XVIII. SINAI IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 183 ALPHABETICAL INDEX 195 ILLUSTRATIONS FIG. PAGE 1. SITUATION OF SANCTUARIES 9 2. FIGURES OF BABOONS 11 3. SNEFERU RAVAGING THE LAND 13 4. KHUFU SMITING THE ANU BEFORE THOTH 14 5. AMEN-EM-HAT III, THOTH AND HATHOR 15 6. SANCTUARY SURROUNDINGS AT SERABIT 19 7. FIGURE WITH SEMITIC SCRIPT 23 8. PLAN OF CAVES AT SERABIT 27 9. UPPER HALF OF STELE OF AMEN-EM-HAT III 37 10. TEMPLE RUINS AT SERABIT 53 11. PLAN OF TEMPLE 55 12. AMEN-HOTEP III OFFERING TO SOPD 59 13. QUEEN THYI 61 14. MEN IN BURNING BUSH 69 15. AYUN MUSA 71 16. VIEW OF THE CONVENT 123 17. CHAPEL ON GEBEL MUSA 141 18. EL ARISH 145 19. ZIGIRET EL FARAUN 149 20. SKETCH OF CONVENT SURROUNDINGS ABOUT 1335 159 21. RITTER VON HARFF AND ST. KATHERINE 169 22. SULYMAN ABU SĪLM, A BEDAWY 187 23. MAP OF THE PENINSULA 193 A HISTORY OF SINAI CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY[1] SINAI is the peninsula, triangular in form, which projects into the Red Sea between Egypt and Arabia. The name used to be applied to the mountainous region of the south, now it is made to comprise the land as far north as the Mediterranean. Sinai is famous for the part which it has played in the religious history of mankind. It was at one time a centre of moon-cult, before it became the seat of the promulgation of the Law to the Jews at the time of Moses. In Christian times it was one of the chief homes of the hermits, and the possession of the relics of St. Katherine in the great convent of the south, caused Sinai to be included in the Long Pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages. A history of Sinai deals with the people who visited the peninsula at different times, rather than with its permanent inhabitants, who, in the course of centuries, seem to have undergone little change. They still live the life of the huntsman and the herdsman as in the days of Ishmael, sleeping in the open, and adding to their meagre resources by carrying dates and charcoal to the nearest centres of intercourse, in return for which they receive corn. The country geographically belongs to Egypt, ethnologically to Arabia. It falls into three regions.