From the length and breadth of Wâdy Sudur I should imagine it must drain a considerable area on the Tih plateau. The existing maps appeared to me to be wrong after Sinn el Bisher, or Jebel Bisher, as the true scarp appears to recede considerably. I was unable, however, to prove these points, but if a map were made of this part it would probably show considerable variation of the existing plans.
The tract after Wâdy Sudur passes over more rolling country to Wâdy Gharaudel, where we camped for the second night; the wâdy flows between banks, and is of considerable importance, and drains an extensive country broken up by high hills; on the edge of the Tîh scarp there are springs and some trees in the valley.
Wâdy Gharandel forms the boundary of the Ordnance Survey, so that from this point to Jebel Mûsa the map was complete. I was able to sketch in some features on the border of the finished Survey while passing.
Our route led through Wâdy Hamr, Wâdy Nasb, Wâdy Kamileh, from which Armstrong and I visited the temple at el Sarabît el Khâdim.
The sandstone columns and tablets are in many cases in an excellent state of preservation, and the hieroglyphics were in many cases almost as sharp and perfect as when first cut; others were very much weathered, some tablets 7 feet 6 inches high, by 2 feet wide, and 1 foot 6 inches thick, and rounded at the top like the Moabite Stone, appeared to me to deserve a better fate than being left to perish from the effects of the weather and the vandalism of the Arabs. Excavations here would, I think, reveal many interesting points connected with the Egyptian occupation of this country at the time of the Exodus. I noticed that the artist had been inspired by his surroundings; engraving the ibex in different positions to form ornamental patterns round the hieroglyphic inscriptions. There were several stations on the surrounding hills where tablets stood, similar to the one described; but these have been mostly thrown down and broken up.[1]
- ↑ The following description of Sarabit el Khadim is given by the late Professor Palmer, in his book, "The Desert of the Exodus.""Although only 700 feet in height, the ascent of Sarablt el Khadimis is by no means easy."A scramble over a rough slide of loose sandstone at the upper end of the valley, a treacherous sloping ledge of rock overhanging an awkward precipice, and a steep ravine which brings into play all one's gymnastic capabilities, leads to an extensive plateau broken up by many deep ravines and rising knolls. On one of the highest of these last is a heap of ruins—hewn sandstone walls, with broken columns, and numerous stelæ, in shape like ordinary English gravestones,
