But the nature of the country around Serbal is sufficient of itself to show that it could not possibly have been Sinai. Wady Feiran is three miles dis tant, and from it an occasional pass only can be got at the summit. Wady Aliyat, which leads up to Serbal, is narrow, rugged, and rocky, affording no place for a large camp. This is acknowledged on all hands (Lepsius, pp. 423, seg. ; Bartlett, p. 57 ; Stanley, p. 44 ; Sandie, Horeb and yerusalem, p. 149); and as there is no other valley or plain at the base of the mountain, it follows that Serbal cannot be Sinai.
2. 9ebel Ithisa is the Sinai of recent ecdesiastical tradition, and it has found some advocates among modern travellers (Wilson, Lands of Me Bible, 1. 219 ; Sandie, Horeb, etc.) It is situated in the very centre of the mountain group ; but it is neither so lofty nor so commanding as some others around it. Its elevation is only about 7000 feet, while Jebel Katherin, three miles south, is 87oo feet, and Um Shaumer beyond it attains an altitude of 93oo feet. Jebel Mfisa is the highest point of a short isolated ridge which nuts from north-west to south east, between the two parallel ravines of Shueib and Leja. At one end (the south-east) it is bounded by a rugged wady called Sebalyeh, at the other by the upland plain of er-Rahah. In Wady Shueib, on the north-east of the ridge, stands the convent of St. Catherine, with the naked cliffs rising almost perpendicularly over it. In the glen of Leja, on the opposite side, is the reputed rock of Moses. The peak of yebel (` Moses' Moun• tain'), which the monks identify with Sinai, is at the southern extremity of the range, overlooking Wady Sebaiyeh and a confined region of rugged ,gravelly hills near it. The summit is a platform about thirty paces in diameter, partly covered with ruins. At its eastern end is a little chapel, and near it a mosque. Notwithstanding the elevation the view is not extensive ; and no plain is in sight on which the camp of the Israelites could have stood ; nor is the base of the peak at all so clearly defined as the incidents of the sacreenarrative require.
Various traditions—Jewish, Christian, and Mo hammedan—have found a local habitation on this mountain. A rugged ancient path, in many places hewn into flights of steps up the granite cliffs, passes a grotto of the Virgin, the cave where Elijah dwelt in Horeb, the footmarks of Mohammed's camel, and other spots equally apocryphal, in its winding course to the summit. This is the Sinai of tradition, but certainly not that of the Bible.
3. Ras es-Sufi-el./eh is the third claimant for the name Sinai ; and its claim is valid. It fonns the north-western point of the ridge of which Jebel Musa is the south-eastern. The name sihmifies the peak (or head) of the willow ;'* and is de rived from a willow-tree which grows in a cleft on its side. The summit is very clearly defined, rising high above all the other peaks near it. In front it descends in broken crags of naked granite to Wady er-Rahah. The view from it is not so extensive as that from Jebel Musa, but it is far more interesting and impressive. The whole ex tent of the plain of er-R'ahah, measuring more than two miles in length, and ranging from one-third to two-thirds of a mile in breadth, is visible. The eye can follow its windings as it runs away among the mountains in the distance. The level expanse of Wady esh-Sheikh, which joins er-Rahah, is alsc> seen opening out on the right ; while opposite it on the left is another section of plain forming a re cess in the mountains. From near the summit a wild ravine runs down the front of the mountain, conveying a winter torrent into er-Rahah. Up this ravine the ascent may be made from the plain. It is rugged and steep ; but an active mountaineer, such as Moses was, could easily accomplish it.
There can scarcely be a doubt that Ras es-Suf safeh is Sinai, The Mount of the Lord ;' every re quirement of the sacred narration is supplied, and every incident illustrated, by the features of the surrounding district. Here is a plain sufficient to contain the Israelitish camp, and so close to the mountain's base that barriers could be erected to prevent the rash or the heedless from touching it.
Here is a mountain-top where the clouds that en shrined the Lord when he descended upon it would be visible to the vast multitude, even when in fear they would withdraw from the base, and retire to a distance. From this peak the thunderings and the voice of Jehovah would resound with terrific effect through the plain, and away among the cliffs and glens of the surrounding mountains. When descending through the clouds that shrouded it, Moses could hear also the songs and shouts of the infatuated people as they danced round the golden calf ; and in the brook that descends out of the mount' (Deut. ix. 21), through the ravine into er Rahah, he could cast the dust of the destroyed idol. In fact, the mountain, the plain, the stream let, and the whole topography, correspond in every respect to the historical account given by Moses.