The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-03-17
MOUNT SINAI.
flr. Hekc's Discovery of the s.NOun-
tain of EiEht.''

Writing to the London Times from Suez,
under date of Feb. 1G, Mr.. Charles Beke
says
On the 2Sth of January / wrote from
Akaba, announcing the discovery of ''Moscs
place of prayer at Madam, on the east
coast of the Gulf of Akaba, which / ilen-
tify with the ''encampment Of the Red
Sea" of Numbers xxxii, TO- This letter
was forwarded by the Erin on her return
voyage from Akaba; but, in consequence
of the severe weather she was exposed to,
she had to put in at Tor, whence she may
be expected to arrive here in a day or two
am now thankful to be able to report
that the object of my expedition to discover
the true Mount Sinai has happily been at
tanned very much sooner than | could have
anticipated, although not altogether in the
manner had expected.
As stated in my former letter. we reached
Akaba in the steamer Erin on the eth of
January.
We left Akaba under the personal escort
of Sheikh Mohommed ibn Iiat, the chief
Of the Alauwin tribe of Bedouins, to whom
was the bearer Of frm0a from his
Iiighness the Khedive of Egypt, and pro-
ceeded north-eastward up the Wady-el-
Them, (thc Ethan of the Exodus and
cncamped in the evening at the foot of
Mount Barghir, one Of the principal masses
of the chain Of mountains bounding the
valley of the Arabah on the cast, which
are marked on our maps as the Mountains
Of Shcra, but Of which the correct desig-
nation is the Mountains of Snatch; those
of Shera, rs ! have myself seen, being n
chain extending from that of Snatch in q
direction from northwest to southeast
My establishment and qualification may
he better imagined than described when
learned that this Mount Barghir is the same
as mysterious Jd6eL-e-NUF, or Mountain
of Light" of which | had heard vaguely
in Egypt rs being that wherein the
Almighty spoke with Moses, and which,
from its position and other circumstances,
is without doubt the Sinai of Scripture /;
although, from its manifest physical char
acter, it appears that my favorite hypothe-
sis that Mount Sinai was a volcano must be
abandoned as untenable.
W. 'htuil'Nt ~ INC iopt VI lut lOull-
tain of Light" and during the ensuing
night we experienced most tremendous
storm, the thunder and lightning being
truly terrific, some of the claps being d.
rectly over our heads. The rain fell in tor
rents during several hours, threatening 10
wash us away altogether. do not remem-
Der to have ever witnessed q more violent
tempest either in Abyssinia or elsewhere ;
and its effect on my mind was this-that il
the words of Scripture that at the time OF
the delivery of the law on Sinai "the
Mountain burned with fire into the midst
of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick
darkness" Oeut. w., ~ with other texts
which need not here refer to, are not as
would now appear, to be understood as de-
scriptive of volcanic eruption, still less
can they be held to describe mere thunder
storm, however violent, as is generally but
somewhat inconsiderately, imagined.
AS the climbing part of my expedition
necessarily deyolves on my young com
panion, Mr. Milne, he, on the following
morning, assembled the mountain on SheikI