to us.

Crossing the heads of sundry watercourses, we fell into the Wady
Umm el-Karayat:[EN#57] it begins, as is here the rule, with a
gravelly bed, nice riding enough; it then breaks into ugly rocky
drops and slides, especially at the hill shoulders, where
thorn-trees and other obstacles often suggest that it is better
to dismount; and, finally, when nearing the mouth, it becomes a
matured copy of its upper self on an enlarged scale. Presently we
turned to the left over a short divide, and stared with
astonishment at the airy white heap, some two hundred feet high,
which, capped and strewed with snowy boulders, seemed to float
above our heads. The Wady-bed at our feet, lined along the left
bank with immense blocks of similar quartz, showed the bases of
black walls--ruins. "Behold Umm el-Karayat!" exclaimed Naji, the
guide, pointing with a wave of the arm, his usual theatrical
gesture, to the scene before us. We could hardly believe our
eyes: he had just assured us that the march from the fort is four
hours, and we had ridden it in two hours and fifteen minutes (=
six miles and a quarter).

Dismounting at once, and ordering the camp to be pitched near the
ruins, we climbed up the south-eastern face of the quartz-hill,
whose appearance was a novelty to us. Instead of being a regular,
round-headed cone, like the Jebel el-Abyaz for instance, the
summit was distinctly crateriform. The greater part of the day
was spent in examining it, and the following are the results.
This Jebel el-Maru showed, for the first time during the whole
journey, signs of systematic and civilized work. In many parts
the hill has become a mere shell. We found on the near side a