MEMOIR OF BURCKHARBT. Ill 



rents which rush from the upper region in the 

 winter-time. The sacred mountain consists of two 

 elevations, called by the Arabs Gebel Mousa and 

 ' Gebel Katerin (the Mounts of Moses and St. Ca- 

 therine), which have generally been identified with 

 Sinai and Horeb. Both terminate in a sharp peak, 

 the planes of which do not exceed fifty or sixty 

 paces in circumference. The latter is the higher of 

 the two, and its summit commands a very extensive 

 prospect of the adjacent country. 



The whole of the surrounding wilderness is a 

 collection of naked rocks and craggy precipices, 

 interspersed with valleys and ravines, often desti- 

 tute of verdure, yet occasionally adorned with trees 

 and gardens fragrant with the richest perfumes.* 

 On either hand may be seen the two arms of the 

 Red Sea, a part of Egypt, and northward to within 

 a few days' journey of Jerusalem. There is some 

 doubt as to whether the Mount of Moses or of 

 St. Catherine is the identical Sinai ; and this con- 

 fusion has arisen from the indiscriminate application 

 of the names to both. Other two lofty mountains, 

 more to the westward, called Serbal and Shomar, 

 have also been considered as having rival preten- 

 sions to the distinction of having witnessed the 

 promulgation of the decalogue ; but these claims 



* Burckhardt says, speaking of the gardens in some of these 

 ravines, " The verdure was so brilliant, and the blossoms of the 

 orange-trees diffused so fine a perfume, that I was transported 

 in imagination from the barren cliffs of the wilderness to the 

 luxurious groves of Antioch." 



