J. MILNE ON THE SINAITIC PENINSULA AND N.W. ARABIA. & 



like a glacier. Every gorge and valley is filled from side to side with 

 it; and from high up, at a narrow terminus where the sides of granite 

 approach each other, there is a sloping even surface which comes 

 winding down until it merges in the plain below. 



As at this point there was no valley, the glacier-like form did not 

 exist, but in its place were long winding sandy ridges running from 

 the foot of the hills and terminating abruptly in the plain some 50 

 or 100 yards from their origin. A section at right angles to the 

 length of one of these, would give two sides sloping upwards at 

 about 45°, meeting at an angle some 12 or 14 feet above the ground. 

 Running up these two faces there are parallel lines very similar to 

 regularly formed ripple-marks, which give the surface a corrugated 

 appearance. The curious point, however, is that the ripple-marks 

 on one side of the mound alternate with those on the other ; that 

 is to say, where the crest of one ripple-mark running up the side of 

 the mound reaches its ridge, there it meets with the hollow of a 

 ripple-mark on the opposite side, in this way causing the ridge to 

 be a regularly formed waved line. 



Similar structures to these mounds of sand I have seen in Iceland 

 built up of ashes, but on a much larger scale. Those on the 

 north-east side of Godalands Jokull, are ridges half a mile in 

 length running from the top of the hills down to the valley 

 below, and have a striking resemblance to some huge railway em- 

 bankment. 



Tor. — A short distance before reaching this place the high range 

 of granitic hills which borders the coast gradually grows lower, and 

 finally disappears in the sand. Many of the dykes in them are 

 approximately parallel, and those which are not vertical dip towards 

 the south. As this range of hills, which from the map appears to 

 be called Jebel Gabeliyeh, dies out, another range rises in the rear, 

 which as it proceeds southwards approaches the sea-board, from 

 which at first it is some 15 or 16 miles distant. The highest of 

 these, Jebel Serbal, 6734 feet, has, amongst others, a claim to be the 

 true Mount Sinai. Between it and the sea where Tor is situated 

 there is a broad and gently undulating plain. Tor itself, although a 

 small village, has a striking feature in being built almost wholly 

 of blocks of coral obtained from some large mounds about 100 

 yards to the north, which, when they come down to the shore, 

 form small cliffs from 20 to 30 feet in height. These mounds, 

 which are made up of sand, imbedded masses of coral, and a variety of 

 shells, are apparently a drift accumulation — an idea suggested by 

 the imperfect condition of the shells and the irregular manner in 

 which they appear to be thrown together. 



Sherm. — At page 396 of Mr. Poulett Scrope's work on vol- 

 canoes it is stated, on the authority of Burckhardt, that there is 

 a probability of the existence of volcanic rocks at Sherm. Burck- 

 hardt, when speaking of this district in his < Syria ' (page 522), 

 says, " the transition-rock, which partakes of the nature of green- 

 stone or grauwacke or hornstone and trap, presents an endless 



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