OF SEVERAL PARTS OF WESTERN ASIA. 351 



syenite, the specks of hornblende being considerably numerous, 

 but small. It contains no mica. Another specimen from the 

 peak that goes by the name of Horeb, is reddish, and contains 

 very little hornblende. This summit is very probably the Sinai 

 of Scripture, where the iTioral law was given : and though these 

 mountains have been visited by so many sagacious travellers, for 

 many hundred of years, and inhabited by learned monks, yet it 

 is a curious fact, that this spot should be first identified in the 

 nineteenth century, by two American travellers : and that Messrs. 

 E-obinson and Smith have identified it, will, I think, be manifest 

 to any one who will carefully examine their researches. 



I noticed at the Missionary Rooms, a crystal of quartz from 

 Mount St. Catharine, three quarters of an inch in diameter, in- 

 crusted with minute crystals of epidote : also fibrous red hema- 

 tite from Fursh el Khijan, two hours east of Wady Bijah in 

 Mount Sinai. In the same collection is a specimen of rock 

 salt, from the " Head of Wady el Tayibah, where the Israelites 

 turned to encamp by the Red Sea." Dr. Anderson allowed me 

 to take the fragment No. 424 for chemical examination. I sus- 

 pected from its aspect that it might be a recent deposit ; but care- 

 ful examination enabled me to find in it several fragments of 

 chalky limestone ; and hence I suspect it to occur in that rock ; 

 which, as we shall see, is connected with the rock salt near the 

 Dead Sea. A solution of the specimen from Sinai, gave a dis- 

 tinct precipitate to chloride of barium, to oxalate of ammonia, 

 and ammoniaco-phosphate of soda ; showing the presence of a 

 sulphate, also lime and magnesia : but in less quantity than is 

 usual in fossil rock salt. I could detect in it neither iodine nor 

 bromine. I have no information as to the extent of the deposit. 



The syenite of Sinai is traversed by many dykes of trap rock, 

 probably greenstone ; and in approaching it from Egypt, Robin- 

 son and Smith describe a formation of porphyry. In passing 

 from Sinai to Akabah, they described the hiUs of granite as fre- 

 quently capped in -a singular manner with sandstone. In the 

 great desert between Sinai and Palestine, the hills appear to be 

 mainly composed of limestone, chiefly the chalky variety, and 

 probably belonging to the cretaceous formation. Sixty or sev- 



