It will thus be seen that while compared with any western land Et-Tlit may be called a desert, yet it is not so in reality. No .part of it is ever wholly destitute of vegetation ; and it contains, notwithstanding long centuries of neglect and deso lation, many tracts of fertile soil, and rich pasture, and thickets of tamarisk, juniper, and other dwarf trees and shrubs. In fact it is manifest that even at the present time the desert of Et-Tih is capable of supporting immense flocks and herds, and a con siderable population. There can be no doubt that in former ages the rainfall was greater, and vege. tation and water consequently more abundant. These facts have a. most important bearing on the wanderings of the Israelites. They prove that there was sufficient food for their flocks and herds in the desert independent altogether of any miracu lous agency.
The south-eastern section of Et-Tili is called in Scripture the Wilderness of Paran' [PARAN], and the north-eastern the Wilderness of Zip' (Num. xiii. 21 ; Gen. xiv. 6, cf.) South of lies the peninsula of Sinai, shut in, as it were, from all the world by the colossal wall of Jebel et-Tih, and the gulfs of Suez and Akabah. It is composed of a nucleus of lofty granite mountains, which rise abruptly from the bosom of the latter gulf on the east, but have a narrow border of gravelly plain along the gulf of Suez, and a wider border of sandy plateau, and broken sandstone ridges, on the north. In the very centre of this magnificent stronghold of nature stands Sinai, the mountain of the Lord,' with the little upland plain of Rahah spread out at its base, as if designed by Jehovah to be the scene of the proclamation of his law to his assembled people. The physical structure of this mountain-group has already been described [SINAI]; but here it may be well to give a few of its leading features, as it forms the central point of Israers wanderings, and is in some respects the most interesting and re markable spot on earth. The highest peaks of the peninsula—Um Shaumar, Jebel Fera, and Jebel Katerin—are grouped within a few miles of Sinai, and vary from 6000 to 93oo feet in height ; while the serrated summit of Serbal stands cut on the western confines of the sacred territory.
The nakedness and desolation of these mountains fonn one of their most striking characteristics. Their sharp jagged tops, their rugged sides, the wild clefts and glens which rend and separate them, are all bare granite. The scarcity of water and the burning sun of a long slimmer, combined witb the nature of the rock and the extraordinary dry ness of the atmosphere, acc-ount for the absence of vegetation. This again causes a great scarcity of animal life. Beasts and birds are almost as rare as human inhabitants. A silence as of death reigns
throughout the entire peninsula. The slightest sound—the call of the shepherd, or the shout of the camel-driver—is hea,rd to a great distance. The report of a gun, or the fall of a fragment of rock from the mountain-side, reverberates from cliff to cliff, and from valley to valley, like a thunder-peal.
Yet though so naked, stern, and desolate, the mountains of Sinai are beautiful. The gorgeous colouring of the granite rock makes up for the absence of foliage and vegetation. The rocks,' says Miss Martineau, were the most diversified I ever saw. I noted them on the spot as being black, green, crimson, lilac, maroon, yellow,golden, and White ; and their form WaS that of a whole host,of cones.' Again she writes : The red granite mountains we were now in the midst of are mas sive said avvful beyond any other mountains I ever saw. The sunset lights, and the morrow's dawn, dressed them in splendour, but scarcely relieved their gloom' (Eastern Life, 346, 347). Sinai has been compared to the Alps stripped naked.' In one respect the comparison tends to convey an entirely wrong impression of the scenery. True, the dark forests, the unrivalled verdure, the leap ing cascades, and the glittering crowns of 'Snow, are all wanting here ; but the want is not felt as it would be in the Alps, where the granite peaks are of one uniform gray hue. In Sinai the bright, soft, varied colours, sometimes far surpass, in gran deur and beauty, even the gay clothing of the Swiss mountains.
It was here, amid nature's grandest and wildest architecture, wrapped in nature's profoundest silence and solitude, far removed from the din and distrac tion of the world of life and action, that the people of Israel met with their God, and witnessed mani festations of his glory, and majesty, and power, such as mortals never witnessed before and never can witness again. There, as Stanley says, • they were brought into contact with a desolation which was forcibly contrasted with the green valley of the _Nile. They were inclosed within a sanctuary of temples and pyramids not made with hands,—the more awful from its total dissimilarity to anything which they or their fathers could have remembered in E,gypt or Palestine. They were wrapt in a silence which gave full effect to the morning and the evening shout with which the encampment rose and pitched, and still more to the thunders, and the voice exceeding loud' on the top of Horeb' (S. and P. p. 2o). The appropriateness of these natural features to the scenes recorded in the sacred narrative cannot safely be overlooked by the modern critic and commentator. They tend to demonstrate the perfect consistency of Bible his tory in its minutest details.