HUDLESTON: GEOLOGY OF PALESTINE. 
189 
late Dr. Beke in search of the true Sinai. They avoided Jebel Musa, 
and the whole region of the traditional Sinai, and proceeded to the 
head of the Gulf of Akabah, where Dr. Beke fully expected to find 
the volcano from which, according- to him, the law was delivered. 
This supposed volcano is situated a few miles to the north-east of 
Fort Akabah, and turned out to be a granite mountain, of which 
Profassor Milne gives a good description. The rock was found to 
be very prone to disintegration, but the dykes whicii traverse it 
decay still more rapidly.* From Professor Milne also, we have 
testimony to the predominance of the felspathic element in the 
granites and the dykes by which they are traversed. Of seventy 
two specimens examined, only two approached syenite. It is pro- 
bable that these observations apply mainly to rocks collected near the 
gulf of Akabah. 
Leaving the crystalline rocks, we now find ourselves face to 
face with that difficult problem of the Nubian Sandstone. The relations 
of the Nubian Sandstone to the crystalline rocks are well shown in 
Mr. Bauerman's (Fig. 3) section. This may be regarded as the first 
stratigraphical aspect of the Nubian Sandstone. As we follow its 
long exposure on the east side of the Arabah, no base is seen, — this 
is the second stratigraphical aspect. Then it disappearsj and its 
representative in the Lebanon rests upon the Glandarius limestone, 
and this probably upon the Jurassic rocks of Hermon. I have 
endeavoured to show this by inserting the wedge-shaped mass, e, 
into the stratigraphical column. 
With the help of Mr. Bauerman, let us examine the Nubian 
Sandstone of the Wady Nasb, where its base is distinctly seen, so 
that we know that there is nothing but crystalline rocks underlying 
it. I need not detail the lithological characters, but the chief point 
of interest lies in the fact that a thin bed of limestone here occurs in 
it, which contains undoubted Carboniferous fossils. There was much 
discussion about this at first, but Mr. Holland subsequently sent 
better specimens, one of which, Orthis Michelini, was in very good 
* The episode of Jebel Baghir, or Jebel-el-Xur (the mountain of light), the 
"true Mount Sinai," first a volcano, then a hghtning-haunted peak, is very- 
amusing. 
