ADDRESS. 1a 
above the sea in the Edomite district, or 4,000 feet in that 
of Moab. The upper surface of this table-land is formed, 
throughout the greater extent, of Cretaceous limestone resting 
on Nubian sandstone, and this again on ancient crystalline rocks 
which form the basis of the whole region, and emerge from 
beneath the Nubian sandstone on approaching the head of the 
Gulf of Akabah from the north. The ancient city of Petra, 
whose temples, palaces, theatres, and tombs are hewn out of 
the solid sandstone rock, in situ, lies in the heart of the 
mountains of Edom, and was visited by the members of the 
Expedition. The summit of Mount Hor (Jebel Haroun) was 
also reached, and its elevation of 4,580 feet above the sea 
determined. ‘This point, which commands a view of the Ghor, 
the hills of southern Palestine, and those of the Peninsula 
of Sinai, was made by Colonel Kitchener a principal trigo- 
nometrical station. 
The Valley of the Arabah has been for ages the line of 
communication between Syria, Palestine, and the great 
Arabian Peninsula. Along this valley the Israelites, on being 
refused a passage through the territory of the King of Hdom, 
retraced their steps from Kadesh Barnea and Mount Hor, and 
crossing the mountain range by the pass of the Wady el Ithm 
skirted Mount Seir on their progress northwards to the table- 
land of Moab. Along this line of march also, at a later period, 
the Queen of Sheba may be supposed to have journeyed from 
her territory at the head of the Persian Gulf, when she visited 
King Solomon, and, having crossed the Desert of Arabia, took 
the line of the valley from Hlath northwards to Jerusalem. By 
the same line Solomon kept up his communication with the 
port of Ezion Geber,* which Leon de Laborde has, with every 
probability, identified with the Island of Jazirat Farin—off 
the Ras el Musry—at the western side of the Gulf, opposite 
Akabah. The only existing remains on this island are 
considered to belong to the period of the Crusades. 
(5.) The. fifth and last physical district, the Peninsula of 
Sinai, is by far the most striking, from the grandeur and 
loftiness of its mountains, their sharpness of outline, and the 
depth of the colouration of the rocks, in which red and purple 
colours prevail. It thus presents a marked contrast to the 
table-land of Badiet-et-Tih, and of Southern Palestine to the 
north, where the nearly horizontal beds of limestone give rise 
to terraces, with prevalent grey or yellow colours, except where 
clothed with herbage. The physical features of this region 
* | Kings ix. 26. 
VOL. XXI. C 
