DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27910#0025
THE SUMMIT OF GEBEL MOOSA, SINAI.
of men in the desert—which always seems nearer to God than lands inhabited by , man— the great events
that made this holy ground are ever present to our minds.
The view is taken from the high irregular plateau from which rises the loftie'st summit, 7,498 feet above
the sea. The perpendicular forms of the granite of the rounded height, utterly bared by the storms, rise
grandly from the base, covered, like the lower region in the foreground, with washed down fragments.
Immediately before us is a desolate tract, among the loose stones of which grow prickly desert-shrubs, the
food of camels. The little tent, and the Arabs seated around it, are appropriate to the country: they are
Tor Bedawees, the first genuine Arabs whom the traveller sees in the ordinary Eastern route, except between
Cairo and Suez. The tribes of the desert west of Egypt are mixed with the earlier Moorish race, and those
of the eastern desert are generally more of the ancient Egyptian or Ethiopian stock than of Arab origin.
The ’Ababdeh and Bisharees indeed, especially the latter, more nearly resemble the ancient Egyptians, as
represented on their monuments, than any other people, except the Nubians.
of men in the desert—which always seems nearer to God than lands inhabited by , man— the great events
that made this holy ground are ever present to our minds.
The view is taken from the high irregular plateau from which rises the loftie'st summit, 7,498 feet above
the sea. The perpendicular forms of the granite of the rounded height, utterly bared by the storms, rise
grandly from the base, covered, like the lower region in the foreground, with washed down fragments.
Immediately before us is a desolate tract, among the loose stones of which grow prickly desert-shrubs, the
food of camels. The little tent, and the Arabs seated around it, are appropriate to the country: they are
Tor Bedawees, the first genuine Arabs whom the traveller sees in the ordinary Eastern route, except between
Cairo and Suez. The tribes of the desert west of Egypt are mixed with the earlier Moorish race, and those
of the eastern desert are generally more of the ancient Egyptian or Ethiopian stock than of Arab origin.
The ’Ababdeh and Bisharees indeed, especially the latter, more nearly resemble the ancient Egyptians, as
represented on their monuments, than any other people, except the Nubians.