The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-03-17

Mohommcds horse, and accompanied by
the Shekh's son and an attendant, also
mounted, and by three Bedouins on foot
On his return, shortly after o'clock in the
afternoon, he made me most valuable and
interesting report, of which | now gladly
publish few heads.
The way was at first up narrow wady,
which grows more and more narrow ill it
becomes gorge, On the road they passed
u stone on which some inscriptions appear
to have been cut, but which are now all de-
faced with the exception of the words,
"Ya, Allah" con God,' in Cutie, or old
Arabic characters. Within the gorge itself
they stopped to inspect another large stone,
about four feet long and two feet square,
made of granite. 1t originally stood up
right. about two or three feet away from the
side of the gorge, on another stone, which
served as pedestal; but il has now fallen
over, and rests between the its pedestal and
the side of the gorge. Near the stone the
Bedouns come to pray; and according to
the statement of Sheikh Mahommcd, who
had heard it from his father, and so on,
Sid Ali ibn Elm, n noted Mohammedan
saint whose tomb and mosque are between
Jana and llailIa, came here also to per-
form his dcvetions What led him TO do
so my informant could not say unless he
was commanded by Allah.
On reaching the gorge the riders had to
leave their horses with two of the Arabs,
and perform the rest of the ascent ON foot
A short way up they Caunc to II low wall
across the gorge, which latter is filled with
large boulders, and close above the wall.
ON the right hanl is well about three feet
in diameter and about the same to- the sur
face OF the water, which may be two feet
deep. From the point the ascent was Il
"clipb" the face Of the rock being almost
ncrpcndieular.
On the rdnc ON the left side OF the porrc
about $50 wards distant from the we'll, is a
milo of LARGO rounded bouldors of granite.
CONSISTING of four stones of the material of
the mountain. three standing nm facing the
north a d one at the bacI; TO the south. and
ON all of them arc eat inscriptong. which
MIR Milne couied a> vel as his cold fin.
gers would allow im to do so. The stone.
which are much wcathcr-wnrn. arc cx,cr.
nallv of darl.b own color. against which
the inscriptions make themselves visible
from their bciuy Of u somewhat lighter
color The lines Of these ..Smai,ic in
scriptiou," are about t,rcc-quartcrs Of an
incl broad and ycrv shallow. being not
more than an ciulth Of an inch dozen Tho
figures on tie stones are vcly rude, and
can hardly be phonetic; neither is il easy
to say what they are intended to- represent.
On the very summit of the mountain thew
found numerous sheep skulls and horns.
with a few bones il being the custom of
the Belouins TO come IN here TO prav and
to sacrifice lamb. which i, eaten on the
SPOT. Bu, none OF the remains appcar to
be very recent. II is here. as I was told.
that the Almighty is said fl have Snol>en
with Moses.
Before reaching the summit snow was
found in the creyiccs Of the mountain, and
while Mr.. Milne was at the too it hailed
and showed. and was So bitterly rold That If
was as much as he could do to take a few
anpels with tbc Azomuth commas. and
even this he could not have done had not
his attendants kndled a fire nv which he
mirht warm his fingers. The elevation of
the SPOT is estimated a. 3 600 feet. but it
will be known moro accurately when our
ohscrvations on the journey come to he cal
,ulated. Though so far distant. Akaba
seemed lust under his feet. but on so dim
inutiye A scale that he failed TO detect the
castle among the date-palm trees. the gen.
eral outline of which alone was visible. In
other directions the landscape was blocked
out bv banks of cloud. fog. and rain.
Mount Barphir-the Mountain of Light
is one of the lofticst peaks of the range
of mountains on the east side of the Wadv-
el-Arabah and the west side of the Wady-
el-Itham, overhanging the latter.
Without dwelling ON the geological fea-
lures of the mountain, of which Mr. John
Mines report will treat very fully in nv
book, it will be sufficient to saw here that
it consists of a mass of uinl, or reddish
granite. which in places where it is wealth.
cred, assumes dark brown hue. and that
the granite is traversed by numerous dykes.
generally of dark green color. and appar-
entity dioritic.
On the side of the mountain are many
large builders, several ofwhich are so much
| decomposed on their under sides rs TO form
small caverns. One of these was as mucI,
es 90 feet. or Whereabouts. each way across.
with height of 10 feet or 10 feet at the en-.
trance, sloning down toward the back. As
the existence of cave or caves on Mount
Sinai is essential in erder to meet the re-
nuirements of the texts. Exodus. xxxiii.. %
and First Kings. xix. 0, the fact that such
caves do actually exist on the Mountain Of
Light is most pcrtinent and INN rtant.
Not less significant is the fact that thi,
majestic mountain Is visible in nil Il rections
and that round its base toward the east and
south there is caroninr ground for hundred,
of thousands of persons.
Itwould be out of rlace To dwell here on
tho inheritance Of his discovery of th,
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