Suez: briefly, c'etait embetant--to use the milder of the two
favourite synonyms.

The ruins of Shaghab are built upon a more complicated site than
those of Shuwak. 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 Damah. 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 Ziglab (Zijlab), the
cones of pale granite visible from Shuwak; and upon its broad
mouth the old settlement stood a cheval. A little north of west
rises profiled the great Sharr, 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-Sani'), tower in the shape of a huge
pyramid. Lastly, a regular ascent, the Majra el-Waghir, fronts
the city, sloping up to the west-north-west, and discloses a view
of the Jibal el-Tihamah: this broad incline was, some three
centuries ago, the route of the Hajj-caravan.

We walked down the Shaghab valley-bed, whose sides, like those of
the Damah, are chevaux de frise of dead wood. The characteristic
rock is a conglomerate of large and small stones, compacted by
hard silicious paste, and stained mauve-purple apparently by