At seven hours and a half, we passed El Kheyf, the last village in the valley of Djedeyde; several insulated groups of houses are also scattered along the valley. About eighty tents of Turkish soldiers were pitched here, to guard this pass; one of the most important positions in the Hedjaz, because it is the only way by which caravans can proceed from Mekka or Yembo to Medina. The Harb tribe are well fitted, by their warlike temper, to defend this post. Even before the Wahaby conquest, they had repeatedly been at war with the Syrian caravan, and Djezzar Pasha himself had been several times repulsed here, and obliged to take the eastern Hadj route, at the back of the great chain, rather than submit to the exorbitant demands of the Beni Harb for permitting the Hadj to pass through their territories. Abdullah Pasha of Damascus, who conducted the Hadj eighteen times in person to Mekka, was compelled to do the same. Whenever the Harb are in amity with the caravan, they have a right to a considerable passage duty, which is paid at Djedeyde.
Szafra appeared to me better peopled, and to contain more houses, than are now in Djedeyde. In speaking of this pass, the Arabs generally join the two names, and say, the valley of Szafra and Djedeyde. Beyond El Kheyf the valley widens, and forms many windings. Our caravan was here in constant fear of robbers, which kept us awake, though the severe cold during the night would not have suffered us to sleep. Our main direction from Kheyf was N. 40 E. At twelve hours, gently ascending through the valley, we entered a plain, situated in the midst of the mountains, about ten miles in length, called El Nazye, where we alighted.
January 26th. We remained encamped here the whole day, some passengers having acquainted us that disturbances had broken out on the road before us, which we did not discover to be a false report till the next day. The rocks surrounding this plain are partly of granite, and partly of lime-stone. The plain is thickly covered with acacia-trees.
[p.314] Good water is found on the side of the mountains, but not in the plain itself. Some Bedouins of Beni Salem, to which tribe the inhabitants of Djedeyde also belong, pastured their flocks here: they were chiefly occupied in collecting food for their camels from the acacia-trees; for this purpose, they spread a straw mat under the tree, and beat its boughs with long sticks, when the youngest and freshest leaves, from the extremities of the twigs, fall down: these are esteemed the best food for camels. I saw them sold in measures, in the market at Szafra. We exchanged some biscuits for milk with these Bedouins; and one, to whom I had given a small dose of rhubarb, brought me some fresh butter in return.
January 26th. We started at two P.M., and an hour and a halfs march over the plain brought us to the mountain. The whole breadth of this plain is about six miles. We then entered the mountain in the direction N. 50 E. The mixed rocks of granite and lime-stone present no regular strata. We next passed through a short defile, and, at the end of two hours and a half, entered a small plain called Shab el Hál, between the mountains, where were several encampments of Bedouins. At five hours, we entered a broad valley, running in a straight line, and covered with white sand. The night was cold, and the moon shone beautifully; I therefore walked in front of the caravan, whose pace being slow, I soon advanced, without perceiving it, to a considerable distance a-head. Finding that it did not come up, I sat down under a tree, and was going to light a fire, when I heard the tread of horses advancing towards me. I kept hidden behind the trees, and presently saw some Bedouins of very suspicious appearance pass by. After waiting a long time for the caravan, and unable to account for its delay, I retraced my steps, and found the camels standing at rest, and taking breath, and every soul upon them fast asleep, the foot-passengers being still behind. This happened to us several times during our journey. When the camel hears no voices about it, and is not urged by the leader, it slackens its pace, and at last stands still to rest; and if the leading camel once stops, all the rest do the same. I roused the Arabs, and we proceeded. The next day, we learnt that some travellers had been plundered this night on the road—no doubt by the horsemen
[p.315] who passed me, and who probably dispersed when they saw a large caravan approaching.
The valley in which we were travelling is called Wady es Shohada, or the Valley of Martyrs, where many followers of Mohammed are said to have been killed in battle: their remains are covered by rude heaps of stones in different parts of the valley. Here also are seen several tombs of hadjys; and I observed some walls, much ruined, where a small chapel or mosque appeared to have stood: no water is found here. This is a station of the Hadj caravan. At the end of nine hours, we issued from this wady, which is on a very slight ascent; and then taking a direction E.N.E. we crossed a rocky ground, and entered a wide plain called El Fereysh, where two small caravans from Medina bound to Yembo passed us. At the end of eleven hours and a half we alighted.
The plain of Fereysh, according to the historian Asamy, was the scene of a sanguinary battle, between the Sherif of Mekka and the Bedouin tribes of Dhofyr and Aeneze, in A.H. 1063. The Dhofyr, who are now settled in Mesopotamia, towards Baghdad, were at that time pasturing their herds in the neighbourhood of Medina.
January 27th. The rocks here are all of red granite. A party of Bedouins, with their women, children, and tents passed us; they belonged to the tribe of Harb, called El Hamede, and had left the upper country, where no rain had yet fallen, to seek better pasturage in the lower mountains. While we were encamped, a heavy storm, with thunder and lightning, overtook us, and the rain poured down: as it threatened to be of long duration, and we had no tents, it was thought advisable to proceed. We started in the afternoon; and it continued to rain during the rest of the day and the whole night, which, joined to the cold climate in these elevated regions, was severely felt by all of us. Our road ascended through rocky valleys full of thorny trees; it was crossed by several torrents that had rapidly swollen, and which we passed with difficulty. After seven hours march we reached the summit of this chain of mountains, when the immense eastern plain lay stretched before us: we passed several insulated hills. The ground is covered with black and brown flints. In nine hours we passed at
[p.316] some distance to the west of the date-plantations, and the few houses built round the well called Bir Aly. At the end of ten hours, in the middle of the night, just as the weather had cleared up, and a severe frost succeeded the rain, we arrived before the gate of Medina. It was shut, and we had to wait till day-light before it could be opened. Being unable to light a fire on the wet ground with wet fuel, and being all completely soaked with the rain, the sharp frost of the morning became distressing to us, and was probably the cause of the fever which confined me so long in this town; for I had enjoyed perfect health during the whole journey.