The Land of Midian, vol 2 | Page 3

Richard Burton
transfer this vividity of colour to canvas: he had
the artist's normal excuse, "Who would believe it?"
The next morning saw the Expedition afoot at six a.m., determined to
make up for a half by the whole day's work so long intended. The track
struck eastward, and issued from the dull hollow, Majrá el-Ruways, by
a made road about a mile and a half long, a cornice cut in the stony
flanks of a hill whose head projected southwards into the broad Wady
Hujayl ("the Little Partridge"). This line seems to drain inland;
presently it bends round by the east and feeds the Wady Dámah. Rain
must lately have fallen, for the earth is "purfled flowers," pink, white,
and yellow. The latter is the tint prevailing in Midian, often suggesting
the careless European wheat-field, in which "shillock" or wild mustard
rears its gamboge head above the green. Midian wants not only the
charming oleander and the rugged terebinth, typical of the Desert; but
also the "blood of Adonis," the lovely anemone which lights up the

Syrian landscape like the fisherman's scarlet cap in a sea-piece. This
stage introduced us to the Hargul (Harjal, Rhazya stricta), whose
perfume filled the valley with the clean smell of the henna-bloom, the
Eastern privet--Mr. Clarke said "wallflowers." Our mules ate it greedily,
whilst the country animals, they say, refuse it: the flowers, dried and
pounded, cure by fumigation "pains in the bones." Here also we saw for
the first time the quaint distaff-shape of the purple red Masrúr
(Cynomorium coccineum, Linn.), from which the Bedawi "cook
bread." It is eaten simply peeled and sun-dried, when it has a vegetable
taste slightly astringent as if by tannin, something between a potato and
a turnip; or its rudely pounded flour is made into balls with soured milk.
This styptic, I am told by Mr. R. B. Sharpe, of the British Museum, was
long supposed to be peculiar to Malta; hence its pre-Linnaean name
(Fungus Melitensis).[EN#2] Now it is known to occur through the
Mediterranean to India. Let me here warn future collectors of botany in
Midian that throughout the land the vegetable kingdom follows the rule
of the mineral: every march shows something new; and he who
neglects to gather specimens, especially of the smaller flowers, in one
valley, will perhaps find none of them in those adjoining.
A denser row of trees lower down the Wady Hujayl led to the water of
Amdán (Mídán?), about an hour and a half from our last nighting-place;
yesterday it had been reported six hours distant. High towering on our
left (north) rose three huge buttresses of the Girágir. In front stood a
marvellous background of domes and arches, cones and ninepins, all
decayed Hismá, blurred and broken by the morning mist, which could
hardly be called a fog; and forming a perspective of a dozen distances.
Now they curve from north-east to south-west in a kind of scorpion's
tail, with detached vertebrae torn and wasted by the adjacent plutonic
outcrops; and looking from the west they suggest blood-red islets rising
above the great gloomy waves of trap and porphyry. This projection
will remain in sight until we reach Shuwák; and in places we shall see
it backed by the basalts and lavas of the straightlined Harrah.
Presently turning sharp to the right (south-east), we struck across a
second divide, far more shallow than the first; and fell into the northern
basin of the great Dámah valley, also known as El-Rahabah, "the
Open;"--the Rehoboth ("spaces") of the Hebrews. Like yesterday's, the
loose red sand is Hismá; and it is also scattered with Harrah lava. After

a four hours' ride we halted to enable the caravan to come up. Our
Shaykhs were bent upon making twelve miles the average day's work;
and their "little game" was now to delay as much as possible. Here we
again found flocks of sheep and goats tended by young girls, who ran
away like ostriches, and by old women who did not: on the contrary,
Sycorax enjoyed asking the news and wrangling over a kid. The camels
throughout this country seem to be always under the charge of men or
boys.
Here began our study of the great Wady Da'mah, whose fame as an
Arabian Arcadia extends far and wide, and whose possession has
caused many a bloody battle. We now see it at its best, in early spring
morning, when
"The landscape smiles Calm in the sun, and silent are the hills And
valleys, and the blue serene of air."
This notable feature is a Haddúdah ("frontier divider"), which in
ancient days separated the ‘Ukbíyyah ("Ukbah-land") to the north from
the Balawi'yyah ("Baliyy-land") south. The latter still claim it as their
northern limit; but the intrusive Egypto-Arabs have pushed their way
far beyond this bourne.
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