Evening star., 1926-10-13

By the Associated Press.

by InG ASSOCldtcQ 1lCoS~
PHILADELPHIA, October 13.-A
vivid picture Of travel In the wilder
ness of Sinai, where the children o1
Israel wandered for 40 years. and the
details of his discovery of the site OF
Kadesh- -Barnea, where Moses struck
water from the rock, We're given te
the Associated Press yesterday by DR.
William T. Ellis, traveller and writer.
at his home in Swarthmore.
DR.. Ellis said he had not set out
to discover Kadesh-Barnea, or any
other site.
Mrs. Ellis and were spending 1C
months of intensive travel over the
entire area of Bible lands, a feat
never before performed, in order te
write a book" he said. 1--WE hao
done the Bible scenes of Italy, Greece
Turkey and most of Palestine.
Because mid-Sinai bulks so large
in the Old Testament we had to &C
there also. Our objective was Air
Kadeis, which appears upon al
Biblical maps and in all Bible diction
aries as the site of Kadesh- -Barnea-
Site at Desert Cross Roads.
"It will fix the site Of Kadesh-
Barnea, the pivotal place of 1sraels
OGSCII experiences, " iAC1lSO IAAC AS
spies were sent northward into Ca
naan: where Miriam died, and where
Moses struck the rock and produced
a flow of water for the thirsty and
complaining children of Israel, if
say that it is at the ancient cross
roads Of mid-Sinai, in the center of
the peninsula, and right at the pres
ent border between Palestine and
Egypt.
Ain Kadeis is on the Egyptian side
Of the line, and Ain Guderat is on
the Palestine side of the line. The
two valleys, or Wadis, are only about
rs miles apart.
1--WE drove our car for an hour from
Kassaima through the wilderness OF
Paran. After we had penetrated well
into the wadi of Ain Kadeis, we pro
ceeded afoot. The valley was carpet
ed with big stones. The most feasible
trail over them showed the stones
polished to a path by the feet OF un-
counted centuries Of camels.
Place Too Rough for Camps.
"Although we saw numerous an
cient cairns and stone circles, the
place was manifestly impossible as
lsrael's camping site. And when, at
an elevation of 1850 feet, we got to
the head of the valley, we found the
famous spring, which is really well,
under a cliff, although the water also
seeps from below it at two or three
points. a few hundred feet distant.
A single stunted fig tree grows by
the water.
lone thing was clear in our minds;
the map, the books and the ancient
tradition are wrong; this site couiu
never have been Kadesh-Barnea.
Scholars have been misled by the sim,
ilarity of sounds between 'kadesh ana
.Kadeis.' Yet if the Bible is true, thefe
must be. somewhere in the vicinity,
the camping place of the host OF is,
rae1 under Moses. SO we inquired OF
the soldiers of the Egyptian frontler
most at Kassaima concerning the eX'
istence of a vailed with a good spring
ana a fertile, level ground. They
answered Ain Guderat. Ihe Woro
Ain Is Arabic for spring. Ihey leo
"One reason why the new B1bie
students who in the past have ad-
vent,1red into central Sinai have
missed Ain Guderat is that 1t Is en-
tered by a gorge, a natural defense
which conceals the fertility beyond
Wadi Ain Guderat lies, roughly
northeast by southwest, with bare
mountains of wind fetched chalk and
limestone on both sides, dotted by
black nodules of flint. This valley Is
about 2 miles long from the entrance
to the spring.