These Turks seemed to be above the middling rank of people; each of them had his little cloak bag very neatly packed up; and they gave me to understand that there was money in it. These they placed in my servants tent, and chained them all together, round the middle pillar of it; for it was easy to see the Arabs of the caravan had those packages in view, from the full moment of the Turk’s arrival. We staid all the 18th at Legeta, waiting for the junction of the caravans, and departed the 19th at six o’clock in the morning. Our journey, all that day, was through a plain, never less than a mile broad, and never broader than three; the hills, on our right and left, were higher than the former, and of a brownish calcined colour, like the stones on the sides of Mount Vesuvius, but without any herb or tree upon them. At half past ten, we passed a mountain of green and red marble, and at twelve we entered a plain called Hamra, where we first observed the sand red, with a purple cast, of the colour of porphyry, and this is the signification of Hamra, the name of the valley. I dismounted here, to examine of what the rocks were composed; and found, with the greatest pleasure, that here began the quarries of porphyry, without the mixture of any other stone; but it was imperfect, brittle, and soft. I had not been engaged in this pursuit an hour, before we were alarmed with a report that the Atouni had attacked the rear of the caravan; we were at the head of it. The Turks and my servants were all drawn together, at the foot of the mountain, and posted as advantageously as possible. But it soon appeared that they were some thieves only, who had attempted to steal some loads of corn from camels that were weak, or fallen lame, perhaps in intelligence with those of our own caravans. All the rest of the afternoon, we saw mountains of a perfectly purple colour, all of them porphyry; nor has Ptolemy[151] much erred in the position of them. About four o’clock, we pitched our tent at a place called Main el Mafarek. The colour of the valley El Hamra continued to this station; and it was very singular to observe, that the ants, or pismires, the only living creatures I had yet observed, were all of a beautiful red colour like the sand. The 20th, at six o’clock in the morning, we left Main el Mafarek, and, at ten, came to the mouth of the defiles. At eleven we began to descend, having had a very imperceptible ascent from Kenné all the way. We were now indemnified for the sameness of our natural productions yesterday; for, on each side of the plain, we found different sorts of marble, twelve kinds of which I selected, and took with me.