins and old mines encountered; part of the way one passes over an ancient made road, now broken in many places by the downwash from the hill.
Gebel Ras Um Gamil and Gebel Um Gamil are two high hill ranges south-east of Sikait, which have only been sketched from a distance.
Madaret Um Gamil is a conspicuous double-topped hill on the north side of the Wadi Gemal, seventeen kilometres south-east of Sikait. The beacon which marks its highest point is in latitude 24° 34′ 52″, longitude 34° 56′ 28″, and 454 metres above sea. It is best ascended by a very winding tributary of the Wadi Gemal; this gully, up which there is a road, leads past the south-west foot of the hill, and the climb is only one of some 200 metres. The rocks round Madaret Um Gamil are mostly schists, but the top of the hill is a hard gabbro like that of Gebel Atut, weathered into rusty looking blocks. A good view seawards is obtained from the summit, some very red granite forming a conspicuous feature in the low hills between it and the coast.
The Abu Hamamid — Hamata — Abu Gurdi Group.
This group of mountains is remarkable both for its extent and for the loftiness of many of its peaks, some of which are among the highest in Egypt. It is a mass of rugged ridges and peaks, covering about a quarter of a square degree of the earth’s surface between latitudes 24° 0′ and 24° 30′, in which the two dominant summits, Abu Hamamid (1,747 metres) and Hamata (1,978 metres) are the most conspicuous features in the west and east portions respectively, while Abu Gurdi (1,562 metres) forms the great terminal peak of a south-easterly extension of the mass. [Plate XII] shows two typical views in this rugged region.