136 REPORT—1868. 
within this limited region the claims of three mountains had been advocated. 
Of these, the first, Jebel Odjmeh, in no way met the requirements of the Bible 
narrative, being a mountain not apart from others round which bounds could be 
placed. The second, Jebel Serbal, was excluded by reason of its having no plain 
before it, and being approached only by narrow, rocky wadys. The third, Jebel 
Misa, the “ mountain of Moses,” standing alone and rising abruptly from the plain 
of Wady Er Rahar, seemed to answer most of the requirements, and is, the author 
believes, the true Mount Sinai. Yet there are many who believe that the plain 
in front of it, which is only two miles long and scarcely half a mile broad, is too 
small for the encampment of the Israelites. The author was surprised last year to 
discover another plain, similarly situated, at the foot of an imposing mountain, which 
was at least four miles broad and seven miles long; and this being only eight miles 
distant from Jebel Misa, is a striking proof of how little we yet know of the topo- 
graphy of the country. This plain is called Senned, and its mountain Jebel Um 
Alowee. Up to within the last five miles, the road which leads both to Jebel 
Masa and Jebel Um Alowee is identically the same; so that if the latter be 
ever brought forward as a rival Mount Sinaigg will in no way tend to unsettle 
any opinions that may be formed with reg&fd to the previous route of the Is- 
raelites. The author next described the situation of Rephidim, which he be- 
lieved he had satisfactorily determined to be at a spot about twelve miles to the 
north of the two mounts, where there is a narrow pass through a granitic range, 
formed by the Wady Es Sheikh, suitable as the post of defence of the Amalekites. 
All the requirements of the scriptural account of the battle of Rephidim were found 
at this spot. With regard to the route of the Israelites before reaching this point, 
the author believed that further research might possibly prove that a large plain 
called Es Seyh, south of Jebel Tih, extending for a distance of nearly thirty miles, 
had the highest claims to be considered the Wilderness of Sin; the distance from 
the south-eastern end of which to Rephidim was about thirty miles, and would 
correspond with the three days’ march of the Israelites. Along this they ma; 
have marched after their journey along the sea-coast as far as Wady Ghurundel 
and inland round the back of the headland of Jebel Hummam to Wady Useit. 
The author had arrived at the conclusion that no great change in the features of 
the peninsula of Sinai had taken place since the remote period of the Exodus, 
On the Nomade Races of European Russia. By H. H. Howorrs. 
Russia, as the scene of the latest ethnographic changes, offers a good field to 
begin an inquiry into the earlier ethnology of Europe, it being, according to the 
author, a more scientific method to commence such an inquiry with the known, 
working back to the unknown, than the reverse process. A wide induction from 
facts and a careful balancing of authorities had led him to a generally consistent 
theory on the peopling of southern Russia by successive waves of nomades,—a 
story which is very confused as told by earlier writers. The following is a brief 
summary of the results :—In 1630 the Kalmucks first crossed the Volea with a few 
Turcomans in their train, Their number had since decreased very materially, and 
they are all found in the government of Astrakhan. In 1218 the Tartars, or Turcie 
race, officered by Moguls, crossed the same river, and subsequently founded the three 
Khanates of Kasan, Astrakhan, and Crim, which were successively swallowed up 
by Russia. Previous to 1218 the valley between the Jaik and the Volga, known 
as the Kisschabe, was occupied by a corrupt Turcic race, represented mainly by the 
Nogais, while in the Western Steppes were found Comans and Petcheneys, both 
also Turcic races. The extension of the power of the Khalifat and the spread of 
Islamism first brought the Turcic races in contact with the Volga. In the ninth 
and tenth centuries they drove the Ughry out of their settlements,—a portion of 
them, the Voguls, northwards ; the rest, the Magyars, westwards into Hungary. 
Previously to this date the Turks were unknown in Western Europe. Under 
their several names of Huns, Avares, Bulgars, Khazars, and Hungars, or Hungarians, 
wave of invaders had succeeded wave across the Steppes, and gradually infiltered 
their blood and even a trace of their language into Central Europe. ‘ But these 
races were all Finnic or Ugrian. They all came from the same area, the crowded 
“} ee Stee eee 
