THE GEOLOGY OF SINAI. 
15 
Feiran are evidently flooded more or less during the winter 
months by the flow of water down the numerous wadies which 
open out upon them, and the less elevated parts are studded 
with numerous shrubs and herbs. The northern portion of the 
large plain of el-Kaa receives the whole of the drainage from 
the western side of Serbal, which, aided by some local springs, 
gives birth, near the little seaport of Tor, to an oasis which can 
boast of the richest palm-groves in the peninsula. The southern 
portion of this plain is more elevated, and consequently more 
barren ; though even here occasional depressions occur along the 
coast, which afford pasture-grounds for the flocks of the few 
Arabs who live in the neighbouring mountains. 
There are traces of extensive denudation in some of these shore- 
plains : the level of the old wilderness of Etham was evidently 
at one time some five or six feet higher than it is at the present 
time, and the huge boulders which strew the northern portion 
of it bear testimony to its having formed at some period a sea- 
bed. 
The general character of the shore-plains is that of a bed of 
hard gravel, often covered with a coating of dark flints, which 
not unfrequently present a curiously wrinkled surface, caused by 
the drifting sand. 
The granitic district forms a centre round which are gathered 
the other rocks which are found in the southern division of 
Sinai. It constitutes, as it were, the backbone of the peninsula, 
and is especially interesting as containing Jebel Musa, now 
generally recognised as the true Mount Sinai, and other moun- 
tains which have at various times been rival claimants to that 
honour, or to which tradition has attached some sacred asso- 
ciation. 
This district consists of rugged masses of mountains heaped 
together in such intricate confusion as to baffle all attempt at 
accurate description. The basins of the various wadies which 
drain its waters run into one another in such a manner that it 
is difficult to master the puzzle they present, or to grasp 
any definite idea of the nature of the district viewed as a 
whole. The wadies, deeply cut by the winter torrents through 
the rocky barriers which hem them in, wind and course in every 
direction. The mountains, it has been said, look as if “ they 
were an ocean of lava which, whilst its waves were running 
mountains high, had suddenly stood still.” It is only when he 
has mounted to the summit of one of the highest central peaks, 
whence he can look down upon the minor ranges dwarfed by a 
somewhat distant view, and can see the larger masses arranging 
themselves into more distinct groups, that the traveller realty 
comprehends the leading features of the country. Mount 
St. Catherine is, I believe, the highest peak in the whole 
