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Geology of Mount Sinai and adjacent Countries. 199 
are precipitous sides of chalky limestone, from 200 to 250 
feet in height, with fimts in-some parts. On the north, the 
high pyramidal peak, termed Sarbut-el-Gemel, the “ hump of 
a camel,’ is of the same limestone, and is connected with 
Gebel Watah by low ridges. At Gebel Zuweibin, on the 
south, the sandstone region is entered upon the right, whilst 
on the left, or east, the /imestone is chiefly continued. Here 
all this lofty portion of Gebel-el-Tyh, possessing a long, re- 
gular, and level ridge, appeared to be calcareous. The 
plain named Debbet-el-Ramleh, or “ plain of sand,” is broad, 
sandy, uneven, with broken ridges and water courses ; it com- 
mences to the south-east at an elevation of about 1600 feet, 
and extends to within afew miles of the Gulf of Akaba, 
varying in altitude during this distance; for at Alahadar, 
near the line of 34° east longitude, it is found to rise to 
above 4000 feet above the sea. The south-eastern portion, 
or branch, of the Tyh mountains is also sandstone. 
This Sinai sandstone, with its marls, belongs to the lower 
secondary formation, which Russegger names “‘ untere Kreide- 
reihe,” the lower cretaceous series. 
The mountain on which remain those remarkable, and for 
long esteemed ‘“‘ mysterious monuments,” called Sarbut-el- 
Chadem, “knob of the ring,” is of this sandstone, reddish- 
brown, or mostly red, with strata of different shades here 
and there ; it is 600 or 700 feet in height, the ascent to which 
is difficult, and even dangerous, for most sides of it are 
broken into deep precipices. The numerous stehe, still exist- 
ing on the west side of the small elevated plain, or rather 
ledge, are covered, according to Professor Lepsius, with hiero- 
glyphics, which record the working of the neighbouring cop- 
per-mines. He says, the whole country was named in hiero- 
glyphics, Mafkat, «the copper land.”* Had any geologist 
visited these singular ruins, he must have discovered the 
heaps of scoriv, and, consequently, the ¢rue origin of the dis- 
trict, and so would no¢ have considered it as a place of Egyp- 
tian pilgrimage, as some travellers have incorrectly done. 
* “Your from Thebes to the Peninsula of Sinai,” by Professor Lepsius, trans- 
lated by C. Hl, Cottrell, p. 14. 
