J. MILNE ON THE SINA1TIC PENINSULA AND N.W. ARABIA. O 



colour, forming a cap to these banks of sand ; where these do not 

 exist their remains are seen in taluses of black debris. 



Want of time prevented a close examination of these ; but judging 

 from the numerous fragments of black stone lying on the beach, it 

 would appear that they were in part, if not wholly, of volcanic 

 origin. Generally speaking, they were compact fine-grained, of a 

 black colour, and even in their texture. Under the microscope, how- 

 ever, they were distinctly seen to be a volcanic felspathic breccia 

 (probably doleritic particles cemented by a triclinic felspar) — a condi- 

 tion which, from external appearances, would never have been sus- 

 pected, unless from a slight irregularity on the weathered surfaces 

 of the specimens. With them were a few fragments of a coarse- 

 grained black rock, consisting of quartz and felspar cemented by 

 limonite, which is distinctly a breccia. 



To the west, behind these banks of sand, low hills with rounded 

 outlines run from north to south, which have a definite stratification 

 and dip towards the north. 



The cliffs of R-as Abou Mohammed, lying to the south-west, are 

 about 90 feet in height, and are apparently composed of the same coral 

 limestone as that forming a cap to the sand at Sherm, with which 

 they also agree in the direction of their dip. 



Inland from the cape there is a curious round hummock-shaped 

 black hill. 



From Sherm our course was close along the shore of the Sinaitic 

 Peninsula, along which nothing but rugged hills of granite and 

 " dunes " of sand were visible. 



At the entrance to the Gulf of Akaba we sailed due east to 

 Eynounah, the approach to which was for many miles guarded by 

 innumerable coral reefs, on which the soundings were seldom over 

 2 fathoms. At Eynounah, excepting a few palm trees and the re- 

 mains of an aqueduct apparently of Roman origin, there is but little 

 of interest. The hills, which are very high, several of them being 

 upwards of 7000 feet, are a day's journey or more distant from the 

 coast. About halfway towards them there is a long low white 

 scarp, forming the flank of a range of hills or a low plateau, which 

 is probably limestone. The remainder of the country is flat, and 

 slightly undulating, being for the most part covered with stones and 

 sand ; notwithstanding which, relatively speaking, it is very fertile, 

 many bushes, acacias, and small date-palms being visible. 



Between this place and the entrance to the Gulf of Akaba there 

 are many islands, all of which, judging from their similarity in 

 appearance to those examined, are made up of a whitish limestone 

 dipping at a low angle towards the east. 



Maclian. — The first place landed at inside the Gulf of Akaba was 

 Madian, up to which point both sides of the gulf are bounded by 

 bleak and bare high hills of granite. Here there -is a Bedouin 

 village, situated on the sea-board at the termination of a valley or 

 wady coming down from the east. This valley at its mouth forms a 

 boundary line between two sets of lithologically different rocks. 



