'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎562] (653/905)

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MOUNT SINAI.
[CHAP. XXII.
side of nearly four miles. But the most remarkable feature
of this region is, the existence of the hollow called El Jeib;
a wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. within a wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. , thus forming a second depression in
the centre of the first, and running from south to north
between high precipitous cliffs. 1 El Jeib gradually widens
from its commencement near the supposed watershed till its
breadth, on approaching the ridge of Akrabbim, is nearly halt
a mile. 2 The position of these salt hills, which intervene
between the Dead Sea and the higher level of the Arabah, and
the existence of a watershed in the latter, are circumstances
which sufficiently show that if the waters of the Jordan once
flowed to the Red Sea, some convulsion of nature must have
caused a depression of the whole of El Ghor, and likewise a
partial change in the Arabah. The mountains bordering the
eastern and western sides of this wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. , afterwards skirt the
Gulf of Akabah till the former touch the eastern shore of the
Red Sea, and the latter become part of the group of Sinai; so
that first, under the name the Amanus, then under that of the
Ansarian range, and, lastly, constituting the prolongation of
the Lebanon, an almost continuous chain of mountains extends
from the Taurus to the stupendous group called Jeb-el-Tor, by
the Arabs.
All are familiar, from infancy, with the name ot tne
mountain from whose summit Moses brought the epitome of
the Jewish laws. And Sinai has been so fully described by
Maundrell, and other travellers, that in all probability we
have a better knowledge of this spot, than of any other with
which we are acquainted by description; but they who have
ascended its peak can never forget the grand panorama pre
sented to the view as the eye darts from one dark and lofty
peak to another, till at length it rests upon the level space
round Mount Horeb.
From an elevation of 7530 feet, 3 a sea of mountains of red
granite, deeply tinged with various shades of purple, presents
itself in every direction; their rocky masses extending south
ward to Mount St. Catherine and the Gulf of Suez, and again
/ Dr. Robinson, vol. II., pp. 497, 498. 2 Ibid., p. 498.
3 Wellsted's Travels in 'Omdn and Arabia, vol. II., p. 95.