114 MEMOIR OP BURCKHARDT. 



incongruous union of Moses and St. Catherine is 

 a proof how little reliance is to be placed upon 

 them. 



After visiting the sacred mountains, with their 

 different objects of curiosity and veneration, Burck- 

 hardt had intended to proceed to Akaba; but in 

 this he was disappointed, as the Pasha of Egypt 

 had refused to grant him a firman, alleging, as on 

 a former occasion, that he was sufficiently well 

 acquainted with the language and manners of the 

 Arabs to require any other recommendation. The 

 danger of proceeding without this passport obliged 

 him to retrace his steps, after he had penetrated to 

 Sherm on the inner coast of the Gulf, nearly as far 

 down as Ras Mohammed. From this point he 

 travelled along the shore until within a short dis- 

 tance of its northern extremity, which he learned 

 had only a single termination, instead of being 

 forked, or divided into two branches as is usually 

 laid down in our maps. 



This excursion was not without other advantages 

 to geography and natural science. It was near 

 Sherm that he met, for the first and only time in 

 the peninsula, with volcanic rocks. Serpents, too, , 

 he was told, are very common in these parts, and 

 traces of them were seen crossing each other in 

 various directions. The fishermen are so afraid of 

 them, that they extinguish their fires before going 

 to sleep, because the light is known to attract them. 

 The Israelites passed near Akaba, when they jour- 

 neyed from Mount Hor, by way of the Red Sea, to 



