170 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [APR. 23, 
The plateau of the Tih, or the wilderness of the wanderings of 
the Children of Israel, is a plain reaching from the Suez Canal on 
the west to the ’Arabah on the east, and from Debbet-er-Ramleh 
on the south to the hill country of Palestine on the north. 
Several ranges of hills intersect this plateau. One of them near 
its central meridian is composed of the compact cretaceous rock 
of the Palestine and Lebanon chains. Another, Shuweishat-el- 
*Ujmet, is composed of a crumbling cretaceous marl, of a glaring 
white color, The marked physical feature of the plateau is the 
system of wadis which furrow it, and unite to form the Wadi-el- 
*Arish, the ancient “‘ Torrent of Egypt,” which debouches into 
the Mediterranean midway between the Suez Canal and Gaza. 
It is a miniature of the ‘bad lands” of our own west, but with- 
out water in the bottom of the wadis or grass in the uplands. 
Many parts of the floor of the Tih are covered for miles with 
flint chips, many of them disc-shaped, from half an inch to an 
inch or two in diameter, with more or less rounded edges and 
smooth surfaces. I did not see nodules, encased in chalk, as is 
common in the rocks near the sea-coast of Syria, nor was I able 
to account for the vast number of these chips and their even 
distribution over the almost level surface. Their rounded edges 
and smooth surfaces may be accounted for by the attrition of 
small particles of sand blown over them by the strong winds of 
the desert. 
Some parts of the white chalk cliffs of the "Ujmet are studded 
with small crystalline masses of iron pyrites, and occasional 
masses of gypsum. I did not stumble on any fossils in these 
formations, but I did not search for them. 
There are not a few tracts of arable land in the Tih, and a con- 
siderable number of wells of potable water. It is probable that 
water could be had by boring anywhere in the plateau. On ap- 
proaching Palestine, the area of cultivable soil and the number 
of springs increase. The land also rises gradually along the 
central meridian until it is merged in the hill country of Judea. 
The western aspect of the plateau sinks gradually toward the 
sea level, and a few hours south of Gaza presents a series of east 
and west ridges of sand with shallow intervening valleys, with a 
considerable vegetation consisting of coarse grasses and occasional 
clumps of tamarisks and other small trees or bushes. At the 
bottom of all the wadis, both of Sinai and the Tih, there are 
tamarisk and acacia trees; and a rich and varied desert flora re- 
wards the botanist for his weary camel rides under the scorching 
sun. 
Dean Stanley, in his “Sinai and Palestine,” has well described 
the gradual transition from the barren wastes of the Tih to the 
rolling uplands of Judea. By imperceptible gradations one is 
