46 PROF. EDWARD HULL, LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., ON 



mountain with Sinai, as we read of the brook into which 

 Moses strewed the dust of the goklen calf.* 



But the summit of Mount JSinai is not visible from tlie 

 valley of Er Kahah. Although only about a mile distant, 

 the view of the summit is completely cut off by the huge 

 wall of red granite known as Has Sufsafeh which springs 

 from the head of the valley with astonisljing boldness to a 

 height of about 2,000 feet, PL II, Kg. 2. This remarkable 

 feature is in entire accordance with the account in the Bible. 

 Once Moses and Joshua had disappeared in their ascent of the 

 mount behind this rock they were lost to view; and it is not 

 surprising that the people should have exclaimed, " as for 

 this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of 

 Egypt, we Avot not what is become of him/'f Again, on 

 viewing this mural cliff forming the base of the mountain at 

 this spot, we cannot but feel, as it seems to me, that we are 

 in face of the " mount which might be touched," and which 

 Avas to be warded off by setting bounds to it.ij: It would be 

 impossible to apply such language to the border of a 

 mountain of irregular form and sloping outline. § This 

 great cliff, between which and the main mass of J. Musa, 

 there is a depression along which a traveller may descend 

 from the summit, also throws liglit on the tenour of the 

 remarkable conversation between Moses and Joshua. It is 

 clear from this conversation that the proceedings going 

 forward in the camp were completely hidden from them 

 when on the summit, and it was only when they Avere 

 descending that even the voices of the singing multitude 

 came to their ears. But on turning by the corner of tlie 

 cliff (probably by the Wadi el Leja), the terrible scene of 

 idolatrous riot broke upon their A'ievv for the first time, and 

 " Moses cast the tables of the LaAv out of his hands and 

 brake them beneath the mount."|| 



Vegetation and Water. — The only other point, as it seems to 

 me, requiring notice to confirm the identification is the ques- 

 tion Avhether at the base of Jebel Musa there Avas sufficient 



* Tlte Brook that descended out of the Mouvt, Deut. ix, 21. 



t Ex. xxxii, 1. + Ch. xix, 12, 13. 



§ I cannot concur in the view of Dr. Eobinson that one of the necessi- 

 ties of the account requires that the summit of the mountain must have 

 commanded a view of the camp, and the converse. The whole narrative 

 appears to infer the very opposite of this. 



II Ex. xxxii, 15-18. 



