1817.] 



Visit to Mowit Sinai. 



61 



At 3 p. M. we continued our route alono^ the same 

 Sherwutliawa. . , , 



rocky slope with the ravine of Nekb Hawa below us 



to our left ascending all the way to the rocky barrier of Sherwut 

 Hawa whence Horeb's imposing front burst suddenly into view ris- 

 ing 1,400 feet in stern and naked majesty, from the bottom of the 

 wide valley or plain of Er Rahah &s>^\J.\ which slopes from the 

 base of the ridge on which we stood to the very foot of Horeb 

 flanked on either side by lofty walls and pinnacles of granite and 

 porphyry and forming a glorious natural avenue, or pronaos to the 

 holy mount. Among these peaks Mount Catherine, and Abu Gurus 

 to the south are conspicuous. 



We descended the barrier by the pass and wells 

 Abu Soheli. . ^ ^ 



of Abu Soheli. Here we observed two rocks, bear- 

 ing Sinaitic inscriptions Avith the usual prefix ^ 



Plain of Er The plain of Er Rahah is about two miles long 

 Rahah. \yy ^^If a mile average breadth, and runs in a S. E. di- 



rection from the well of Abu Soheli to Mount Horeb. Its surface is 

 in general unincumbered with rocky masses and evenly covered with 

 gravel, — the detritus of the rocks which tower over it. Its surface is 

 often pretty thickly covered with the usual balsamic shrubs of the pe- 

 ninsula. In this plain or valley, the largest in the interior of the penin- 

 sula doubtless where the Israelites long encamped under the shadow 

 of Horeb, " The Repose," as the word Rahah \_&sJ\j] literally 

 signifies. Kaha however another Arabic word exactly 

 describes this plain, signifying a plain surrounded by hills. I have 

 however adopted Burckhardt's way of spelling it. 



The rocks from Hajjar Abu Tok in the Nakb Hawa to Mount 

 Horeb are chiefly granite, porphyritic granite, brown porphyry in 

 veins or dykes in granite, and hornblende rock. All these rocks are 

 penetrated by enormous dykes of basaltic greenstone. A coarse 

 granitic detritus is seen at the bottom of the Wadi Hawa occa- 

 sionally in beds of some hardness. The cementing matter is chiefly 

 clay and oxide of iron, the result of the decay of the felspar mica 

 and hornblende in the granite, with a little lime derived from 

 gprings. 



From the plain of Er Rahah we first saw the cypress tree of the 



