THE ROUTE OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL 



1021 



the Promised Land than Aaron could 

 have seen from Jebel Madura.* 



Out of about 80 place names on or near 

 the route as plotted by Mr Auchincloss, 

 at least 40 are known and identified with 

 all certainty ; ten more tentatively lo- 

 cated ; another ten have been conjectured, 

 leaving only 15 or 20 of minor import- 

 ance that are practically lost. Ancient 

 names often itinerate with the changing 

 currents of human life about a certain 

 locality so that many of the names now 

 uncertain will be picked up clinging to 

 natural features or obscure ruins. A 

 number of the camping places of the 

 Children of Israel were named from 

 events occurring within the camp and 

 may have left no trace in the wilderness. 



THE PENINSULA OE SINAI 



The Peninsula of Sinai, within which 

 lies the first two sections of the route, is 

 -that triangular region between the two 

 arms of the northern end of the Red Sea. 

 A line drawn from Suez to Akaba, a 

 •distance of 150 miles through the desert, 

 forms the northern side of the triangle. 

 The other two sides are bounded by the 

 Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Akaba. 

 The Gulf of Suez, the longer arm, sweep- 

 ing toward the southeast for a distance 

 •of about 200 miles, lies in the trough-like 

 depression which separates Africa from 

 Asia, and together with the Suez Canal 

 forms one of the greatest waterways of 

 the earth. The other arm, the Gulf of 

 Akaba, extends north by west for 140 

 miles, being a continuation of the most 

 remarkable rift upon our planet, that of 

 the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley. f 



The area of this triangle, the Penin- 

 sula proper, is a little less than 10,000 

 square miles. It is one vast desert re- 

 lieved by a few oases along the seacoast 

 and deep among the network of rocky 

 valleys. In the north and along both 

 seacoasts are vast stretches of sand which 

 forever shift before the winds from land 

 and sea. Further inward are stony 



*The Jordan Valley and Petra, vol. II, p. 231. 

 t The Jordan Valley and Petra, vol. 1, p. 86. 



plateaus and great wastes of sand glis- 

 tening with salt. 



THE HUGE GRANITE RANGE OF SINAI IS 



ONE OF THE MOST IMPRESSIVE 



SIGHTS ON EARTH 



But just south of the center of the 

 Peninsula, like a great light-house be- 

 tween the continents, rises the huge gran- 

 ite range of Sinai to a height of over 

 8,500 feet. The triple peaks of Serbal 

 ('6,730 feet), Musa (7,363 feet), and 

 Catharine (8,536 feet) all lie within a 

 circle whose diameter is not more than 25 

 miles. Geologically this mass of prime- 

 val gneiss and granite, or "in more pre- 

 cise terminology, of colorless quartz, 

 flesh-colored felspar, green horneblende, 

 and black slate," is one of the most im- 

 pressive sights of our earth. Since the 

 days of creation these crystalline masses 

 have undergone no geological changes, 

 but have reared their summits above the 

 ocean from the beginnings of time, un- 

 affected by the transitions that have so 

 completely changed the face of our 

 planet elsewhere. 



Only at their bases do these venerable 

 mountains show any traces of alteration 

 where the waves and the winds of the 

 ages have crushed and ground their fade- 

 less elements into the colored sands which 

 filled the geological gulfs and bays of the 

 Jordan rift and made possible the beau- 

 ties of Petra and all that region.* Rising 

 majestically from the encircling setting 

 of desert and sea the whole mass is cleft 

 and rifted and shattered into a fascinat- 

 ing tangle of sublime valleys, towering 

 cliffs, awful precipices, and magnificent 

 peaks which roll like billows far up into 

 the crystalline blue of the heavens. 



Long before the days of the Exodus 

 this range was known as Horeb, or the 

 Mountain of God, and into this maze of 

 divine handrwork the Children of Israel 

 were led only forty days or more after 

 they had quitted the bondage of Egypt 

 on the banks of the Nile. Plere among 

 these sublime valleys and majestic granite 



*The Jordan Valley and Petra, vol. 11, p. 251. 



