buildings that belong to the solid, sturdy age of Sultan Selim,
and of the Sinnan Pasha so well known about Damascus. An
inscription, with an illegible date, bears the name of Ahmed ibn
Taylun, the founder of the Taylunide dynasty, in A.D. 868--884:
this is another proof that the Mamluk Soldans were lords of the
soil; and that, even in the ninth century, South Midian was a
province, or a dependency, of Egypt. Moreover, we picked up, to
the north-east of the work, old and well-treated scoria,
suggesting a more ancient settlement. Perhaps it was the locale
preferred by the proprietors of the slaves who worked the inner
mines, hidden from view and from the sea-breeze by the hills.

The castle being perfectly commanded by the heights behind, the
circular towers to the east have crests raised in that direction,
giving them a spoon-shape, and a peculiar aptitude for arresting
every cannon-ball coming from the west. The Bedawin, however,
have no great guns; and apparently this shelter has been added
since Wellsted's day.[EN#54] To the curtains are attached the
usual hovels, mat, palm-leaf, and walls of dry stone or mud,
which here, as at Palmyra, inevitably suggest wasp-nests. The
northern side is subtended by three large cisterns, all
strengthened at the inner angles by the stepped buttresses first
noticed when we were exploring Maghair Shu'ayb.

Up the valley and behind the fort, or to the north-east, lie the
palm-plantations, the small kitchen-gardens, and the far-famed
wells which, dug by Sultan Selim and repaired by Ibrahim Pasha in
A.D. 1524 (?), supply the Hajj-caravan. The sandy bed, disposed
east-west, is streaked, dotted, and barred with walls and
outcrops of the hardest greenstone porphyry; and those which run