Chapter III: Section II

_Observations on the Desert, from the Valley of Natron to the
Mountains of Ummesogier._

The Desert forms a natural boundary to Egypt, on the west extending from the _Natron Valley_ to the mountains of _Ummesogier_; to the north, the dreary and barren plain is bounded by a chain of lofty hills, in view during the whole course of the caravan; and to the south, extends a journey, probably, of several days, by the ordinary mode of computation in these countries; but in this direction its limits are not defined, or are not known.

In this vast tract of sands, petrified wood is found, of various forms and size: sometimes are seen whole trunks of trees, of twelve feet circumference or more; sometimes only branches and twigs, scarcely of a quarter of an inch diameter; and sometimes merely pieces of bark of various kinds, and in particular of the oak, are to be found. Many of the great stems yet retain their side branches, and in many the natural timber has undergone so little change, that the circular ranges of the wood are discernible, and especially in those trunks which apparently were of oak. The interior of other bodies of timber was become a petrifaction, shewing no distinctions of grain or fibre, but bearing the appearance of mere stone; though the outward coat and form of the substance clearly denoted the tree.

Several Arabs informed me, that in travelling over this Desert, petrified trees were often found upright, and as if growing in the soil; but I presume, respecting those I did not see, from those I inspected, that they were merely trunks raised by hand, round the base of which the sand had quickly gathered before the winds, and formed a mound, as if heaved up by a root. The colour of the petrified wood is in general black, or nearly so; but in some instances it is of a light gray, and then so much resembling the wood in its natural state, that our slaves would often collect, and bring it in, for the purposes of firing.

These petrifactions are sometimes scattered in single pieces, but are oftener found in irregular layers, or strata, covering together a considerable space of ground.

If there yet remains any trace of a western branch of the Nile, as mentioned by ancient writers,[3] it is probably to be discovered in some part of this Desert. I observed no channel, or vestige of such course of river, on the route taken by the caravan. I would direct the researches of any future traveller specially to the tract of country round where we encamped on the nights when we halted at the foot of the sand hill west of _Wadey-el-Latron_, and in the district of _Muhabag_: these places we reached not till after sunset, and departing before day, I myself had no opportunity of examining the country. The term _Bahr-bella-ma_, commonly rendered _river without water_, by no means designates or points to any specific channel or tract in which any ancient channel may be more probably discovered: for if petrified trees fit for masts, or petrified timbers suited to other purposes of ship-building, said to be found in the _Bahr-bella-ma_, characterize and give the name (as we are told) to the tract of land throughout which they are to be found, then the appropriate translation is not river, but _sea without water_, for such petrifactions are scattered over the whole Desert. Indeed the general appearance of this vast and barren tract, well accords to the title of _sea without water_; its sandy surface resembling that of a leeshore, over which the waters streaming before the storm have, on their ebb, deposited timber, or what else was carried on by the tide. I say not wreck of vessels, for I saw no wood that had the least appearance of the tool, or of having been wrought for any purpose of man. Such as, by light observers, have been taken for fragments of masts, are merely trunks of trees of from thirty to forty feet in length, broken and shivered into large splinters, which lying near each other, shew in their forms and grain of timber, the mass they formerly belonged to and composed.

To the north of the Desert runs a chain of steep and bare calcareous mountains, which were in constant view of our caravan travelling at the distance of three to seven miles in like direction. At the foot of these, runs a flat tract of moorish swampy land, from one to six miles in breadth, abounding in springs, and to which we resorted every second or third day for a supply of water; but at the period of our journey, the springs throughout the whole valley were nearly dried up. The water which remained, and run or spread on the surface, was _bitter_;[4] yet digging wells near to these rivulets or marshes, we found water at the depth only of five or six feet, which was sweet and palatable.