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



bands of limestone projecting through slopes of debris, about 350 

 or 400 feet above the surrounding level. The rock has here lost 

 its chalk-like appearance, and is a compact limestone. Near the 

 foot of the wady many Ostrece and other fossil forms are observed ; 

 and at about 300 feet above the plain there are bands almost wholly 

 made up of a small Echinus, varying in diameter from | inch to 

 about 1| inch. At about 350 feet the summit of the pass is 

 reached, from which point there is an almost continuous descent 

 towards Suez, the rocks dipping about 15° to the S.S.W. Mr. 

 Etheridge considers that these bands are probably of Miocene age. 



Whilst descending on the Suez side of the hills down Wady 

 Sagarah, the Echinus-bed is again passed. In places the limestone, 

 which contains irregular concretions of flinty matter, is of a deep 

 red colour, which is due to oxide of iron. 



At Eas el Gibal this wady opens out into a small and fertile 

 plain cultivated by the Bedouins, on the south-west side of which 

 there are ranges of white rock which appear to be Nummulitic. After 

 leaving this plain, the whole of the way to Suez is covered with 

 hills of drift sand. 



Conclusion. — On account of the hurried nature of my journey, it 

 would not be advisable to make any definite statement as to the 

 identification of the geological horizons which were passed over ; 

 but it will be seen that, on lithological and scanty palaeontological 

 evidence, the series of rocks mentioned in the foregoing account 

 will bear comparison with the succession summarized by Mr. 

 Bauerman as occurring further to the south (Quart. Journ. Geol. 

 Soc. for 1869, vol. xxv. p. 17). 



The few fossils collected are at present in the hands of Mr. Henry 

 Woodward, F.R.S., of the British Museum, who has kindly under- 

 taken to examine them. 



With regard to the crystalline rocks, it will be seen that the 

 prevailing feature in them is the predominance of the felspathic 

 element in the granites and in the dykes by which they are 

 traversed. 



It will also be seen that out of the seventy-seven specimens 

 examined, only two approximated to a syenite ; nor were there any 

 massive hornblendic rocks of this description seen in the district 

 visited. In the Journal of the Royal Dublin Society for January 

 1858, there is a communication on a " Mineralogical Excursion from 

 Cairo into Arabia Petrsea," edited by Professor Haughton. Accom- 

 panying this there is a collection of rocks verifying the observations, 

 from which it would seem that although syenite does exist in the 

 Sinaitic Peninsula, it does not form a predominant feature ; and it 

 is also stated that " all the mountains in the neighbourhood of 

 Sinai are granite." Such being the case, it seems hardly justifiable 

 to attempt an alteration in the name of the rock, although syenite 

 is not found at Syene on the Nile. 



