The routes followed by the pilgrims were the ordinary caravan routes, subject to some variation. Thus the pilgrims of 1479, mindful of the raiding of a caravan by some Catalans between Gaza and Tur, left Gaza by “a route that had not been followed for twenty years;” they went by “Rappa” (Rafa), “Makati Nockra” (low-lying ground), where there were many gazelles and entered the “Wadi el Arish” (Rieter, p. 91). The pilgrims of 1483, after leaving “Gaza,” stopped at “Lebhem,” where there was a mosque, crossed a sandy plain to “Chawatha,” “called Cades by the Latins,” where it rained, and where there were large cisterns in ruins (Fabri, ii. 494), Ain Kadeis of the present day. Here they entered the “Wadi Gayan” (“Gyon” of Joos, p. 147), the present Wadi el Jain, and stopped in the “Wadi Wadalar,” the scene of the Catalan outrage (Fabri, ii. 502; Breydenbach, p. 187), with the “Wadi Magdabee” or “Mahgaby” and the “Gebel Hallel,” the present Gebel Hellal. They then camped near “Magara,” a name signifying holes, where Fabri, setting out from the camp, ascended a hill on which he found piles of stones and fluttering rags which he thought were intended to work magic, so he tore them down and set up a cross, but he well-nigh missed his way going back to the tents. The next stopping place was “Hachsene,” an important watering station, where the party of the year met many Arabs, and where the pilgrims stored water for three days. This was doubtless the present Bir Hassana, for they were moving over white ground (noted as white chalk mounds on the modern map) to “Minshene” (Fabri, ii. 515), modern Minshera, where they entered the “Wadi el Arish,” camping at “El Harock” or “Barak” (Fabri, ii. 510), the “Wadi Torcko” or “Borricko” of the travellers of 1479 (p. 697). Here they must have been near Nakhl. After passing the white mountain “Chalep” or “Calpio” (perhaps the Colebmaleo of Jacopo), they reached the white “Wadi Meshmar” (Mesmar of Joos), where silver and gold had been worked in the mines as was shown by the smelting. The name corresponds to modern Gebel Megmar. Following the “Hallicub,” where the water was bad, they crossed the wilderness “Elphogaya,” and then entered the red sandstone district of “Rackani” (or “Rochi” or “Roachyne”), where they encamped in an exposed situation. On the following day they descended along the steepest gorge Fabri had ever seen, the modern Naghb el Racki. At its foot they camped in _Ramathaym_, _i.e._ bushes, and saw a star at night which, they were told, stood above the convent of St. Katherine. Later stopping places were “Scholie” or “Schoyle,” “Abelharock,” and “Magara” (or “Mackera” or “Mackasea”), where the road branched off to Tur. The pilgrims of 1479 and 1483 noted the place where Moses pastured his flocks near “Wackya,” probably the present El Watiyeh, which is still associated both with Nebi Saleh and with Moses.[282] On the twelfth day after leaving Gaza, the pilgrims arrived at the convent.