God is
merciful, and we are all his children." Thus was the affair ended to the
satisfaction of our side. I broke all the lances into fragments upon a
rock,--ordered Zeneb to make a fire with the wood of the handles, to
boil some coffee; and tying the swords into a bundle, we packed the
lance-heads and knives in a basket, with the understanding that they
should be delivered to their owners on our arrival at the last well,
after which point there would be water on the route every day. From that
place, there would be no fear of our camels being stolen, and of our
being deserted in the desert.
On arrival at the well a few days later, I delivered the weapons to
their owners as promised, they having followed our party. Souakim is
about 275 miles from the Nile at Berber. At Kokreb, about half-way, we
entered the chain of mountains that extends from Suez parallel with the
Red Sea to the south; many portions of this chain are four or five
thousand feet above the sea-level. The mountains were exceedingly
beautiful, their precipitous sides of barren rock exhibiting superb
strata of red and grey granite, with vast masses of exquisite red and
green porphyry. Many hills were of basalt, so black, that during an
entire day's journey the face of the country appeared like a vast desert
of coal, in broken hills and blocks strewed over the surface of the
ground.
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