After our return from Gebel Mûsa, we went up the brow of the mountain called Hôreb, which Robinson considers to be the true Mount Sinai, instead of Gebel Mûsa, which has been till now supposed to be so. We passed many hermitages and chapels till we came to the last, situated in a hollow in the rocks, behind which the principal summit of Hôreb rises, rugged and grand. No footway leads up to it. We scrambled first through a steep cleft in the rock, then over the southern brow of the rock itself. At half-past five we were up just over the great plain Râha, upon the majestic, rounded mountain-top, which stands out so boldly from the plain. Robinson appears first to have tried this way, and then to have given it up, and to have ascended to the top of Sefsâf, which is certainly higher, but lies rather to the west, and does not stand out as the summit we climbed, which forms an exact centre to the plain.[106] Our guides all remained behind, excepting an Arab boy, as the ascension was almost dangerous. Even this situation did not prevent the thought from rising, as to whether Moses had ever stood upon any of these mountains which are visible from the plain, if we receive the account literally. We did not ascend Gebel Katherine, as it has less to do with history than Gebel Mûsa. LETTER XXXIII. ON THE RED SEA. _April 6, 1845._ I shall employ the time of our quiet seavoyage, which will take some days, in arranging the manifold materials collected on the peninsula, and to mark down the principal events of our journey. I will send a more copious account from Thebes.[107] These lines, however, will be given to Seid Hussen, at Qeneh, and be forwarded by the first opportunity.