THE GEOLOGY OF SINAI. 
13 
sideTable time, and leaves large tracts of alluvial deposit, which, 
if properly cultivated, would }deld an abundant harvest. I have 
seen several acres of this soil ploughed up for corn within a 
few miles of Nukhl, though in consequence of the dearth of 
rain it had not been sown ; from this point northwards every 
day’s journey shows a visible increase in the amount of vege- 
tation, and before reaching the ruins of el-Abdeh, the country 
assumes the character of downs, the low-rounded hills being 
covered with tufts of grass : the wadies in this portion of the 
desert abound in the spring with anemones and other flowers, 
some of which the Englishman may recognise as garden friends 
in his own country ; and the ruins of walls built across the 
watercourses to support terraces, and heaps of loose stones 
gathered from the fields, give evidence of cultivation having 
been carried on in ancient times to a considerable extent. 
This district of the Tih has evidently changed much since 
the commencement of our era. Ruins of considerable towns 
mark the former existence of a large population, where 
now a few wandering hordes of Bedouins are alone to be 
found. The desert has again claimed as its own the land that 
was formerly rescued from its grasp. Unchecked, it still ad- 
vances, slowly indeed here, but more rapidly and steadily along 
the coast of the Mediterranean and on the borders of the 
Isthmus of Suez, under the resistless influence of overwhelming 
sand- drifts. Of the supply of water in the desert of the Tih, I 
cannot speak with certainty ; in the southern portion it appears 
to be very scanty, but is, no doubt, much more abundant in the 
more mountainous districts on the north-east, and in the basin 
of the Wady el-Arish. ~ 
We turn now to the southern division of the peninsula, which 
includes the granitic and sandstone districts, and the large plains 
which extend along the shore of the Gulf of Suez — that is, the 
whole of the country to the south of the mountain ranges of 
Jebel er-Rahah and Jebel et-Tih. The limestone of the Tih 
is separated from the mountains of the Tur (the name given by 
the Arabs to the mountainous district in the south of the penin- 
sula) by a belt of sand called the Debbet-er-Ramleh, which 
stretches across nearly the whole breadth of the peninsula; and 
this is the only tract of sand which is to be found in this district. 
My readers will have learned by this time that a desert is not 
necessarily a level expanse of sand, almost entirely devoid of 
vegetation. Such in deed are many of the deserts of Africa, perfect 
“ seas ” of sand, as they are sometimes called by the natives ; but 
this popular idea of a desert is for the most part a very erroneous 
one, and has been the cause of great misunderstanding as to the 
features of “the Desert of Sinai.” The district of the Tur is es- 
sentially a mountainous region, so much so, that one of the great 
