_Fifthly_, Once more leaving Suez; after having passed over a small piece of marine and alluvial formation near the sea, and taking a westerly direction, a narrow tract of _tertiary sandstone_, so designated by Russegger, is observed; it is a plain which gradually ascends from the shore of the Gulf, and in it is placed the Castle of _Ajroud_; the water obtained there is very bitter. Beyond this to the west, the plain becomes _sandy_, and covered with black flints. But the soil and hills at _Wadi Emshash_, which signify the "Valley of the Waterpits," near Ajroud, are calcareous: the well there, called _Bir Emshash_, yields after rain good drinking water. The hills around Ajroud consist of _tertiary limestone_ and _marl_. More to the south, Gebel Ataka divides this formation, itself being a _secondary limestone_ belonging to the _cretaceous_ series, and, according to Dr Robinson, is strewed thickly with _flint_ pebbles. It terminates in _Ras Ataka_, or "Cape Deliverance," on the Gulf. The sandy and gravelly plain, _El Baidea_, the _Wadi Tawarik_ of others, has been named by some, the "Valley of Moses," Wadi Mousa; it communicates on the west with _Wadi-el-Tyh_. _Gebel Deraj_ (steps) is limestone of the same cretaceous series as Mount Ataka; and this formation stretches out southwards to a great distance, constituting a large portion of the East Egyptian Desert. Then on the south of the former mountain, a band of granite, which forms the northern ridge of _Gebel Kallala_, is observed, wherein there exist remains of old _copper_ mines. Those called _Reigatamerih_, situate among low hills, "have evidently been worked by the ancients, as well from the quantity of pottery and _scoriæ_ there, as from the remains of miners' houses, and the regular manner in which the caverns have been cut, following up the veins."[16] Footnote 16: _Mr J. Wilkinson_ on the Eastern Desert of Upper Egypt, p. 32, vol. ii. Journal of the Royal Geographical Society.