thus reach the plain near the sea. Besides, in a host like that of the Israelites, consisting of more than two millions of people, with many flocks, it can hardly be supposed that they all marched in one body. More probably the stations as enumerated refer rather to the head-quarters of Moses and the elders, with a portion of the people who kept near them; while other portions preceded or followed them at various distances, as the convenience of water and pasturage might dictate. Water, such as it is, they would find in small quantities throughout this tract; and they probably continued to practise the method of sweetening it which they had been taught at Marah; for we hear no more complaint of bad water. But how they could have obtained a sufficiency of water during their whole stay in the peninsula and their subsequent wanderings in the desert, even where no want of water is mentioned, is a mystery which I am unable to solve; unless we admit the supposition, that water was anciently far more abundant in these regions, than at present. As we saw the peninsula, a body of two millions of men could not subsist there a week, without drawing their supplies of water, as well as of provisions, from a great distance.

From their encampment at the mouth of Wady etTaiyibeh, the Israelites would necessarily advance into the great plain, which, beginning near el-Murkhâh, extends with a greater or less breadth almost to the extremity of the peninsula. In its broadest part, northward of Tûr, it is called el-Kâ'a. This desert plain, to which they would thus necessarily come, I take to be the desert of Sin, the next station mentioned in Scripture. From this plain they could enter the mountains at various points, either by the present

1) Ex. xvi. 1. Num. xxxiii. 11.

nearer route through the Wadys Shellâl and Mukatteb, or perhaps by the mouth of Wady Feirân itself. Their approach to Sinai was probably along the upper part of this latter valley and Wady esh-Sheikh; but the two subsequent stations, Dophkah and Alush, are mentioned so indefinitely, that no hope remains of their ever being identified.' The same is perhaps true of Rephidim, to which we shall recur again in the sequel.

As

We were for a time quite at a loss, which of the roads to take from the head of Wady et-Taiyibeh to Sinai. We wished much to see the celebrated inscriptions in Wady Mukatteb on the lower road; and we wished just as much to visit the mysterious monuments of Surâbît el-Khâdim near the upper one. we knew, however, that similar inscriptions existed along this latter route, though not in such multitudes, we decided to take it; and turning into Wady Humr at a quarter past noon, we proceeded up that valley on a course E. S. E.2 The mountains around the head of Wady et-Taiyibeh, where we now were, abound in salt; and our Arabs brought us several pieces of it, beautifully white. Wady Humr is broad, with precipitous sides of limestone, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet high. We here found the heat very oppressive, occasioned by the reflection of the sun from the chalky cliffs; although the thermometer in the shade rose only to 80° F. Water had evidently been running here not long before; and the herbs and shrubs were fresher than usual.

1) Num. xxxiii. 12, 13.

2) Burckhardt gives the name of Taiyibeh to our Wady Shubeikeh; and that of Shubeikeh to the lower part of Wady Humr. We had his book with us, and were aware of this difference on the spot; but all our guides knew no other application of these names

I

than that given in the text. would not fail, however, here and elsewhere, to bear testimony to the extreme general accuracy of this lamented traveller, in his topographical details and descriptions. His orthography of Arabic names is not always so exact; yet it is all we have hitherto had.

After two hours the valley opens out into a wide plain; another broad Wady called Ibn Sukr comes in obliquely from the East; while almost in front rises the high dark pyramidal peak of Sarbût elJemel, which had been in sight occasionally ever since we left Wady Ghurŭndel. This mountain is of limestone and is connected by low ridges with et-Tîh, or rather with Jebel Wutâh, which runs in front of et-Tîh and parallel to it. A ridge also apparently runs off from Sarbût el-Jemel towards the S. W. and bounds the plain in that quarter. We struck across the plain towards the S. E. corner of the pyramidal mountain, which rose naked and desolate before us, seeming to cut off all further progress. Indeed it was not till we arrived almost at its foot, that we perceived the opening of a Wady coming down through the ridge, which we entered and turned the S. E. point of the mountain at 3h 25'. We now proceeded up through this mountain-gorge, with lofty walls of rock two or three hundred feet high on each side, still bearing the name of Wady Humr. The southern mountain is called Um ez-Zuweibîn, from a heap of stones in the road. Here we first entered the sandstone region; the wall upon our right being of that material; while that on the left was still apparently chiefly limestone. After about an hour we came (at 44 o'clock) to a sharp turn at right angles in the valley, which then turns short again and passes on in the same direction as before. At the last of these corners, on the right, we found several rude drawings on the rocks, and also some of the famous Sinaite inscriptions, like those of Wady Mukatteb. One large block which had fallen from the cliff above, was covered with them, mostly short, and beginning with the usual initial letters, like those copied by Burckhardt and others. On another smaller stone are rude draw

ings of camels or horses; for it was hard to tell which. One rider is armed with a spear, and before him stands a man with sword and shield. Is the former perhaps a knight? On one stone were two crosses; but in this instance they were evidently later than the neighbouring inscriptions. The spot is one where travellers would be likely to rest during the heat of the midday sun. Burckhardt mentions the drawings, but not the inscriptions.1

A little beyond this place our Arabs expected to find rain-water among the rocks; and scattered themselves, running off into the different openings of the mountains, to seek for it. They were not very successful, finding but little, and that strongly impregnated with camel's dung. Yet our Arabs seemed to drink it with gusto. We now found ourselves in fact straitened for water. What we had brought from the spring Naba' near Suez, had become much worse than at first; and since then we had met with none fit to fill the empty water-skins. We had got tolerably accustomed to a leathery taste in the water we carried; but had not yet learned to relish that which was briny and bitter, or which smacked of camel's dung. This however was the only time we were thus straitened; nor did we now suffer much inconvenience. We encamped at 5h 10' in Wady Humr, after a long day's march of eleven hours, near the place where the high rocks on either side terminate. The valley has several trees and many shrubs, so that the camels found good pasturage. The only trees throughout this region are the Turfa, properly a tamarisk, with long narrow leaves and without thorns, the same on which the manna (Arabic Monn) is elsewhere found; and the Tulh or Seyâl, said by the Arabs to be identical, a species of very thorny acacia, producing a little gum 1) Page 476.

1

arabic of an inferior quality.' This the Arabs sometimes gather and sell, when not too lazy. But all these trees are here small and stunted, for the want both of soil and of water.

Wednesday, March 21st. We set off at 6h 20', still following up Wady Humr, E. S. E. The rocks on our right became lower; while on our left the high mountain Jebel Wütâh rose almost from the bank of the Wady. This is strictly a spur of Jebel et-Tîh, connected with it at the eastern end, and thence running westward parallel with it, having the retired Wady Wutâh between. In less than an hour, the rocks ceased on the right; and at 7h 15' a road turned off on that side to Wady en-Nusb, across an uneven sandy plain called Debbet en-Nŭsb. This road is often taken by the Arabs and by travellers on account of the fine spring of water in that valley; but it is longer, and returns after some hours into the direct road. One or two of our men with a camel were sent round by this route, in order to fill the water-skins; and they brought us a load of better water than we had found since leaving the Nile. Wady Humr now spreads out into a broad plain sprinkled over with herbs, extending around the E. end of Jebel Wütâh quite to et-Tîh. At 8 o'clock the valley became narrower between sand-hills for half an hour; but then opened again as before. At 9 o'clock we reached the head of the Wady or plain, whence we ascended for twenty minutes a rocky slope covered with sand.

From this spot we had a wide view over the surrounding country. On our left was the Tîh, a long, lofty, level, unbroken ridge, the continuation of er

1) This tree is the Mimosa Sejal of Forskal; Flora Aeg. Arab. p. 177. By later botanists it is known as Acacia gummifera,

and is called by Abdallatif Tulh; Sprengel Hist. Rei Herbar. I. p. 270.