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| Title | Page 24 |
| 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 | a mosque, which has long fallen into decay. The monks regard this southern peak as the spot from which the Law was given; but it cannot really be so, since there is no suitable place for the assembling of the Israelites in the valley beneath—the Wady Sebaiyeh. The two northern peaks, which rise up from the plain of Er Rahah, have a far better claim to that honour; and there can now be little doubt that it was upon them that the Lord descended in fire, and that here were " the thunders and lightnings, and the thick cloud upon the Mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that was in the camp trembled." These peaks are knoAvn by the name of Ras Sufsafeh, " the head of the Avillow, " being so called from a willow-tree, that grows near a little chapel, in the basin behind them. An elevated basin, enclosed by surrounding peaks, is a common feature in the granitic mountains. And such, more or less, is the character of the top of Jebel Musa: only here there are several basins separated by ridges of rock. These hollows generally produce a considerable amount of vegetation ; and all those on Jebel Musa were formerly cultivated by the monks and hermits, the ruins of whose cells and chapels are still to be seen. The sides of the mountain are very precipitous; on the north and south they are perfectly inaccessible, but there are three paths on the east, and two on the west, by which the summit can be reached. The eastern paths consist of (1) a steep, rocky slope, leading up from the bottom of the convent valley to the basin immediately behind the peaks of Ras Sufsafeh; (2) a flight of rough steps up a ravine above the convent, which is the usual mode of ascent, and leads to the summit of the southern peak; (3) a carriage-road, made by the soldiers of the late Abbas Pasha, who intended to build a palace for himself at the top of Mount Sinai, but was happily led to select another mountain for its erection before the road was quite completed. This road rises from the shoulder of the mountain, at the head of the convent valley, and joins the one last mentioned in the central basin. The western paths lead up from the valley beneath to the same basin, one of them only being used at the present day. Which of these five paths was the one by which Moses ascended the mountain, it is, of course, impossible to say; but the first one mentioned appears to me to answer |
| 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_052.jpg |
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