March, 1879
68
THE WEST SHORE.
oik KOKKN.N ORRBStONDENCE.
SnrM-n.-SMHkH, Pinirsvla OF I
HO) 1(1 Sisal, Jan. J. ! (
Minion W'i.si Siioiik: With the
observer supposed ti be looking newly
N. N. W., tin- Illustration m i ompany
ing ihi. letter presents very truthful
view ut the southern extremity of
what in populurl v known as the Penin
sula of Mount Sinai, celled by the Be
dodM RtU Mihnmmcd; the word rat
lcing the Arabic equiralenl for " cape."
It will lc observed that (he view in
taken from OH sMpboardi The coast
along here is low, but quite abrupt at
the water-line and is not visible, from
at sea, for more than ten miles. The
A'.ij properly consists of a narrow 1 1 i
of land scveial miles Ion-, and from a
observers, and a near approximation to
exactness would be, Latitude i" dcg.
o min. S., and Longitude m dcg. 35
min. K., from Washington,
Mount Sinai hears N. by W., and is
bout fifty "iles distant; it is not dis
cernable from Ihe highest part of the
Capet on account of intervening hills;
nor can il be seen off the Cape at sea,
for a like reason, lis venerable peak
can he seen in clear weather, however,
from a point on the coast about eigh
teen miles to the northeastward from
Sat Mohammed.
Mount Hortt, where Moses so
journed when God called him to his
ureal work, stands five to ten miles a
little north and west from Sinai, and
the two mountains are separated from
when spoken of separately, the south
ci ly one is distinguished as OMerm-el.
Shckh, where our party are at present
encamped, and the northerly one,
Sherm-cl-Moyah. r rom most of these
villages along the coast, sheep, fire
wood, milk, butter and brackish water,
can be obtained in limited quantities.
The inhabitants who eke out a precari
ous existence in this portion of the
Arabian seaboard, are, in the main,
roving Bedouins. Sometimes a few
fishermen of th.e Huteimi tribe are
permitted to cultivate a few date-trees
in the valleys, but they are ruled with
a rod of iron by the Bedouins, to whom
they pay a draining tribute. What
ever celebrity Ras Mohammed may
possess among the Arabs, doubtless,
P, JfOHAMMED Km Sr.
hall t" I mile 01 more in width. A Stch other by the little valley of El
little to the eastward of the cape, there l.edja. Ths convent of El Eriayn is
it a small island called 'ii.iw, a Marl) situated in this valley and makes a val-
tiuhmkcn puis I little cast f this, ucd pasting place for travellers, who
another IsUsd Is eiuountcud, called have descended from the mountainous
fSsT the Utttt King tathei leits in region round about
kite than the fonter. 7Vrss it tcpa-; The rugged point which properly
laled fiom the m.oii land h a n.uiow constitutes Ai, M,hm,l ,
channel of no gteat depth A'a, .I,., almost wholly of naked granite rocks;
aaaeaW, iUelf, is bait of interest and indeed, the whole of the Sinai renin.'
.p.ite uninviting; ami the totu.st ndt suls, taken together, has been called
it not an eaty task to give a papula the SSt of desolation," SO sterile sad
ami reauanlc aSSCnpnOfl ol this pro. luoken is the face of the country,
jetfion without chIxhU bag in hi. letter There ate two little harbors eight or
familiar note, of adjacent points of ten miles north of the cape, separated
more or lew repot.. The apograph! from each othei by a narrow itripof
val position of this cape baa often boas rocky upheaval, and togethet called by
noted, both by English and American the Arabs Sherm, or Mrmm but
such notoriety is principally owing to
the fact that the cape is a loved and
cherished namesake of their honored
prophet. Everything in Arabia that
appertains to Mohammed is held sa
cred by a true believer. With all their
listlcssness, ignorance and cruelty, t'ic
nonulace are reliirious fanatics. A Be-
a
douin among the Arabs, is whst s
Pharisee used to be among the Jews.
The Red Sea terminates at the north
in two gulfs, Araba and Suez; the lat
ter having been crossed by the children
of Israel, in their grand exodus from
Egypt under the leadership of Moses,
The precise point where this wonder,
ful transit to,,L place, of course, is not
known with anything like certainty.