Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/212

 were literally "sitting in Moses' seat." Another rock, with an altar-like form, is said to have been the stone of sacrifice on which Abraham bound Isaac. Pursuing our course in the afternoon, night found us within two or three hours distance of the Wady Feiran. We camped in full view of Serbal, which presented the same glorious sight as from the foot of the Pass of the Winds the night before we reached Sinai.

The beauty of the situation, however, did not prevent an early morning start, for we had a long march before us. For hours we were ascending, catching glimpses, as we look back, of the Sinai range. As we mounted upward, the surrounding summits sank lower, and we seemed to be emerging from the mountains. Then we crossed what in America would be called a divide, and for miles we descended a rugged, narrow pass, which brought us into another amphitheatre of mountains, where nature did not repeat herself, but varied the scene with new forms of splendor. Some of the views surpassed all description. There were mountains of red granite, that matchless stone out of which — because of its hardness, united with a fine grain, which takes the smoothest polish, and presents the most beautiful surface — have been chiselled all the obelisks of Egypt; and mountains of porphyry, of all colors from cream to black. In other instances granite was veined with porphyry and diorite, as if, when the mountains were upheaved, here and there a ridge or dome had parted under the mighty pressure from beneath, and through the rents and fissures thus made shot up streams from the boiling mass in the heart of the earth. The mingling of these elements produced a strange mingling of colors. The very ground under our feet was rich with color, for here and there it seemed as if we were passing over the ruins of an ancient city, some unknown Babylon