DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4996#0089
72
NUKB HAWI.
eyes, of all respect and honour. When we halted, she busied
herself in unloading his camel, and arranging his gear, in a manner
that showed she was well acquainted with the business ; but still
persisted in remaining at a distance from the tent, although glancing
at me, from time to time, with lively, curious eyes ; wondering,
perhaps, what infatuation could drive a man to wander, like an
unquiet spirit, so far from his mother's tent. Little could she
divine the feeling of melancholy with which I looked that evening
upon the setting sun ; and less could she suppose that she had been
instrumental in causing it. Komeh made a feast for her and for her
son, producing all our little delicacies, and giving coffee to the
whole company ; and it was a joyous night when he took his pipe
in the midst, like a little king, by the ruddy blaze of a fire of
desert-shrubs. Nor was Umbarak without a grateful sense of these
little attentions, and the next day presented us with a skin of con-
serve of dates, prepared in his home in the mountains. His brother
came down the next morning. The woman had reason to be proud
of her sons ; two finer, handsomer fellows I have not seen in the
peninsula of Sinai.
October 12. From our encampment we proceeded towards the Nukb
or pass of Hawy: Umbarak's mother had left us and returned to her
home. We reached at an early hour the foot of this portal to the wild
mountains that bar the bleak solitudes of Sinai. As this was evidently
to be a toilsome business for the camels, I dismounted here with
Komeh, and took the lead. From the descriptions of this pass
which I had read, I expected unusual grandeur in the scenery,
as well as great difficulty in the ascent; but after our clamber
up the terrific precipices of the Serbal, those which hem in
this desolate ravine appeared very insignificant, while the zigzag
pathway, built up with stones, seemed comparatively like a broad
and easy turnpike-road, which we surmounted with little effort *
Not so, however, did the camels: their piteous cries filled the
air, and echoed wildly in the recesses of the shattered cliffs. Catching,
* Before the construction of a road, however, it must have presented great
difficulties.
NUKB HAWI.
eyes, of all respect and honour. When we halted, she busied
herself in unloading his camel, and arranging his gear, in a manner
that showed she was well acquainted with the business ; but still
persisted in remaining at a distance from the tent, although glancing
at me, from time to time, with lively, curious eyes ; wondering,
perhaps, what infatuation could drive a man to wander, like an
unquiet spirit, so far from his mother's tent. Little could she
divine the feeling of melancholy with which I looked that evening
upon the setting sun ; and less could she suppose that she had been
instrumental in causing it. Komeh made a feast for her and for her
son, producing all our little delicacies, and giving coffee to the
whole company ; and it was a joyous night when he took his pipe
in the midst, like a little king, by the ruddy blaze of a fire of
desert-shrubs. Nor was Umbarak without a grateful sense of these
little attentions, and the next day presented us with a skin of con-
serve of dates, prepared in his home in the mountains. His brother
came down the next morning. The woman had reason to be proud
of her sons ; two finer, handsomer fellows I have not seen in the
peninsula of Sinai.
October 12. From our encampment we proceeded towards the Nukb
or pass of Hawy: Umbarak's mother had left us and returned to her
home. We reached at an early hour the foot of this portal to the wild
mountains that bar the bleak solitudes of Sinai. As this was evidently
to be a toilsome business for the camels, I dismounted here with
Komeh, and took the lead. From the descriptions of this pass
which I had read, I expected unusual grandeur in the scenery,
as well as great difficulty in the ascent; but after our clamber
up the terrific precipices of the Serbal, those which hem in
this desolate ravine appeared very insignificant, while the zigzag
pathway, built up with stones, seemed comparatively like a broad
and easy turnpike-road, which we surmounted with little effort *
Not so, however, did the camels: their piteous cries filled the
air, and echoed wildly in the recesses of the shattered cliffs. Catching,
* Before the construction of a road, however, it must have presented great
difficulties.