The British Quarterly.

arated from the desert of Suez only by

THE PENINSULA OF SINAI: NOTES OF the narrow valley of the Nile. That

TRAVEL THEREIN.

again is separated by the Gulf of Suez from the broad plateau of Arabia, and the desert of Syria, which extend as far as the Persian Gulf and the rivers of Mesopotamia. Then come the vast wastes of Persia, as far as the Indus, beyond which is the desert of Mooltan-a huge zone of desert links, vast, sterile, and burning, strung together by diamond riv

AMONG the most remarkable of the physical phenomena of our globe are the vast wastes upon its surface-its extensive tracts of water, steppes, wilderness, desert, and mountain-not only unreclaimed for habitable uses, but for the most part unreclaimable. These are in perfect harmony with the grand econers or emerald valleys, and hung, as it omy of nature-whereby the balance of natural forces is preserved, and the fruitfulness, beauty, and utility of the earth, as a whole, are maintained; but in themselves these are very remarkable. A reference to the map will show that the desert region of which the Peninsula of Sinai forms a part, extends from Cape Blanco on the northwest coast of Africa, to beyond the Indus in Central Asia a distance of five thousand six hundred miles "vast sea of sand," as Herodotus calls it; a desert belt of varying depth, beginning with the Great Sahara, which stretches right across Northern Africa, and is sepNEW SERIES-Vol. III., No. 5.

a

were, round the neck of the globe. Of
this huge chain the little Peninsula of
Sinai is nearly the central pendant. It
is formed by the bifurcation of the north-
ern end of the Red Sea; the eastern
gulf running up to 'Akabah-the Ezion-
geber of Scripture-its depression being
continued in the deep desert valley of
'Arabah to the Dead Sea, and thence up
the valley of the Jordan to the Lebanon;
the western gulf terminating just above
Suez. Roughly speaking, a line drawn
from 'Akabah to Suez would form the
base, about one hundred and thirty
miles long, of a scalene triangle, the

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Suez Gulf forming the longest side. the condition of the atmosphere, from North of the line so drawn, the desert the dull gray of the morning to the extends to the Mediterranean Sea; west- brilliant white of midday, and the dolward to the Pelusiac branch of the Nile; phin hues of evening. Thus far the and eastward as far as the Persian Gulf; range is called Jebel er - Râbah, or wrapping itself round the mountainous "mountain of rest"- -a name singularly slip of Palestine, this same desert waste corresponding with that of the opposite stretches away to the north nearly to the headland on the Egyptian side the Black Sea; and to the northeast as far Jebel 'Atâkah, or mountain of deliveras Bagdad, Mosul, and the Armenian ance." Approaching the plateau from mountains. Sinai, on the south, it still towers and glitters from every point of elevationmagnificent and precipitous, almost a perpendicular fortification, to be scaled by only one or two passes. This part of the wall of the plateau bears the same name as the desert-the Jebel et-Tîh, or "mountain of wandering." Along the base of it, from 'Akabah nearly to the Gulf of Suez-a distance of perhaps seventy or eighty miles-lies a broad belt of sand, dividing the desert plateau from the mountains of Sinai. This plain of sand is called the "Debbit-er-Ramleh," or "sandy plain," to indicate its peculiar character. It is almost the only sandy district of that part of Arabia. In the greater part of it the sand is deep, and fatiguing to traverse. We were about four hours in crossing it.

The centre of the Peninsula itself consists of an elevated plateau or table land -the well-known et- Tîh, or desert of "the Wanderings "-a name traditionally derived, probably, from the wanderings of the Israelites three thousand years ago. This desert plateau, which begins with the shore of the Mediterranean and extends about half way down the Peninsula, gradually rises, until, at its southern boundary, it attains an elevation of nearly four thousand feet above the sea. This makes the desert itself pleasant and breezy-so far, that is, as such an elevation can attemper the fierce heat of an Arabian sun, reflected from an arid and gravelly soil.

This plateau is thrust like a tongue into the peninsula; its boundary is an almost perpendicular mountain wall, averaging three thousand and four thousand feet in height, and extending from" nearly opposite Suez to 'Akabah. On the Suez side it runs parallel with the sea for about sixty miles, at a distance of about fifteen miles from the margin of the latter; then it trends away to the east in a rough kind of semicircle, making way for the highland district of Si

nai

the vast mountain ranges of the Tûr. Mountain ranges, properly so called, vary in height and outline; but this huge wall, which is simply the precipitous termination of the desert plateau, is nearly uniform in its level; it varies only with the undulating surface of the desert. The mountains of Moab, on the east of the Jordan, form a similar mountain wall, seen from every part of Palestine. As the traveller to Sinai leaves Suez, he traverses the low belt of desert between the plateau and the sea, having the latter on his right hand at an average distance of four or five miles; and on his left this magnificent wall of limestone, with its magical colors varying with the course of the sun, and

It is a popular misconception that the surface of the desert is sand. Save the Debbit-er-Ramleh," and a little in the Wâdy Ghůrundel, probably brought from the former by easterly winds, we encountered no sand. The general surface of the desert is hard and gravelly; it consists of broad rolling plains, broken by limestone rock and mountain ranges upheaved therefrom, which, worn by centuries of storm and heat, are often very fantastic in their forms. I do not remember any spot in our path across the great desert whence several of these low mountain ranges cannot be seen. Deep fissures, also, occur in the desert; it is "a land of deserts and of pits," as well as "a land of drought, and of the shadow of death; a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt." Some of these pits are singularly formed, and are very extensive. Others are simple crevasses, and form natural receptacles for water, of which they furnish a permanent and precious supply. In one extensive system of fissures, just on the edge of the desert plateau, we had a refreshing bath.