1022 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



peaks they remained eleven months while 

 Moses, under God's guidance, trans- 

 formed the mass of Hebrew slaves into 

 Israel the Chosen People, the miracle of 

 human history.* 



THE BEST MORAL AND RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS 

 OF THE WORLD ARE LINKED WITH 

 THE OLDEST GEOLOGICAL FORMA- 

 TION OF OUR PLANET 



Of course these mountain peaks and 

 valleys have been encrusted with legends 

 and shrines, but somewhere here within 

 a little circle of 30 miles took place many 

 of the most important transactions of 

 human history in closest contact with 

 God. The announcement of the Cove- 

 nant, the manifestation of God's pres- 

 ence, the giving of the Ten Command- 

 ments, and the setting up of the Taber- 

 nacle are events that loom large in the 

 history and the destiny of the race. 

 Here among the indescribable beauties 

 and grandeur of these granite mountains 

 Moses laid the foundations of a civil code 

 and instituted a complete form of relig- 

 ious worship. 



It is no accident that the promulgation 

 of the Divine Law, the fundamental prin- 

 ciples of all the best moral and legal sys- 

 tems of the world, are linked with the 

 oldest geological formation of our planet. 

 There is a magnificent correspondence be- 

 tween the granite- cliffs of Sinai and the 

 unchangeable walls of moral truths. 



THE INHABITANTS OF SINAI 



The Peninsula of Sinai is a desert in 

 which its dwindling inhabitants wander 

 in search of food and water. All told 

 the Bedouin do not number more than 

 600 souls. They are divided into four 

 main tribes ; are headed, not ruled over, 

 by sheikhs who represent their followers 

 before the government and who act as 

 judges and referees in the never-ending 

 disputes. These Bedouin dwell in miser- 

 able tents which are always pitched in 

 lonely valleys and away from the routes 

 of passers-by. When travelers enter the 

 Peninsula the news is spread by means as 

 mysterious as the wireless, and hungry 



* Exodus, xix-xl. 



fellows with their lean camels hasten 

 from every tribe and wrangle for days - 

 and even weeks over the right and privi- 

 lege to share in the transport of the 

 traveler and his outfit. 



Our group of 16 was led by Sheikh 

 Hammadi. He was a wide-awake fel- 

 low and got about as much work out of 

 such raw material as any one could have 

 expected. Their habits of life, their 

 never-ending and tireless powers of con- 

 versation, their dress, their food, their 

 preparations for the night within the cir- 

 cle of their camel harness around a little 

 fire was a fascinating subject of study. 



The Peninsula must always have been 

 thinly populated because so scantly sup- 

 plied with water and means of subsis- 

 tence. The present population would 

 average only one person to every two 

 square miles (compare Switzerland with 

 200 to the square mile, New Jersey with 

 250, and Oklahoma with 10), and they 

 live largely on supplies from Egypt and 

 the proceeds of escorting Greek pilgrims 

 to Sinai. Politically they now belong to 

 Egypt. They are tent dwellers even 

 though they do build rude stone huts at 

 certain of the oases where they gather 

 for a month at the time of the date har- 

 vest. It is not too much to say that the 

 only permanent habitations in all the 

 Peninsula are the fortress-monastery at 

 Sinai and its dependency at Tor, on the 

 Red Sea, and these are occupied by 

 Ionian Greek monks. 



The route from Suez to Sinai is a 

 nine days' journey on camels. Travelers 

 usually make a short half day to the 

 Wells of Moses, the first oasis four hours 

 beyond Suez. Then follows a waterless 

 tract of three days' journey to Elim, and 

 no one ever making this trip will fail to 

 realize what was meant by the oft-re- 

 peated request to Pharaoh that the Chil- 

 dren of Israel be allowed to go a "three 

 days' journey into the wilderness" with 

 their wives and children and their cattle 

 to sacrifice. Elim with its wells of water 

 and its palm trees, unchanged to this 

 present day and without human habita- 

 tion, was the first possible stopping place 

 after the edge of the desert had been 

 crossed. 



