Page 44 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

II.] TOR TO SUEZ. 25

harp when its strings first catch the breeze :

as the sand became more violently agitated,
by the increased velocity of the descent, the
noise more nearly resembled that produced
by drawing the moistened fingers over glass.
As it reached the base the reverberations
attained the loudness of distant thunder,
causing the rock on which we were seated to
vibrate; and our camels, animals not easily

frightened, became so alarmed, that it was
with difficulty their drivers could retain them.
It is particularly worthy of remark, that the
noise did not issue from every part of the hill
alike, the loudest being produced by disturb­
ing the sand on the northern side about
twenty feet from the base, and about ten
from the rocks which bound it in that direc­
tion. The sounds sometimes fell quicker on
the ear, at other times were more prolonged ;
but this swelling or sinking appeared to de­

pend upon the Arab’s increasing or retarding
the velocity of his descent. On a spot so de­
sert and solitary they have an inconceivably
melancholy effect, and the Bedowins trace
them to several wild and fanciful causes:
the tradition given by Burckhardt, that the