DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0068
MOUNT HOR.
likely to fall short of the sheik's expectations. I
did not want any disappointment at the last, and
that night I called him to my tent, resolved upon
coming to an understanding. I told him, that
knowing it was a dangerous road, and that I was
subjected to the risk of being robbed, I had brought
with me a specific sum of money, all of which I
intended for him, and that all he scattered along
the road would be so much taken from his own
pocket in the end. He was evidently startled, and
expressed his surprise that a howaga, or gentle-
man, should have any bottom to his pocket, but
promised to economize in future.
The next day the general features of the scene
were the same, eternal barrenness and desolation ;
and, moving to the right, at one o'clock we were
at the foot of the mountains of Seir; and tow-
ering above all the rest, surmounted by a circular
dome, like the tombs of the sheiks in Egypt, was
the bare and rugged summit of Mount Hor, the
burial-place of Aaron, visible in every direction at
a great distance from below, and on both sides the
great range of mountains, and forming one of the
marks by which the Bedouin regulates his wander-
ings in the desert. Soon after we turned in among
the mountains, occasionally passing small spots of
verdure, strangely contrasting with the surrounding
and general desolation. Towards evening, in a
small mountain on our left, we saw an excavation
in the rock, which the sheik said had been a for-
tress ; and, as of every other work of which the
likely to fall short of the sheik's expectations. I
did not want any disappointment at the last, and
that night I called him to my tent, resolved upon
coming to an understanding. I told him, that
knowing it was a dangerous road, and that I was
subjected to the risk of being robbed, I had brought
with me a specific sum of money, all of which I
intended for him, and that all he scattered along
the road would be so much taken from his own
pocket in the end. He was evidently startled, and
expressed his surprise that a howaga, or gentle-
man, should have any bottom to his pocket, but
promised to economize in future.
The next day the general features of the scene
were the same, eternal barrenness and desolation ;
and, moving to the right, at one o'clock we were
at the foot of the mountains of Seir; and tow-
ering above all the rest, surmounted by a circular
dome, like the tombs of the sheiks in Egypt, was
the bare and rugged summit of Mount Hor, the
burial-place of Aaron, visible in every direction at
a great distance from below, and on both sides the
great range of mountains, and forming one of the
marks by which the Bedouin regulates his wander-
ings in the desert. Soon after we turned in among
the mountains, occasionally passing small spots of
verdure, strangely contrasting with the surrounding
and general desolation. Towards evening, in a
small mountain on our left, we saw an excavation
in the rock, which the sheik said had been a for-
tress ; and, as of every other work of which the