DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10358#0372
SINAI.
339
Sufsafeh) rising perpendicularly in frowning majesty from twelve to fifteen hundred feet in
height. It was a scene of solemn grandeur wholly unexpected, and such as we had never seen,
and the associations, which at the moment rushed upon our minds, were almost overwhelming."
Stress, too, should be laid on the fact that Jebel Musa is a mountain which may be touched.
Ras Sufsafeh rises from the plain with no intervening slopes of debris, while in Jethro's valley
on the eastern side of Jebel Musa, where stands the Convent of St. Catherine, the cliffs tower
so immediately above the convent buildings that one wonders how a pathway may be discovered
by which to scale them. How different is the style, manner, and appearance of Jebel Serbal !
There is no plain worthy of mention ; the winding valley never opens out in such wise that a
compact or properly ordered encampment could have been formed there, while the mountain
could not be described graphically as "a mountain which may be touched." To those who
think that in Wady 'Aleyat—the eastern valley of Serbal—there should be room for a large
encampment, it is sufficient to point out that the floor of this steep valley is thickly strewn with
great boulders, and is so worn and broken up by the torrents which have constantly rushed
through it that it is difficult to pick one's way along, while there are few places where even a
few tents could be pitched. As to the space between Wadies 'Aleyat and 'Ajeleh, we have
already seen that it is filled by a rugged mountain mass!
We are following, then, the track of the main body of the Israelites when we and our
camels journey on through Wady Feiran. After some five miles the verdure of the oasis is
lost to us, and the scenery is made dreary by a succession of banks of alluvial deposits called
jorfs* (see page 319), cut through by the stream in flood, and exhibiting the former levels of
the valley-bed. In these sinuous wadies it were rash to say off-hand what is the distance from
point to point, or what is the bearing of our course to the " king of Sinaitic mountains." The
general direction of the valley is south-east, while the distance between Serbal and Miisa-
Katarina is twenty-one miles. Before the natural gateway, El Buweib, is reached a picturesque
valley called Khabar runs into Wady Feiran. It might properly be termed a continuation of
Wady el Akhdhar, which strikes the important valley of Berrah at right angles. Wady
Berrah gradually ascends in a north-west direction to the watershed, whence Wrady Lebweh
descends to its trysting place with Wady Bark. Thence to Sarabi't el Khadim is a day's
journey. Sinaitic inscriptions abound in these valleys, and from this fact we may argue, not
only that formerly they were more populous, but that they were much frequented by travellers
and merchants bound for Feiran, or for the sea via Wady Hebran.
In Wady Bark, a steep toilsome valley with an abundance of seyal-trees, are the remains
of a wall of loose stones, built by the Towarah to keep out Mohammad Ali's soldiers. It
is a poor affair and easy to be turned. The Bedawin deeming that their privileges in the
matter of " convoy " had been violated by the Egyptian government, attacked and pillaged a
* Masses of distinctly stratified alluvium are lodged at the sides and mouths of the watercourses. They are cut through so as to present
vertical faces, and are weathered into many a fantastic and imposing form. They are forty, sixty, and a hundred feet high, sometimes in long
stretches, and sometimes in detached cones and blocks.
339
Sufsafeh) rising perpendicularly in frowning majesty from twelve to fifteen hundred feet in
height. It was a scene of solemn grandeur wholly unexpected, and such as we had never seen,
and the associations, which at the moment rushed upon our minds, were almost overwhelming."
Stress, too, should be laid on the fact that Jebel Musa is a mountain which may be touched.
Ras Sufsafeh rises from the plain with no intervening slopes of debris, while in Jethro's valley
on the eastern side of Jebel Musa, where stands the Convent of St. Catherine, the cliffs tower
so immediately above the convent buildings that one wonders how a pathway may be discovered
by which to scale them. How different is the style, manner, and appearance of Jebel Serbal !
There is no plain worthy of mention ; the winding valley never opens out in such wise that a
compact or properly ordered encampment could have been formed there, while the mountain
could not be described graphically as "a mountain which may be touched." To those who
think that in Wady 'Aleyat—the eastern valley of Serbal—there should be room for a large
encampment, it is sufficient to point out that the floor of this steep valley is thickly strewn with
great boulders, and is so worn and broken up by the torrents which have constantly rushed
through it that it is difficult to pick one's way along, while there are few places where even a
few tents could be pitched. As to the space between Wadies 'Aleyat and 'Ajeleh, we have
already seen that it is filled by a rugged mountain mass!
We are following, then, the track of the main body of the Israelites when we and our
camels journey on through Wady Feiran. After some five miles the verdure of the oasis is
lost to us, and the scenery is made dreary by a succession of banks of alluvial deposits called
jorfs* (see page 319), cut through by the stream in flood, and exhibiting the former levels of
the valley-bed. In these sinuous wadies it were rash to say off-hand what is the distance from
point to point, or what is the bearing of our course to the " king of Sinaitic mountains." The
general direction of the valley is south-east, while the distance between Serbal and Miisa-
Katarina is twenty-one miles. Before the natural gateway, El Buweib, is reached a picturesque
valley called Khabar runs into Wady Feiran. It might properly be termed a continuation of
Wady el Akhdhar, which strikes the important valley of Berrah at right angles. Wady
Berrah gradually ascends in a north-west direction to the watershed, whence Wrady Lebweh
descends to its trysting place with Wady Bark. Thence to Sarabi't el Khadim is a day's
journey. Sinaitic inscriptions abound in these valleys, and from this fact we may argue, not
only that formerly they were more populous, but that they were much frequented by travellers
and merchants bound for Feiran, or for the sea via Wady Hebran.
In Wady Bark, a steep toilsome valley with an abundance of seyal-trees, are the remains
of a wall of loose stones, built by the Towarah to keep out Mohammad Ali's soldiers. It
is a poor affair and easy to be turned. The Bedawin deeming that their privileges in the
matter of " convoy " had been violated by the Egyptian government, attacked and pillaged a
* Masses of distinctly stratified alluvium are lodged at the sides and mouths of the watercourses. They are cut through so as to present
vertical faces, and are weathered into many a fantastic and imposing form. They are forty, sixty, and a hundred feet high, sometimes in long
stretches, and sometimes in detached cones and blocks.