and its western ones to Wadi Abu Hamamid, a tributary of Wadi Kharit. PLATE XII. [Illustration] [Illustration: Typical Views among the Mountains of Hamata and Abu Hamamid. (The high peak in the distance in the lower view is Gebel Hamata).] =Gebel Um Semiuki= is a sharp cone rising to 1,283 metres above the sea among a mass of lower hills three kilometres north-east of Gebel Abu Hamamid. It is of a reddish aspect, due to a film which covers the weathered surface of the green and grey hornfels of which it is composed. It is drained by the Wadi Um Semiuki. =Gebel Abu Argub= is a very conspicuous mountain, almost conical in shape, seven and a half kilometres south-south-west of Gebel Abu Hamamid, from which it is separated by lower hills. To the south, Gebel Abu Argub overlooks the plain of Selaia. Its peak, 1,690 metres above sea-level, is a good landmark from the south and west. =Gebel Kahfa= is a many-peaked mountain of granite rising abruptly to a height of 1,018 metres above sea from among lower hills of dark schists, nineteen kilometres south-west of Gebel Abu Hamamid. It is detached from the main mountain-mass, being separated from it by the heads of Wadi Um Retba. Its faces are in many places sheer precipices of several hundred metres (_see_ Plate XIII), but the ascent of it from the north is not very difficult. In occupying Kahfa as a station I approached it from Bir Shadli by a well-marked track which skirts the western foot-hills and leads to the Wadi Helie. Leaving this track where it crosses Wadi Um Hargal some six kilometres from Bir Shadli, I ascended the Wadi Um Hargal and crossed the pass at its head into the head of Wadi Um Retba, where I pitched my camp at an altitude of 563 metres, at the foot of Gebel Kahfa 1·3 kilometres north-north-east of the beacon on its summit. The climb of 455 metres from this camp to the top occupied three hours. There is good bivouacking ground close east of the summit, between two ridges. The beacon which marks the triangulation point is in latitude 24° 8′ 18″, longitude 34° 38′ 55″. A walk round the top is full of interest; one can reach many points overlooking tremendous precipices, and the forms assumed by the granite peaks are very remarkable. On the west side of the mountain is a rather large open space forming the head of Wadi Helie, but elsewhere one is surrounded by low hills. The principal drainers of Kahfa are the Wadis Um Hargal and Um Retba (tributaries of Wadi el Sheikh) to the north, and Helie and Abu Hashim (tributaries of Wadi Kharit) to the south. =Gebel Medsus= is a small group of high hills rising among lower ones between Gebel Abu Hamamid and Bir Shadli.