Gebel-um-Schomar (“Mount Mother Schomar”), also consists chiefly of granite; the lower part red, but the top is almost white. In its middle, between the granite, occur broad layers of brittle black slate, mixed with veins of quartz and felspar, and with micaceous schist. Its extreme peak, about 8800 feet above the sea, is sharp pointed, and seems to be inaccessible, owing to its perpendicular and smooth sides. Burckhardt, in his attempt to ascend it, was obliged to halt at about 200 feet below it. This was, until recently, esteemed the highest point in the Peninsula; but, according to Herr Russegger, two or three other peaks, to the south of it, are about 500 feet more lofty; the extreme elevation of this last group, which seems not to bear any distinct appellation, he estimates at 9300 English feet.
I here add, after the latter author, a sketch of the granite peaks of the high Modern-Sinaic mountains, from north to south, as they present so interesting and remarkable an appearance.
In the narrow valley, a little south of Gebel Mohala, which is all granite, on the east side of, or opposite to, the Schomar, is a spring named Tabakat, where beautiful porphyry is observed.
The south side of Mount Schomar is very abrupt, and there is no secondary chain between it and the other lofty southern mountains, and the long gravelly plain El Kaa.
From that plain, entering Wadi Hebron—a ravine about 100 yards wide—fragments of rocks, principally of granite and porphyry washed down by torrents, are frequent; a small stream is seen flowing among them; in spots, some date trees occur, and likewise the manna-producing tamarisk. Continuing to ascend, a moderately-steep pass is reached; afterwards, a descent of about 700 feet leads into the sandy Wadi Solaf “wine valley;” and then, gaining, with some difficulty, the summit of a steeper pass, the north-west angle of the extensive Wadi Raha is come to. Here, again, the present Sinaic group, beyond the plain, exhibits its rugged mountains of dark granite, with “stern, naked, splintered peaks, and ridges of indescribable grandeur.”
Next, turning to the north down the narrow declivity called Nakb Hawi, the “windy pass,” of which the stupendous granite walls or cliffs elevate themselves to about 800 feet, passing to the west end of Wadi Solaf, where it meets Wadi Firan and Wadi-el-Sheikh, and following the last valley as far as El Szaleib, that ascent is attained. There the formation consists of granite, on the upper beds of which run layers of red felspar. North-east of Wadi-el-Ush is situate Gebel Sheyger, which affords some native cinnabar. The three principal passes leading from the sandy Debbet-el-Ramleh on to the great desert over the Tyh range, are, El Mureikhi near the centre and near Gebel-el-Egmeh; then El Warsah, said to be of too rapid an ascent for caravans; and the third, which is most to the west, El Rakineh (the painted.) Afterwards, at some distance to the NW., is the valley opening past Ras Wadi Gharandel, that has already been described.
Proceeding, again, across the plain El Ramleh, and over the pass Mureikhi on to the Desert-el-Tyh, in the approach to the castle of Nakhl, on the east, a few miles off, low chalky hills appeared; and in places there were holes wherein rock-salt had been dug. The water at Nakhl is brackish, and the ground chalky, covered with loose pebbles. Wadi Nesil was observed to be overgrown with green shrubs. Gebel-el-Thughar, signifying “the mouths,” presents a mountainous tract, in which followed a valley with calcareous hills: here deep sands were lodged, and large insulated rocks of a porous tufa, called by Burckhardt tufwacke, lie scattered in many places.
“The termination of the vast gravelly plain we had been crossing from Nakhl was now at hand; but we could yet see it spreading out wide to our left, the mirage giving its distant portions the appearance of a succession of blue lakes; directly in front were the mountains which close it in; and far to the right we could see, stretching away, a still higher range running to the north, and on the left the tops of the mountains about Wadi Gharandel, the Taset (cup) Soddur being conspicuous afar. We entered these mountains by a slight ascent, which struck soon after the head of a long winding valley descending towards Suez: the immense plain we had traversed, floated away in mist, and we had now done with the plateau of the Great Desert.”[15]
Thence a plain, which is below the level of the Desert-el-Tyh, and covered with moving sands, extends as far as the sea-shore. These sands are collected by the winds, in many spots, into hills 30 or 40 feet high. The wells at Mabuk afford good water by digging to the depth of 10 or 12 feet.