56 



Visit to Mount Sinai. 



[No, S3, 



These beds often form a talus at the base of the mountains, usually 

 nearly flat, or sloping gently towards the plain. Part of one of 

 these beds opposite the mouth of the pass has remained an isolated 

 mass, the sides have been swept away and resembles much an em- 

 brasured redoubt to guard the mouth. In the examination of their 

 structure one finds the sand and gravel in regular layers very unlike 

 the confused order of the materials composing a moraine. The peb- 

 bles are in general rounded and derived from the rocks in the vicinity 

 similar to those described as lying loose on the surface of the plain of 

 El Kaa. 



The gravel bed and those resulting Trom the decay of the granite 

 and hypogene rocks are often cemented and consolidated by the water 

 of springs charged with carbonate of lime, assisted by the oxidation of 

 a portion of the iron contained in the rock itself. 



Beds of gravel are mentioned by Professor Robinson as occurring 

 at the base of the mountains of the eastern coast of Sinai near the 

 mouths of the wadis sloping from the basis of the ranges towards the 

 sea, but he does not say whether stratified or not. Of the nature, 

 size, or shape of pebbles imbedded we have no information. 



Small clear springs still trickle through Wadi Hebron. The water 

 had a temperature at noon, in the shade of 78*2° Faht. ; air in 

 shade 76*4*^ ; on granite rock freely exposed to the' rays of the sun, 

 the mercury rose to 119° (noon). 



About 8 A. M., we alighted under the shade of some cliffs over- 

 hanging a verdant spot in the wadi where the spring had collected 

 into a small pool which afforded us a most refreshing bath. In the 

 shallow parts of the rivulet grew a rush, which reminded us of the 

 English rush, and which the Arabs call simar, the broad-leaved 

 hhuhha flag and the cotton-podded shiat. After splashing about in 

 the water for some time we dressed and breakfasted under the shel- 

 ter of some date bushes. 



At 4 in the afternoon we again pushed on up the wadi, walled 

 in on either side by most picturesque rocks and its surface often 

 green with large tamerisk bushes, for 5 hours without interruption 

 in a general N. E. direction. It was evident we had been ascending 

 for the first 4 hours ; and the last hour was spent in mounting a 

 steep defile. On our left lay a deep precipitous ravine headed by a 

 rocky barrier of considerable height which appeared to close the pass 

 forming a cul-de-sac; and which from a cursory examination by 



