Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/130

 The spell was broken by shouts down the mountain, and presently Dr. Post appeared with the other American party, and altogether we studied the features of the mountain and the plain as related to each other. Looking over the edge of the cliff, we could see how perfectly it answered to the description of "the mount that might be touched," for the plain came up to its very base, and at the same time there were low-lying mounds at the foot, which seemed to mark where bounds had been set against too near an approach. As to the extent of open space, wide as it was, Dr. Post reported that the other peak which he had climbed commanded a view still wider; that, while it was in the very axis of the plain of Er Rahah, it took in also the Wady es Sheikh on the other side, which furnished standing room for nearly as many more. Hence he is of the opinion that this was the peak which Dr. Robinson ascended, as it answers more exactly to the description he has given. But after all, whether it was this or that one of several peaks, does not seem very important, for the whole group is comprised under the general name of Sinai, and the Divine manifestation may have included them all. "The mountain was altogether on a smoke," and to the multitude that looked upward it may have seemed as if all were wrapped in the volume of dense, rolling cloud. Those who have witnessed an eruption of Vesuvius from the Bay of Naples, remember that at times great masses of smoke roll down the mountain side, and then clear away, and flames shoot up to a vast height, reddening the sky, while at the same time they are reflected in the faces of a multitude of spectators white with terror, as if the Dies Iræ had come and the very heavens were on fire. If amid this scene, the grandest and most awful that Nature ever presents, a voice were heard issuing out of the cloud and rolling down the breast of the