Are dust among the dust that once obeyed them.”
I shared a very comfortable tomb with him during the time I spent there.
After about a week, during which Qwaytin with Abd er Rahman visited the surrounding villages and markets in search of the camels that he required to complete the caravan, we moved over to Qwaytin’s house, some seven miles away, and on the following morning, 24th March, started off for our journey into the desert; Ibrahim at the start, as usual, banging off his gun after the Arab custom to scare away evil spirits during our journey.
I decided first to make for an uninhabited oasis called Bu Gerara, which had not previously been reported, that Qwaytin said he knew of, and that lay some little distance off the Derb et Tawil, and not very far to the north-east of Dakhla. This oasis he said contained palms, wells and some old buildings, but had been deserted for many years.
The Derb ed Deri—the monastery road—that we followed starts from near an old der, or monastery, called the Der Muharug, from which it takes its name, and is a branch of the great Derb et Tawil—“the long road”—that, starting from the Nile Valley near Manfalut, runs right across the desert plateau to Dakhla Oasis.
On getting up on to the plateau, Qwaytin pointed out in the distance to the west a low hill, which he said was called the Jebel Jebaïl, where, he stated, there are many tombs.
The plateau was level and as featureless as that between the Nile Valley and Kharga Oasis, to which it bore a strong general resemblance. There were the same patches of sand and pebbles, interspaced with areas of limestone, showing all the same types of sand erosion—kharashef, kharafish, battikh and rusuf.
In many places the limestone appeared as marble, sometimes polished by the action of the sand blast. White, black, grey, yellow and beautiful rose pink, in various combinations, were seen in the stone. Much of it showed large cracks on the surface, but there were considerable areas of stone, especially of the grey marble with darker grey lines, that seemed to be quite solid. The rock in places was translucent and appeared to be alabaster, but of very inferior quality. Some of the pink marble looked to be of a fine colour and texture; but it is doubtful, in such an inaccessible position, if it would ever repay working.
Early on our second day in the desert we joined the main road—the Derb et Tawil, or “long road.” Close to the east of the point, where the two roads met, was one of the low rocky hills with which the plateau was studded. From the foot of this ran a little used road leading to ’Ain Amur, via ’Ain Embares, an undiscovered well that I had tried to reach by way of the small depressions leading out of the ’Ain Amur wady. It was reported to be almost sanded up and to give very little water.
On the following day we passed the point where a road branches off to the west from the Derb et Tawil to go direct to Qasr Dakhl. This road, which does not appear to be much used, is known as the “Derb el Khashabi,” or “wooded road,” owing to the fact that about two days’ journey from the point where it leaves the Derb et Tawil, there is a patch of dead trees about ten feet high. It is said to be an easy one to traverse.