192 
HUDLESTON: GEOLOGY OF PALESTINE. 
The red of Edom is notorious, but Dean Stanley says that it 
should be regarded as dull crimson. His account of Petra in " Sinai 
and Palestine," is the most vivid description of Nubian Sandstone 
known to me. 
The summit of Mount llor, where Aaron died, is composed of 
Nubian Sandstone. Here is a sketch (Fig\4),taken from "La Geologie 
de Palestine," which may serve to give an idea of the chaos of rocks 
in that mountainous region. The masses of porphyry form an 
important feature. These were formerly supposed to be eruptive, 
as they seem to come through both the sandstones and Cretaceous 
limestones. Thus it was held by some that the country had been 
lifted up by these rocks, and that in this way the watershed between 
the Wady Arabah and the Wady Akabah had been formed. M. Lartet 
supposed that these are old eruptive masses, belonging to the crystal- 
ine series, and that they must have been there before the deposition 
of the sedimentary beds. This has an important bearing on questions 
which will be discussed in section VIII. 
The cliffs on the east side of the Dead Sea and the deep gorges 
of the Arnon and Calirrhoe presents splendid sections of the Nubian 
Sandstone, where they may be seen underlying the Cretaceous 
limestones of Moab. The sandstone here has fallen 5,000-6, 000ft. 
below the elevated position it occupies on the summit of Mount 
Hor. The pages of M. Lartet and of Canon Tristram supply us 
with most graphic accounts of the extraordinary effect of these cliffs. 
The gorge of the Calirrhoe is especially remarkable, as there the 
sides of the deep " ctinou " are moulded in black basalt, white limestone, 
and purple sandstone, the effect of contrast being most marked. 
Canon Tristram says, that the gorge leading up to Kerak is almost 
Alpine in its grandeur, and that author considers that there is a 
decided unconformity between the Nubian Sandstone of that district 
and the overlying Cretaceous limestones. 
Throughout the upper part of the Jordan Valley the Nubian 
Sandstone is lost sight of, but re-appears in the hollow of Syria. 
Before noticing its character there, we must consider the beds 
known to occur in Hermon, which in the strati graphical column are 
marked under the letter e. These are what are known to the Leb- 
