Page 51 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

32 TOR TO SUEZ. [cm.

Towards noon we found that the hills on
the eastern side approached nearer to the
sea-shore, and El Kaa consequently became
more contracted in its dimensions. Hence I
passed over many successive plains, inter­

sected in all directions by the beds of torrents
which cross them in their progress from the
mountains to the sea.
In the evening, leaving the entrance of
Wadi Feiran to the right, we shortly after­
wards reached the coast near Ras Sheratrib,
about nine miles from Ras Jihan. The road
now lay along the coast, over a beach princi­
pally composed of calcareous matter, consist­

ing of an indiscriminate mixture of lime, coral,
and shells, and forming a broad rocky plat­

form, which extends from nearly midway be­
tween high and low-water mark to a consider­
able distance into the sea.
At one o’clock, the moon having disappeared
behind the hills on the Egyptian shore, I
halted for the night under a low bushy point
called Ras Burdas.
Jan. 28th. Early this morning I resumed my
journey. Mount Agarib, and the eminences
to the southward on the Egyptian shore, pre-