Geology of Mount Sinai and adjacent Countries. 49 



Egyptian colonies and copper mines on the opposite Sinaic 

 peninsula, in Wadi Maghara, Sarbut-el-Chadem^ &c., and over 

 which the produce of those mines, having been shipped from 

 the harbour of Zelime to the Mersa Zafraneh, might have 

 been conveyed in waggons to the Nile. But, whether or not 

 the Araba mountains that rise a little to the south of the 

 opposite coast of the Peninsula had received the same appella- 

 tion from this valley^ there seems to be no testimony to 

 decide. The " Monastery of St Antony" — Deir Antonios — 

 distant about 17 miles from the sea, is a fortified convent of 

 Copts, surrounded by a strong wall, of about 35 feet in height, 

 the entrance to which is by a trap -door, wherefrom a rope 

 descends, as in the present Sinaic convent. The keep, or 

 place of safety, is an insulated tower, defended by a draw- 

 bridge. According to common statement, this was the abode 

 and place of burial of St Antony, the founder of Monachism. 

 The mountains to the south, at the northern end of which 

 stands the convent, are calcareous (of the same cretaceous 

 formation), containing in places a great deal of salt. They 

 are known to the Arabs by the term of Gebel Kallala, and, in 

 fact, constitute the southern ridge of that chain. Another 

 large and similarly protected convent, called Deir Bolos 

 (Paul), distant from the former* about 15 miles in a direct 

 SE. line, is situate in a picturesque place, and about 

 10 miles from the nearest point of the Gulf of Suez. 

 An adjoining garden abounds in date and other fruit-trees. 

 On the east, between this convent and the sea, Wadi Girfeh 

 is approached, among low hills: on the tops of some of 

 these the substructions of houses are visible, having been 

 built with uncemented stones. Also some chambers, or 

 catacombs, are cut in the rock : in the larger were found 

 crystals of rock-salt; the strata are composed of limestone, 

 and contain many fossils. Broken pieces of terra cotta vases, 

 chiefly red, are everywhere observed ; and they, with other 

 vestiges, probably point out the site of a Roman colonial 

 town. 



* See the Views of the Convents of St Paul and St Anthony, plate 51, p. 128, 

 chap, vi., book ii., vol. i., in Pococke's " Description of the East." 



VOL. XLIX. NO. XCVII. — JULY 1850. D 



