THE GEOLOGY OF SINAI. 
11 
It is a country in the history of which geology occupies a 
more than usually prominent position. Being essentially a 
desert region, yet at the same time almost entirely destitute of 
that mantle of sand which has enveloped and concealed the 
natural features of so large a portion of the African deserts, it 
owes its grandeur, no less than its barrenness, to the nature of 
the rocks of which it is composed. It is difficult for those who 
live in such a land as ours, which owes its charms to its 
luxuriant vegetation, to conceive how a country which is described 
as beiug almost entirely devoid of vegetation, can have any pre- 
tensions to beauty. Yet, apart from all its sacred associations, 
I know of no country which impresses itself more vividly upon 
the senses than the southern portion of the Peninsula of Sinai. 
“ It combines the three grand features of earthly scenery — the 
sea, the desert, and the mountains.*’ The lack of vegetation is 
compensated for by the bright colours of its rocks, which, when 
lighted up by the rising or setting sun, produce an effect the 
beauty of which it is impossible to describe ; the want of rivers 
and lakes is supplied by the frequent views of the deep-blue sea, 
which present themselves from almost every point in the Sinaitic 
range ; and the wild grandeur of the mountains, ever varying in 
form and structure, dispels the monotony which the absence of 
trees would otherwise beget. 
The northern portion of the peninsula, which is generally 
known by the name of the Desert of et-Tih, or u the Wander- 
ings,” is very different in its character from the southern. Here 
the granitic and sandstone rocks give way to limestones ; and 
the mountains lose their bright colouring and fantastic forms, 
and assume, a tabular outline and glaring whiteness, of which 
the eyes of the traveller soon weary. 
The hydrography no less than the geology of these two 
portions of the peninsula, naturally leads us to separate the 
one from the other, and describe them as independent districts. 
This course I shall now follow. But in order to render my 
description of the county intelligible, I must first explain the 
meaning of the Arab word 6t Wady,” which I shall be compelled 
frequently to use, since there is no English word which exactly 
corresponds to the idea expressed by it. The word “ valley,” 
perhaps, most nearly expresses it ; yet even that word, compre- 
hensive as it is, does not include the full meaning of the 
Arab “ wady,” which is applied equally to describe the broad 
valley of several miles in width ; or the narrow course of 
the mountain torrent with its rugged bed, and overhanging 
cliffs, which scarce permit the loaded camel to force its way be- 
tween them ; or again the slight depression in a plain, the depth 
of which may barely suffice to afford a channel for its drainage. 
The northern desert of the Till is still but little known ; in 
