abandoned.

And now for our march. On the finest possible morning (April
9th), when the world was all ablaze with living light, I walked
down the Wady Hamz. It has been abundantly supplied with water;
in fact, the whole vein (thalweg) subtending the left bank would
respond to tapping. The well El-Kusayr, just below the ruin,
though at present closed, yielded till lately a large quantity:
about half a mile to the westward is, or rather was, a saltish
pit surrounded by four sweet. Almost all are now dry and filled
up with fuel. A sharp trudge of three-quarters of an hour leads
to the Bir el-Gurnah (Kurnah), the "Well of the Broad," in a
district of the same name, lying between the ruin and the shore.
It is a great gash in the sandy bed: the taste of the turbid
produce is distinctly sulphurous; and my old white mule, being
dainty in her drink, steadfastly refused to touch it. The
distinct accents of the Red Sea told us that we were not more
than a mile from its marge.

We then struck north-east, over the salt maritime plain, till we
hit the lower course of the Wady Umm Gilifayn (Jilifayn). It
heads from the seaward base of the neighbouring hills; and its
mouth forms a Marsa, or "anchorage-place," for native craft. A
little to the north stands the small pyramidal Tuwayyil
el-Kibrit, the "little Sulphur Hill," which had been carefully
examined by MM. Marie and Philipin. A slow ride of eight miles
placed us in a safe gorge draining a dull-looking, unpromising
block. Here we at once found, and found in situ for the first
time, the chalcedony which strews the seaboard-flat. This agate,
of which amulets and signet-rings were and are still made, and