and the lowest part of Wadi e’ Scheikh, we reached the WADI FIRÂN—this
most precious jewel of the Peninsula, with its Palms and groves of Tarfa,
on the banks of a lovely rushing stream, which, winding among shrubs and
flowers, conducted us to the old convent mountain of the town of PHARAN,
the FIRÂN of the present day. Everything that we had hitherto seen, and
what we afterwards saw, was naked, stony desert compared to this fertile
oasis, abounding in wood and water. For the first time since we had left
the Nile valley, we once more walked on soft black earth, obliged to
defend ourselves with our arms from the overhanging leafy branches, and
we heard singing birds warbling in the thick foliage. At the point where
the broad Wadi Aleyât, descending from Serbâl, enters Wadi Firân, and
where the valley spreads out into a spacious level tract, there rises
in the centre of it a rocky hill called HERERAT, on the summit of which
are the ruins of an ancient convent building. At its foot stood once a
magnificent church, constructed of well-hewn blocks of sandstone, the
ruins of which are built into the houses of the town situated on the
slope of the opposite mountain.
The same evening I went up Wadi Aleyât, passing innumerable
rock-inscriptions, to a well, surrounded by Palm and Nebek trees, where
I enjoyed the entire prospect of the majestic mountain chain. Apart
from all the other mountains, and united into one single mass, Serbâl
rises, at first in a slope of moderate inclination, afterwards in steep
precipices, with chasms, to the height of 6000 feet (above the sea).
Nothing could equal the scene when the valleys and low mountains around
were already veiled in the shadows of night, and the summits of the
mountain still glowed above the colourless grey, like a fiery cloud in
the sinking sun.
The following morning I repeated my visit to Wadi Aleyât, and completed
my observations of the whole of this remarkable district, the principal
features of which I had already noted down from the summit of Serbâl.
The most fertile district of Wadi Firân is enclosed between two hills
which rise from the centre of the valley; the upper one of these two
is called EL BUÊB, the lower, situated at the outlet of Wadi Aleyât,
MEHARRET or HERERAT. In very ancient times the valley appears to have
been closed in here, and the waters rushing down from all sides, even
from Gebel Mûsa, into this basin, appear to have united into a lake. It
is only in this manner that we can explain the very remarkable deposit
of earth, which extends along the sides of the valley to between eighty
and a hundred feet high, and no doubt it is this remarkable position
of Firân, as the lowest point of a large mountainous district, which
occasions the unusual supply of water that issues forth at this point.
Directly behind the convent hill we found the narrow bed of the valley
as stony and barren as the more elevated valleys, although the brook was
still visible by our side for half an hour. The violent irruption of
those primitive waters permitted no more deposits of earth in this spot.
It was only at the next still more decided bend of the valley, called EL
HESSUE, that a few more groups of palm-trees appeared. Here the brook
disappeared in a cleft of the rock, as suddenly as it had burst forth
behind Buêb, and we did not see it again.
After being five hours on the road, we quitted Wadi Firân, that here
turned off to the left hand towards the sea, and we emerged from the
primitive mountains into a more level region of sandstone. The loftier
range retreated towards the north-west, and encircled in a great bow
the hilly, sandy district that we traversed. We next came to the WADI
MOKATTEB, the “valley with inscriptions,” which derives its name from the
immense numbers of inscriptions which are to be found here in several
places. It is easy to perceive, that it is those places sheltered from
the mid-day sun, which invited passing travellers on the road to Firân
to engrave their names and short mottoes in the soft rock. We took
impressions on paper of as many of them as we could obtain, or copied
with the pen those which were less adapted for an impression. We found
these inscriptions scattered singly, in the most various, and frequently
very remote places of the Peninsula, and taking them altogether, I have
no doubt whatever that they were engraved by the inhabitants of the
country during the first centuries before and after Christ. I sometimes
found them cut over more ancient Greek names, and not unfrequently
Christian crosses are connected with them. These inscriptions are
habitually called SINAITIC, which would not be inappropriate, if thereby
the whole Peninsula of Sinai was intended to be designated as the spot
where they are found. But we must observe, that on Gebel Mûsa itself,
which is regarded as Sinai, very few single and short inscriptions
of this kind have been found, such as those which, after careful
observation, are to be met with in almost all spots adapted to them, but
that, on the contrary, their actual centre was rather PHARAN, at the foot
of SERBÂL.
On the 31st of March we again reached the lofty chain which turns
back from the east, and marched through Wadi Qeneh into the small
WADI MAGHÂRA, which branches off from it, and in which the sandstone
and primitive rock border on one another. Here we found, high up in
the northern sandstone precipices, the remarkable Egyptian rock stele
belonging to the earliest monuments generally known to us among Egyptian
antiquities.[70] As early as the 4th Manethonic Dynasty, the same which
built the great Pyramids of Gizeh, in Egypt, more than 3000 years before
our era, _copper mines_ were discovered in this wilderness, which were
worked by a colony of labourers. Even then the Peninsula was inhabited by
Asiatic, probably Semetic races, for which reason we frequently see the
Pharaoh represented in those rock-images as conqueror over the enemies of
Egypt. Almost all the inscriptions belong to the Old Monarchy; we only
found one from the period when King Tuthmosis III. and his sister reigned
together.
From this point I was anxious to take the shortest road to the second
place in the Peninsula, where there are ancient Egyptian monuments,
SARBUT EL CHÂDEM. But there was no direct road over this lofty range
to its slope on the other and north-easterly side, so we were obliged
to return to WADI MOKATTEB, and get across the mountains by a very
circuitous route through WADI SITTERE and WADI SICH. As we again emerged,
we had the immeasurable plateau in front of us, which includes the whole
of the north of the Peninsula, and consists of one single vast bed of
sandstone. This, however, descends towards the south by two steps, so
that the prospect seems as if it were bounded by two lofty mountain
precipices retreating at about equal distances into the far distance. The
descent nearest to the south, called E’ TIH, sinks to a flat, broad sandy
valley, DEBBET E’ RAMLEH, while the masses of sandstone rock, on this
side, seem to be as high as the general plateau.
On a terrace protruding far into the broad valley, which we climbed with
great difficulty, are the wonderful monuments of SARBUT EL CHÂDEM, which
appear no less so, even to those who are prepared to behold them. The
oldest representations led us also here into the Old Monarchy, but only
as far back as its last dynasty, the twelfth of the Manethonic list. In
this period, under AMENEMHA III., a small rock-grotto was excavated,
and furnished with an ante-chamber; lofty steles were erected outside,
at different distances, and without any determined arrangement, the one
lying most remote being a short quarter of an hour distant on the highest
point of the plateau. During the New Monarchy, TUTHMOSIS III. enlarged
the building towards the west, and added a small pylon with an outer
court. The later kings had built an additional long series of chambers,
one in front of the other, in the same direction, solely, as it appears,
for the purpose of protecting the memorial stele erected upon them from
the weather, especially from the sharp wind, often loaded with sand,
which has now almost totally destroyed the ancient steles, which were
even at that time unprotected. The latest stele exhibits the Shields of
the last king of the 19th Dynasty, therefore since that time, or soon
afterwards, the place was probably deserted by the Egyptians.
The divinity who was here peculiarly worshipped in the New Monarchy,
was HATHOR, with the epithet which is also found in the Wadi Maghâra,
“Mistress of MAFKAT”—_i. e._ of the _copper country_, for _mafka_ in
hieroglyphics, as well as still in the Coptic language, meant “copper.”
Therefore no doubt copper was also obtained here. This was confirmed by
a peculiar appearance, which, strange to say, seems to have been left
unnoticed by all previous travellers. To the east and west, namely of the
temple, may be seen great mounds of slag, which, by their black colour,
form a strong contrast with all that surrounds them. These artificial
elevations, the largest of which is 256 paces long, and from 60 to 120
broad, are situated on a tongue of land forming a terrace that projects
into the valley; they are coated over with a solid crust of slag between
4 and 5 feet thick, and are covered to their base with separate fragments
of slag to the depth of 12 to 15 feet. The ground shows that the mines
could not have been situated in the immediate neighbourhood, their site
might, however, easily be discovered by the ancient roads, which are
still visible, leading to the mountain range, but unfortunately we had
not sufficient time to accomplish this. Hence it appears that this open
spot was probably selected merely for smelting the ore, on account of the
keen draught of wind, which, as we were assured by the Arabs, is here
almost incessantly blowing.
The 3rd of April we rode on farther, visited the Wadi Nasb, in which we
also found the traces of ancient smelting places, and the following day,
towards evening, reached our ship, which had been waiting for us several
days, in the harbour of ABU ZELÎMEH.
We here, to our no small surprise, found four German journeymen; two of
them Prussians, from the district of the Neisse, in Silesia. They had
started from Cairo with the intention of visiting Sinai, and reached
Suez safely; had there waited in vain for a ship, and at length, like
genuine modern Crusaders, started alone to attain their bold object. They
had been told (hardly in good German) that the way was short, and could
not be missed, and that there was no want of water. Possessed with this
happy belief, their pilgrim’s bottle filled to the brim, they entered the
wilderness. But the footsteps of the children of Israel had long since
disappeared, and no pillar of smoke went before them. The third day they
lost their way, their bread was consumed, they had missed the wells,
had several times been stopped by Arabs, and only escaped being robbed
because they possessed nothing worth robbing; and thus they certainly
would have been starved in the wilderness, had they not looked down from
the mountains and beheld our vessel on the coast many hours distant,
and fortunately reached it before our arrival. On my inquiring about
the trades, to perfect which, they had undertaken this journey to the
East, and also whether they hoped to find employment with the monks on
Mount Sinai, as they had no money with them, it appeared that one was
a carpenter, who was in hopes of making himself very useful there; I
was, alas! compelled to inform him, that he would have to compete with a
lay-brother in that department; the other was a shoemaker, the third a
stocking-weaver, and the fourth, after some hesitation, confessed that he
was a woman’s tailor. Nothing remained but to take these strange people
along with us in the vessel, although they were regarded with a jealous
eye by the sailors, as we began to feel some scarcity in the supply of
water. I landed them at Tôr, and arranged that some one should accompany
them thence to the convent.
Besides the remarkable _Egyptian_ monumental sites of this copper
country, and the so-called _Sinaitic_ inscriptions, I was chiefly
occupied during the journey with geographical inquiries in connection
with the sojourn of the _Israelites_ on the Peninsula. I think I have
arrived at some results with respect to this, deviating, indeed, in
essential points, from what has hitherto been admitted; but if they
are correct, they furnish some important features for the historical
and geographical background of that most important event in the Old
Testament. I will here only point out briefly some of the chief points,
of which I will say more when I write from Thebes.
I became doubtful, even in the convent at GEBEL MÛSA, whether the holy
mount of the law-giving could have been situated here. Since I have seen
SERBÂL and WADI FIRÂN at its base, besides a great part of the rest of
the country, I have become convinced that SERBÂL must be recognised as
SINAI, in preference to the other.[71]
The monkish tradition of the present day is of no value to the
unprejudiced inquirer.[72] Whoever has once occupied himself earnestly
with such matters is aware of this. Even in Jerusalem it is for the
most part useless, and has not the slightest weight, if unsupported by
original authorities, how much more so in the Peninsula of Sinai, where
far more remote questions, both as to time and place, are treated of. In
the long interval of time between the law-giving and the first centuries
of the Christian era, Sinai is only once mentioned in a passage referring
to a later historical event, as the “Mount of God, HOREB,” to which
Elijah retires.[73] It would, in fact, be most strange if the tradition
had never received an interruption during this period, although the
population of the Peninsula had meantime changed so much that we are no
longer able to point out with certainty a single Old Testament name for
a locality; and even the Greeks and Romans were unacquainted with those
ancient designations.[74] We are, therefore, referred solely to the
Mosaic narrative to prove the correctness of our present assumptions.
We must further premise with respect to this, that the general
geographical conditions of the Peninsula have not essentially altered
since the days of Moses. Whoever takes refuge in the opposite
supposition, may indeed prove everything, but for that very reason proves
nothing. It is, however, just as important to bear in mind distinctly the
_historical_ conditions of the different periods, because these indeed
were calculated to produce partial alterations of particular districts.
Accordingly, no one will be able to deny that WADI FIRÂN, abounding at
all times, and therefore in the time of Moses, in water, and possessing
a rich soil, must, in consequence of its incomparable fertility and
its inexhaustible rapid stream, have been the most important and the
most desirable central spot of the whole Peninsula. For this wonderful
Oasis, in the centre of the ever barren wilderness, was subject even
then, as now, to the general conditions of the surface of the ground in
that country. On the other hand, it is however no less certain, that the
vicinity of the present convent of GEBEL MÛSA was formerly, in spite
of the scanty springs of water also appearing on the surface there,
but which merely moisten the ground immediately surrounding them, just
as barren as all the other parts of that mountainous wilderness, only
furnishing sufficient water for the inhabitants of the convent by means
of a draw-well dug into the rock;[75] and after more than a thousand
years of artificial irrigation, the most careful employment of every
means of cultivation only enabled them to make small plantations, such
as exist there at the present time.[76] In ancient times there was not
the slightest reason for making that wilderness habitable by artificial
means, the rather as it was situated away from the great roads connecting
the different parts of the Peninsula, and formed an actual _cul de sac_,
with only one single entrance through the Wadi e’ Scheikh.
On the other hand, there is another spot in the Peninsula which was a
position of great importance long before the time of Moses, and even
in his days, but has lost it since that time: it is the harbour of
ABU ZELÎMEH. It was to this point that the roads led from the three
different mines that hitherto we have become acquainted with. They
proceeded from WADI MAGHÂRA, SARBUT EL CHÂDEM, and WADI NASB. There was
no more convenient landing-place than this, to connect Egypt with those
colonies; indeed, our sailors decidedly affirmed that it was the best
harbour on the whole coast, not excepting that of Tôr. The Egyptians
were therefore compelled to provide, above all things, for a copious
supply of water, in the most immediate neighbourhood of that spot. As
this was neither furnished by the sandy sea-coast, nor by valleys,
which had their outlets here, wells no doubt were made at the nearest
spots which offered a likelihood of yielding water from below ground.
Such a spot was discovered at the lower outlet of the Wadi Schebêkeh
(called by others Tâibeh), where even now, there are a number of Palms,
and many other trees, consequently a moist soil, although there is no
appearance of a spring.[77] This, therefore, would have been the most
suitable point to dig for water, and to make a well. No one now differs
in opinion that the place of encampment at the RED SEA, mentioned after
Elim in the Book of Numbers,[78] was near ABU ZELÎMEH. In Exodus this
statement is omitted, and the _twelve wells_ and _seventy palm-trees_
of ELIM are alone mentioned.[79] What, therefore, can be a more natural
conclusion, or indeed an almost unavoidable one, than that the wells
and palms of Elim were situated about an hour distant from the outlet
of the valley whose entrance was at the harbour of Abu Zelîmeh, and for
that very reason in Exodus, the encampment on the sea, is related as
being not specially separated from ELIM, the watering station of the
harbour, which probably bore the same name. According to the statements
that have been hitherto admitted, as well as those of Robinson, the
twelve wells of Elim were situated in the WADI GHARANDEL, by the latest
calculations[80] between eight and nine hours distant from the port, a
long day’s journey, therefore useless for the supply of that important
spot. It is not easy to perceive what could have occasioned twelve wells
to be made precisely in Wadi Gharandel, where even now the brackish
water of that whole district appears on the surface in somewhat greater
abundance than elsewhere. In addition to this, we should further be
compelled to transfer the station of MARA, which immediately preceded
it, to an insignificant spring not more than an hour and a half, or
two hours distant from Wadi Gharandel, while the succeeding station is
assumed to be at the distance of eight hours. To me, it seems scarcely
possible to doubt that the first three desert marches conducted as far as
WADI GHARANDEL, _i. e._ MARA, the fourth, to the harbour station of ABU
ZELÎMEH, _i. e._ ELIM.
It is only in this manner that we can understand their progress, when
it is said, “And they took their journey from Elim—and came unto the
wilderness of _Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai_.”[81] The boundary
of two provinces at Wadi Gharandel would geographically be just as
inconceivable, as it is natural at Abu Zelîmeh. The harbour, with its
small plain situated between the Nochol rock and Gebel Hammâm Faraûn,
forms in fact, by the rock protruding into the sea, the most important
geographical section of the whole coast.[82]
The northern plateau sinking uniformly towards the sea was called the
Wilderness of SÛR; the southern mountainous district rising higher, and
soon passing into the primitive rock, totally different in character,
is called the Wilderness of SIN. There would be no meaning in the remark
that this last was situated _between_ Elim and Sinai, if by this it were
not meant that the Wilderness of Sin extended as far as Sinai, or even
farther. The next departure, therefore, from the Wilderness of Sin to
Raphidîm, is not to be understood as if they had quitted this wilderness;
on the contrary, they remained in it till they reached Sinai, whose
name SINI, _i. e._ “the Mount of SIN,” was evidently first derived from
this district, and for this very reason should not be sought for beyond
its limits. The same conclusion may be deduced from the account about
the _Manna_ which was given to the Israelites in the Wilderness of Sin;
for this is first met with in the valleys in the vicinity of Firân, and
appears as little in the sandy districts near the sea, as in the more
elevated regions of Gebel Mûsa.[83]
Now, if we already here put the preliminary question, which of the
two mounts, SERBÂL or GEBEL MÛSA, was so situated as to be peculiarly
designated as SINI, the “SINIC,” “the Mount of the Wilderness of
SIN,” there cannot be a moment’s doubt which to select. Gebel Mûsa,
invisible from every quarter, almost concealed and buried,[84] neither
distinguished by height, form, position, nor any other peculiarity,
presented nothing which could have induced the native tribes, or the
Egyptians who had settled there, to give it the peculiar designation of
the “Mount of Sin,” while Serbâl, attracting the eye to itself from all
sides, and from a great distance, unequivocally commanding the whole of
the northern portion of the primitive range, has always been the central
point for the widely-scattered inhabitants of the country, and the goal
of travellers, not only from its external aspect, but also on account of
Wadi Firân, situated at its base; therefore it might very appropriately
be designated the “Mount of Sin.” But if any one were to conclude from
the expression the departure from the Wilderness of Sin to Raphidîm,
that the broad tract of sea-shore to the south of Abu Zelîmeh, which the
Israelites were obliged to traverse, was alone called the Wilderness
of Sin, which is Robinson’s view of the question,[85] Serbâl, which
commands and also comes into immediate contact with this district, and
is accessible from this point by the old convent of Siʾqelji, might even
then have been designated Mount Sin, for instance by the sailors on the
Red Sea; but Gebel Mûsa, situated exactly on the opposite and eastern
side of the great range, could not possibly have been named after the
western Wilderness of Sin, nor have given the smallest ground for the
statement that the Wilderness of Sin was situated between Abu Zelîmeh and
Gebel Mûsa. One other view might still be adopted: for instance, that the
whole of the primitive mountain range—that is to say, the whole of the
Peninsula to the south of Abu Zelîmeh—was called the “Wilderness of Sin,”
and consequently included Gebel Mûsa. Even this would not necessarily
prevent our assuming that Serbâl, as the mountain best known, and nearest
at hand, must especially have appeared of more importance to the Egyptian
colonists than the southern range, and might have been distinguished by
that name; whilst in the principal southern range Um Schômar, as the
loftiest central point, would have alone justified such a distinction,
and not the entirely subordinate Gebel Mûsa, still less the insulated
rock Sefsâf, which is regarded as such by Robinson.