They extend from the plains north of Yambu' into the Sinaitic Peninsula. They boast no connection with the great tribe Al-Harb; but they are of noble race, are celebrated for fighting, and, it is said, have good horses. The specimens we saw at Marsa Dumayghah were poor ones, they had few clothes, and no arms except the usual Jambiyah (crooked dagger). By their civility and their cringing style of address it was easy to see they had been corrupted by intercourse with strangers. [FN#12] It is written Wish and Wejh; by Ali Bey Vadjeh and Wadjih; Wodjeh and Wosh by Burckhardt; and Wedge by Moresby. [FN#13] The terrible Afghan knife. [FN#14] These the Arabs, in the vulgar tongue, call Jarad al-Bahr, "sea locusts"; as they term the shrimp Burghut al-Bahr, or the sea-flea. Such compound words, palpably derived from land objects, prove the present Ichthyophagi and the Badawin living on the coast to be a race originally from the interior. Pure and ancient Arabs still have at least one uncompounded word to express every object familiar to them, and it is in this point that the genius of the language chiefly shows itself. [FN#15] The Arab superstition is, that these flashes of light are jewels made to adorn the necks and hair of the mermaids and mermen. When removed from their native elements the gems fade and disappear. If I remember right, there is some idea similar to this among the Scotch, and other Northern people. [FN#16] The word Jabal will frequently occur in these pages. It is applied by the Arabs to any rising ground or heap of rocks, and, therefore, must not always be translated "Mountain." In the latter sense, it has found its way into some of the Mediterranean dialects. Gibraltar is Jabal al-Tarik, and "Mt. Ethne that men clepen Mounte Gybelle" is "Monte Gibello,"-the mountain, par excellence. [FN#17] It was most probably a prickle of the "egg-fruit," or Echinus, so common in these seas, generally supposed to be poisonous. I found it impossible to cure my foot in Al-Hijaz, and every remedy seemed to make it worse. This was as much the effect of the climate of Arabia, as of the hardships and privations of a pilgrimage. After my return to Egypt in the autumn, the wound healed readily without medical treatment. [FN#18] Abu Bakr, Omar, and Osman. [FN#19] I have found both these forms of writing the word in books; Moresby, or rather Mr. Rassam, erroneously spells it "Ridwah." [FN#20] In a future chapter, when describing a visit to Mt. Ohod, near Al-Madinah, I shall enter into some details about these "Mountains of Paradise." [FN21] The translator, however, erroneously informs us, in a footnote, that Radhwah is a mountain near Meccah. [p.225]CHAPTER XII. THE HALT AT YAMBU'.