260 John Hogg, Esq., on the Geography and 



of metallic ores and minerals^ not only in the peninsula of 

 Mount Sinai, but in Egypt and Arabia, is a remarkable fea- 

 ture." Iron ore is met with, although not abundantly. Rus- 

 segger speaks of brown ironstone {Brauneisenstein mit Psilo- 

 melan) as occurring in masses in the Sinai sandstone in Wadi 

 Naszb ; there also vestiges of copper mines exist, and like- 

 wise in Wadi Maghara, and near Sarbut-el-Chadem. Here, 

 according to Dr Lepsius (p. 16), the temple dedicated to the 

 goddess Hathor, mistress of Ma/kat, i. e., " the Copper Land," 

 stands amongst great mounds of ore. He describes *' a mas- 

 sive crust of iron ore, six or eight feet thick, and surrounded 

 on all sides by blocks of scoriw ; the appearance of which^ 

 burnt as they are to the colour of a cinder, contrasts them 

 very prominently with the adjacent light-brown sandstone 

 hillocks." Turquoise is reported to be found among the rub- 

 bish at Sarbut-el-Chadem ; but Captain Newbold conjectures, 

 that it is rather malachite ; because, he says, the true tur- 

 quoise or calaite rarely, if ever, occurs in sandstone. 



Near Wadi-el-Naszb, the mineral called by the Arabs- 

 Kohal or Kohol, a species of antimony^ occurs ; a preparation 

 of this is much used by the women in the East to darken 

 the tips of their eyelids. Burckhardt has stated that native 

 Cinnabar (sulphuret of mercury) is collected in Gebel Sheyger,. 

 to the north-east of Wadi-el-Ush ; it is named by the Arabs. 

 Basokht^ but is rarely crystallized, and its fracture is in per- 

 pendicular fibres. 



Silver does not appear to have been discovered in this pen- 

 insula, nor, indeed, leady except from uncertain report. Dr 

 Kitto (p. 109), however, writes, " lead is said to exist at a 

 place called Sheff, near Mount Sinai." 



The presence of gold is, perhaps, doubtful ; yet, in the 

 neighbourhood of Mersa Dahab, " Port of Gold," on the east 

 coast, according to Lieutenant Wellsted,* the sand contains 

 " yellow, shining, micaceous particles, exactly resembling 

 that precious metal." But, whether this substance be merely 

 pyrites or grains o\' gold, future examinations of that locality 

 must determine. To the west and north-west, in Wadi-el- 



* Travels in Arabia, vol. ii., p. 154. 



