frequent zigzags up and down the rocky, precipitous banks. After
a number of divides we entered the Wady Haskshah, which was wider
and good for riding; and at 8.30 a.m. we passed into the Wady Umm
Jirmah.

In this broad basin we found none of the ruins so often reported;
but immense quantities of broken quartz showed the Mashghal or
atelier. The material was distinguished, from all the outcrops
hitherto observed, by its pretty pink, stained with oxide of
iron: it appeared in large ramifications mostly striking
east-west, and in little pitons dotting the valley sole and
sides. A subsequent visit to Wady Umm Jirmah found many furnaces
surrounded by well-worked scoriae; of these, specimens were
secured.

After another half-hour, we dismounted at the watershed of the
Wady el-Ghal, where the old guide lost no time in losing his
head. The Jebel el-Ghal, whose folds fall into its watercourse,
is a detached block, rising nearly due south of the "Sharp Peak,"
as the Chart calls Abu Kusayb, the northernmost horn of the
Sharr; while the Ghal cove, breaking the sea-cliff, bears 270
(mag.) from the summit. The hill, which may measure 250 feet
above sea-level (aner. 29.75), is composed of porphyritic trap
and of the hardest felspars, veined with chocolate-coloured
quartz, the true gangue. While we examined the formation, Furayj
and old Sulaym, who became more and more "moony," ransacked the
block in all directions, and notably failed to find a trace of
mining. Evidently Athor, the genius of the "Turquoise Mountain,"
was not to be conquered by a coup de main; so I determined to
tire her out.