pick their way through them for more than a short distance above the well, and thousands of doves inhabit the trees. There are some ruins near the wells, built of boulders set in mud; they are said to have been erected by Dervishes in 1886, when they seized Halaib and Bir Akwamtra. These Dervishes were killed off by Egyptian troops, some of them being chased to Bir Meisah and shot there. As the densely wooded and stony character of Wadi Akwamtra prevents camels from passing up it much above the well, I found it necessary, in order to pitch a camp within a reasonable distance of the summit of Gebel Elba, to descend Wadi Akwamtra for about a kilometre and to cross the Asut Duk pass leading east into the head of Wadi Yahameib. This pass is too steep for loaded camels, and even riding camels have to be led down it; baggage camels have to go round the hill spurs north of the pass. The head of Wadi Yahameib is also full of trees and scrub, but it is possible to get camels up within four kilometres of the summit of Elba by this route, whereas Bir Akwamtra is over six kilometres from it. =Wadi Aideib=, with its principal tributary the Wadi Yahameib, drains the north-east portion of Gebel Elba and reaches the sea in about latitude 22° 21′. A well, called =Bir Abu Ramad=, is situated in the wadi bed not far from the sea; like that of almost all the wells close to the coast, its water is probably brackish. The main head of Wadi Aideib is on the east side of the main peaks of Elba. Coursing at first north-eastward, this drainage channel runs through an open sloping plain about one and a half kilometres wide between the mountain spurs, its channel here dividing into a great loop with numerous feeders from the ranges on either side. Passing west of the high isolated granite mass of Karam Elba, it runs northward over the sloping plain, receiving the Wadi Yahameib from the west near the low red granite hills called Ti Hamra, and then courses north of east to the sea.