This table is recommended to the many "profane" who do not believe a rock to be auriferous or argentiferous, unless they can see the gold and silver with the naked eye.]

111 (return)
[ The button, when assayed by the official mining office at Trieste, was pronounced to be antimony! It was extracted from ruddle (red ochre) and limonite (brown ochre or hydrous oxide of iron): both are sesquioxides (Fe2O3) which become dark when heated and change to magnetic oxide (Fe3O4). M. Marie is probably the first who ever "ran down" iron oxide with lead. No wonder that Colonel Ross pronounced his culot a marvellous alloy.]

112 (return)
[ Kárún was a pauper cousin of Musá, who had learned alchemy from Kulsum, the Lawgiver's sister. The keys of his treasure loaded forty mules; and his palace had doors and roof of fine gold. As he waxed fat he kicked against his chief, who as usual became exceeding wroth, and prayed that the earth might swallow him.]

113 (return)
[ Pp. 337—339.]

114 (return)
[ "Tasbíh" literally means uttering Subhán Allah!—"Praise be to Allah!"]

115 (return)
[ It is curious how this goddess has extended, through the Dalmatian "Fortunale" and the Slav "Fortunja" of the Bosnian peasants, to Turkey, Egypt, and even Arabia. Applied to a violent storm, perhaps it is a euphuism for the Latin word in the sense of good sign or omen; so in Propertius—"Nulla ne placatæ veniet fortuna procellæ."]

116 (return)
[ P. 341.]

117 (return)
[ The singular is Maknáwi, pronounced Magnáwi.]

118 (return)
[ Loc. cit. p. 79.]

119 (return)
[ The passage was brought to my notice by my excellent friend, Mr. James Pincherle of Trieste. In the "Atlante Storico e Geografico della Terra Santa, esposto in 14 Tavole e 14 Quadri storici della Palestina," republished (without date) by Francesco Pagnoni of Milan, appears an annexed commentary by Cornelius à Lapide. The latter, Cornelius Van den Steen (Corneille de la Pierre), born near Liege, a learned Jesuit, profound theologian, and accomplished historian, was famous as a Hebraist and lecturer on Holy Writ. He died at Rome March 12, 1637; and a collected edition of his works in sixteen volumes, folio, appeared at Venice in 1711, and at Lyons in 1732. It is related of him that, being called to preach in the presence of the Pope, he began his sermon on his knees. The Holy Father commanded him to rise, and he obeyed; but his stature was so short that he appeared to be still kneeling. The order was reiterated; whereupon Zacchaeus, understanding its cause, said modestly, "Beatissime Pater, ipse fecit nos, et non ipsi nos."]

120 (return)
[ The name and other points connected with it have been noticed in "The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 338.]

121 (return)
[ See "The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 338.]

122 (return)
[ "Travels in Syria, etc.," p. 524.]

123 (return)
[ In "The Gold-Mines of Midian," p. 338, this name became, by virtue of the author's cacography, "Beoche."]

124 (return)
[ "Diario in Arabia Petrea" (1865) di Visconte Giammartino Arconati. Roma, 1872.]

125 (return)
[ Wellsted, ii. 143.]

126 (return)
[ "Ghor" is the whole depression including the Jordan and the Dead Sea, while El-'Akabah is its southernmost section. In older maps this gulf is made to fork at the north—a topographical absurdity. I have also fallen into a notable blunder about the Jebel el-Shará', in "The Gold-Mines of Midian," note ?, p. 175.]

127 (return)
[ See Appendix, p. 537, "Geological Notes," etc., in Dr. Beke's "Sinai in Arabia."]

128 (return)
[ See "The Gold-Mines of Midian," pp. 338, 339.]

129 (return)
[ This Yitm, which Burckhardt first wrote El-Ithem, unfortunately gave Dr. Beke an opportunity of finding, in his "Wady el-Ithem," the "Etham of the Exodus." (See "The Gold-Mines of Midian," pp. 359—361). The latter has been conclusively shown by Brugsch-Bey in his lecture, "La Sortie des Hébreux d'E'gypte" (Alexandrie: Mourès, 1874), p. 31, to be the great fort of Khatom, on the highway to Phoenicia. The roots Khatam, Asham, Tam, like the Arabic "Khatm" () signify to seal up, close; and thus Khatom in Egyptian, as Atham, Etham in Hebrew, means a closed place, a fortress. Wallin calls the "Yitm," which he never visited, "Wâdî Lithm, a cross valley opening through the chain at about eight hours (twenty-four miles) north of 'Akaba'"—possibly Lithm is a misprint, but it is repeated in more than one page.]

130 (return)
[ Dr. Beke, who afterwards changed his mind, would identify Hor, the burial-place of Aaron, with Horeb of the Rock ("Orig. Biblicae," 195). He then adopted ("Sinai in Arabia," p. 77) the opinion of St. Jerome ("De Situ," etc., p. 191), "Mihi autem videtur quod duplice nomine mons nunc Sina, nunc Choreb vocatur." Wellsted (ii. 103) also makes Horeb synonymous with "Wilderness of Sinai." Professor Palmer (118) translates Horeb by "ground that has been drained and left dry:" he would include in it the whole Desert of Sinai, together with "the Mountain;" whilst he warns us that the monks call the whole southern portion of their mountain "Horeb." Others confine "Horeb" to Jebel Musá, and even to its eastern shoulder.]

131 (return)
[ For the Mount or Mountain see Exodus xix. 2, 12, 20, 23; also xxxii. 19; Deut. iv. II, and v. 23; Heb. xii. 18. Josephus ("Antiq.," II. ii. I) speaks of it similarly as a "mountain," and describes it with all the apparatus of fable; while his compatriot and contemporary, St. Paul (Epist. to the Galatians iv. 25), calls it only "Mount Sinai in Arabia," i.e. east of Jordan.]

132 (return)
[ See Athenaeum, February 8th and 15th, 1873.]

133 (return)
[ They were heard of by Burckhardt ("Syria," p. 510).]

134 (return)
[ Beke (p. 446), on February 6th, estimated the rise of the tide at 'Akabah head to be three to four feet. This is greatly in excess of actuality; but, then, he was finding out some rational way of drowning "Pharaoh and his host."]

135 (return)
[ Those living further north, the 'Ammárín and the Liyásinah, are unmitigated scoundrels and dangerous ruffians: amongst the former Shaykh Sala'mah ibn 'Awwád with his brother, and among the latter Ibrahím el-Hasanát, simply deserve hanging. In Edom, too, 'Abd el-Rahmán el-'Awar ("the One-eyed"), Shaykh of the Fellahín, is "wanted;" and the 'Alawín-Huwaytát would be greatly improved were they to be placed under Egyptian, instead of Syrian, rule.]

136 (return)
[ Dr. Beke's artist (p. 374) has produced a work of imagination, especially in the foreground and background of his "Migdol or Castle of Akaba."]

137 (return)
[ Commonly written Kansúh (Kansooh) and corrupted by Europeans to Campson (like Sampson) Goree.]

138 (return)
[ Not Hámid, as some mispronounce the word.]

139 (return)
[ "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. XII.]

140 (return)
[ The chain did not part. The anchor was afterwards fished up by divers from El-Muwaylah, and its shank was found broken clean across like a carrot. Yet there was no sign of a flaw. Mr. Duguid calculated the transverse breaking strain of average anchor-iron (8 1/2 inches x 4 = 22 square inches), at 83 1/10 tons; and the tensile breaking strain at 484 tons, or 22 tons to the square inch; while the stud-length cable of 1 1/8 inch chain, 150 fathoms long, would carry, if proof, 24 tons. Captain Mohammed was persevering enough, after the divers had failed, to recover his chain when on his cruise homewards; and the Rais of the Sambúk was equally lucky.]

141 (return)
[ "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Ch. XII. p. 317.]

142 (return)
[ See Chap. X.]

143 (return)
[ Lieutenant-Colonel Bolton kindly compared the specimens with those in his cabinet. The first, which was accompanied by quartz, resembled the produce of Orenburg. A Peruvian mine-proprietor had pronounced it to be "Rosicler" silver. The magnetic sand bore a tantalizing resemblance to the highly auriferous black sand of Ekaterinburg.]

144 (return)
[ Correspondence of the Sheffield Telegraph (May 18), copied into the Globe of May 25, etc., etc., etc.]

145 (return)
[ "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. XI. It was then visited from its creek, Sharm Jibbah.]

146 (return)
[ Chap. XIV.]

147 (return)
[ A water-rolled fragment of this rock is called Korundogeschieb by Dr. L. Karl Moser, Professor of Natural History at the Gymnasium of Trieste, who kindly examined my little private collection of "show things."]

148 (return)
[ Chap. XII.]

149 (return)
[ Let me at once protest against the assertions contained in an able review of "The Gold-Mines of Midian" (Pall Mall Gazette, June 7, 1878). The writer makes ancient Midian extend from the north of the Arabic Gulf (El-'Akabah?) and Arabia Felix (which? of the classics or of the moderns?) to the plains of Moab"—exactly where it assuredly does not now extend.]

150 (return)
[ Described in Chap. XV.]

151 (return)
[ This place is noticed in "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. X.]

152 (return)
[ I am not certain of this name, as several variants were given to me. For historical notices of the ruined town of Khulasah, see Chap. IV.]

153 (return)
[ In "The Gold-Mines of Midian," Chap. V., occur several differences of nomenclature, which may or may not be mistakes. They are corrected in my "Itineraries," part ii. sect. 2.]

154 (return)
[ To this breed belonged the beast which carried me on the first Expedition.]

155 (return)
[ For a short notice of this region, hitherto unvisited by Europeans, see Chap. XVIII.]

156 (return)
[ For a note on the "Burnt Mountain," so well known at El-Wijh, see Chap. XVIII.]

157 (return)
[ It was afterwards exhibited at the Hippodrome, Cairo, and was carefully photographed by M. Lacaze. Others said that it came from the east of our camp, near the Jils el-Dáim.]

158 (return)
[ It was duly committed to the charge of our Sayyid.]