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how far the climatic changes were governed by the state of vegetation. It 
undoubtedly was the fact that the climate of northern Egypt had been changed 
for the worse on account of the planting of trees, and such an amount of wet 
weather had been experienced as appeared to be actually unknown in previous 
times. Nothing was more evident than that the same cause would work in 
the opposite direction, and that the excessive destruction of trees would reduce 
the desert of Sinai to the comparative state of barrenness now found. Of 
course the conditions of life under which an Arab could thrive were not 
those which would appear very promising, but it was interesting to find that 
even now there was a possibility of sustenance for large flocks and herds in 
what was usually supposed to be a desert. The fact of there being a large 
amount of herbage was certainly a surprise. 
The Right Rev. Bishop Perry having asked a question, 
Mr. Holland said : — The population of the Peninsula was considered to 
be 4,000 men, besides women and children. He saw no reliable traces of the 
Israelites after their departure from Mount Sinai. Throughout the northern 
desert there were primitive dwellings and burying-places. These mi gh t be 
Israelite remains ; but it was impossible to say whether they really were or not. 
He had intended to go north to Kadesh but had been prevented, and he 
therefore had struck out to the west. In the country he thus passed through 
he found a large number of primitive dwellings. After passing Nakhl he 
came to large tracts of soil ploughed up now by the Arabs for corn. This 
was done by making a camel drag a stick through the soil — that was all 
that was required. "When the rainy season arrived they planted it. Maize 
and beans were grown here. Much soil had been obtained in many spots 
by placing large stones in the watercourses, which arrested the debris brought 
down by the water. In some instances these stones were very large. He 
was struck by a remark of one of the Arabs with him. Pointing to a row 
of these stones he (the Arab) said, “ There were giants in those days.” Still 
farther north he had seen on former occasions a large number of heaps of 
stones, which Professor Palmer found were connected in the Arabs’ minds 
with traditions of vineyards. Nobody who had not wandered about on foot 
over these mountains had any idea of the large amount of vegetation and 
the good supply of water there really was. He formed a perfectly different 
idea of the country after wandering about it on foot to that which he had 
formed when passing through as travellers generally do. 
In reply to further questions — 
Mr. Holland said The Sinaitic inscriptions were very much more 
numerous than was commonly supposed. He found them in all parts of the 
Peninsula. He was employed during the Ordnance Survey in making 
copies of them, and copied between two and three thousand, and of course 
he did not copy nearly all in the Peninsula. There was, he thought, sufficient 
data to prove that they were not earlier in date than two centuries before 
Christ, or later than two centuries after Christ. All authorities were now 
