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Geology of Mount Sinai and the adjacent Countries. 209 
ig to the north-east, there is another valley beyond El Sal, 
where ealeareous and sandstone rocks begin. Thence over 
the sandy plain of Ramleh, and then, descending towards 
Hadhera, a deep sandy valley covered with blocks of chalk 
rock is entered ; and about a mile further is a pass between 
low hills of sandstone. In Wadi Rahab, the Wadi-el- Ruwei- 
hibiyeh of Robinson, flowing into Wadi Ghazaleh (‘ Gazelle’), 
the sands terminate; then, in another Wadi to the east, an 
alternation of sandstone and granite exists. 
To the west is Wadi-el-Ain, par excellence, “ the spring” 
or “ fount,” which lies on one of the chief roads, or rather 
camel paths, either to the convent by Wadi Zalaka and Ala- 
hadar, or from thence northwards, by the Mareikhi Pass over 
the central Tyh Mountains, west of Gebel-el-Egmeh, on to 
the table lands of the Great, Desert. At El Ain, in a small 
plain, a fountain, and rivulet, and palm trees, delight the 
traveller ; and they are placed nearly in the centre of the 
sandstone region between the northern and southern branches 
of Gebel-el-Tyh. Mr Bartlett relates, that beyond the 
fountain, “a singular sandstone mountain, in shape a trun- 
cated cone, rises, broken into strata of the most fantastic 
colouring—red, white, yellow, and purple,—glaring and flam- 
ing under a cloudless sky.” The figure of the mount, as re- 
presented by him at p. 97, “ Forty Days in the Desert,” re- 
sembles on a smaller scale, the highest peak of Mount Hor ; 
and its remarkable colouring too, ¢fin fact it be all sandstone, 
is similar to that of the highly-tinted sandstone rocks at Petra. 
But I think the differently coloured strata of that mount will 
prove to be, on an examination of them, layers of granite, 
chalky limestone, sandstone, and porphyry, like the alter- 
nately-placed beds of these formations, which have been al- 
ready detailed as seen in several Wadis contiguous to Wadi 
Wetir. Indeed, this seems probable, because Mr Bartlett 
adds, that after E] Ain, and when he had approached “ the 
jaws of a gloomy defile (Wadi Wetir), the sandstone gave place 
to the dark purple hue of the porphyry, precipices of which 
rose higher and higher.” 
The two great valleys of this portion of the Peninsula, E/ 
Saland Ietir, are alike in their general form, though the 
VOL. XLVIII. NO. XCVI,—APRIL 1850. ty) 
