Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1924-06-11

| Il
unaffected by the transitions that have
so completely changed the face of the
planet elsewhere.
Only at their bases do these noun
tains show any traces of alteration,
where the waves and the winds of the
ages have crushed and ground their
| fadeleSS elements into the colored
sands which filed the geological CULTS
and bays of the Jordan rift and made
possible the beauties of Petra and all
( that region. Rising majestically from
/ the encircling setting of desert and
sea, the whole mass is cleft and shat
tered into fascinating tangle of sub
lime valleys, towering cliffs, awful
/ precipices, and magnificent peaks
which roll like pillows far up into the
crystalline blue of the heavens.
From Suez to Sinai.
The route from Suez to Sinai is
nine days journey on eamels. Trav-
elers usually make a short half day
to the Wells of Moses, the first oasis
! four hours beyond Suez. Then follows
a water'ess tract of three days jour
ney to Elm, with its wells Of water
and its palm trees.
Two days beyond Elm are the ia
nous turquoise mines of Meghara,
where the Egyptians mined as early
as the Fourth Dynasty (2500 B. O.,
more than $500 years ago, and left a
curious collection of rock carvings and
tablets which have been of priceless
value in their bearing upon Egyptian
! chronology.
/ Two days beyond the mines lies the
oasis of Firan, rightly designated
The Pearl of Sinai," the most fertile
tract and one of the most interesting
spots in the whole peninsula.
Past Firan the road crosses a water
shed at 1900 feet and makes a slight
descent before the last climb over
Nagb el-Hawa to the Plain Of err
Rahah, which most scholars have re
garded as the camping place of the
Israelites while waiting for the giving
of the law. Here is the mountain
which, according to the Bible, was en-
veloped in clouds and lightning re
verberating with thunder, a mountain
that could be touched, while Moses
tarried on it's summit and the people
waited below.
Just to the left of this peak, Jebel
SufsH, IS the valley Of the DER, in
which stands the monastery Of st.
/ Catharine. This picturesque monas-
terry standing in a sublime valley of
the Sinai group occupies the site of
fort built by Emperor Justinian in
SGT A. D. 1t is hoary pile of old
buildings, entirely enclosed by high
wall, on one side of which toward the
mountain a few old rusty cannon still
do sentinel duty. A lower wall en-
closes the adjoining delightful gardens
which have been wrung by incessant
toll from the rocky mountain side be-
low. The fortress-monastery has wit
messed many a thrilling event in his
tory, has withstood many an attack
and siege, and bears the marks inside
| and out of its stormy history.
The great shrine is Jebel Musa it.
self, the Mountain Of the Law, which
| rises 1850 feet above and behind the
monastery The pilgrimage steps, said
to be 5000 in number, are broken at
many points, but still form an impress
sive ascent to the noble mountain top.
There is a shrine to the Virgin Mary
and a chapel to the Prophet Elijah on
the way up.
Beyond Sinai, the route of the
Exodus, within the peninsula, is fixed
beyond peradventure by the confgura-
tion of the valleys, the one or two
well-known locations and the water
supply.
Turning out Wady esh-Sheikh
through a side 1lley one reaches a
I divide beyond anich the country
changes instantly A wide plateau
shows signs of vegetation, where Craze
hundreds of camels and thousands of
sheep, lambs and she asses. The
whole skyline takes on softer,
smoother look, and the sides and bases
of the mountains lose the sharp, for
bidding aspect of Sinai Farther on Is
the oasis OF Ain Hudherah where
Aaron and Miriam spoke against
Moses because he had married
| Cushite woman
Between Hazeroth and Ezion- geber
lie the still unsolved portions of the
problem and route of the Exodus.
After reaching the shore of the Red
sea, they turned northward. and for
80 years roamed about the neighbor.
| hood of KadeSh Into this Wilderness
of the Wandering explorers are now
penetrating, and few years hence we
shall have as good maps and details
of it as we have of the other sections
| of the route.