1020 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



NAGB EL HAWA: THE WINDY DEFILE LEADING INTO THE HEART OE THE SINAr 



GROUP, ALL OF RED GRANITE 



known, and it is of enchanting interest to 

 note that on this section all the most 

 prominent towns mentioned in the books 

 of Exodus and Numbers retain their 

 ancient names till this present hour.* 

 Maan, Dibon, Madeba, Heshbon, Amman, 

 Edrei, Kenath, Salchad and Jericho are 

 all found on our modern maps and are 

 well-known towns to travelers in that 

 region. It is perhaps not too much to 

 say that on the first and last sections 

 nine-tenths of the ancient names will be 

 recovered clinging to the ruins and val- 

 leys and mountains of those regions. 



The second section of the route, be- 

 tween Sinai and Ezion-geber, is now well 

 known, but because it is an almost unin- 

 habited desert the recovery of the ancient 

 names has not progressed so far. But 

 several of the more important locations 

 have been fixed and we have pleasure in 

 presenting on pages 1034-5 some unique 

 views of Hazeroth and the country about 

 Ezion-geber (Akaba). 



*The Jordan Valley and Petra, Libbey & 

 Hoskins. G. P. Putnam Sons, New York, 

 vol. ii, p. 249. 



The loop section 'of the route from 

 Ezion-geber into the Wilderness of the 

 Wandering and back to Elath is the least 

 well-explored portion. It contains the 

 well-known names of Kadesh Barnea and 

 Mount Hor, where Aaron died and was 

 buried. Thirty-eight years of the jour- 

 ney were spent about Kadesh, and it is 

 here, if anywhere, that actual remains of 

 the Exodus will some day be found. The 

 site of Kadesh Barnea has been made the 

 subject of dispute, but it is almost certain 

 that the modern Ain Kadis, with its 

 copious spring, several wells and pools, 

 is really the ancient Kadesh. An equally 

 vigorous dispute still continues concern- 

 ing the identification of Mount Hor. Mr 

 Auchincloss accepts the Jebel Madura, 

 not far from Kadesh, but tradition as old 

 as Josephus, accepted by Jerome and sup- 

 ported by the unanimous traditions of the 

 Mohammedan and Jewish writers, iden- 

 tify Mount Hor with Jebel Neby Harun, 

 about six miles south of Petra.* This 

 Petra Mount Hor is by far the most im- 

 posing mountain (5,900 feet) and the 

 view from its summit embraces more of 



