alf-past three,
at least equal to Robinson's calculation of 1500 feet above the 'Arabah.
For two hours more we had to traverse cliffs, gullies, crags, and
precipices of red porphyry or green syenite alternately, in enormous
masses, split by convulsions of nature, and next arrived in a valley
strewed with huge fragments, angular, not rounded boulders, yet fallen
from the adjacent mountains. But we were still high above the wide level
of the 'Arabah.

Halted at half-past five; thermometer, Fahrenheit 71.25 degrees, and,
during our dinner, old Selameh rejoined us, having failed in his dealings
with the Alaween, who refused to restore their plunder, as they said
their object was to punish the Jehaleen, for bringing travellers through
their country, instead of making them go by way of Egypt. {320} He
reported that thirty more Arabs had arrived at Petra, half-an-hour after
our starting.

_April_ 8_th_.--Sunrise, Fahrenheit 59 degrees. Moving again at six
o'clock. In half an hour we were clear of the mountains of Seir or Edom;
but for another hour the ground was still strewn with blocks of porphyry
and green syenite, too hard for any of our implements to break off bits
from them, and fragments small enough to be carried away were very
difficult to find; however, we got some. These large stumbling-blocks,
together with dry watercourses, rendered our travelling unusually
troublesome to the horses and camels, and wearisome to ourselves.

At length we got upon the free 'Arabah, among green shrubs and trees of
tul'hh and neb'k.

At nine o'clock we came to a high sandbank, beneath which was a verdant
line of tamarisk, and ghar, and tall canes, with frogs croaking among
them. All of these were indications of water; and, accordingly, we found
a spring named _'Ain Taasan_, being one of those which together form the
stream of _Buwairdeh_. Here we filled our water vessels to the utmost,
as it was not expected we should find any more good water for two days to
come.

The surrounding prospect was one of utter desolation, and I took out my
Bible and read the words of 2 Kings iii. 8,-9, and 20: "And he said,
Which way shall we go up? And he answered, The way through the
wilderness of Edom. So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah,
and the king of Edom; and they fetched a compass of seven days' journey:
and there was no water for the host, and for the cattle that followed
them . . . And it came to pass in the morning,