The Land of Midian, vol 2 | Page 8

southwards from the
Wady Shuwák, along the old main line of traffic, leads to the Wady
Nejd, upon whose upper course is the plain of Badá; and which, after
assuming four different names, falls, as will be seen, into the sea about

thirty-five miles north of El-Wijh.
We left Shuwák considerably posed, puzzled, and perplexed by what it
had shown us. A little pottery had been picked up, but our diggings had
not produced a coin or even a bit of glass. The evidences of immense
labour are the more astonishing when compared with the utter absence
of what we call civilization. The Greek and Latin inscriptions of the
Hauranic cities declare their origin: these, absolutely unalphabetic,
refuse a single hint concerning the mysterious race which here lived
and worked, and worked so nobly. And, finally, who were the Moslems
that succeeded them in a later day, when the Hajj-caravan, some three
centuries and a half ago, ceased to march by this road? How is it that
the annalists say nothing of them? that not a vestige of tradition
remains concerning any race but the Nazarenes?
From Shuwák to the Wady Dámah there are two roads, a direct and an
indirect; the latter passing by the ruins of Shaghab. The caravan begged
hard to take the former, but was summarily refused. At six a.m. we rode
down the Shuwák valley, again noting its huge constructions, and then
striking away from it to the left, we passed over a short divide of brown
hill, where the narrow Pass was marked only by Bedawi graves. The
morning showed a peculiar rainbow, if a bow may be called so when no
rain appeared; a perpendicular stripe, brilliant enough, and lasting at
least twenty minutes. The cloud behind it had no skirt, no droop in fact,
no sign of dissolution; and what made it the stranger was that this
"bull's-eye" lay north of, and not opposite to, but quite near, the rising
sun. We shall note another of these exceptional rainbows at
El-Badá.[EN#8]
After marching some seven miles to the south with westing, we saw
inform heaps to the left: half an hour afterwards, boulder-encircled pits
of a brighter green on the right, the Themáil el-Má ("artificial cisterns")
of the Arabs, announced that we were reaching Shaghab. The caravan
punished us by wasting five hours on the way, in order to force a halt;
and by camping at the wrong place, when I objected to the delay. It
brought with it, however, a fine young Beden (ibex), killed by one of
the Bedawin; and we determined to stuff, to bury, and to bake it, Arab
fashion, under the superintendence of the Básh-Buzúk Husayn.
Unfortunately it was served to us on the next day cold, whereas it
should have been eaten at once, piping hot. The meat was dark, with a

beefy rather than a gamey flavour, palatable, but by no means
remarkable. There were loud regrets that a cuisse de chevreuil had not
been marinée; in fact, an infect odour of the Quartier Latin everywhere
followed us; and when a guide told us the pattern lie, that we should
not reach Umm ‘Amir before the fourth day, the poor "Frogs" croaked,
and croaked audibly as dismally. Their last bottle of ordinaire was
finished; Gabr, the Kázi, had come into camp, bearing a long official
Arabic document from Lieutenant Yusuf, but not a single Journal de
Genève; there was no news of a steamer being sent with rations and
forage from Suez: briefly, c'était embetant--to use the milder of the two
favourite synonyms.
The ruins of Shaghab are built upon a more complicated site than those
of Shuwák. The position is charming. The Wady Shaghab, flowing to
the south, here spreads out in a broad bulge or basin open to the west.
Down-stream we see a "gate" formed by the meeting of two rocky
tongue-tips, both showing large works. Beyond these narrows the
valley bends to the south-west and feeds the Wady Aznab, which falls
into the sea south of the Dámah. The mass of the ruined city lies upon
the left bank, where a high and artificial-looking remblai of earth masks
an eastern influent, the Wady el-Aslah (Athlah), or "of the Kali-plant."
It drains the mountain of the same name, and the Jebel Zigláb (Zijláb),
the cones of pale granite visible from Shuwák; and upon its broad
mouth the old settlement stood à cheval. A little north of west rises
profiled the great Shárr, no longer a ridge with a coping of four horns,
but a tall and portly block, from whose summit spring heads and peaks
of airy blue-pink. Slightly east of north the twins Naghar and Nughayr,
combining to form the "Mountain of the Maker" (Jebel el-Sáni'), tower
in the shape of a huge