1868.] BAUEEMAN AEABIA PETE^A. 25 



mass, but an olcl lava-flow which was poured out in shallow water 

 during the formation of the flint-conglomerate. The general section 

 at this place is shown in PI. I. fig. 3. The outer horizontally 

 arranged beds, consisting of the rubbish and detritus of the hills, 

 form a roughly terraced clift' aboye the plain of the Marcha, which 

 latter is most likely formed of sand and gypseous marl, like those of 

 Suez and of Moses's Wells. 



JSarahiit e Gamncd — Flint-conglGmerate. — In the higher parts of 

 Wady Atal, Gharandel, and the other ralleys cut through the table- 

 land of the white limestone, the sections are much obscured by the 

 accumulation of alluyial gravels, which increase in quantity towards 

 the interior of the country ; and as the valleys are broad, with com- 

 paratively low cliffs, drifted sand also accumulates in considerable 

 quantities in places. On reaching the high ridge loiown as Sarabut 

 e Gamnal, which covers the pass leading into the sandy plain of 

 Eamleh, there is a great change in the character of the beds — an 

 enormous quantity of coarse flint-conglomerate and white limestone 

 forming the crest of the hill on either side. These, no doubt, belong 

 to the same set of beds as the rocks at the mouth of AVady Gharandel 

 and Wady Taibe, although developed on a greater scale : and, judg- 

 ing from the size of the pebbles, they have probably been deposited 

 in shallower water than the same beds further westward. A fault 

 with a westerly downthrow crosses the ridge of Sarabut e Gamnal, 

 throwing the flint-conglomerate against the dark-red or brown 

 Triassic sandstones below. This dislocation, either alone or with a 

 system of parallel fractures, is continuous for many miles in a north 

 and south line, and has a marked effect on the physical geography of 

 the country ; for by it the soft white and bituminous series of beds in 

 the region already described are cut off, as by a wall, from the older 

 rocks of the interior. 



RamJeh (see PI. I. fig. 4). — The plain of B^amleh, about 1750 feet 

 above the sea-level in the centre, and about ten or twelve miles 

 broad from north to south, is covered with drifted and blown sand, 

 resting on red and brown quartzose sandstones and conglomerates, 

 the beds being nearly flat, or forming a slight anticlinal arch. On 

 the northern side it is bounded by the great escarpment known as 

 Jebel el Tih, which forms the edge of the Cretaceous and Tertiary 

 plateau extending northward to El Arish and Palestine. The 

 southern edge is deeply indented with many narrow and winding- 

 valleys, which are cut dovm to the crystalline rocks below, and 

 which unite with like valleys coming from the south, from the main- 

 drainage line of the district in Wady Baba. 



Till Escarjyment. — As regards the escarpment of Tih I have but 

 little information to give, as it lies beyond the district where I was 

 more immediately at work. Por the following section I am indebted 

 to my friend and associate Dr. C. Le Iv'eve Foster, who made a flying 

 visit from our camp in Wady Suoug : — 



