True enough. When we reached the petrified forest in the Valley of Wanderings (this valley forms the beginning of the desert leading to the Red Sea) we did not see a single tree, but the sand was for miles covered with fragments of wood. Though these were turned into stone, we could see knots and fibres, and even the rough bark, which showed them to be fragments of trees.
"Is it not wonderful!" exclaimed Hugh.
It was indeed wonderful. And now we came to what looked like the trunk of a large tree; there was another like it, at a little distance; they must have been quite fifty feet long, or more; they lay in the sand, and seemed to have broken as they fell, for there were small pieces scattered about all around.
"What made it?" Lucy asked.
None of us could tell; nor have we since been able to find any account of how these trees were turned into stone. But it seems certain that all this part of the desert, on which there is not now a blade of grass, must have been covered by a wood.
We could but look and wonder. "How unsearchable are the judgments of God, and his ways past finding out!"
We all picked up some pieces to bring away with us. Then we sat down on one of the large petrified trunks and ate our lunch, the wonders all round us giving us plenty to talk about the while.
On our way home we came round by another group of tombs beneath the mountains of Mokattam. We had had a long day, and it was nearly sunset when we left the tombs.
The sunset clouds were gorgeous. All at once, as the sun sank beneath them, the deep-toned sound of the muezzin called the faithful followers of the prophet Mohammed to prayer. Every one around us prostrated themselves. Our hearts obeyed the call; we offered our thanks to our Heavenly Father, who has made such a world of beauty and wonder for our enjoyment.
"O God, O good beyond compare, If thus Thy meaner works are fair, If thus Thy bounties gild the span Of ruined earth and sinful man, What must those glorious mansions be When Thy redeemed shall dwell with Thee!"