Evening star., 1932-12-09
SUN STATION BUILT
NEAR MOUNT SINAI.
Smithsonian Group Picks Lo-
cation in Traditionally
Holy Realm.

After o search through numerous
mountainous regions in the arid areas
81 the Eastern Hemisphere, a peak al
most within stones throw OF famous
Mount Sinai, traditional mount OF the
Ven Commandments, has been chosen
by the Smithsonian Institution for ltS
newest sun station. On this bare, ROCKY
peak, Mount st. Katherine, a little
group of scientific workers will make
their home and will set up complicated
instruments by means Of which they
will make daily observations Of varia-
tions in the suns heat which reaches
the earth. The region about Mount
Sinai and Mount st. Katherine is de-
scribed in a bulletin from the head
quarters of the National Geographic
Society, based on communication
from staff representative OF the So
ciety who recently Travelled from Suez
Do Sinai by camel.
Both Road and River.
"Much of our way lay along typical
desert wadies," he writes. "A wadi Is
b road or river, the stony bed through
which, on rare occasions, torrentlal
floods pour down. Steep slopes close
IN the Wadi Selaf and man could
sprint across it, yet in 1867 40 persons
were drowned in sudden flood which
turned the arid expanse into sething
torrent. On the granite ridges no
Vegetation serves to stem the flow or to
retain needed moisture.
1.-THE wadies of Sinai today can diff
Ter little from those 80 centuries ago.
which served as highways for the
asraelites. The granite heart of that
rocky wedge between Egypt and Arabia
Feems too arid, too adamantine, ever to
have supported forests or even occa-
kional trees. Yet where there is water,
Mine and almond, ink-black cypress and
&ilver olive grow luxuriantly. And jut-
Ting out from bleak rock walls,
wherever there is the trickle Of q per-
knnial spring, palms thrust their
fronded heads on high and their in
Eidious roots split ancient rocks in
Awo.
Region of Barren Peaks.
~Stern dignity, awe and barrenness
hre the features of this time-tumbled
landscape whose occasional oases,
t1ifted with palms and sequined with
tiny pools, only accentuate the arid
tmmensity Of naked rock and burning
sand.
''The great event of the trip is re-
eerved for the time when, climbing up
from behind the upper rim Of the
Wadi er-Raha, and looking down a
perfect perspective between the flank
ing granite slopes, one sees before him
the Mount of the Decalogue (Jebel
Adusa), one peak among many, but the
nobleSt of all.
Coming upon it thus, one feels that
It must be the Mount Of the Law. 1t
hts the Bible narrative as does no other
peak. Reddish brown, but changing
It's tone under varying lights, this
mighty monument Is memorable for
mass. It draws the eye. Alone in its
ampreSsiveness, 1t stands at the end of
the Plain of the Tribes, SOLDERING, awe
inspiring and Sublime.
From a distance its summit is split
into three rock masses sloping slightly
from the narrow crag at the right to
the more rounded summit overlooking
the Hill of Aaron, petty altar for the
Golden Calf.
st. Katherine Monastery.
@The shelter of the Monastery of st.
Katherine and its mystery beckoned
lis on. How potent Is the lure of q
long anticipated goali But I stopped
there in that mighty plain and feasted
my eyes on one of the most satisfying
mountain views have ever seen.
I'VE went up Jebel Musa (Sinai) by
planned to have palace on the sum-
NIT. The Arabs say that when the de-
bauchee chose the holy mountain as a
health resort, the idea of harem in
trigues on the site of the Giving of the
Law so inflamed Moses that he dealt
the Pasha a shaking. Anyway, he
abandoned Sinai and was murdered by
D Mameluke, acting in a topsy-turvy
version of Scheherazade
Thanks to this curvfng road, prac-
ticable for camels, the ascent of Jebel
Musa is absurdly easy. A scant half
hour of climbing on foot up irregular
pilgrim steps carries one to the top,
where a small chapel, small mosque
and the numbered granite blocks for
D reconstruction of Justinian's church
greet the eye. Beside the chapel Is
tiny grotto or cleft where Moses is said
to have received the Law, and below
the wall of the mosque is the cave
where, tradition has it, he passed the
10 nights"