He Was A Lover Of Truth, And A Man Of Observation
And Enterprize; The Public, Therefore, And His Own Government,
Have to
regret his death no less than his friends.] From this elevated peak a
very extensive view opened before
Us, and the direction of the different
surroundings chains of mountains could be distinctly traced. The upper
nucleus of the Sinai, composed almost entirely of granite, forms a rocky
wilderness of all irregular circular shape, intersected by many narrow
valleys, and from thirty to forty miles in diameter. It contains the
highest mountains of the peninsula, whose shaggy and pointed peaks and
steep and shattered sides, render it clearly distinguishable from all
the rest of the country in view. It is upon this highest region of the
peninsula that the fertile valleys are found, which produce fruit trees;
they are principally to the west and south-west of the convent at three
or four hours distant.
[p.574] Water too is always found in plenty in this district, on which
account it is the place of refuge of all the Bedouins when the low
country is parched up. I think it very probable that this upper country
or wilderness is, exclusively, the desert of Sinai so often mentioned in
the account of the wanderings of the Israelites. Mount St. Catherine
appears to stand nearly in the centre of it. To the northward of this
central region, and divided from it by the broad valley called Wady El
Sheikh, and by several minor Wadys, begins a lower range of mountains,
called Zebeir, which extends eastwards, having at one extremity the two
peaks called El Djoze [Arabic], above the plantations of Wady Feiran,
and losing itself to the east in the more open country towards Wady Sal.
Beyond the Zebeir northwards are sandy plains and valleys, which I
crossed, towards the west, at Raml el Moral, and towards the east, about
Hadhra.This part i[s] the most barren and destitute of water of the
whole country. At its eastern extremity it is called El Birka [Arabic].
It borders to the north on the chain of El Tyh, which stretches in a
regular line eastwards, parallel with the Zebeir, beginning at Sarbout
el Djeinel. On reaching, in its eastern course, the somewhat higher
mountain called El Odjme [Arabic], it separates into two; one of its
branches turns off in a right angle northward, and after continuing for
about fifteen miles in that direction, again turns to the east, and
extends parallel with the second and southern branch all across the
peninsula, towards the eastern gulf. The northern branch, which is
called El Dhelel [Arabic], bounds the view from Mount St. Catherine. On
turning to the east, I found that the mountains in this direction,
beyond the high district of Sinai, run in a lower range towards the Wady
Sal, and that the slope of the upper mountains is much less abrupt than
on the opposite side. From Sal, east and north-east, the chains
intersect each other in many irregular masses
[p.575] of inferior height, till they reach the gulf of Akaba, which I
clearly distinguished when the sun was just rising over the mountains of
the Arabian coast. Excepting the short extent from Noweyba to Dahab, the
mountains bordering on the gulf are all of secondary height, but they
rise to a considerable elevation between those two points. The country
between Sherm, Nabk, and the convent, is occupied also by mountains of
minor size, and the valleys, generally, are so narrow, that few of them
can be distinguished from the point where I stood, the whole country, in
that direction, appearing an uninterrupted wilderness of barren
mountains. The highest points on that side appear to be above Wady Kyd,
above the valley of Naszeb, and principally the peaks called Om Kheysyn
[Arabic] and Masaoud [Arabic].
The view to the south was bounded by the high mountain of Om Shomar
[Arabic], which forms a nucleus of itself, apparently unconnected with
the upper Sinai, although bordering close upon it. To the right of this
mountain I could distinguish the sea, in the neighbourhood of Tor, near
which begins a low calcareous chain of mountains, called Djebel Hemam
(i.e. death), not Hamam (or bath), extending along the gulf of Suez, and
separated from the upper Sinai by a broad gravelly plain called El Kaa
[Arabic], across which the road from Tor to Suez passes. This plain
terminates to the W.N.W. of Mount St. Catherine, and nearly in the
direction of Djebel Serbal. Towards the Kaa, the central Sinai mountains
are very abrupt, and leave no secondary intermediate chain between them
and the plain at their feet. The mountain of Serbal, which I afterwards
visited, is separated from the upper Sinai by some valleys, especially
Wady Hebran, and it forms, with several neighbouring mountains, a
separate cluster terminating in peaks, the highest of which appears to
be as high as Mount St. Catherine. It borders on the Wady Feiran and the
chain of Zebeir.
[p.576] I took the following bearings, from the summit of Mount St.
Catherine. These, together with those which I took from the peak of Om
Shomar and from Serbal, and the distances and direction of my different
routes, will serve to construct a map of the peninsula more detailed and
accurate than any that has yet been published.
El Djoze [Arabic], a rock distinguished by two peaks above that part of
Wady Feiran where the date groves are, N.W. b. N.
Sarbout el Djemel [Arabic], the beginning of Djebel Tyh, N.W. 1/4 N.
El Odjme, N. 1/2 E.
El Fereya, a high mountain of the upper Sinai region, N.N.E.
Zelka is in the same direction of N.N.E. It is a well, about one day’s
journey from the convent, on the upper route from the convent to Akaba,
which traverses the chain of Tyh. The stations in that road, beyond
Zelka, are, Ayn [Arabic], Hossey [Arabic], and Akaba.
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