26 PROP. FLINDERS PETRIE, D.C.L., ON RESEARCHES IN SINAI. 



inscriptions, there was not much to detain his party at Wady 

 Nasb, and lie was satisfied with a stay of one day. Proceeding 

 to the Wady Maghareh, important discoveries were awaiting 

 them in the form of tablets dating from Semerkhet of the 

 1st Dynasty, 5291 years B.C., and onwards ; being the memorial 

 works executed during the expeditions of successive kings when 

 opening mines in search of the precious turquoise. This mineral 

 occurs in the Carboniferous Sandstone, consisting of a solid mass 

 of horizontal strata three miles wide, set in between the granite 

 of Wady Sidreh on the south and that of Tartir el Dhami on the 

 north. 'J'he rocks of this district are very ancient, probably of 

 ArchcTan age. Froin the photographic pictures it is seen to be a 

 ridge of rugged heights culminating in a peak 3,ool feet above 

 the sea. Farther to the south, at a distance of 25 miles, rises the 

 serrated ridge of Gebel Serbal, perhaps the most striking of all 

 the Sinaitic mountains, reaching to 6,734 feet above the Gulf 

 of Suez, visible from on board the ships when sailing down 

 the Gulf of Suez, and is often mistaken for Mount Sinai (G. 

 Musa). Further towards the S.E. is Mount Sinai itself, amidst 

 a group of heights, some exceeding it in elevation, such as G. 

 Katharina-Zebir (8,551 feet).* 



The turquoise occurs in thin veins, generally under a stratum 

 of " iron-stone," situated near the top of the formation, and 

 this is also the level of the tablets, seven in number, connected 

 with the mines ; except that of Semerkhet, which is 400 feet 

 above the valley floor, while the others are at a level of ITOfeet.f 

 The ages of the tablets range downwards to that of Tahutmes III. 

 of the XVIIIth Dynasty (1481-1449 B.C.). The author gives 

 us elaborate accounts of the excavations, and of the huts for the 

 miners placed at the edge of a cliff 200 feet high and protected 

 by blocks of stone against tlie wind, or possil)ly against the 

 intrusion of wild beasts, such as hyenas and jackals, which still 

 inhabit this region. Of the tablets, the most striking are those 

 of Semerkhet (Plates 45, 46, and 47). In this last the King 

 is represented as smiting with his mace an unhappy Bedaway 

 chief, who crouches at his feet and tries to defend himself with 

 his right arm — in vain ! The King carries a dagger in his girdle, 

 and is })receded by two figures, one of whom is the general of the 

 expedition. The tablet is cut out of a face of sandstone, the 

 figures shown in relief ; and considering the great age of this 



* " Researclu's," Kig. 30. 



t Iron-stone varies from ferniginons sandstone up to pure fibrous 

 hKimatite in various localities. 



