The desert of the Exodus : journeys on foot in the wilderness of the forty years' wanderings : undertaken in connexion with the ordnance survey of Sinai, and the Palestine exploration fund . beeneaten away by the stream, except in little squareisolated blocks, wliicb at a distance resemble a collec-tion of flat-roofed houses. There is a good supply ofwater, obtained principally from a number of wellssimilar in pattern to those noticed as existing nearthe Nagb el Mirad, and the immediate neighbour-hood is comparatively fertile, producing many tama-risk and other trees. Near the water is a small
The desert of the Exodus : journeys on foot in the wilderness of the forty years' wanderings : undertaken in connexion with the ordnance survey of Sinai, and the Palestine exploration fund . beeneaten away by the stream, except in little squareisolated blocks, wliicb at a distance resemble a collec-tion of flat-roofed houses. There is a good supply ofwater, obtained principally from a number of wellssimilar in pattern to those noticed as existing nearthe Nagb el Mirad, and the immediate neighbour-hood is comparatively fertile, producing many tama-risk and other trees. Near the water is a small cave cut out of therock, and, to judge from the remains of crossesand rude frescoes upon the wall, apparently at onetime the residence of a Christian hermit. A httlefurther on we found another cave of still moreimposing shape and proportions; it was excavatedhigher up in the face of the cliff, and reached from astaircase cut in the rock and opening out at thebottom. There were two chambers, each of whichcontained a small altar-niche and exhibited tracesof Christian fresco ornamentation. These caves are also covered with the Arab tribe-marks which I have before described, each Bedawf. THE WILDERNESS OF KADESH. 355 \isitor to the place delighting to set his sign-manualon the wall. M. de Saulcy (and, following him, manysubsequent writers), who had noticed them in theneighbourhood of the Dead Sea, calls them Planetarysigns*, and in truth they are not altogether unlikethe mysterious astrological emblems on the colouredbottles which adorn a chemists window. These tribe-marks consist in reality of distortedHimyaritic letters, generally the mitial letter of thename; thus, the mark of the Anazeh tribe is O, acucle with a dot in the centre, the ancient Hmiyariticletter, Ain, with wliich the word Anazeh Arabs themselves, being ignorant of Avriting, areof course unaware of this fact; they consequently de-signate their tribe-mark by the name of the article itmay chance to resemb
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Keywords: ., bookauthorpalm, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbible
