the Wakil Mohammed Shahadah. He had sent for a camel-load of the
stuff, which, he declared, would not burn, although it had burned
his money. He then travelled in person to the Jebel el-Muharrak
("Burnt Mountain"), five short marches inland from El-Bada plain,
and behind its northern curtain, the Jibal el-Shafah. According
to him, El-Muharrak is part of the great Harrah; and the
unexplored Jaww, which lies north (?) of it, is a prolongation of
the Hisma plateau, here belonging to the Balawiyyah or
Baliyy-land. The mountain is tall and black, apparently
consisting of the "coal." Near its summit lies the Bir el-Shifa'
("Well of Healing"), a pit of cold sulphur-water, excellent for
the eyes; and generally a "Pool of Bethesda," whither Arabs flock
from afar. At Aba'l-Gezaz, Mohammed destroyed all our surviving
hopes by picking up a black stone which, he declared, belonged to
El-Muharrak. It was schist, with a natural fracture not unlike
coal, and weathered into the semblance of wood: unfortunately it
was hard as iron, and it did not contain an atom of bitumen.

At Bada old Shaykh 'Afnan, whose tents are now pitched one day
ahead of us, was taken into consultation upon the subject. He
confirmed these statements of the Wakil, adding that the Shafah
Mountains are a mere ridge, not the seaward walls of a plateau,
and that the land east of them is exactly that which we have
already traversed. He had bathed in the sulphur-water; he spoke
of brimstone being picked up on the hill-flanks, and he had heard
of El-Kohl (stibium, collyrium, antimony) being found about
El-Muharrak.[EN#69]

These details, apparently authentic, did not tempt me to waste
precious time upon El-Muharrak. I do not yet despair, as has been