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| Title | Page 19 |
| Creator | Holland, Frederick Whitmore, 1837-1880.
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| Description | Sinai and Jerusalem; or, Scenes from Bible Lands: Illustrated by Twelve Colored Photographic Views, Including a Panorama of Jerusalem, With Descriptive Letterpress. |
| Caption | THE DESERT OF SINAI. built by a settled population, who inhabited the Peninsula at a very early period ; and it is quite possible that they were the work of the Amalekites, who were conquered at Rephidim by the children of Israel. Stone circles, similar to what we call in this country "Druids' Circles." are also by no means uncommon, some of them being of large size, fifty, and even a hundred yards or more in diameter. They are decidedly of a sepulchral character, and appear occasionally to be connected with the stone houses. But if the ruins of Amalekite houses and tombs are found, why, it may be asked, are not some of the burial-places of the Israelites found, such as that at Kibroth-hattaavah, where "they buried the people that lusted" for meat? (Numbers xi. 34.) There is, indeed, nothing to render their existence at all improbable. We know that we have still older monuments in the Egyptian tablets at Wady Mugharah; and some of those very " Druids' circles, " or the rude heaps of stones that are sometimes passed, may, perhaps, mark an Israelite's tomb; but there is no mark left by which to identify them. The Sinaitic inscriptions have been supposed by some to have been the work of the children of Israel. Greek inscriptions and Christian symbols have, however, been discovered in connection with them, which of course prove at once that they are of far later date. By the help of the Greek, also, the Sinaitic character has been read, and they are found only to contain Arabic names and forms of greeting. They appear to have been made by people residing in the Peninsula, and trading with Egypt, in the third and fourth centuries. But although we have neither the help of tombs nor inscriptions to guide us in our endeavours to lay down the route of the Israelites on their march to Sinai, the natural features of the country have enabled us to do so with probable accuracy. The encampment by the Red Sea, mentioned in Numbers xxxiii. 10, proved that the Israelites kept doAvn the coast after crossing the Red Sea somewhere in the neighbourhood of Suez. They first " went three days in the wilderness, and found no water" (Exodus xv. 22.) Then they came to Marah, where the water was bitter, so that they could not drink of it (v. 23), and from there they removed to Elim, whence they removed to their encampment by the Red Sea. Now the traveller to this day, on his journey to Mount Sinai, after traversing a long strip of barren desert without water, that extends down the coast, comes to a district where the water is brackish and unwholesome; a day's |
| Date | 1870 |
| Publisher | London: Printed by Jas. Truscott and Son, Suffolk Lane, City. |
| Subject.Topical (LCSH) | Palestine -- Description and travel.
Sinai Peninsula -- Description and travel.
Jerusalem -- Description and travel.
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| Subject (Geographic) | Palestine
Sinai Peninsula
Jerusalem
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| Original Item Location | http://library.uh.edu/record=b3601783~S11 |
| Repository | Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries |
| Use and Reproduction | This image is in the public domain and may be used freely. If publishing in print, electronically, or on a website, please use the citation button above. To request higher resolution images, please use the Request High Res button above. |
| File name | meast_201009_046.jpg |
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