DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11715#0189
EGYPT TO SINAI.
according to the view taken of the place of passage. About fifty miles south of Ayun
Musa the Wady Gharandel is reached.1 The entrance into the valley, or wady, is not
much over eighty feet wide, and on either side grey-looking cliffs of gritstone rise with
raeeed faces to a considerable height. But that which adds so great a charm to the scene
is an actual stream of water, rippling along, silvery and bright, garnished on each bank
with luxuriant plants that thrive and flourish in the wet sand. Forget-me-nots peep out from
amidst the sedgy grass reeds and mint that tower above the water ; while some kind of
brook plant, like a tangled mat, spreads itself over the sandy edges of the rivulet, and
sends its long arms, tufted with rootlets at
every joint, out into the running water.
Here the vegetation takes quite a differ-
ent character. The spiny acacia, the sumt
of the Arabs, probably the tree of the
"burning bush" and the shittim wood of
the tabernacle, grows plentifully; but,
spiny though it be, it has to bear its bur-
den of climbing plants, being generally
quite hidden beneath their twisting, rope-
like branches. Conspicous amongst the
larger plants is the retem or wild broom,
handsome alike in growth and foliage. It
is probably the shrub beneath which Elijah
slept in his wanderings.2
Date-palms of strangely stunted stature
are scattered along the sandy banks ; one
readily might mistake them for giant yuccas
at a hasty glance, so much do they resemble
those plants in their mode of growth. These
may truly be called wild palms : dwarfed, and
unaltered by man's hand. Was this the
memorable place where "there were twelve
wells of water and threescore and ten palm
trees "—the veritable Elim of the Exodus ?
Many travelers believe this wady to be the
place.3
Striking eastward up the wady we soon
reach the traces of mines worked by the
ancient Egyptians. Hieroglyphic tablets are found in considerable numbers, one of
which contains the name of Cheops, the builder of the Great Pyramid, and some are said
to be even earlier. At Serabet el Khadim, which seems to have been the capital of the
mining district, are some remarkable ruins, consisting of a temple, the remains of houses,
and perhaps a necropolis. Fragments of columns, blocks of stone, pieces of rude sculp-
ture, and mounds of broken pottery lie scattered about in perplexing confusion. The
1 It was in a valley running down from the Tih, not far from Ayun Musa, that Professor Palmer and Lieutenant Gill were murdered
by the Arabs in 1882. Many are of opinion that the deed was due to orders issued by Arabi Pasha.
5 1 Kings xix. 4. 3 Exodus xv. 27.
185
SINAITIC INSCRIPTIONS.
according to the view taken of the place of passage. About fifty miles south of Ayun
Musa the Wady Gharandel is reached.1 The entrance into the valley, or wady, is not
much over eighty feet wide, and on either side grey-looking cliffs of gritstone rise with
raeeed faces to a considerable height. But that which adds so great a charm to the scene
is an actual stream of water, rippling along, silvery and bright, garnished on each bank
with luxuriant plants that thrive and flourish in the wet sand. Forget-me-nots peep out from
amidst the sedgy grass reeds and mint that tower above the water ; while some kind of
brook plant, like a tangled mat, spreads itself over the sandy edges of the rivulet, and
sends its long arms, tufted with rootlets at
every joint, out into the running water.
Here the vegetation takes quite a differ-
ent character. The spiny acacia, the sumt
of the Arabs, probably the tree of the
"burning bush" and the shittim wood of
the tabernacle, grows plentifully; but,
spiny though it be, it has to bear its bur-
den of climbing plants, being generally
quite hidden beneath their twisting, rope-
like branches. Conspicous amongst the
larger plants is the retem or wild broom,
handsome alike in growth and foliage. It
is probably the shrub beneath which Elijah
slept in his wanderings.2
Date-palms of strangely stunted stature
are scattered along the sandy banks ; one
readily might mistake them for giant yuccas
at a hasty glance, so much do they resemble
those plants in their mode of growth. These
may truly be called wild palms : dwarfed, and
unaltered by man's hand. Was this the
memorable place where "there were twelve
wells of water and threescore and ten palm
trees "—the veritable Elim of the Exodus ?
Many travelers believe this wady to be the
place.3
Striking eastward up the wady we soon
reach the traces of mines worked by the
ancient Egyptians. Hieroglyphic tablets are found in considerable numbers, one of
which contains the name of Cheops, the builder of the Great Pyramid, and some are said
to be even earlier. At Serabet el Khadim, which seems to have been the capital of the
mining district, are some remarkable ruins, consisting of a temple, the remains of houses,
and perhaps a necropolis. Fragments of columns, blocks of stone, pieces of rude sculp-
ture, and mounds of broken pottery lie scattered about in perplexing confusion. The
1 It was in a valley running down from the Tih, not far from Ayun Musa, that Professor Palmer and Lieutenant Gill were murdered
by the Arabs in 1882. Many are of opinion that the deed was due to orders issued by Arabi Pasha.
5 1 Kings xix. 4. 3 Exodus xv. 27.
185
SINAITIC INSCRIPTIONS.