4 J. MILSE ON THE SINAITIC PENINSULA AND N.W. AKABIA. 



variety in every part of the peninsula; so that, even were I 

 possessed of the requisite knowledge, to describe them accurately 

 would try the patience of the reader. Masses of black trap much 

 resembling basalt compose several isolated peaks and rocks ;" and 

 at page 529, he continues, "from Sherm we rode an hour and 

 a quarter among low hills near the shore" [towards Akaba]. 

 " Here for the first and only time I saw volcanic rocks. For a 

 distance of about two miles the hills presented perpendicular cliffs, 

 formed in half-circles, and some of them nearly in circles, none of them 

 being more than from 60 to 80 feet in height ; in other places there 

 were appearances as of volcanic craters. The rock is black, with a 

 slight reddish tinge, full of cavities, and has a rough surface ; on 

 the road lay a few stones which had separated themselves from 

 above. The cliffs were covered by deep layers of sand ; and the 

 valleys at their foot were also overspread with it. It is possible 

 that rocks of the same kind may be found towards Eas Abou 

 Mohammed ; and hence may have arisen the term black (fjeXava bprj), 

 applied to the mountains by the Greeks. It should be observed that 

 low sand hills intervene between the volcanic rocks and the sea, and 

 that above these, towards the higher mountains, no traces of lava 

 are found, which seems to show that the volcanic matter is confined 

 to this spot." 



Of ihese remains of an extinct volcano or volcanoes the only trace 

 obtained was the x>icking-up f a few pieces of volcanic breccia, as 

 will be seen from my notes on the neighbourhood, which unfor- 

 tunately, from want of time, relate only to the harbour. 



From this place to Has Abou Mohammed, the most southern point 

 of the Sinaitic Peninsula, there is an absence of the granitic rocks, 

 which keep some 6 or 7 miles back from the coast-line, their place 

 being supplied by low hills and cliffs of limestone and sandstone. 

 On the east side of Sherm harbour, the cliffs, which are about 50 feet 

 in height, are formed of sand, capped with two horizontal beds of 

 yellowish white limestone. These latter, which are about 14 feet 

 thick, are full of irregular cavities, and are in fact rather a breccia 

 of shells and coral than a compact limestone. 



The beds of sand, which in places appear to dip at about 12° 

 towards the south, although compact, are much too friable to be 

 called a sandstone. They are of a yellowish red colour, and in 

 places are formed of quartz grains as large as peas, giving the 

 character of a grit. Intercalated with them is a band about 6 inches 

 wide, of rounded and angular pieces of flint, quartz, and granite. 

 Masses of limestone, having fallen from the beds above, form a 

 protection against disintegrating forces, which rapidly tend to under- 

 mine them. Passing from these cliffs round the harbour in a 

 northerly direction, across the entrance to a wady running to the 

 north-east, steep banks of sand are met with, which continue to its 

 south-west side. These are generally of a yellowish colour ; but in 

 one or two places they were of a fiery red. At several points there 

 are indications which might be taken for horizontal bands of a black 



