16 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
Peninsula of Sinai, being, as proved by my aneroid, 8,063 feet in 
beigbt, while Jebel Um Shaumer, which has long been regarded 
as the highest, is only 8,030. This mountain therefore, not 
only on account of its being the most lofty, but also from its 
central position, shall be selected as a standing-point from which 
to take a general view of the granitic district. 
Looking southwards the mountains are seen to form one long 
ridge, which extends to the very southernmost point of the pe- 
ninsula : perhaps the shape of the mountains may be thought 
almost too irregular to take the name of a ridge, loft} 7 and 
massive spurs being thrust out on either side, and bold irre- 
gular peaks frequently interrupting their line ; but, speaking 
in general terms, the watershed may be described as running 
along a central line drawn through the south of the peninsula, 
from Mount St. Catherine to Ras Mohammed, and from this 
line the wadies appear to find their way more directly to the 
sea on either side than is the case farther to the north. The 
only mountain of any fame in this region is that of Um Shau- 
mer, which lies on fhe south-west, and which has generally 
been described as shrouded in mystery ; why I know not, except 
it be that travellers have been more ready to listen to the 
stories of the Arabs concerning a mountain which has seldom 
been visited. I myself must own to having been somewhat 
disappointed, after all that I heard about it, in finding in it no 
mystery to unravel. Eight hours’ walk from the convent of St. 
Catherine landed me on its summit ; its ascent was not more 
difficult than that of Jebel Serbal ; and the mysterious noises 
that my Arab tried to make me believe that I had heard were 
easily traced to a rock set in motion by a herd of ibex which 
bounded up the mountain before me. 
The northern portion of the granitic district is more worthy 
of our notice. No mountain group indeed stands prominently 
forward on the east, but on the north-west is seen the massive 
cluster of Jebel Serbal, which, if not the loftiest, is certainly 
the most imposing-looking mountain in the whole peninsula. 
We cannot, indeed, from the position in which we are viewing 
it, see its various peaks ; but it owes its grandeur to its massive 
form no less than to its jagged outline, and with its bold spurs 
and deeply-cut wadies thrust down on the one side to the Wady 
Feiran, and on the other to the broad plain of el-Kaa, it stands 
unrivalled as the monarch of Sinaitic mountains. One cannot 
wonder that tradition has fixed upon it as the scene of the giving 
of the Law; but a closer inspection of it proves the fallacy of 
such tradition. It stands in reality far removed from the plain 
of el-Kaa, separated from it by a broad strip of mountainous 
ground : it is a mountain which could not by any possibility 
be surrounded by bounds, either on the one side or on the 
