Throughout the summer of 1877 I was haunted by memories
of mysterious Midian. The Golden Region appeared
to me in the glow of primaeval prosperity described
by the Egyptian hieroglyphs; as rich in agriculture
and in fertility, according to the old Hellenic travellers,
as in its Centres of civilization, and in the precious
metals catalogued by the Sacred Books of the Hebrews.
Again I saw the mining works of the Greek, the Roman,
and the Nabathaan, whose names are preserved by Ptolemy;
the forty cities, mere ghosts and shadows of their
former selves, described in the pages of the mediaeval
Arab geographers; and the ruthless ruin which, under
the dominion of the Bedawin, gradually crept over
the Land of Jethro. The tale of her rise and fall
forcibly suggested Algeria, that province so opulent
and splendid under the Masters of the World; converted
into a fiery wilderness by the representatives of
the “gentle and gallant” Turk, and brought
to life once more by French energy and industry.
And such was my vision of a future Midian, whose rich
stores of various minerals will restore to her wealth
and health, when the two Khedivial Expeditions shall
have shown the world what she has been, and what she
may be again.
I was invited to resume my exploration during the
winter of 1877-78, by the Viceroy of Egypt, Ismail
I., a prince whose superior intelligence is ever anxious
to develop the resources of his country. His
Highness was perhaps the only man in his own dominions
who, believing in the buried wealth of Midian, had
the perspicacity to note the advantages offered by
its exploitation. For the world around the Viceroy
pronounced itself decidedly against the project.
My venerable friend, Linant Pasha, suggested a comparison
with the abandoned diggings of the Upper Nile; forgetting
that in at least half of Midian land, only the “tailings”
have been washed: whereas in the Bishari country,
and throughout the “Etbaye,” between the
meridians of Berenike and Sawakin, the very thinnest
metallic fibrils have been shafted and tunnelled to
their end in the rock by those marvellous labourers,
the old Egyptians. In the Hamamat country, again,
the excessive distances, both from the Nile and from
the Red Sea, together with the cost of transport,
must bar all profit. Even worse are the conditions
of Fayzoghlu and Dar-For; whilst the mines of Midian
begin literally at the shore.
Another Pasha wrote to me from Alexandria, congratulating
me upon having discovered, during our first Expedition,
“a little copper and iron.” Generally,
the official public, knowing that I had brought back
stones, not solid masses of gold and silver, loudly
deplored the prospective waste of money; and money,
after the horse-plague, the low Nile, and the excessive
exigencies of the short-sighted creditor, was exceptionally
scarce. The truly Oriental view of the question
Copyrights
The Land of Midian — Volume 1 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
