Bartlett, William Henry: Forty days in the desert, on the track of the Israelites: or a journey from Cairo by Wady Feiran, to Mount Sinai and Petra (London, [1840])

70 FERTILITY OF WADY FEIEAN.

prove conclusively that no middle term will hold upon a. sifting
inquiry.

Wady Feiran is also celebrated for the only corn grown in the
peninsula, and for its luxuriant clusters of dates ; in fact, the upper

part of this singular valley contains a rich deposit of earth, brought
down from the mountains, which has gradually accumulated, and is
rendered additionally productive by the numerous springs. The
portion around the ancient city is less fertile, being exposed to the
full fury of the torrent descending down a rapid slope from Mount
Serbal, which, by its violence and the quantity of stones which it
sweeps along with it, prevents the formation of valuable soil. That
a considerable population once dwelt here is evident, from the
numerous ruins of villages and convents scattered about, though
these last may have had revenues at a distance: at present the valley
is not carefully cultivated, and affords subsistence to but a handful
of Arabs, some of whom are, it is considered, Djebaleyeh, i. a, de-
scendants of the old Christian serfs of the convents.

At length the last traces of this vegetation were left behind, and
we reluctantly entered upon the more open sandy valleys. It was soon