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The Land of Midian, Vol. 1

R >> Richard Burton >> The Land of Midian, Vol. 1




The former, of considerable extent, hugs the watercourse, and
crowns all the natural spurs that buttress the bed. Beginning
from the north lie two blocks of building considerable in extent:
the southern, called by the Arabs El-Malká, is a broken
parallelogram. Further down stream the bank is a vast strew of
broken pottery; and one place, covered with glass fragments, was
named by our soldiers El-Khammárah--"the tavern" or "the hotel."
As in ancient Etruria, so here, the people assemble after heavy
rains to pick up what luck throws in the way. It is said that
they often gather gold pieces, square as well as round, bearing
by way of inscription "prayers" to the Apostle of Allah. Some of
us, however, had a shrewd suspicion that the Tibr, or "pure
gold-dust," is still washed from the sands, and cast probably in
rude moulds.

Behind, inland or westward of this southern town, lies the City
of the Dead. Unlike the pitted graveyard to the north-east, the
cemetery is wholly composed of catacombs, which the Bedawin call
Magháir ("caves") or Bíbán ("doors"). The sites are the sides and
mouths of four little branch-valleys which cut through the
hillocks representing the Wady-bank. The northernmost is known as
Wady el-Khurayk, because it drains a height of that name: the
others bear the generic term Wady el-Safrá, so called, like the
hauteville hill, from the tawny-yellow colour of the rocks. The
catacombs, fronting in all directions, because the makers were
guided by convenience, not by ceremonial rule, are hollowed in
the soft new sandstone underlying the snowy gypsum; and most of
the façades show one or more horizontal lines of natural
bead-work, rolled pebbles disposed parallelly by the natural
action of water. In the most ruinous, the upper layer is a
cornice of hard sandstone, stained yellow with iron and much
creviced; the base, a soft conglomerate of the same material, is
easily corroded; and the supernal part caves in upon the
principle which is destroying Niagara. At each side of the
doorways is a Mastabah ("stone bench"), also rock-hewn, and with
triple steps. The door-jambs, which have hollowings for hinges
and holes for bars, are much worn and often broken; they are
rarely inclined inwards after the fashion of Egypt. A few have
windows, or rather port-holes, flanking the single entrance. The
peculiarities and the rare ornaments will be noticed when
describing each receptacle; taken as a whole, they are evidently
rude and barbarous forms of the artistic catacombs and
tower-tombs that characterize Petra and Palmyra.

The "Magháir" may roughly be divided into four topical groups.
These are--the northern outliers; the "Tombs of the Kings," so
called by ourselves because they distinguish themselves from all
the others; the "buttressed caves" (two sets); and the southern
outliers. The first mentioned begin with a ruin on the right jaw
of the Khurayk gorge: it is dug in strata dipping, as usual, from
north-west to south-east; it faces eastward, and the entrance
declines to the south. All external appearance of a catacomb has
disappeared; a rude porch, a frame of sticks and boughs, like the
thatched eaves of a Bulgarian hut, stands outside, while inside
signs of occupation appear in hearths and goat-dung, in smoky
roof, and in rubbish-strewn floor. Over another ruin to the west
are graffiti, of which copies from squeezes and photographs are
here given: there are two loculi in the southern wall; and in the
south-eastern corner is a pit, also sunk for a sarcophagus. A
hill-side to the south of this cave shows another, dug in the
Tauá or coloured sandstone, and apparently unfinished: part of it
is sanded up, and its only yield, an Egyptian oil-jar of modern
make, probably belonged to some pilgrim. Crossing the second
dwarf gorge we find, on the right bank, a third large ruin of at
least fourteen loculi; the hard upper reef, dipping at an angle
of 30 degrees, and striking from north-west to southeast, fell in
when the soft base was washed away by weather, and the anatomy of
the graves is completely laid bare. Higher up the same Wady is a
fourth Maghárah, also broken down: the stucco-coating still shows
remnants of red paint; and the characters **--possibly Arab
"Wasm," or tribe-marks--are cut into an upright entrance-stone.

The precipitous left bank of the third gorge contains the three
finest specimens, which deserve to be entitled the "Tombs of the
Kings." Of these, the two facing eastward are figured by Rüppell
(p. 220) in the antiquated style of his day, with fanciful
foreground and background.[EN#42] His sketch also places solid
rock where the third and very dilapidated catacomb of this group,
disposed at right angles, fronts southwards. Possibly the façades
may once have been stuccoed and coloured; now they show the bare
and pebble-banded sandstone.

The southernmost, which may be assumed as the type, has an
upright door, flanked by a stone bench of three steps. Over the
entrance is a defaced ornament which may have been the bust of a
man: in Rüppell it is a kind of geometrical design. The frontage
has two parallel horizontal lines, raised to represent cornices.
Each bears a decoration resembling crenelles or Oriental ramparts
broken into three steps; the lower set numbers eight, including
the half ornaments at the corners, and the higher seven. The
interior is a mixture of upright recesses, probably intended for
the gods or demons; and of horizontal loculi, whose grooves show
that they had lids. There is no symmetry in the niches, in the
sarcophagi, or in the paths and passages threading the graves.
The disposition will best be understood from the ground-plans
drawn by the young Egyptian officers: their sketches of the
façades are too careless and incorrect for use; but the want is
supplied by the photographs of M. Lacaze.

Above these three "Tombs of the Kings" are many rock-cavities
which may or may not have been sepulchral. Time has done his
worst with them. We mounted the background of a quoin-shaped hill
by a well-trodden path, leading to the remnants of a rude Burj
("watch-tower"), and to a semicircle of dry wall, garnished with
a few sticks for hanging rags and tatters. The latter denotes the
Musallat Shu'ayb, or praying-place of (prophet) Jethro; and here
our Sayyid and our Shaykh took the opportunity of applying for
temporal and eternal blessings. The height at the edge of the
precipice which, cliffing to the north, showed a view of our camp
and of Yubú and Shu'shú' Islands, was in round numbers 450 feet
(aner. 29.40--28.94). From this vantage-ground we could
distinctly trace the line of the Wady Makná, beginning in a round
basin at the western foot of the northern Shigd Mountain and its
sub-range; while low rolling hills, along which we were to
travel, separated it from the Wady Bada'-‘Afál to the south.

Two other important sets of catacombs, which I will call the
"buttressed caves," are pierced in the right flank of the same
gorge, at the base of a little conical hill, quaintly capped with
a finial of weathered rock. The material is the normal silicious
gravel-grit, traversed and cloisonné by dykes of harder stone.
Beginning at the south, we find a range of three, facing eastward
and separated from one another by flying buttresses of natural
rock. No. 1 has a window as well as a door. Next to it is a
square with six open loculi ranged from north to south. No. 3
shows a peculiarity--two small pilasters of the rudest
(Egyptian?) Doric, the only sign of ornamentation found inside
the tombs; a small break in the south-western wall connects it
with the northernmost loculus of No. 2. Furthest north are three
bevel-holes, noting the beginning of a catacomb; and round the
northern flank of the detached cone are six separate caves, all
laid waste by the furious northern gales.

The second set is carved in the bluff eastern end of an adjoining
reef that runs away from the Wady; it consists of four sepulchres
with the normal buttresses. They somewhat resemble those of the
Kings, but there are various differences. No. 2 from the south is
flanked by pilasters with ram's-horn capitals, barbarous forms of
Ionic connected by three sets of triglyphs: the pavement is of
slabs; there is an inner niche, and one of the corners has
apparently been used as an oven. On a higher plane lies a sunken
tomb, with a deep drop and foot-holes by way of ladder; outside
it the rocky platform is hollowed, apparently for graves. The
other three facades bear the crenelle ornaments; the two to the
north show double lines of seven holes drilled deep into the
plain surface above the door, as if a casing had been nailed on;
while the northernmost yielded a fragmentary inscription on the
southern wall. These are doubtless the "inscribed tablets on
which the names of kings are engraved," alluded to in the
Jihan-numá of Haji Khahífah.[EN#43] Rounding the reef to the
north, we found three catacombs in the worst condition: one of
them showed holes drilled in the façade.

The southern outliers lie far down the Wady 'Afál, facing east,
and hewn in the left flank of a dwarf gulley which falls into the
right bank not far from the site called by our men "the tavern."
The group numbers three, all cut in the normal sandstone, with
the harder dykes which here stand up like ears. The principal
item is the upper cave, small, square, and apparently still used
by the Arabs: in the middle of the lintel is a lump looking like
the mutilated capital of a column. The two lower caves show only
traces.

There is a tradition that some years ago a Frank (Rüppell?),
after removing his Arab guides, dug into the tombs, and found
nothing but human hair. Several of the horizontal loculi
contained the bones of men and beasts: I did not disturb them, as
all appeared to be modern. The floors sounding hollow, gave my
companions hopes of "finds;" but I had learned, after many a
disappointment, how carefully the Bedawi ransack such places. We
dug into four sepulchres, including the sunken catacomb and the
(southern) inscribed tomb. Usually six inches of flooring led to
the ground-rock; in the sarcophagi about eight inches of tamped
earth was based upon nine feet of sand that ended at the bottom.
The only results were mouldering bones, bits of marble and
pottery, and dry seeds of the Kaff Maryam, the Rose of Jericho
(Anastatica), which here feeds the partridges, and which in Egypt
supplies children with medicine, and expectant mothers with a
charm. As the plant is bibulous, opening to water and even to the
breath, it is placed by the couch, and its movement shows what is
to happen. The cave also yielded specimens of bats (Rhinopoma
macrophyllum), with fat at the root of their spiky tails.

I have described at considerable length this ruined Madiáma,
which is evidently the capital of Madyan Proper, ranking after
Petra. In one point it is still what it was, a chief station upon
the highway, then Nabatí, now Moslem, which led to the Ghor or
Wady el-'Arabah. But in all others how changed! "The traveller
shall come; he that saw me in my beauty shall come: his eyes
shall search the field; they shall not find me."





Chapter IV.
Notices of Precious Metals in Midian--the Papyri and the Mediæval
Arab Geographers.



In my volume on "The Gold-Mines of Midian," the popular Hebrew
sources of information--the Old Testament and the Talmud--were
ransacked for the benefit of the reader. It now remains to
consult the Egyptian papyri and the pages of the mediæval Arab
geographers: extracts from the latter were made for me, in my
absence from England, by the well-known Arabist, the Rev. G.
Percy Badger.[EN#44] I will begin with the beginning.

Dr. Heinrich Brugsch-Bey, whose "History of Egypt"[EN#45] is the
latest and best gift to Egyptologists, kindly drew my attention
to an interesting passage in his work, and was good enough to
copy for me the source of his information, tile Harris Papyrus
(No. 1) in the British Museum.

The first king of the twentieth Dynasty, born about B.C. 1200,
and residing at Thebes, was Rameses III., whose title, Ramessu
pa-Nuter (or Nuti), "Ramses the god," became in the hands of the
Greeks Rhampsinitos. This great prince, ascending the throne in
evil days, applied himself at once to the internal and external
economy of his realm; he restored the caste-divisions, and
carried fire and sword into the lands of his enemies. He
transported many captives to Egypt; fortified his eastern
frontier; and built, in the Gulf of Suez, a fleet of large and
small ships, in order to traffic with Pun and the "Holy
Land,"[EN#46] and to open communication with the
"Incense-country" and with the wealthy shores of the Indian
Ocean.

"Not less important," says our author (p. 594), "for Egypt, which
required before all things the copper applied to every branch of
her industry, was the sending of commissioners, by land (on
donkey back!) and by sea, to explore and exploit the rich
cupriferous deposits of 'Atháka (in the neighbourhood of the
'Akabah Gulf?). This metal, with the glance of gold, was there
cast in brick-shape, and was transported by sea to the capital.

"The king also restored his attention to the treasures of the
Sinaitic Peninsula, which had excited the concupiscence of the
Egyptians since the days of King Senoferu[EN#47] (B.C. 3700).
Loaded with rich presents for the sanctuary of the goddess
Hathor, the protectress of Mafka-land, chosen employés were
despatched on a royal commission to the peninsula, for the
purpose of supplying the Pharaoh's treasury with the highly
prized blue-green copper-stones (Mafka, Turkisen?[EN#48])."

These lines were published by Dr. Brugsch-Bey before he had heard
of my discoveries of metals and of a modern turquoise-digging in
the Land of Midian. He had decided that "'Atháka" lay to the east
of Suez, chiefly from the insistence laid upon the shipping;
sea-going craft would certainly not be required for a sail of
three or four hours. Moreover, as I have elsewhere shown, Jebel
'Atakáh, the "Mountain of Deliverance," at the mouth of the Wady
Musá, was referred to the Jews at some time after the Christian
era, and probably during the fourth and fifth centuries, when
pilgrimages to the apocryphal Mounts Sinai became the fashion.

During the summer of 1877, Dr. Brugsch-Bey was kind enough to
copy and to translate the original document, upon which he
founded his short account of the "'Atháka" copper-mines. I offer
it to the reader in full.

The order of the alphabet is that adopted by Dr. Brugsch-Bey. It
relies for the first letter upon the authority of Plutarch, who
asserts that the Egyptian abecedarium numbered the square of five
(twenty-five); and that it opened with ----, which also
expresses the god Thoth;--this is the case with ----
the leaf of some water-plant. The sequence of the letters has been
suggested by a number of minor considerations: we begin with the
vowels, and proceed to the labial, the liquids, and so
forth.[EN#49]

The sense of the highly interesting inscription, in its English
order, would be:--

"I have sent my commissioners to the land 'Atháka; to the (those)[EN#50]
great mines of copper (or coppers)[EN#51] which are in this place
('Atháka); and their (i.e. the commissioners') ships[EN#52] were loaded,
carrying them (the metals); while other (commissioners were sent and)
marched on their asses. No! one never (ter-tot) had heard, since the
(days of the olden) kings, that these (copper) mines had been
found.[EN#53] The loads (i.e. of the ships and the asses) carried copper;
the loads were by myriads for their ships, which went thence (i.e. from
the mines) to Egypt. (After) happily arriving, the loads were landed,
according to royal order, under the Pavilion,[EN#54] in form of copper-
bricks;[EN#55] they were numerous as frogs (in the marsh),[EN#56] and in
quality they were gold (Nub) of the third degree.[EN#57] I made them
admired (by) all the world as marvellous things."

The following lines upon the subject of Midian are from the notes
(p. 143) of Jacob Golius in "Alferganum" (small 4to. Amsterdam,
1669), a valuable translation with geographical explanations.
Ahmad ibn Mohammed ibn Kathír el-Fargháni derived his "lakab" or
cognomen from the province of Farghán (Khokand), to the
north-east of the Oxus; he wrote a work upon astronomy, and he
flourished about A.H. 184 (= A.D. 800).

"Ibidem ( Madyan) Medjan sive Midjan, Antiqui nominis oppidum in
Maris Rubri littore, sub 29 degrees grad. latitudine; ad ortum brumalem
deflectens à montis Sinæ extremitate: ubi feré site Ptolemæi Modiana,
haud dubié eadem cum Midjan. A Geographorum Orientalium quibusdam ad
Ægyptum refertur; à plerisq; omnibus ad Higiazam: quod merito et recté
factum. Nullus enim est, qui Arabibus non annumeret Madianitas; et Sinam,
quæ Madjane borealior, montem Arabiæ facit D. Paulus Gal. iv. Midjan
autem fuit Abrahami ex Kethura filius: unde tribus illa et ab hac urbs
nomen habent. Quam quidem tribum coaluisse, sedibus ut puto et affinitate
in unam cum Ismaëlitis, innuere videntur Geneseos verba. Nam
conspirantibus in Josephi exitium fratribus dicuntur supervenisse
Ismaëlitae; transivisse Midjanite; ipse v ditus ab Ismaëlitis. Ceterum
urbem Midjan Arabes pro ea habent, quæ in Corano vocatur (
Madínat Kúsh): Xaib[EN#58] enim illis idem est, qui Jethro dicitur Exod.
iii. cujus filiam Sipporam Moses uxor duxit, cum ex Ægpto profugisset in
terram Midjan; ubi Jethro princeps erat et Sacerdos. Autonomosia illa
Arabibus familiaris. Ita Hanoch ( Aknúkh) appelatus, Abraham (El-
Khalíl), Rex Saul ( Tálút), etc., licet eorundem propria etiam
usurpentur nomina. Et in ipsis Sacris Libris non uno nomine hic Jethro
designatur. Loci illius puteum[EN#59] Scriptores memorant fano circum
extructo Arabibus sacrum, persuasis Mosem ibi Sipporam et sorores à
pastorum injuriis vindicasse; prout Exod., cap. ii., res describitur. Sed
primis Muhammedici regni bellis universa fere, quae rune extabat, urbs
vastata fuit."

El-Fargháni is followed by the Imám Abú 'Abbás Ahmed bin Yáhyá
bin Jábir, surnamed and popularly known as El-Balázurí, who
flourished between A.H. 232 and 247 (= A.D. 846 to 861), and
wrote the Futú'h el-Buldán, or the "Conquests of Countries." His
words are (pp. 13-14, M. J. de Goeje's edition; Lugduni
Batavorum, 1866)--"It was related to me by Abú Abíd el-Kásim bin
Sallám; who said he was told by Ishák bin Isa, from Malík ibn
Anas and from Rabíat, who heard from a number of the learned,
that the Apostle of Allah (upon whom be peace!) gave in feoff
(Iktá'at) to Bilál bin el-Háris el-Muzni, mines (Ma'ádin, i.e. of
gold) in the district of Furú' (variant, Kurú'). Moreover, it was
related to me by Amrú el-Nákid, and by Ibn Saham el-Antáki (of
Antioch), who both declared to have heard from El-Haytham bin
Jamíl el-Antáki, through Hammád bin Salmah, that Abú Makín,
through Abú Ikrimah Maulá Bilál bin el-Háris el-Muzni, had
averred 'The Apostle of Allah (upon whom be peace!) enfeoffed the
said Bilál with (a bit of) ground containing a mountain and a
(gold) mine; that the sons of Bilál sold part of the grant to one
'Umar bin 'Abd el-'Azíz, when a (gold) mine or, according, to
others, two (gold) mines were found in it; that they said to the
buyer, Verily we sold to thee land for cultivation, and we did
not sell thee (gold) mining-ground; that they brought the letter
of the Apostle (upon whom be peace!) in a (bound) volume: that
'Umar kissed it and rubbed it upon his eyes, and said, Of a truth
let me see what hath come out of it (the mine) and what I have
laid out upon it.' Then he deducted from them the expenses of
working and returned to them the surplus. . . . And I was told by
Musa'b el-Zubayri, from Malik ibn Anas, that the Apostle of Allah
(upon whom be peace!) gave in feoff to Bilál bin Háris mines in
the district of Fara' (sic). There is no difference of opinion
among our learned men on this subject, nor do I know any of our
companions who contradicts (the statement) that the (gold) mine
paid one-fourth per ten (= 2 1/2 per cent.) royalty (to the Bayt
el-Mál, or Public Treasury). Musa'b further relates, from
El-Zahri, that the (gold) mine defrayed the Zakát or poor-rate:
he also said that the proportion was one-fifth (= 2 per cent.);
like that which the people of El-Irák (Mesopotamia) take to this
day from the (gold) mines of El-Fara' (sic), and of Nejrán, and
of Zúl-Marwah, and of Wady El-Kura[EN#60] and others. Moreover,
the fifth is also mentioned by Safáin el-Thauri, and by Abú
Hanífah and Abú Yúsuf, as well as by the people of El-'Irák."

Follows on my list the celebrated Murúj el-Dahab, or "Meads of
Gold," by El-Mas'údi, who died in A.H. 346 (= A.D. 957), and
whose book extends to A.H. 332 (= A.D. 943). Unable to find the
translation of my friend Sprenger, I am compelled to quote from
"Maçoudi. Les Prairies d'Or," texte et traduction par C. Barbier
de Meynard et Pavet de Courteille. Société Asiatique, Paris,
1864, vol. iii. pp. 301-305.

"Les théologians ne sont pas d'accord sur la question de savoir à
quel peuple appartenait Choâïb (Shu'ayb), fils de Nawil, fils de
Rawaïl, fils de Mour, fils d'Anka, fils de Madian, fils
d'Abraham, l'ami de Dieu, quoiqu'il soit certain que sa langue
était l'arabe. Les uns pensent qu'il appartenait aux races arabes
éteintes, aux nations qui ont disparu, à quelque une de ces
générations passées dont nous avons parlé. Suivant d'autres, il
s'agirait ici des descendants d'el-Mahd, fils de Djandal, fils de
Yâssob, fils de Madian, fils d'Abraham, dont Choâïb etait frére
par la naissance. De cette race sortit un grand nombre de rods
qui s'étaient dispersés dans des royaumes contigus les uns aux
autres ou sépare's. Parmi ces rods il faut distinguer ceux qui
étaient nommés Aboudjed, Hawaz, Houti, Kalamoun, Çafas et
Kourichat,[EN#61] tous, comme nous venons de le dire, fils
d'el-Mahd, fils de Djandal. Les lettres de l'alphabet sont
représentées précisément par les noms de ces rois, oú l'on
retrouve les vingt-quatre lettres sur lesquelles roule
l'Aboudjed.[EN#62] Il a e'te' dit beaucoup d'autres choses à
propos de ces lettres, comme nous l'avons fait remarquer dans cet
ouvrage; mais il n'entre pas dans notre sujet de rapporter ici
tous les systèmes contradictoires imaginés pour l'expliquer la
signification des lettres.[EN#63] Aboudjed fut roi de la Mecque
et de la partie du Hédjaz qui y confine. Hawaz et Houti régnérent
conjointement dans le pays de Weddj (El-Wijh), qui est le
territoire de Tayif, et la portion du Nedjd qui lui est contigue.
Kalamoun exerçait la suzeraineté sur le royaume de Madian; il y a
même des auteurs qui pensent que son autorité s'étendait
conjointement sur tous les princes et les pays que nous venons de
nommer. Le châtiment du jour de la nuée (Koran, xxvi. 189) eut
lieu sous le re'gne de Kalamoun. Choâïb appelant ces impies à la
pénitence, ils le traitèrent de menteur. Alors il les mena,ca du
châtiment du jour de la nuée, à la suite de quoi une porte du feu
du ciel fut ouverte sur eux. Choâïb se retire, avec ceux qui
avaient cru, dans l'endroit connu sous le nom d'el Aïkah, qui est
un fourré dans la direction de Madian. Cependant, lorsque lcs
incrédules sentirent les effets de la vengeance céleste, et que,
consumés par une chaleur terrible, ils comprirent enfin la
vérité, ils se mirent à la recherche de Choâïb et de ceux qui
avaient cru en lui. Ils les trouvérent abrités sous un nuage
blanc, doucement rafraichi par le zéphire, et ne ressentant en
rien les atteintes de la douleur. Ils les chassèrent de cet
asile, s'imaginant qu'ils y trouveraient eux-mêmes un refuge
contre le fléau qui les poursuivait. Mais Dieu changea cette nuée
en un feu qui se précipita sur leurs têtes. Mountassir, fils
d'el-Moundir el-Médéni, a parlé de ce peuple et a déploré son
triste sort dans des vers où il dit:

"Les rois des enfants de Houti et de Çafas, qui vivaient dans
l'opulence, et ceux de Hawaz, qui possédaient des palais et des
appartements somptueux,

"Régnaient sur la contrée du Hédjaz, et leur beauté était
semblable à celle des rayons du soleil ou à l'éclat de la rune;

"Ils habitaient l'emplacement de la maison sainte, ils
adoucissaient les moeurs de leurs compatriotes et gouvernaient
avec illustration et honneur....

"Rien de plus curieux que l'histoire de ces rois, le ré'cit de
leurs guerres, de leurs actes, de la manière dont ils
s'emparèrent de ces contrées et établirent leur domination, apres
en avoir exterminé les premières possesseurs. Ceux-ci étaient des
peuples dont nous avons parlé dans nos précédents ouvrages, en
traitant ce sujet; nous appelons l'attention dans ce livre sur
nous premiers écrits, et nous engageons le lecteur à les
consulter."

The next in order of seniority is the well-known Idrísí (A.H. 531
= A.D. 1136). Dr. Badger's Arabic copy not being paged, he has
forwarded to me extracts from the French translation by M. P.
Amadée Jaubert (Paris, 1836), having first compared them with the
original:--

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