Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1865-04-28
Desert of Sinai.

itants are but the gleanings of the sum
mer's vintage. In the Exodus single
tribe for some time resisted the advanc-
of two millions or more OF the Israeites,
In pitched battle, with a chosen army
under Joshua, the fortune of the day re.
mained long time doubtful, Israel and
AmeIek both by turn prevailed. But at
present, the entire population Of the pe-
uinsula is variously estimated by Burck--
bardt, Ruppell and Robinson from four
to seven thousand.
Ii may, therefore, be assumed as fact,
that since the period of recorded history,
the population of the desert has been re-
duced from numerous and formidable
hordes TO few petty tribes, weak and
small, who have declined, age after age,
with the increasing steriIity of this "great
and terrible wilderness"
The vast ruins scattered over this
wilderness tell of its former resources
and population. DR.. Robinson discover
ed the ruins of single city, before un-
known, which must have contained pop
ulaton of more than double that of all
the tribes of the desert at the present
time. These ruins occupy level tract,
of ten or twelve acres in extent, entirely
and thickly covered over with confused
hears of stones, with just enough of their
former order remaining to show the
foundations and forms of the houses and
the course of some of the streets. Once,
as we judged upon the spot, this must
have been a city of not less than twelve
or fifteen thousand inhabitants. Now it
is perfect field of ruins-a scene of un-
utterable desolstion-across which the
passing stranger can with difficulty find
his way.
In this connection the ruined cities OF
Elusa and Eboda claim each a distinct
consideration as indicative of the ancient
population of the desert. The former OF
these, DR.. Robinson supposes, may have
contained population of fifteen or twen>
ty thousand souls, and the latter must
have been place of importance. Bat
he desert has resssumed its rights the
intrusive hand of cultivation has been
driven back, the races that dwelt there
have perished, and their works now look
abroad, in loneliness and silence, over
the mighty waste,
In the desert Of Sinai, again, the old
city of Pharan, probably The Rephidim
of the Exodus, where the Israeltes en-
countered the Amelekites, attests the ex-
istence formerly of numerous popula-
lion. In the early centuries of the
church it was the seat of an Episcopal
see. The large church crowniug the
summit Of the bill in the valley, where
Moses by his earnestness in prayer may
have turned the battle against the foe,
the chapel surmounting the neighboring
height, and innumerable cells, caves, and
bermitages on all the surrounding noun
tain tops and declivities, evince the
abodes of thousands of anchorites, who
must have found subsistence there, where
now few Bedouins of the desert scarce
ly obtain a precarious sustenance. In
many other places, scattered over the de-
sert, are found ruined cloisters, hermit
ages, gardens, and fields,-lone monu-
ments of the people who once Inhabited
these parched places in the wilderness,
now a salt land and not inhabited.
The mysterious Egyptian monuments
of Subrabet el>Khakim, again, evince
the existence once in this "waste, bowling
wilderness" of an ingenious and powerful
people. Here are found catacombs and
hieroglyphics, and other memorials OF
the dead, near vast copper mines and
enormous mounds Of Stag. These copper
mines, Lepsius, learns from the monu-
ments still remaining, were worked here
more than three thousand years before
the Christian era. They lead US back
into the gray mists of antiquity, and con-
strain us to contemplate with wonder and
awe the stupendous remains of men who
labored and died here ages before Abra.-
ham lived.
In one tract, now utterly desolate of
tolerably fertile soil, capable of tillage,
we're found by, DR.. Robinson the remains
of long ranges of low stone walls, which
probably once served as the divisions of
cultivated fields. Afterwards many such
walls were observed, which obviously
were not constructed by the present race
of Arab inhabitants, but must be referred
back to an early period.
All these monumental remains point
4 l. 4